Racism is ingrained in America’s birth, and it has been a long fight against it ever since. [In] The Sky’s the Limit: People v. Newton: The Real Trial of the 20th Century?, former Judge Lise Pearlman argues that this court case . . . allowed America to eventually elect its first non-white president . . . a fascinating look at this very important case of the twentieth century.
James A. COX, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW, WISCONSIN BOOKWATCH, MARCH 2012
I was born in Oakland a generation before the mass migration of African-American families to the Bay Area from the South during World War II. I later experienced the highly polarizing 1968 prosecution of Black Panther Huey Newton. Lise Pearlman has written a powerful account of both that trial and its place in our country’s political history. I truly believe that had Newton received a death sentence, we would not have Obama in the White House today. Read this wonderful book.
Morrie Turner (1923–2014), AWARD-WINNING CREATOR OF “WEE PALS,” THE FIRST INTEGRATED COMIC STRIP
What a phenomenal book! I strongly recommend The Sky’s the Limit to high school history and social studies teachers as an essential resource. Focusing on important trials in the classroom provides an excellent basis for engaging their students in exploring key social questions of the past century.
Deborah Menkart, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TEACHING FOR CHANGE, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Judge Pearlman breathes life into historical topics that remain highly relevant today. Her well-researched content on a full span of 20th century trials—many of which involve labor-related cases—reminds us of the enduring nature of the underlying social and economic issues that they raise.
Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO PRESIDENT
Courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley © 2016 Family of Rosalie Ritz
Judge Monroe Friedman watching Huey Newton testify before a packed courtroom.
Courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley © 2016 Family of Rosalie Ritz
Historic jury selected for 1968 Newton death penalty trial, including seven women and four minorities. Jury members: Linda Aguirre, Ronald Andrews, Marian Butler, Mary Gallegos, Jenevie Gibbons, David Harper, Helen Hart, Thomas Hofmann, Jr., Harvey Kokka, Eda Prelli, Joseph Quintana and June Reed. The lone African-American, banker David Harper (pictured on the cover of this book), is seated third from the left in the second row between Thomas Hofmann, Jr. and Harvey Kokka.
AMERICAN JUSTICE ON TRIAL
PEOPLE v. NEWTON
LISE PEARLMAN
Copyright © 2016 by Lise Pearlman
PAPERBACK:
ISBN 13: 978-1-58790-369-4
ISBN 10: 1-58790-369-5
E-BOOK
ISBN 13: 978-1-58790-370-0
ISBN 10: 1-58790-370-9
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2016949475
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the Publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Front Cover photos: photo of pioneering Newton jury foreman David Harper in the late 1960s courtesy of David Harper. Newspaper photo of Huey Newton and arresting officer taken on the morning of Oct. 28, 1967 © 1967 San Francisco Examiner, reprinted courtesy of San Francisco Media Company. Back cover photo: photo of Huey Newton Oakland Post Collection, MS169, African American Museum and Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library, Oakland, CA.
This book is based in part on interviews conducted for American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton, a documentary project of Arc of Justice Productions, Inc., Oakland, California. www.americanjusticeontrial.com. Quotes from such interviews are published here with permission from the Board of Directors of Arc of Justice Productions, Inc.
Special thanks to the family of Rosalie Ritz and to the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, for permission to include in this book copies of original courtroom drawings of the Newton trial by CBS artist Rosalie Ritz (1923-2008). To see full color copies of Ritz’s original Newton trial sketches reproduced in black and white in this book, see www.lisepearlman.com.
Printed in the U.S.A.
REGENT PRESS
Berkeley, California
www.regentpress.net [email protected]
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to the memory of two extraordinary men who died in 2014:
my good friend, “Wee Pals” cartoonist Morrie Turner, who devoted his life to spreading a gentle, humanitarian message celebrating diversity and promoting equality, strongly encouraged my retelling of the story of the 1968 Newton trial, and always urged me to “keep the faith”
and
author Gilbert Moore, who recognized the historic significance of the Newton death penalty trial when covering it for LIFE magazine and quit his job to write the classic book A Special Rage — capturing for posterity both the racial tensions the trial exposed and the inner workings of its ground-breaking, diverse jury.
CONTENTS
2. OAKLAND – THE MAKINGS OF A RACIAL TINDERBOX