Howard Petrick."
This group hopes to gain enough public support for Petrick's rights to force the Pentagon to back down from whatever plans they have to infringe the GI's civil liberties.
the following is the statement issued by Stokely Carmichael:
"In behalf of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, I would like to express outrage over your 'frame-up' by the U.S. Army officials and pending court-martial for merely exercising your supposed constitutional rights of free speech and freedom of political belief.
"We are outraged, yes, but not surprised. Such action coming from the United States Army, the United States government and the entire ruling white establishment is to be expected in a nation that wages an unjust, brutal racist war in Vietnam -- using the most fascist tactics known to man.
"Such action is typical of the treatment that is meted out to black people in the United States every day of their lives and to those who dare to question the white ruling masters about their war of exploitation and annihilation ~against the people of Vietnam.
"The action taken against you is clearly a 'frame-up' lacking any justification or evidence to support their phoney charges. :
"We in SNCC support you in your struggle to retain your freedom of belief, your human right to speak out, and to read literature of your choice. We support your struggle to retain your humanity and manhood in a country and military order which does everything possible to crush our humanity and manhood.
"We fervently hope that your friends and co-workers in the Service will also support you in this struggle and come to see that they too are being used as hired killers and tools to serve the interests of the ruling wealthy white business clique that controls this country.
"Yours in the struggle,
"Stokely Carmichael,
"Chairman, SNCC."