Our Weekly – Los Angeles
By Shirley Hawkins

Dozens of activists, supporters, and former members of the Black Panthers Party showed their solidarity Saturday for Romaine ‘Chip’ Fitzgerald, a former member of the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party who has been imprisoned for 39 years.

A national groundswell of support is growing for the incarcerated political prisoner and nearly 3,000 signatures have been compiled on a “Petition for the Release to Free Romaine ‘Chip’ Fitzgerald.” The activist is currently incarcerated at Centinela State Prison in the Imperial Valley.

The rally, which was held at the KAOS Network in Leimert Park and organized by The Committee to Free Chip Fitzgerald, was held to show support for the former Black Panther whose parole date was July 2.

Fitzgerald, who has been in prison for 39 years, is the longest incarcerated Black Panther in history. At the age of 18, he was convicted of murder and attempted murder. In 1972, the state of California renounced the death penalty and commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment.

Showing their support for the long-time political prisoner were community activists and former members of the Black Panther Party Elaine Brown, David Hilliard, Roland Freeman, George Robinson, and Sherwin Forte.

“Some people have said, ‘What crime needs 39 years in prison to make amends?’” said Dominique DiPrima, host of KGFJ Radio’s The Front Page, who hosted the event. “We need to continue to show ‘Chip’ Fitzgerald that he has a network of support so that he can come home. We need to spread the word of his case by writing to the governor.”

David Hilliard, a founding member and chief of staff of the Black Panther Party, flew in from Oakland to attend the event.

Hilliard, a college professor who is also director of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, recalled that from the beginning, the party was a target of governmental opposition. “The Los Angeles and Chicago branches of the party were the chapters that suffered most of the heat,” he recalled.

Like other Black Panthers who became targets of COINTELPRO and the FBI, Hilliard observed, “Fitzgerald was a victim of the FBI’s war against the Party. He became involved in a shootout with the California Highway Patrol in Sept. 1969 and got shot in the head. A week later, police arrested Chip for allegedly shooting a security guard, but a witness testified that he was at home at the time recuperating from his head wound.”

Holding a reprint of the Black Panther Intercommunal News Service newspaper, Hilliard then read the names of nearly 20 Black Panthers who had been murdered by Los Angeles police or FBI operatives between 1968 and 1970, including Black Panther co-founders Bunchy Carter and John Huggins. Hilliard said that Carter and Huggins were assassinated in 1969 by members of the FBI on the campus of UCLA.

“The state reserves the right to enact violence for itself,” observed Hilliard. Waving the newspaper, Hilliard declared, “I just wanted to show you the impact of the oppression that the Black Panthers faced.”
Declaring that Fitzgerald was his hero, Hilliard said, “Chip hasn’t lost his self-respect. He is a paradigm of what a political revolutionary soldier really is. We support his dignity, strength, and courage. We want our brother back in the community. He’s done his time and we want him home.”

Emani Bey, one of the organizers of the event, said that Fitzgerald has written letters stating his commitment to non-violence. “He is helping to form a cease fire group for black and brown unity,” said Bey. “He wrote me about the black and brown violence in the prisons and how it spills out on the streets. He wants to work with the youth to stop the spiral of violence,” she said.

Elaine Brown, former chairperson of the Black Panther Party who flew in from Savannah, Georgia, to attend the event, said, “We need the state to understand that Chip Fitzgerald has done enough time. We have to let the Board of Parole Hearings know that we support Chip’s parole and we’re asking people to sign the online petition we have established to get him home.”

Noting the lack of elected officials at the rally, Brown added, “We need our politicians to come out and say that they support this man. We need to raise the number of people showing Chip support as much as we can.”

Brown recalls that Fitzgerald joined the party in the ‘60s at the age of 18 with several other youths who had just been released from the California Youth Authority. “Of the seven who came into the party together, only two are still alive,” said Brown. “One is Chip and the other one is Bruce Richard, executive vice president of 1199 SEIU in New York.”

Brown, a lifelong friend of Fitzgerald, observed, “Chip is so humble, he has never wanted a lot of publicity around his cause. He’s a true soldier.”

Brown said that no matter what the pending outcome of Fitzgerald’s hearing, his supporters must remain vigilant. “Let’s keep the momentum to free Chip going,” she said.

Forte observed, “We need a high level of unity and we want to do everything civilly and legally to get Chip out, whether it’s with phone calls, letters, or emails. Let’s keep each other’s spirits high. Stick it out and we will win.”

The online petition for Romaine ‘Chip’ Fitzgerald can be accessed at www.freechip.org.

source: http://www.ourweekly.com

On July 2, 2008, Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald was denied parole by the California Board of Parole Hearings for one more year. That is, he will not be eligible for another hearing until July 2009. The Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner conducting the hearing for the entire Board said Chip had to do more “programming,” such as participating in group discussions and counseling—all of which “rehabilitative” work and more Chip has performed and completed over these 38 years.

The Deputy Commissioner, Lee Cox, a former prison guard who became a lieutenant, stated that the nearly-3,000 signatures on Chip’s Petition and the numerous support letters, offering Chip a UCLA education, housing, employment and publication of a book about his life meant nothing to her, that “the people who sign them [petitions] and write letters really don’t know what goes on with these inmates.” It is significant that it was Lt. Cox who seemed to influence the ultimate decision, bolstered by her charge that Chip had some rules violations in 2005. considering that even Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been critical of the extraordinary power wielded by California prison guards and their union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, in its management of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and influence over the parole process.

Chip was in good spirits at the end of the hearing and did not seem surprised by the outcome.

Write to Chip! Join the Committee to Free Chip Fitzgerald and keep fighting for his freedom! We have legal appeals and more strategies to employ, including new legal representation, and we will execute our commitment to FREE CHIP!

We thank all of you who support Chip. We urge you to keep spreading the word, sign and get others to sign the Petition, and stay tuned for updates.

Imperial, California — On July 2, the possibility of freedom awaits Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald, who has been in prison over 38 years. This is the date of his upcoming parole hearing.

Chip’s case epitomizes the culmination of the dirty tricks and tactics the U.S. government employed in its effort to destroy the Black Panther Party, of which he was a member when he was arrested. It is well-documented that, in the late 1960s, the FBI and other policing agencies of the government developed and carried out a concerted plan to neutralize or wipe out the Black Panther Party, after FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover issued his infamous declaration that the Party was the “greatest threat” to the nation’s security. As a result of the FBI’s brutal campaign, many party leaders were assassinated, falsely imprisoned, imprisoned under extraordinary sentences, slandered and demonized, as party offices were assaulted and party programs were undermined.

On Jan. 17, 1969, the party’s Southern California chapter, of which Chip was a member, suffered the loss of its main leaders, Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter and John Huggins, at the hands of FBI-sponsored assassins. Prior to that, in August of 1968, Los Angeles police gunned down Panthers Tommy Lewis, Steve Bartholomew and Robert Lawrence in a single incident.

In September 1969, Chip himself was involved in a shootout with Los Angeles police, and sustained a gunshot wound to the head. He survived this attack, only to be arrested later and charged with assault on police and the murder of a security guard. He was convicted and sentenced to death, which was commuted to life.

That year, 1969, ended with the Chicago police assassinations of Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark and a nearly six-hour raid by the LAPD’s newly-formed SWAT team on the party’s Los Angeles offices.

Today, Chip is the longest held Black Panther Party political prisoner in the United States, now housed at Centinela State Prison, near the California-Mexico border. His upcoming parole hearing is one of the most anticipated dates for many community leaders, students and supporters around the world, all waiting to see if the California Board of Parole Hearings will employ justice in this hearing, particularly in consideration of the era and climate of Chip’s arrest, conviction and sentencing in late 1969.

The Committee to Free Chip Fitzgerald has been formed to advocate to the board for Chip’s parole, encouraging people to sign its online petition at www.freechip.org to urge the Board to release Chip back into his community, as he has served more time than his sentence prescribed, and the state has no further interest in his continued incarceration.

A public tribute to Chip is slated for Saturday, June 28, in Los Angeles, at noon at filmmaker Ben Caldwell’s Kaos Network, 4343 Leimert Boulevard, where support messages from elected officials like Rep. Maxine Waters will be read, and labor leaders like Tryone Freeman, SEIU Local 6434 president, will speak, along with former Black Panthers, including Elaine Brown and David Hilliard, in a program hosted by Dominique DiPrima of Stevie Wonder’s radio station KJLH.

To learn more, email freechipfitzgerald@yahoo.com or visit www.freechip.org

source: http://www.sfbayview.com

Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald, a former member of the Black Panther Party in southern California, has languished in prison since 1969, almost 40 years. Along with more than one hundred other California death row prisoners, his sentence was commuted to life in 1972. While the majority of those former death row prisoners have since been paroled, Fitzgerald has not. Having expressed deep and sincere remorse for the acts he was convicted of so long ago, and posing no threat to anyone, Chip Fitzgerald now awaits a July 2 parole hearing.
We respectfully request that our readers sign the petition at the end of the article which will be presented to the parole board prior to the hearing.

Click the flash player below to hear this Black Agenda Radio commentary

Download the Black Agenda Radio commentary (mp3)

Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald: Will Imprisoned Former Panther Receive Parole after 39 Years?

by BAR Managing Editor Bruce Dixon

Forty years is a long time, not just in the lives of individual men and women, but in the life of a people and of a nation. It’s been a long time indeed since 1969. Today those times are exactly as remote from us as the Great Depression was to people living in 1969. 1969 is one quarter of the way back to the Civil War. Relatively few who were adults then remain with us today.

Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald is still around. A former member of the Southern California chapter of the Black Panther Party, Fitzgerald has been imprisoned since 1969, when he was convicted of murder and attempted murder at the age of 18. Fitzgerald was sentenced to death. But in the enlightened spirit of the early 1970s, the state of California renounced the death penalty, and commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment. Most surviving inmates who were on California’s 1972 death row have since been freed.

“Almost forty years later there is no doubt that Chip Fitzgerald presents no threat to society or to those around him.”

Released from California’s youth prison system about 1965 or 66, Fitzgerald resolved to dedicate his life to the service of his people. Like many other young people of that era, he came to see the Black Panther Party as part of the answer to hunger, to police brutality, to educational and health care systems that failed to meet human needs. Fitzgerald joined the southern California chapter of the Black Panther Party, and selflessly plunged himself into its routine of study and service, feeding hungry children each morning, tutoring, selling papers and attending classes. It’s now well known that government officials stepped far beyond the boundaries of the law in order to target, to frame and even to murder members and leaders of the Black Panther Party and other organizations deemed a threat to the established order.

Now, nearly forty years later there is no doubt that Chip Fitzgerald presents no threat to society or to those around him. He has expressed repeated, sincere and heartfelt contrition. He has asked forgiveness for the acts that led to his imprisonment. Fitzgerald has been an exemplary prisoner by any yardstick, earning no complaints from his keepers, counseling other inmates against bitterness and violence, and advising them to take advantage of whatever educational opportunities are present. In recent years he has suffered a stroke, and for a time lost control over much of one side of his body. During his recovery he walked with a cane. Chip’s friends have secured him a job offer with a labor union, in which his spirit of unselfish dedication to the needs of others can be put to good use.

On July 2, 2008 a parole board in California will consider Chip Fitzgerald’s eligibility for release.

“Chip is a modest kind of guy,” Bruce Richard, another former Southern California member of the Black Panther Party told BAR. “He hasn’t tried to assume any kind of public posture like some have. He’s not pointing to himself saying ‘What about me? I’m next!’ He’s not that kind of guy. But it really IS time. 39, almost 40 years really is enough. He’s changed. The world has changed. We’ve all changed. It’s time for Chip to come out and use whatever time he has left to help make this a better world.”

BAR wholeheartedly agrees, and requests that readers sign the online petition at www.freechip.org, and linked to at the bottom of this article, which will be presented to the parole board prior to its July 2 hearing.

39 years really is enough. It’s time to release Chip Fitzgerald. For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Bruce Dixon.

Bruce Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report, and can be reached at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com

source: http://www.blackagendareport.com

Imperial, CA (BlackNews.com) – On July 2, 2008, the possibility of freedom awaits Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald, who has been in prison over 38 years. This is the date of his upcoming parole hearing. Chip’s case epitomizes the culmination of the dirty tricks and tactics the U.S. government employed in its effort to destroy the Black Panther Party, of which he was a member when he was arrested.

It is well-documented that, in the late 1960s, the FBI and other policing agencies of the government developed and carried out a concerted plan to neutralize or wipe out the Black Panther Party, after FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover issued his infamous declaration that the Party was the “greatest threat” to the nation’s security. As a result of the FBI’s brutal campaign, many Party leaders were assassinated, falsely imprisoned, imprisoned under extraordinary sentences, slandered and demonized, as Party offices were assaulted and Party programs were undermined. On January 17, 1969, the Party’s Southern California Chapter, of which Chip was a member, suffered the loss of its main leaders, Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter and John Huggins, at the hands of FBI-sponsored assassins. Prior to that, in August of 1968, Los Angeles police gunned down Panthers Tommy Lewis, Steve Bartholomew and Robert Lawrence in a single incident.

In September 1969, Chip himself was involved in a shootout with Los Angeles police, and sustained a gunshot wound to the head. He survived this attack, only to be arrested later and charged with assault on police and the murder of a security guard. He was convicted and sentenced to death, which was commuted to life. That year, 1969, ended with the Chicago police assassinations of Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark and a nearly six-hour raid by the LAPD’s newly-formed SWAT Team on the Party’s Los Angeles offices.

Today, Chip is the longest held Black Panther Party political prisoner in the United States, now housed at Centinela State Prison, near the California-Mexico border. His upcoming parole hearing is one of the most anticipated dates for many community leaders, students, and supporters around the world, all waiting to see if the California Board of Parole Hearings will employ justice in this hearing, particularly in consideration of the era and climate of Chip’s arrest, conviction and sentencing in late 1969.

The Committee to Free Chip Fitzgerald has been formed to advocate to the Board for Chip’s parole, encouraging people to sign its online petition at www.freechip.org to urge the Board to release Chip back into his community as he has served more time than his sentence prescribed, and the State has no further interest in his continued incarceration. A public tribute to Chip is slated for June 28, 2008, in Los Angeles, at noon at filmmaker Ben Caldwell’s Kaos Network, 4343 Leimert Boulevard, where support messages from elected officials like Rep. Maxine Waters will be read, and labor leaders like Tryone Freeman, SEIU Local 6434 president, will speak, along with former Black Panthers, including Elaine Brown and David Hilliard, in a program hosted by Dominique DiPrima of Stevie Wonder’s radio station KJLH.

CONTACT:
Emani Bey or Jenn Laskin
Committee to Free Chip Fitzgerald

freechipfitzgerald@yahoo.com
www.freechip.org

ROMAINE FITZGERALD … known affectionately as ‘Chip’ is now on death row in San Quentin State Prison. This brother was railroaded by a racist lawyer and jury who all agreed this Panther should be sentenced to the gas chamber after a mock four day trial. Chip was sent to San Quentin immediately to make it difficult for his family to visit and communicate with him. Proving again the spirit is truly than the contempt of pigs, the Party to send Chip’s mother and family, as often as they can make the trip to see the brother in order to keep his spirit high. Chip is just one of the many strong brothers who have faced repeated attempts of genocide by the fascist pigs here in L.A. Before being arrested on this trumped up charge, Chip was constantly stopped and harassed by the pigs in L.A. for no other reason than serving the people. He now awaits appeal, and does so with the knowledge that victory and liberation, in the final analysis, belong to the people.

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