TO ANY LAWFUL OFFICER OF THE STATE OF ALABAMA-GREETINGS: You are hereby commanded to summon Mary G. Auburtin, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Perry County, Alabama and Absentee Election Manager, and to bring and produce at the time and place aforesaid, to be used as evidence, the following: Any and all absentee ballot applications in your custody which were received by you in connection with the 1984 Primary Election; and any and all absentee ballots and envelopes in your custody which were cast in the September 4, 1984 Primary Election. And then and there to testify and the whole truth to speak, concerning all and singular those things which may be inquired of by the said Grand Jury and concerning all and singular those things of which the said witness may have knowledge, or the said Instrument or instruments of writing doth import of, and concerning all things relating thereto which may now or hereafter be a matter of inquiry by the said Grand Jury, and then the said witness shall in nowis amit under the penalty of what the law directs, and have you then and there this writ, with your endorsement therean APPENDIX 4 THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF NEW AFRIKA The Honorable Don Edwards House Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights Room 806 House Annex #1 New Jersey & C Sts. S.E. Attention: Mr. Stuart Ashimaru September 25, 1985 Dear Congressman Edwards: The Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika is submitting the enclosed comments on the issue of the current repression against voting rights activists in Alabama. We request that these comments be included in the official record of the hearings to be held on Thursday, September 26, 1985. We commend your efforts in bringing added attention and scrutiny to this crucial issue. Encl. Sincerely, Nkich Jafa Nkechi Taifa RNA Minister of Justice Comments Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika in support of testimony delivered 9/26/85 on the issue of voting rights enforcement in Alabama. The Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika (RNA) condemns the attempt by the U.S. Justice Department to prosecute activists organizing in the Alabama Black Belt on voter fraud charges. Such repression against people seeking to ensure that all have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote is an outrage and repugnant to democratic principles. These acts of U.S. governmental repression against Black activists are not new. The Department of Justice often seeks to criminalize legitimate actions by political activists. In 1971, for example, while in the process of peacefully organizing for a reparations election and plebiscite in Mississippi, the RNA headquarters in Jackson was attacked by federal and state officials, ostensibly for the purpose of serving a warrant on an individual who was not even present. Eleven Black persons went to jail for defending themselves, spending long years in prison as the result of what later was discovered to be a COINTELPROorchestrated conspiracy by the FBI, sanctioned by the Justice Department, to disrupt, discredit and destroy the Black Liberation Movement. The current misuse by the Justice Department of the Voter's Rights Act to prosecute Black activists is reminiscent of the discredit, disrupt and destroy tactics of the COINTELPRO era. Interestingly, in an article written eleven years ago, RNA President Imari Obadele stated that after the unjustified deaths of Medgar Evers, Reverend Lee, Goodwin, Schwerner, Chaney and a host of others, the Voter's Rights Act of 1965 was "a breath of life for the Blacks of Mississippi, a hope that friends might once again be found and, to a point, relied upon, in the seat of United States power." (Black Scholar Magazine, June 1974). These latest acts of repression against voting rights activists in Alabama however, indicate that the Justice Department has turned back the clock. It has abrogated its role as a protector of the rights of Blacks and returned to the position of an enemy of Black people. It is the hope of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika that the U.S. Congress act to stop the Department of Justice from returning to the practices of trampling on the legitimate attempts of activists to organize Black people to achieve what is rightfully theirs. ### Re: SEP 201 Hearings on the voter fraud investigation and prosecution in Greene Dear Congressman Edwards: We are a group of Black citizens who represent the majority concern about The situation that exists has been presented by the media in a White-Black We submit to you that this is not the case. You are gravely deceived if For the first time in our history Whites and Blacks in Greene County have We are and have been the victims in this matter. This is the side of the Although thus far the Government has not prevailed in the prosecution of |