Eddie Hatcher

Letter from Thelma H. Clark.
Director of the Robeson Defense Committee and mother of Eddie Hatcher.

Before February 1, 1988, I had worked as a Registered nurse in Emergency Departments for 22 years. Within two months after the Takeover of the Robesonian Newspaper by my son, I experienced the most rude awakening that any human being, any citizen of the United States, could ever experience. I experienced what I had heard about in other countries where people are persecuted and condemned by the government without Due Process for speaking out against the government.

For the last three and one-half years. I have witnessed this government do things firsthand, that in all of my past 56 years I never knew could be done in this country. I and my other children have been kept under surveillance. Our telephones have been constantly interfered with and we must resort to pay telephones to prevent government agents from intercepting our conversations. We have been followed by unmarked cars so many times I can't count them. I have seen government agents threaten and intimidate people who came to our meetings. I have seen witnesses coerced by agents into lying, afraid of losing their jobs or their social security benefits. A book could not tell of all of the firsthand experiences that I have witnessed and been subjected to. When my son's bond was revoked for no cause and he was labeled a federal fugitive, I was laying flat on my back in a Durham, NC hospital having just had major back surgery; yet, my hospital room was flanked by federal agents and I was harassed. Our home has been shot at.

Now the government is continuing their campaign of persecution against my son and his family. With no just cause, Eddie is being denied any chance of Parole. Eddie has no prior felonies. He has served over five [5] Years. I ask you to please help us in this enormous struggle. Without the help of concerned, justice minded people we will continue to suffer at the hands of corrupt officials and the government.

If I have learned anything through this entire, ongoing ordeal, its one thing. What can be done to one can be done to another.

Thank you and please help us in this struggle.

On February 1, 1988, Native American activist Eddie Hatcher and Timothy Jacobs occupied the offices of the Robesonian Newspaper, and held the building and 14 employees for 10 1/2 hours.

Eddie had worked continuously around the rights of minorities and poor, whites in Robeson County. Over just a few short years the county had been plagued by over 20 unsolved murders of minorities, most all killed execution style. The rural farming county had become deluged in cocaine, being called the little Miami of the East Coast. But only minorities were being charged with drug trafficking and killed.

After obtaining maps and documentation from a Federal Informer who had assisted the FBI and DEA in major drug convictions, Eddie possessed evidence that 34 major business people and law enforcement officers including Sheriff Hubert Stone were behind the major cocaine trafficking in the county and eastern North Carolina.

With this information and evidence Eddie made contact with the FBI, the DEA and Federal Customs. All refused to help. But in the process, after learning of the documentation Eddie Hatcher had, Sheriff Stone and State Bureau of Investigation Agents met and decided they would "have Eddie Hatcher before the week was out." (Federal Trial Transcript Witness Testimony)

So, instead of the government assisting Eddie, they conspired with local officials to kill Eddie Hatcher.

With no avenue or alternative remaining, Eddie Hatcher knew he had to put himself in a situation whereby the officials would not be able to dispose of him due to major attention. The result was the occupation of the Robesonian Newspaper.

Throughout the 10 1/2 hours, Eddie negotiated with the Governor of North Carolina and only made four demands. That the Sheriffs Department of Robeson County and the local judicial system be fully investigated; that the mysterious deaths of Indians and Blacks in Robeson County be fully investigated; that the recent death of a young African American in she local jail be fully investigated; and that Eddie Hatcher and Timothy Jacobs not be turned over to local authorities. Eddie made no demand for amnesty or any other personal thing. The Sheriff's Department and judicial system have still not been investigated after 3 1/2 years.

The United States government has been extremely outspoken on other countries that hold political prisoners and commit human rights violations. We hear U.S. leaders speak badly of other countries who jail and persecute individuals for their political action and the United States calls these prisoners "Political Prisoners."

Here in the United States, there are over 100 prisoners recognized as Political Prisoners by National Organizations and reputable leaders and religious groups. These prisoners however are not called Political Prisoners by the U.S. government who tries to paint a picture of freedom, Due Process and democracy.

Of these recognized Political Prisoners, one of the most notable is Indian Activist Eddie Hatcher, who has been the subject of extreme government persecution including a recent official orchestrated attempt on his life.

The people in North Carolina, with its rolling tobacco fields, beaches and Blue Ridge Mountains would probably not think or expect that this state could be known Internationally as a state which holds a Political Prisoner. But it is.

For the past two years Eddie Hatcher's case has been presented each year before the United Nations Human Rights Conference in Switzerland. Each time, the Delegation has voted in support of Eddie Hatcher and issued Declarations in support. The mainstream media never prints these things. It works hand in hand with the government to keep the eyes of its people blinded.

From Germany to Australia to Sweden to Canada, and countless other countries, groups and organizations speak out about the "case of Eddie Hatcher" and how "the United States does have Political Prisoners." People from all over the world ask how the United States government can condemn other countries yet hide their actions. The people of North Carolina and the U.S. are not told this.

Newspapers and magazines of other countries have regularly written stories of Eddie Hatcher and their readers ask questions about the hypocrisy of the U.S. government. They also compare how the things done to political activists in their country are similar to what has been done to Eddie Hatcher. Countries like the Soviet Union. But our media and our government continue to hide the facts.

Sometime ago, a reporter for the Raleigh News and Observer stated, "I'll deny this if you use my name but we have had several articles about Eddie Hatcher pulled by Lacy Thornburg. Thornburg is the Attorney General of North Carolina. So, our media is not free to print the truth as we are told.

It has now been almost four years since the takeover of the Robesonian and the political persecution against Eddie Hatcher and his family continues. The state of North Carolina is determined to keep Eddie in prison even though there is no legal basis for doing so. Each day the Department of Correction grants parole to prisoners who were sentenced to more lime than Eddie and have served less time than Eddie.

The Robeson Defense Committee has began a campaign that will reach areas all over the United States and the world to call for the immediate parole of Eddie Hatcher. So far, many national religious leaders and groups, organizations and individuals are recognizing the intent of North Carolina on holding Eddie Hatcher solely due to his political activity which continues from inside prison, and political reasons connected to his action and case.

* Every attorney associated with the case of Eddie Hatcher has been the target of the government.

1. Horace Locklear, an Indian attorney from Robeson County who was on the case up to the federal trial was framed by Sheriff Hubert Stone who used a convicted drug dealer who had received an active sentence. Horace Locklear was disbarred for allegedly stating to the convicted drug dealer that he could control the judge. After three years, the convicted drug dealer has still served no time even though he was sentenced to an active sentence.

2. William Kunstler, Barry Nakell and Lewis Pitts, after appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court and having their appeal denied were forced to pay $50,000 in fines. U.S. Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina took the very unusual step, even for him, and hired attorneys to file an Amicus Brief in support of the government's sanctions and in support of the Federal Judge which was filed in the Fourth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

3. Law Professor Barry Nakell who has an impeccable reputation and has taught at the University of North Carolina Law School for 15 years and won the famous Bounds v. Smith decision before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1977, received a jail term by State Judge I. Beverly Lake which is presently on appeal. In May 1991, the NC State Bar notified Professor Nakell that they were initiating disbarment proceedings against him and those hearings are scheduled for December 5, 1991.

"Throughout this entire case, politics and the protection of corrupt officials has dictated each and every move made by the government. Politics and the protection of government officials involved in major cocaine trafficking and the execution of minorities overshadowed all moral and democratic principals and practices. Politics and political cover-ups snatched away every legal avenue available to me and it was done blatantly, in full view, for everyone to see and hear. I am a political prisoner in every definition of the term and I and my family continue to suffer because of the corrupt politics used to gain more power and wealth."

It has been two [2] years since the attempted murder of Eddie, yet no charges have been filed against the man that wrote the State Bureau of Investigation and the Raleigh News and Observer, stating he tried to kill him.

Sheriff Hubert Stone's son has been promoted from the position of Robeson County deputy to a U.S. Deputy Marshall; Judge I. Beverly Lake is scheduled to be appointed to the NC Supreme Court by the Governor and Joe Freeman Britt, who reindicted Hatcher gained a position on the NC Superior Court. Sheriff Hubert Stone is being considered for the head of the US Marshall's in the Eastern district. He is supported by U.S. Congressman Charlie Rose. Welcome to North Carolina. United States of America The Land of the Free!

APRIL 1988:
Attorney William Kunstler travels to the Soviet Union on behalf of fellow Native American Leonard Peltier and Eddie Hatcher. Kunstler discusses the case of Eddie Hatcher with Soviet officials and delivers a handwritten letter by Eddie which appears on the screens of televisions all across the Soviet Union and is reported in the U.S. media. The following day, Hatcher is snatched up by Federal agents and is taken to the Onslow County jail and placed in an isolation cell with no lighting, 180 miles from his home.

MARCH 10, 1989:
Eddie Hatcher enters the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco, California and asks for political asylum. After almost four hours of negotiating between Eddie, his attorney William Kunstler and Soviet officials, the Soviet officials state that due to the International tension they cannot grant political asylum. Upon leaving the consulate, Eddie is taken into custody by federal agents.