Up against the wall mother fucker. LeRoy Jones
Afternoon drifted into evening. Campus police waited for orders. The Carbondale police, campus police, Highway patrol, waited, dressed in riot gear, composed of plastic head shields, helmets, and four foot riot batons. Some casually ate sandwiches, drank coffee, and at times chased an agitator who yelled obscenities, or tossed something at them. They gathered around the squad cars, listened to the local radio and periodically would link up with others, sharing the gossip, and most recent updates, most criticizing an administrative boondoggle, incapable of making the right decision to storm the citadels of extremism.
Phyllis organized the relief operation, loading up knapsacks of bread, cheeses, lunch meat, Pepsi's, the usual food for makeshift sandwiches. The food was hauled to the upper windows by a rope.
The two to three thousand supporters dwindled as night fell, leaving only the hard core of about l50 SDSers, and an equal number of militant Blacks. Some even brought their sleeping bags, anticipating a long vigil. The key to the success of the action was the ground support. Without it, the action could easily be cut off, divided and subdued. Jim and Chris knew that,.. so did Phyllis, and the supporters on the ground.
As the sun set, Phyllis returned home to check on Tania, then she called Jim and talked to him for an hour discussing the plans for tomorrow. As she talked she listened to the radio, and worried that the police might try an attack that night, when everybody was off guard.
"....Dr. Schofield has issued a statement. We have it here and will read it," Phyllis told Jim to turn up their radio at Woody Hall.
Jim yelled, "quiet...Quiet, turn up the radio, Schofield's gonna to make a statement."
Everybody stood still and listened.
"...As a free academic community we support the right to peaceful demonstration and protest, but will not tolerate the use of force. Any individual, group, or organization that resorts to the use of force , the use of illegal activities abandons his membership in the academic community. If the illegal capture of Pullian and Woody Halls are not ceased in 30 minutes. All those involved will be expelled...and arrested for illegal trespassing, destruction of public property, and conspiracy to incite a riot."
"Jim...Jim, did you hear that?" Phyllis talked closely to Jim.
" Yea, it's bullshit, pure bullshit. They're playing into our hands. Say, before I leave, It's very important that we get that information we sent down to you this afternoon xeroxed for the media. Keep multiple copies, hid in different places."
"Already done, tonight, we'll send'em out to everybody, the newspapers, the radio stations. it looked super, I'm still shocked this had been going on all this time. "
"I love you, say good night to Tania."
"I love you too...Take care now, bye,"
Phyllis hung up the phone. She had a busy night ahead of her, and tomorrow promised even more.
Schofield stormed around the office ranting and raving, "we have to keep the demonstrators from delivering food to them. Otherwise they'll last forever."
"Sir, you have a call from the governor," one of Schofield's assistants handed him the phone.
"Hello...Hello...yes...yes. I know it's guerrilla warfare...yes. Damnit, don't you think I'm doing the best I can," Schofield pranced around the room, holding the phone in one hand and the receiver in the other, His clothes were wrinkled, with catsup stains on his shirt, from eating a quick hamburger," ...Look, this could explode into a full blown riot, the whole school could go up, the town, the Blacks are angry. The radicals have gone the limit...yes...yes...I know that some are using this as a front for revolution... We know that,...But not all...What?...Yes,I'll keep you posted every half hour..."Goodbye."
Schofield slammed down the phone,"Freeburg, Freeburg, come here, this minute. "
Freeburg rushed into the room."you shit, if you spent more time with your work then chasing ass, this would have never happened."
"But sir...But sir."
Freeburg, forget it, Look it's the governor, he wants the National Guard to come, even talkin' about Federal troops. Calls it guerrilla warfare. Hew doesn't care if this explodes, people get killed, already, we have two near death in the hospital, he just wants to get reelected.
"Dr.Schofield...Dr. Schofield, the FBI agents are outside and Price from the Carbondale Police department."
"Yea, I know, I know...Send'em in." Schofield sat down in his chair, loosened his already loosened tie some more,brushed back his hair, and muttered to himself,"now what do they want. Shit, they all have advise, but if it blows up, it's my ass, not their, .. not the governors."
"Dr. Schofield, remember me, Parker...Frederick Parker, we talked before...You know Mr. Price, and this is Roman...Roman Sorosky, used to be a cop in Chicago, now's he's with us.
"Yes, Fred, Mr. Sorosky...Dick, good to see you, how's the family?...What can I do for you?"
"Holton... you know this is very serious business...J. Edgar, Nixon, and Mitchell agree that these campus riots can not continue...Strong measures must be taken, and there's the sensitive material, we're concerned about the most."
"Yes,yes,I know," Schofield said," we think they got the key from one of the library employees...Phyllis Newman... She's shacking up with this Thorne kid...Now don't tell us how stupid we feel,we already know that, but we can't checkout everybody... And Freeburg..."Schofield snarled at Freeburg, who twitched," oh, nothing, I guess."
"Look Holton,we know you want to handle this with the University police with backup from the city and the Highway patrol, but it's bigger then that,the governor demands action,"Richard said,"he'd already bent my ear and wonders why my men hadn't already taken care of matter. We should have acted quickly, now it'll be more difficult."
"Damnit Dick, don't tell me how to do my job."
"That's just it, Holton, if you don't call in the National Guard...more Highway patrol men,the governor will find someone who will," Richard pleaded.
"I know,I know, but then his ass's is on the line, isn't it?"
Late at night,everybody settled down to sleep except for the few who took turns standing guard. Quietly Jim and Chris relaxed and listened to the twelve o'clock news.
"...The Security and Exchange commission is still investigating Supreme Court justice Abe Fortas for alleged stock manipulation. Uninformed sources speculate that Abe Fortas will soon resign. A latest Gallop pole shows that 19 % favor the current war policy, 32 % want escalation, and 26 % say that we should simply quite and pull out of Vietnam.
"...Student radicals continued to occupy Pullian and Woody Hall at Southern Illinois University. The governor demanded quick action and swift punishment for those involved. Dean Schofield had told this reporter by phone that the half hour deadline had passed and now all are expelled, and will be arrested when this is over. He also said that's he's calling in the National Guard and the more Highway patrol men, and promised that this problem will soon be solved."
Chris listened closely as he smoked his cigarette, now knowing that his career at SIU was over. But he recognized that would likely happen sooner of later. Now the reality began to sat in, it was final. Tonight he had embarked on another path, where it led, he didn't know. But he knew one thing, that he had to continue the struggle.
Again the government was captured by thugs. Richard Nixon's rhetoric about peace in Vietnam was a shame, although sadly most Americans still believed him. On May 14, his first talk to the American people he rejected any compromises which could be disguised as defeat. The news of his secret CIA financed war in Laos, with it's hired mercenaries, gradually leaked out, and promised a wider war, not peace as Nixon implied and deceived in November. The Nation waited for the peace he promised, but Chris knew that he had deceived and lied to the American people.They don't know it yet, but they will and he knew that when they realized that they have been betrayed, watch out. It was his job to get that message out to the people. Diek had changed his mind,and if Diek can, many others will follow. We must forge ahead, Chris thought,as he drank some cold water to cool his cigarette inflamed throat.
The radio news continued."...In New York today 21 Black Panthers have been charged with four counts of conspiracy to blow up four department stores, including Macy's, bomb the New Haven Railroad. and to strike terror attacks aimed at killing police at many police stations throughout the city. A Black Panther spokesman, today said that the charges are ridiculous and an attempt by the avaricious demigodic capitalistic system to silence the people's movement. Other news today,Panther attorney Charles Gerry recommended that Eldrige Cleaver not return to the United States. Cleaver disappeared last year, presumably in a hijacked jet, first turning up in Cuba and then migrating to Algeria. Reports are that he wants to return, but that he like living also, and is worried about a FBI hit team."
Phyllis rocked Tania gently in the rocking chair, a baby present from Chris. Tania was colicky and fretted nervously. She tightened her fists contract her legs,wrinkled her face, and screamed in her small voice, as if she knew mom was uptight, and tense.
"... In Santa Barbara, Police reported that they still didn't have any leads into the recent bombing of the faculty club. Dover Sharp, the 55 year old maintenance man, who found the bomb was killed in the incident. Physicist and Nobel prize winner William B. Shockley, who contributed to the development of the transistor, today supported Arthur Jensen's contention that Blacks had an IQ on the average of fifteen points below whites. Shockley stated that his calculations showed that for every l% of whites Blood that a Negro had, raised his IQ one point. Shockley proposed that everybody with an low IQ be paid one thousand dollars for every point below one hundred if they are sterilized volunteerly. He even suggested that bounty hunters be recruited to received l0 % of the amount, since many people of low IQ would not be aware of the program. Shockley rejected that his program had any relationship to Nazi ideals of racial superiority."
Disgusted, Phyllis turned off the radio. That night she couldn't sleep. She was scared. The whole country got crazier and crazier Something ugly was happening.
Suddenly the radio went dead at Woody hall. The lights in the Hall shut off. The low gentle roar of the air conditioner stopped. Someone yelled,"hey..what happened. "
Jim shot up as did Chris. Someone flicked the light switch on and off and shouted, in the blackness,"they turned off the electricity."
Someone else yelled," the water's off too."
"Damn, Jim shouted to himself, damn, we should've thought of that. How much water do we have," he shouted.
Chris yelled, "the Coke machine...We got the Coke machine."
Someone yell," only Cokes, shit I'm a Pepsi man."
The sound of the radio was heard again. Chris turned to Jim, "thank God the radio had batteries...turn off the radio. We have to save the batteries," Chris shouted and someone turned off the radio, "will turn it on at the hour, just for the news."
"The phone's dead, damnit the phone's dead too, "someone yelled.
Jim got up and checked for himself the phone, and sure enough it was dead.
"Ok, everybody calm. Be alert, they may be planning a raid tonight. Everybody be quiet... "
The rest of the night, no one stirred. Every small sound, they jumped. Rumors of impending raids flashed at least every hour. And Jim warned everybody not to get shook, he yelled periodically throughout the night.
Soon morning came. Everybody managed to get some rest. Jim and Chris were amazed at everbody's high spirit.
Phyllis tried repeatedly to reach Jim, all she got was a busy signal. She made arrangements with Lenny to watch Tania, and then she rushed off to the school. By the time she got there, the crowd of supporter were already there. The National Guard now ringed the building preventing the supporters from aiding the occupants.
They two thousand supporters shouted," no cops, no cops... no cops...Pigs...Pigs go home...Off the pigs...Oink...Oink...oink..."
A row of police and highway patrol men separated the demonstrators from another group of hostile students. Those supporting the police and strong action. They shouted, "more cops... more cops... more cops..Attack , Attack now... .kill the commies... kill the reds..."
The campus was chaotic, all morning minor scuffles broke out between the police, the protesters, and the straights who supporter the police.
At the command center Holton held forth. Freeburg rushed into his office,"Holton...Holton... The faculty council voted, 765- 128 to refuse amnesty, but they passed a resolution insisting you keep this thing peaceful," Freeburg anxiously reported to Schofield," Dr. Bedford wants to talk to you?"
"Send him in."
Dr. Bedford the president of the faculty council entered.
"Holton,..they wanted me to talk to you personally, there's strong feeling against police action..."
"Damnit, Charles, the governors..."
"Damn the governor, this is our University, there's strong feeling you should handle this the way Levy did at the University of Chicago, let'em sit it out and when they get thirsty and hungry,they'll come out."
"But Charles, it took sixteen days at the University of Chicago. It's a private school. I have to answer to the governor, every legislature's up for reelection, the hoards see this as million dollar free publicity."
" Holton, you have to try..."
"You and the faculty council don't understand, it's out of my hands, it's gone to far to back out now."
"I'm warning you, Holton, we don't want this school in turmoil for four month like at San Francisco State. That Hayakawa confrontational approach just inflamed the issues. He was way off base, some say he even encouraged the confrontation."
"I know Bedford, I know, but you have to understand, the Federal Government has a stake in this...There's some sensitive material in..."
"We know that, but we warned you that something like this could happen. You knew that many questioned this program on campus, now look what happened. You threatened the whole institution, you let the National Guard in, the police. We lost more than you think...Academic freedom. It'll take years to correct this," Professor Charles Bedford stormed out and slammed the door. Schofield walked over to the TV and turned up the volume. He recognized an on the spot report about to begin.
"...Hello, hello, this is Cindy Baker with an on the site report on the campus of Southern Illinois University. We have with us today,a..a Phyllis Newman, is that correct." Phyllis
nodded yes.
"Perhaps you can tell us something about the demands of SDS. We've just heard from Robert Grant and the demands of The Afro-American Union. Now we would like to hear from you. I understand that your boyfriend is one of the leaders occupying Woody Hall."
"Phyllis answered somewhat indignantly, "yes,...he's my husband. Let me read a statement from them,'We are occupying Woody Hall to insist on three basic demands. Number one, to grant all the non-negotiable demands of the Afro-American Union. Number two,we demand an immediate end to the Institute for Defense Studies.The secret organization that functions as a civilization arm of he immoral war in Vietnam,'"
Phyllis looked up from the paper she read and pulled a stack of papers from her purse,"we have papers here to prove the type of work that they are doing...For example this paper discussed the use of defoliants in Vietnam, which by the way are outlawed for use in this United States. This ofcourse is a blatantly immoral and constitutes genocide against the people of Vietnam...And if you don't care about them, keep in mind that these powerful poisons are also contaminating the G.I.'s."
Schofield rushed over to the window, and watched the live TV interview of Phyllis, he yelled out to Freeburg who rushed in," Freeburg,get that woman off the TV, now. pronto."
"But Dr. Schofield, they're filming her, how will it look?"
"That's your problem, and don't botch it, I'm watching."
Freeburg froze.
"Damnit, go... Now,' shouted Schofield.
Phyllis pulled out another paper, "this one discussed
Chemical biological warfare...These agents are of course outlawed but I asked,
if that's the case why are we still experimenting with them. I only have to
remind you that last month over a thousand sheep died in the desert ... killed
by a mistake in the testing of one of these agents, it seemed the wind carried
the poison gases away from the testing area...That could happen anywhere in the
United States, and instead of sheep, they may wipe out a town. And this,"
Phyllis handed her another paper," this is evidence that IDS gets it's
financing from the CIA and AID...both organization are heavily involved in
Vietnam...and the CIA's also involved in Laos, and Cambodia... And ofcourse
more evidence of crimes against the people is coming."
"Mrs. Newman, you mentioned a third demand?"
The third demand is complete amnesty for the Carbondale six, and everybody else involved in todays action. We feel we have a right and duty to protest the illegitimate University."
"Thank you Phyllis. But do you realized that the faculty council voted in support of Dr. Holton Schofield's expulsion edict, and opposed to amnesty. And it looks like there are many students around here who do not support the notion of amnesty," the newswoman pointed the microphone to Phyllis for a comment.
"All I can say is that they still need to be educated in the horrors that this government is doing in Vietnam...to the Black people, to the poor...The protesters have a right, a moral duty to oppose racism. This University, actually makes profits by investments in South Africa, and they say to the Blacks that they are not racist. I don't believe that."
"Schofield paced up and down his office, raging inside, and every second, looked out the window to follow Freeburg's efforts.
Phyllis continued, "look at the millions that are homeless in South Vietnam. The country has been ravaged by war, half the population now lives in the cities. What do they do? How do they scrape out a living? They're 500,000 prostitutes...the rest are pimps, hustlers, beggers, blackmarketeers...That what we did to Vietnam. Not only have we killed and wounded many of them, but the ones that survived we turned into prostitutes, black marketeers and thieves. And the University should not be involved in these programs which continues this great shame on the American people.
"But Mrs Newman,they are not opposed to protest, but the violence."
"Violence? There's more violence in one second in Vietnam, than a hundred building takeovers. Schofield, the faculty council, all talk about peaceful dialogue..I say the hell with peaceful dialogue. They're pigs in grey flannel suits.They allow these crimes to continue. We tried peaceful dialogue for the past five years. Where did that get us? It's a new ball game, and that's confrontation, to stop oppression."
A small crowd that gathered to listen to Phyllis cheered.
Phyllis continued,"the war machine in Vietnam still rages on. Americans, Vietnamese are still senselessly slaughtered, the war's not winding down, but expanding to Cambodia and Laos and the Schofields of the world talk about peaceful dialogue... Unfortunately peaceful dialogue doesn't work. Look what happening at the universities across this country...Did the universities meet the demands by the Blacks by peaceful dialogue. No,.. it took radical action. It took forceful action to confront the racist institutions to see the facts...That's why we are here today. We'll stay here until we have meaningful commitments to change."
A small group around her applauded.
Schofield harangued on the phone. "damn you,damn you... you're letting all this go over the air live...Thousands are listening at this minute to that harangue? You're playing into their hands. That's just what they want, to create more chaos." Schofield slammed down the receiver, "get me Freeburg... damnit, get me Freeburg. Where the hell is he?"
The interview ended and Phyllis turned around, searched the third floor windows and saw Jim and Chris looking out of one of them. She walked as close to the building as she could, looked up and yelled,"Jim...Chris."
They looked down to her, Jim opened the window, and yelled, "Power to the people..Power to the People." he raised his clinched fist defiantly.
A tear rolled down Phyllis' cheek. She knew something terrible was going to happen. Tension increased. The National Guard, and the police were jumpy. Students scuffled with each other and with the police. Periodic burst of tear gas was shot, and the acrid smell prevailed over the campus, all day. "Phyllis raised her fist, and yelled back,"Jim...I love you...I love you," She wiped her eyes, she didn't know if he heard her.She turned around and walked away slowly, turning back often waving hoping her would see her.
Jim and Chris watched her as she left. Each time she turned around,they waved to her. But had an empty feeling in their stomach. Both knew but neither told the other, that sometime tonight, they would get hit. It was just to uptight outside, it had to come down tonight.
Chris wanted to talk to Jim about it. Maybe they should walk out...Maybe they should stay. He didn't know... All Chris knew was that now he rationed his cigarettes. He was down to half a pack. He took one every two hours, and calculated that he had enough to last twenty hours...then he knew he would get the nervous urge, the uncontrollable craving, that hungry gnawing craving for nicotine.
Damn he thought to himself as he slowly smoked, and watched the sun set, casting long dark shadows across the campus.
Darkness came. Chris and everybody else were subdued, tired, hungry, dirty and sweaty and sticky. Morale though was still high. No one talked of giving up. They all knew the end neared. All waited, the jimmied Coke machine now was almost empty. And they knew that once the rationed Cokes were gone, they couldn't last long.
Chris laid against the wall, his thoughts drifted to Phyllis, how beautiful she really was...how much he liked her, and at that thought, he felt guilty thinking about her that way. But still he was proud of the way she handled the food, the reporters, her strength and determination, was beautiful.
Both Chris and Jim knew that SIU would not be the same after this. Both hoped that this action had helped shorten the war...The tactics were aggressive,but they felt something had to be down.
Chris quietly dozed off to sleep, dreaming of Robin, holding her, touching her soft skin, kissing her moist lips.
Suddenly blackness overcame him. Terror struck, he gagged, couldn't breath. He suddenly awoke, in black darkness, pungent smoke engulfed the large room, He heard screams and yells. Glass broke,and shattered with more incoming tear gas exploded. Now the room was completely saturated with smoke.Chris choked and struggled,covered him month with a handkerchief, but it didn't help. He looked up, a light shined in his face, another light shined showing a cop with a helmet on, a shielded plastic face and gas mask. The last thing he saw was the four foot club landing on his head, knocking him out. Suddenly everything was black.