Foster was carrying out a board of education order that students be issued ID cards. As you know, students in inner city schools are often prey to drug dealers, and I believe in this case students were also being recruited for prostitution. The ID cards were the board of education's attempt to protect the students from off-campus elements. The SLA, a demented group if there ever was one, did denounce this as repression. radman wrote: > radman says: My recollection was Foster wanted to institute fingerprinting, > but these references don't say whether the ID cards were to have students' > fingerprints...(not that any of it justifies murder)... > ===================================================================== > From: <http://www.sfbg.com/News/33/39/Features/sla.html> > > [Foster]...was a moderate African American educator who....aroused the > SLA's ire by proposing that students carry ID cards. > > From: <http://www.nexttimes.8k.com/olson.htm> > > The SLA claimed responsibility; members thought Foster was encouraging > conformity through the > issuance of student-identification cards. > ---- > And, just to mix things up a bit.. > > From: <http://www.newsmakingnews.com/mbinsidehearstkidnap.htm> > > The purpose of the Foster murder was to establish the existence of the > S.L.A. In > October, 1973, the American Nazi Party was passing out leaflets in the San > Leandro shopping center, outside Oakland, that stated, "There might be > shotgun blasts into the guts of Mix Master principals and superintendents." > Dr. Foster was black, and his co-worker and close friend, Mr. Blackburn, is > white. A well-respected black educator was eliminated in Oakland, and the > murder would be associated with black radicals to spread terror among the > community. > Two different kinds of bullets were used for the shootings, which allowed > the white educator to live. The black man never had a chance; the bullets > that murdered him were tipped with cyanide. > Another fictitious police front, the "August Seventh Guerrilla Movement," > claimed credit for the death of two Oakland policemen who went down in a > helicopter in December, 1973. The National Transportation Safety Board, > Hughes Aircraft, and local authorities said it would have been impossible > for radicals to have caused these deaths. The purpose of these feats of > violence in California, bragged about by people who are unknown even to the > F.B.I. and the local police, is to spread the illusion that multiple > terrorists are hiding among us, trying to create chaos and disrupt our > daily lives. > The result was that when Patricia Hearst was kidnapped, it appeared that > America's first political kidnapping was an act performed by > already-existing militant forces. > =================================================== > At 06:40 PM 10/6/00 -0400, Michael Rossman <mrossman@igc.org> wrote: > > Although I abhor such violence as much as the next pacifist, even at targets > less-generally respected, it's instructive to review the rationale given by > the SLA for the assassination of Marcus Foster. As I recall, they saw him as > presiding over the military pacification of the public schools -- the key > points being their fenced enclosure with armed guards, and the drugging of > then-termed "hyperactive" students, particularly with Ritalin. Although the > paths of development since do not coincide with SLA expectations, the irony of > the present situation is apparent. For the degree of protective fortification > and policing has advanced significantly, not only in inner-city schools but > in spreading to those more privileged; and the degree of drugging, across all > social levels, has multiplied remarkably with the popularity of ADD/ADHD > diagnosis and the general trend towards pharmaceutical management of personal > and social problems. Ironically also, perhaps, Foster's assassination was a > significant factor in disrupting the development of analyses and activism > concerned with the conjunction of these two continuing developments.
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