Letters

To John Sinclair:

Hey John, I’ve been digging your doings way back since 1965. I have always respected and, I might add, shared, your point of view on this whole pig establishment.

I’ve been keeping in touch with the scene even though I’ve been in Vietnam more than a year, via the Fifth Estate and news-clippings and papers sent by friends back in Detroit.

I think it’s outrageous what the pigs are doing to you now. I am familiar with the harassment you have and are receiving because the military pig establishment is doing the same to me.

Because the brass knows I’ve been organizing and telling my brothers the ways of protest and the necessity of organization, they are now trying to frame me on a phony marijuana bust.

Two officers have sworn they took things from my possession which they never did just so the pig-battalion I’m in now can send me to jail and get rid of me.

Back in the world I wouldn’t be bothered by this or even be in peril as I have a supporting witness, but being in Vietnam I will be forced to accept the military lawyer the brain police dredge up for me.

With a civilian lawyer I know these liars could be made to look like fools and they know it too, but they have the advantage of being over here in this police state where they (the military) have absolute control over all that goes down.

Military regulations state that I have the right to a civilian counselor but in Vietnam that right doesn’t mean much unless your old man is Henry Ford and you can afford to have counsel flown from the United States at staggering costs.

As it is, it looks like I’ll be forced to accept military counsel and be flushed down the drain as they have intended all along.

Yours for a free nation with all power to the people!

Pvt. Michael Wacker.

HHC 34^th Eng. Bn.

S/F APO 96289

To The People:

The Revolution is being betrayed by ignorance. Our government has once again turned to racism—but this time in another, very different way.

They plan on breaking up the Revolution by creating disunity caused by misunderstanding between the races. A misunderstanding that is not there!

The ruling class will try its damnedest to exploit racism in this new and fast becoming effective way. We cannot let this happen!

Come together people, black-brown-white-red-yellow. Live together, eat together, sleep together, and most important, FIGHT TOGETHER!

All Power to the People,

Brother Ernie

Friends,

The American Tragedy today is you: American college youth.

You are far better informed in social problems than the average student. You seem to be dedicated-to some sort of ideals, but you seem so confused that you don’t know what you are fighting for. You could make important contributions to the American people if you had a definite and workable program and discipline to carry on.

If I was a director of the CIA and ordered to curtail your activities with as little force as possible, I would plant my agents into your ranks and order them to act, just as you are acting now. Create confusion, to act in such a crazy way as to alienate you from the people by your dress, by your talk, and by your behavior.

I hoped for so very much from young college radicals, but the whole movement turned into a tragedy; what a shame.

Your disillusioned friend,

Uncle Ben

Dear Friends:

Your newspaper is a symbol of love, peace, and justice. Yet you advocate calling a policeman “pig.”

What right do you (or anyone) have to call an equal-being a name. How can you judge a man by a uniform?

Please don’t misuse your freedom of the press by immature name calling. If you want to play games, break police station windows or better yet, murder a policeman (one that has at least 2 or 3 children) murder him now and eat your bacon tonight.

Sticks and stones may break their bones but names will never hurt them.

If you insist—go ahead—call ‘em pigs. (I hope your tongue rots.)

All my love,

Joyce (from the east)

Editors’ Note: A pig by any other name is still a pig.

To the editors:

Readers should be aware that the article appearing under my name on Ho Chi Minh and Robert Williams [“The Wheel of the Law Turns without Pause,” FE #89, October 2–15, 1969] was substantially altered from the way it was submitted.

Without any attempt to consult me and hence without my knowledge, more than one fourth of the article was cut.

Included in the cut were an introductory quotation about Ho Chi Minh and a long section on the nature of his relationship to the Vietnamese people and to the U.S. Movement. In addition, the transition from the discussion of Ho Chi Minh to that of Robert Williams was not handled in the way I suggested. Consequently the article seemed unnecessarily choppy and uncoordinated.

As well as omitting much of the substance, the cut changed fundamentally the tone of the piece. As it appeared, equal space was devoted to Ho Chi Minh and Robert Williams, making it appear as though they were equally significant. This is a distortion of my intention.

Frank H. Joyce