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and alters his posture in our absence. What is needed is a mutually supportive system of relationships between blacks who deal in parliamentary politics and those that deal in extra-parliamentary politics, and acceptance of the fact that both approaches are valid and useful if properly designed and directed. Moreover, it is not enough to expect traditional politicians to be responsive to us or the people in general if there are no established structures to hold them accountable. Morality is fine among men with the same values, but it is somewhat absurd to believe that moral arguments alone, to people of different persuasions and with different values, are going to convince them to change their posture or behavior. Finally, it must be realized that electoral politics are a means, not a panacea, and are conditioned objectively by so many limitations. They can, if properly analyzed, designed and directed provide educational, organizational and at times economic advantages to the community. But what is crucial here is the maintenance of the constituency and structures used in the election to insure accountability and constantly remind and direct us and the elected official of our original aspiration by urging and working for the establishment of institutions that reflect that aspiration.

The struggle ahead of us on the long road to reconversion and reconstruction will be an intense and extensive one. But the most important battle is still the one for the minds of our people and thus cultural reconversion is indispensable. Moreover our efforts must be directed to a given collected end, not at random and, therefore, an achievement ethic baSed on collective good must be established, not a simple Calvinistic work ethic or one that advocates abstract activism. For work and action without direction and design can be counterproductive and time and energy consuming, no more than a series of empty acts, a labor without love. We must be continuously committed to the creation of new and more positive realities and believe in the infinite capacity of man, and our people to transform themselves. Finally, we must constantly reassess our positions and postures, eliminate our weaknesses and reinforce our strengths, always committed to the principle that subjective formulations are no substitute for objective achievements. If we can overturn ourselves, we can struggle against our collective weaknesses and if we overcome our collective weaknesses, we can defy and defeat the enemy. And when we win this struggle against our oppressor, we must continue the battle for the mind and heart on a higher level, for our real commitment to reconversion and reconstruction is not simply to defeat the enemy, but to a profound and perpetual commitment to the continuous development and expansion of man.

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THE CASE OF BILLY DEAN SMITH
by MARK ALLEN

THE SCENE HAS by now become almost a classic in the black community. Another black man torn from the streets of the United States to fight another war of aggression for a government that has offered him only brutal racism and depression-ridden streets. 

Many unwillingly surrender to the awesome spectre of the U.S government, hoping and praying that they will be among those who will return. Others hide out in the streets and on campuses, delaying what so often seems the inevitable. Yet still others resist; they resist the draft, the racist military bureaucracy, and indeed many come to fight the system that has reigned terror on the oppressed and exploited peoples of the world, U.S. imperialism.

Billy Dean Smith resisted, and he is resisting today. Born in Bakersfield, California, the tenth of 12 children, he was raised in the Watts ghetto of Los Angeles.

In 1970, Billy Smith left Watts, and he may never return. He was drafted into the Vietnam war. He opposed the war then, and vehemently resisted his induction. Billy Smith went into the service only because he respected his family's wishes.

In October of that year, he was sent to Vietnam, to serve there in an artillery unit under Captain Randall L. Rigby. Six months in Vietnam had gained Billy the reputation of having a "bad attitude." Billy Dean was not a "good nigger." His enemy was not the heroic Vietnamese who for hundreds of years, had waged the same struggle as a people he 

BLACK SCHOLAR OCTOBER, 1972

BROTHER MARK ALLEN has long been active in the anti-war movement in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also worked with the Soledad brothers Defense Committee. Presently, he is a staff writer for the [i] People's World [/i] newspaper, and has been covering the trial of Billy Smith. Anyone interested in knowing more about this case should write: Billy Dean Smith Defense Committee, 6430 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 521, Hollywood, CA. 90028

was waging as an individual on the battlefields of Vietnam. "I had stated time and time again the I realize that the war in Indochina was unjust and racially motivated, and most of all that I strictly hated all who had high regard for the habitual butchery of the Vietnamese people," he said.

Had it not been otherwise, Billy Smith would not be in the confines of a military stockade today. He would not be, as he is, the victim of a government conspiracy that stretches from the Pentagon to the Ft. Ord army base on the Monterey Peninsula.

Within a few months of his tour in Vietnam, Smith's refusal to participate in the U.S. war on the people of Vietnam earned him the violent malice of his racist superiors. Billy wrote at that time "they aren't doing anything here except kill, kill, kill."

He received three Article 15 punishments (summary company punishments) in rapid succession. One for not having shaved to the satisfaction of his officers, despite the fact that he was, at that time, on the front lines. He was also being processed for a "212" discharge as unsuitable and unfit to serve in the U.S. army. A fact hardly disputed by Smith.

Captain Rigby, who "prided" himself on the "rapid, effective artillery fire" of his units, called Smith "unenthusiastic" about "closing with the enemy."

MILITARY enthusiasm, translated into the reality of the battlefields of Indochina is the Song My massacres, the My Lai massacres, the bombing of hospitals, schools, and play-

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