Bill Epton

for incitement to violence in 1964.

Epton was "the first person convicted of criminal anarchy since the Red Scare of 1919" [ [http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/lists_archive/sixties-l/4014.html stdin: [sixties-l Bill Epton, Former PLP Activist, Dies ] ] — reportedly for a crime of three words: "Burn, baby, burn."

Origins

According to his New York Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/03/obituaries/03EPTO.html?ex=1013757638&ei=1&en=1f9776be0a3a0383 obituary] , Epton, a Harlem native, was a firebrand even early in his youth. "Even as a high school student," the obituary reads, "he demonstrated for civil rights and helped organize unions. He was drafted into the Army and served in the Korean War." Later, he became an electrician, and gravitated towards the Progressive Labor Movement and its activities.

Background to the Epton court case

On July 16, 1964, NYPD officer Thomas Gilligan shot and killed a 15-year-old African-American high school student, James Powell, in cold blood. Over the next few days, the people of Harlem rose up in one of the first major Northern rebellions of the period, marking a new stage in such uprisings [http://www.mltranslations.org/US/epton.htm We Accuse: Bill Epton's Speech to the Court ] ]

Epton and his comrades plastered the streets of Harlem with a poster: "Wanted For Murder – Gilligan the Cop". The city administration declared a state of emergency in Harlem, prohibiting all demonstrations. While most of the reformist leaders went along with this ban, Epton and the Harlem branch of PL called for a peaceful rally on 125th Street for July 25. When Epton and the others began to march, Epton was arrested, charged with "criminal anarchy," tried, found guilty and sentenced to one year in prison.

The Epton trial was postponed to August 2, 1965. New York City Mayor Wagner, speaking to a group of students while traveling in Denmark, meanwhile said the rebellion Epton participated in was "a social revolution – a demand by a minority for equal rights" (N.Y. Times, July 7, 1965).

"We Accuse"

Epton wrote a militant speech he made to the court at his sentencing hearing. Progressive Labor Party published it as a pamphlet on February 2, 1966. In part, the text reads:

The New York Times article notes: "A grand jury indicted Mr. Epton on charges that his speeches kept the Harlem Riot of 1964 going. In one, which was secretly recorded by an undercover officer assigned to monitor the Progressive Labor Party, he said, "We're going to have to kill a lot of cops, a lot of the judges, and we'll have to go against their army." [ [http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/lists_archive/sixties-l/4014.html stdin: [sixties-l Bill Epton, Former PLP Activist, Dies ] ] .

Epton breaks with PL

Epton was eventually released on bail while he appealed his conviction. Meanwhile, Progressive Labor began to change its line on the national question, the developments of which Epton apparently found politically unacceptable. They denounced all national liberation movements that did not aim directly for socialism, such as the Vietnamese NLF, and also made some rather searing criticisms of the Black Panther Party [http://www.plp.org/pl_magazine/nationalismpl69.pdf] .

After Epton left PL, he was involved in new attempts to unite revolutionary Marxists in the U.S. in the early 1970s. The appeal of his conviction was eventually rejected and he was forced to serve the remainder of that year in prison . However, such activity as Epton had engaged in was changed back to constitutional a mere two years after Epton's imprisonment. The New York Times obituary article says that Leon Friedman of Hofstra University School of Law noted: "They changed the rules. Had the new rule been in effect, he [Epton] probably would have won."

Epton played a founding role in the A. Philip Randolph Labor Council. He was also an information officer and printer at the New York City Board of Education after serving a year on Rikers Island. He died at a local hospital in his hometown of Harlem. He is survived by two children and three grandchildren.

References

*Martin, Douglas. "William Epton, 70, Is Dead; Tested Free Speech Limits." [http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/03/obituaries/03EPTO.html?ex=1013757638&ei=1&en=1f9776be0a3a0383 New York Times obituary article] , February 3, 2002. Accessed March 2, 2006 via [http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/lists_archive/sixties-l/4014.html this website] .
*Manning, Lona. " [Rubin "Hurricane"] Carter's phony radical credentials." Source for Bill Epton picture, obtained here: [http://members.shaw.ca/cartermyths/Pics/epton.jpg]
*"We Accuse: Bill Epton Speaks to the Court." Progressive Labor Party, February 2, 1966. Excerpted from [http://www.mltranslations.org/US/epton.htm MLTranslations.org] .