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Supporting Materials for Sir! No Sir!
Fort Ord Stockade Protest
The military's attempt to prevent GI protest by creaming the Presidio 27 isn't working. Ft. Ord stockade prisoners have had two protest demonstrations during the in trials of the 27.
As a result of bad publicity over the mutiny trials, the brass have been taking various VIP's through well-prepared stockades, The tours are well arranged in advance to cover up conditions and make the jails took like groovy hotels. The prisoners are Isolated from the "investigators" to avoid revelation of the truth.
To protest the whitewash tour and the lack of contact with the VIPs, about 80 prisoners had a sit-in during their inspection. We don't know if the investigators saw it but the brass did! They broke it up with direct orders to individuals Instead of creating a mutiny. The orders were obeyed and no charges were filed.
The Ft. Ord stockade says wake up to at 0500 hrs. Some of the lifer guards enjoy harassing the men by getting them up 30 to 45 minutes earlier.
Harassment can work both ways, The early wake-up call on the of May 20th resulted in another demonstration. Over 300 of the 350 men milled around the yard yelling, singing, "amen", and clapping their hands. The mill-in occurred in place of the morning formation and lasted quite a while, since the men couldn't hear the orders to return to their cellblock. All but a handful of the men later refused to eat the noon meal.
The PresidIo "mutineers" consider the Ft. Ord stockade a paradise, and, relatively speaking, it is. But there are still grievances Including total Inaction on DD. 510 complaint forms and physical brutality reportedly encouraged by SSG Thurman and SSG De Loach.
The demonstrations have Involved men of all races, a welcome improvement over the three days of race riots in the medium cellblocks last November. Attempts to get the various ethnic groups to drop dimes on each other are less successful as the men realize that the Brass and the Lifers are the actual source of their oppression.
The 14, having enough problems in their mutiny trial, have refrained from participation in the Ft. Ord demonstrations. Their morale Is high, even though they've been behind bars since October.
Their trials and publicity have taught the brass not to turn a protest into a phony mutiny. Perhaps the continued pressure at Ft. Ord and other bases will teach them another lesson-like treating GIs like humans.
The Ally, no. 19