CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE

December 17, 1969

Page 39648

CLASHES BETWEEN POLICE AND BLACK PANTHERS: THE SITUATION MUST BE DEFUSED

Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, in the days which have followed the deaths of two leaders of the Black Panther Party in Chicago, many black and white leaders in America have called for investigations by responsible Government agencies. The Justice Department has responded with an announcement of a "preliminary investigation," and a number of private groups have announced their intentions to conduct inquiries of their own.

The Justice Department may help provide some much-needed answers to the allegations which have been made concerning the Chicago incident, but the questions, doubts, and suspicions raised by more than 2 years of battles between the Panthers and the police demand much more searching inquiries.

Each time shots are fired between the police and the Panthers, the polarization between black and white widens. Violent confrontations, provoked by either side, drive us further away from a society where Americans can trust each other and live together in peace.

We cannot afford to waste any time in defusing this confrontation and stepping away from the brink -- not only by determining what happened in Chicago, but also by finding ways to prevent what has happened in Chicago, New York, Cleveland, and Los Angeles from happening again.

I hope that the gravity of this situation will not be dismissed with preliminary investigations and inquiries.

All Americans must make a real effort to restore peace and security to our cities. Dr. Milton Eisenhower, Chairman of the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, has said that the internal threat of violence to American society is as great as it is from "any possible combination of external forces." We must communicate our differences to one another, explain our disagreements, and find ways to bring out the best in America without yielding to the worst.