April 4, 1975

With its troops reeling back in disarray, its positions collapsing in one province after another, and Saigon itself facing the possibility of attack, the Thieu dictatorship--and its backers in Washington--have been dealt a staggering defeat.

Not since the Vietnamese liberation fighters drove the French colonialists out of Indochina twenty-one years ago has there been a victory of greater magnitude for the people of Vietnam. And its impact is heightened by the spectacle of Lon Nol, Washington's man in Cambodia, packing his bags while the United States Embassy there burns documents in preparation for its evacuation.

Yet despite the overwhelming opposition of the American people to spending still more billions to back the Thieu dictatorship, the Ford administration is stubbornly insisting that the United States must continue to bankroll the Saigon generals.

Why is it that with three times as many troops, seven times as much fire power, and sole control of the air, Saigon has not been able to hold its own against the liberation fighters?

There is only one answer. The capitalist landlord regime in Saigon, held together by the glue of corruption and privilege, offers nothing to the great mass of Vietnamese except brutal repression and continued exploitation. The aspirations of the Vietnamese workers and peasants are for the reunification of Vietnam. 
 

April 3, 1950

AKRON, March 24--Fears for the future safety of Negro citizens of Akron rose this week when the Summit County Grand Jury failed to indict Policemen Wilcox and Pohl for the murder of Ernest Fenner, 26-year-old Negro veteran who was shot to death by two bullets fired through the windshield of the police cruiser manned by Wilcox and Pohl on Feb. 9.

The report of the Grand Jury rejected evidence presented by 15 eyewitnesses to the slaying of Fenner, confirming that the shooting was unjustifiable homicide. Instead, the Grand Jury accepted the story of Wilcox that he was "in fear of harm to himself" when he fired two bullets into Fenner's back and stomach. Although police claim that Fenner beat on the windshield of their cruiser with some kind of weapon, they were unable to produce the alleged weapon after an intensive search of the scene of the crime.

Witnesses stated that Fenner was eight to ten feet from the cruiser when he was shot and was clutching a length of stick one inch in diameter. A stick answering this description had been found at the scene and turned over to the NAACP. The Grand Jury refused to allow this piece of evidence, however, because it was embarrassing to the police. Wilcox and Pohl had earlier claimed that Fenner attacked the cruiser with an ax.

The young Negro veteran was suffering from a mental illness at the time of his death and had been receiving medical treatment from the VA.  
 
 
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