The pamphlet, published by the Third World Liberation Front, served to address concerns of the strike as it entered its third month, as well as to provide a detailed timeline and proposal for the Third World College.
More specifically, the pamphlet recounts the role of police presence on campus in this moment and how the campus’s rapid militarization had led to police effectively controlling the functions of campus. It explores how, in the name of “keeping Sather Gate open by any means,” the Chancellor had been led by ulterior motives when he allowed police forces to use tear gas to keep students from congregating on Sproul.
By this time in the strike, 150 of those affiliated with the strike had been arrested; a third were charged with felonies that had possible prison sentences of up to 15 years.
The responses to accusations of violence by the strike indicate a long struggle often faced by movements led by people of color, raising age-old questions: Who are the officers there to protect? What is violence — damage against replaceable property or people?
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The document ends with an explanation of the moratorium called on March 14, 1969, which suspended strike activities at the close of the winter trimester.
