>Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 22:12:36 -0700
>From: Jeffrey Blankfort <jab at tucradio.org>
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>To: freepacifica at penguin.josephson.com
>Subject: Jerry Brown Revisited
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>Reply-To: freepacifica at penguin.josephson.com
>
>If there were any illusions that Jerry Brown was in the
>running for the fastest sellout of the 90s, his avid
>welcome of the US Marine Urban Warrior exercises to
>Oakland should eliminate all doubts. Brown, who
>obviously used his program We the People on Pacifica to
>build a Jim Jones-like cult of groupies has already
>antagonized most of the black ministers who supported
>him over his Guilianesque power tactics out of Oakland's
>City Hall, has come under sharp attack for his pro-
>Marine stance and will no doubt be using the Oakland
>police to crack down on the demonstrations that are
>planned for the Marine invasion next week. If the
>police don't do their job protecting the Marines from
>the protesters Brown will quite likely fire the police
>chief as he has threatened to do to all of Oakland's
>public office holders.
>
>Brown was not available to appear on KPFA's Flashpoints
>yesterday, although a Marine Colonel was. On Monday,
>last week, Brown had debated Oakland City Councilwoman
>Nancy Nadel on the issue on KPFA's much softer morning
>show and hadn't handled himself well. and at a special
>meeting of the Oakland City Council, writes Gar Smith in
>the East Bay Express, his faced reddened as he was
>subjected to intense criticism for his pro-military
>stance. Comparing the Marine exercises with the
>firecrackers set off on Chinese News Years, Brown asked,
>"What are we going to do next? Try to halt a St.
>Patrick's Day Parade?
>
>A little real life vignette I witnessed four or five
>years ago told me all I needed to know about Brown and I
>plan to spread it around Oakland as widely as I can.
>Foolish me who held back during the election thinking
>that maybe Brown had learned something about humanity
>from his guests. I was wrong. Here's what happened.
>
>In the campaign leading up to the passage of GATT
>(General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs) Brown, who was
>already doing a AM radio talk show, joined Maria
>Gilardin and a former Bank of America official on a
>panel at the Starry Plough, a Berkeley watering hole, to
>discuss the issue.
>
>Dressed in what was his standard blue work shirt (a
>common dress affected by folks who never worked a day in
>their lives), Jerry made an excellent presentation on
>the impact of globalization. After the event a few of
>us were standing outside on the sidewalk while a light
>rain began to fall. While we were talking a black man
>in his late 40s or early 50s walked by and looked into
>the bar where was Brown was in conversation with a few
>folks drinking at the bar.
>
>"Isn't that Governor Brown," the man asked me. Yes, I
>replied. "I've always admired him," the man went on,
>"I'd like to meet him." Well, I said, you'll get your
>chance. As it happened, Brown came out of the bar a
>moment later and the man went up to him, said hello, and
>politely expressed his admiration of Brown's
>performance in office to the ex-governor. Brown
>obviously wasn't listening. Rather than acknowledging
>the compliment, he turned away to his right, while at
>the same time taking out his wallet from which he
>pulled two one dollar bills which he then turned and
>handed to the man.
>
>The man recoiled in a state of shock and then responded
>angrily, excoriating Brown for his racist knee-jerk
>behavior while the four or five of us that witnessed the
>exchange stood by equally shocked. Brown had no
>response. Then, quickly it was over as a car pulled up
>at the corner, the passenger door opened, and Brown
>climbed in and was driven away.
>That should have been all we needed to know about Jerry
>Brown.
>
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