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"Death to the fascist insect that
preys upon the life of the people."
----SLA slogan
One thing had quickly linked the
kidnapping of Patty Hearst with the Symbionese Liberation Army.
Her kidnappers had fired cyanide-laced bullets into her home---the
same type of bullets used four months earlier in Oakland on Election
Day to assassinate popular school superintendent Marcus Foster.
The SLA had sent two letters claiming credit for the shooting and
declaring war on fascists by trying to stop the issuing of student
photo I.D.s—meant to protect students from drug dealers.
More was learned about this terrorist
group when two of their "soldiers" were arrested on January
10th, three weeks before the kidnapping, and after the police located
an abandoned safe-house with all kinds of propaganda:
- "Symbionese" was derived
from the word, symbiosis, meaning dissimilar organisms living in
harmony.
- Their symbol, the seven-headed
cobra, represented the seven principles of God and life.
- The leadership showed a strong
female influence—and in fact, the actual leader was a lesbian
called Mizmoon Soltysik.
- They had a vague agenda of
protecting the rights of "the people."
- DeFreeze, 31, was a black ex-con
among a handful of white veterans, ex-cons, and disenchanted
women.
- DeFreeze's criminal record
consisted of a series of petty crimes, and all of his victims had
been black.
- DeFreeze took his name, Cinque,
from a captive African being transported to Cuba who had taken over the ship.
- There were currently only nine
"soldiers" in this "army," more females than
males.
- The SLA appears to have been
influenced by 1) the anti-war movements of the 1960s that spread
across college campuses and caused riots, and 2) prison programs
that urged African Americans to band together as brothers.
- After the Foster killing, they made
plans to kidnap Hearst—documents that law enforcement had found
before the event but had failed to act upon.
The two men in custody were soon
linked via a .38-calibre pistol to the Foster killing. They went
to prison, although one was later released.
Knowing about the SLA, however, did
little to stop them from planning further antisocial escapades.
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