Vol. 76/No. 18 May 7, 2012
May 8, 1987
Bernhard Goetz is being tried for attempted murder in the Dec. 22, 1984, subway shooting of four Black youths.The prosecutor declared the teenagers—Troy Canty, Barry Allen, James Ramseur, and Darryl Cabey—were shot by Goetz not because he thought they intended to rob him, but “because they were the kind of people he hated with a ferocious and all-consuming passion.”
The facts, and Goetz’s own statements, make it unmistakably clear that his was not an act of self-defense, but one of cold-blooded racist violence.
When the youths approached Goetz in the subway car and one asked him for $5, he responded, “I have $5 for each of you” and pulled out a gun. He shot all four of them—two in the back as they fled. The Goetz case calls for the strong-est protest. The fight to deter racist violence demands that he be put behind bars for his crime.
May 7, 1962
The propaganda image of the Cuban counter-revolutionaries as “freedom-fighters” doesn’t jibe with the April 27 gangster-assault by six of them on the New York office of the Cuban news agency, Prensa Latina.In a carefully planned attack, they entered the office in late afternoon when but four employes were present. At gun point they forced a teletype operator to send a message to Havana. Addressed to Fidel Castro, it spoke of “freedom.”
The four employees—two teletypists and two editorial workers—were bound and gagged and forced to kneel. They were then beaten with gun butts. One suffered a concussion, another nose injuries. Fortunately, all escaped serious injury.
Files were strewn on the floor, a teletype machine damaged, and the office and four victims smeared with red paint from spray guns.
May 1, 1937
MINNEAPOLIS—For the first time in years this coming May Day finds the Minneapolis labor movement solidly behind preparations for a May Day parade and demonstration. While in other years such demonstrations were due mainly to the efforts of the left of the movement, this years finds the Central Labor Union sponsoring the affair enthusiastically aided and supported by all sections of the labor movement.There is no doubt therefore that this year’s demonstration will overshadow that of last year, which in itself was a fine tribute to the militant section of the labor movement, having been the largest May Day parade and demonstration in many years.
All workers should get into the spirit of May Day. It is OUR DAY, the only holiday that the bosses have not given to us, consequently we should make the most of it.
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