On the eve of the possible Northwest Airlines Strike tonight, I
thought I would re-issue this letter to Dateline sent June 29, 1995.
There are some lessons here. I have added some comments [in brackets]
to the original letter for clarification based on iquiries I received
at the time. I must admit, as I see all the posturing going on [on
both sides] it gives some painful flashbacks.
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From: "James Michael Craven" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organization: Clark College, Vancouver WA, USA
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 17:06:16 PST8PDT
Subject: Sanctioned terrorism at Northwest Airlines
Dear Dateline,
I commend you for your thorough report on the tragic terror faced by
and death of Susan Tosakawiecz(?) at Northwest Airlines. If it turns
out that she was murdered by someone at NWA and that her death can be
partially blamed on complacency and inaction by NWA management, then
her death will not be the first that can be traced partially back to
the postures and inaction of NWA management; you can also add the
name of my mother Mary Kathleen Craven who committed suicide on
February 23, 1985 as a result of a seven-year campaign of terror
directed and conducted by some members of ALPA (Airline Pilot's
Association) against my father, mother and the whole family.
In late 1979, the NWA pilots went out on strike for 112 days. My
father, a NWA pilot who retired after 33 years on NWA as a 747
captain, remained out on strike for 102 of the 112 days; he didn't
believe in crossing picket lines. There were however, some pilots who
crossed the line. At one union meeting at which over 400 pilots were
in attendance, the leadership announced that they would go after not
only "scabs"--non-striking pilots--but their families as well. They
said that they would go after the "weak links" in the families and
would even "produce suicides". [along with stress, pilots busting
their physicals, social isolation of families, divorces etc]
My father, Homer Henry Craven Jr. stood up and protested this saying
that pilots have no place conducting terrorism against anyone and
especially against women and children. Immediately following that
meeting my mother who had just suffered a heart attack began to
receive phone calls at 3 O' Clock in the morning calling her a "scab
bitch" and saying "how does it feel to fuck a scab?"--eventhough my
father had not even crossed the picket line.
[My Grandfather on my father's side was a member of the IWW and was a
Socialist. All my life up to that point my father had taught me not
to cross picket lines. Over the course of the strike, I heard my
father over and over urge people not to cross. After the open ALPA
meeting when they called for going after wives and children (the weak
links) and my father openly protested, the calls came for my mother.
My father, enraged, posted a note at ALPA that he would meet anyone
anytime (no cops understood and no filing of charges by the loser)
and they could go after a real "scab" rather than a sick woman--there
were not takers. My father refused all pay for crossing as he did not
want to benefit materially from crossing the picket line. NWA wanted
the "scabs" to be flown in around the picket lines but my father
called up the union and told them he was crossing, when and where and
that it was an acto of protest against a corrupt union run by gutless
terrorists who go after the weak and vulnerable.]
As an act of protest against ALPA terrorism, my father crossed the
picket line; it was clear that he was not crossing for economic
reasons but rather as a protest and he was therefore regarded as
particularly dangerous by ALPA.
During that strike some of the following acts of terror were
conducted by ALPA members (some photographed in the act) and known by
management at NWA who did nothing to sanction or fire those members
even when they were caught committing terroroist acts: 1) tires on
numerous cars of non-striking pilots were repeatedly slashed; one
pilot and Naval Reserve Officer photographed in the act was not
dismissed by NWA management eventhough they had ample grounds for his
removal and suspension of license as Federal regulations require that
an Airline Transport Pilot be "of good moral character"; 2) a
"Mistress List" was passed around and wives of non-striking pilots
were called by women purporting to be the "mistresses" of non-
striking pilots; 3) cars, boats and private aircraft were sabotaged
in subtle ways so as to cause accidents and fatalities; in one case,
mud was put in the pitot tube of a private aircraft with the result
that the 16-year-old daughter of one of the pilots found herself in
the air solo with no airspeed indication; 4) current and vital
revisions to aeronautical charts were lifted out of mailboxes of non-
striking pilots with the results that some crews were flying without
current charts; 5) the wife of one of the non-striking pilots was
driven off the road at 70 miles-an-hour in Minneapolis; 6) a pipe-
bomb was placed under the car of one of the non-striking pilots; this
bomb was found and played with by two small children; 7) my parents
suffered firebomb attempts, a large tree chopped down to fall on the
house of my parents, tires repeatedly slashed and death threats
against the whole family.
My father retired on January 30, 1985. My mother thought that the
terror campaign would stop. Instead it escalated and continued 8
years after the 1979 strike was over--hatred builds phony unity. On
Feb. 21, 1985 my mother told my sister to "get the silver and
valuables out of the house, they are going to burn us out." "I guess
that I am the weak link"--my mother had suffered another heart attack
after the continued harassment. On Feb. 23, 1985 my mother committed
suicide. My father called up the union and told them "well, you got
your suicide". While we were at my mother's funeral, they came and
poured ash into the engine of the father's car as an act of contempt
that only the lowest kind of scum could do--imagine, these creatures
are not just loading aircraft, they are flying them. I was forced to
leave my job in Puerto Rico and move back to Seattle where I slept
with a gun next to me as the campaign of terror continued for another
two years.
[a post-mortum examination of my mother revealed that she had a brain
tumor; she had been complaining of severe headaches that she said
were exacerbated by the continuous harassing phone calls,
death-threat letters, threats of firebombing etc that continued
continuously from the time of the strike until well after my mother's
death--up to 1990]
During all this time, my father repeatedly asked for help and
sanctions against union members who had been identified with terror
activities; NWA management did nothing to help to protect our family
or the families of others who were being terrorized. My father was a
personal friend of Mr. Donald Nyrop former president of NWA and my
father was listed in many publications and given many honors for his
aerodynamic research and innovation from which NWA benefited; yet
even his standing did not get him any help from the management at NWA.
[I should note here that Donald Nyrop never asked my father to cross
the picket line; early in the strike, Nyrop said to my father: "Of
course management wants to end this strike and of course those who
are crossing help, but I would never ask you and I know better not
to, to cross the line."]
I can well fell the pain of the family of the lady who was brutalized
at Northwest Airlines while the management (bent on cutting deals
with compliant union leadership) failed to fire or sanction those
union members who were obviously protected by union leadership that
had done a few favors to get a few favors.
Again, I thank you for your report although it was very painful to
watch. There are more and equally or even more dramatic stories beyond
what you reported on the machinations at NWA.
Sincerley,
James M. Craven
*---------------------------*----------------------------------------*
* James Craven * "All things have inner meaning and *
* Dept of Economics * form and power." (Hopi) *
* Clark College * "In this world the unseen has power." *
* 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. * (Apache) *
* Vancouver, Wa. 98663 * "Be satisfied with needs instead of *
* (360) 992-2283 * wants." (Tenton Lakota) *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] * "The Great Spirit is always angry *
* * with men who shed innocent blood." *
* * (Iowa) *
* * "It is no longer good enough to cry *
* * peace, we must act peace, live peace, *
* * and live in peace."(Shenandoah) *
* * "A people without a history is like *
* the wind over buffalo grass."(Lakota) *
* *
* "There are many paths to a meaningful sense of the natural world." *
* (Blackfeet); "A shady lane breeds mud." (Hopi); *
* "Strive to be a person who is never absent from an important act." *
* (Osage); "Men in search of a myth will usually find one."(Pueblo) *
* "Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way." *
* (Blackfeet); "Some are smart but they are not wise."(Shoshone); *
* "The one who tells the stories rules the world." (Hopi); *
* "Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance." (Lakota); *
* "The only things that need the protection of men are the things of *
* men, not the things of the spirit." (Crow); "When the legends *
* die, the dreams end; there is no more greatness."( Shawnee ); *
* "I love a people who do not live for the love of money."(Dwamish) *
* "Stolen food never satisfies hunger." (Omaha); "Man's law changes *
* with his understanding of man. Only the laws of the spirit always *
* remain the same." (Crow); "It takes a whole village to raise a *
* child." (Omaha); "Everything the Power does, it does in a circle."*
* (Lakota); "Man has responsibility, not power."(Tuscarora) *
* "With all things and in all things, we are relatives." (Lakota) *
* MY EMPLOYER HAS NO ASSOCIATION WITH MY PRIVATE/PROTECTED OPINION *
James Craven
Dept. of Economics,Clark College
1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; Tel: (360) 992-2283 Fax: 992-2863
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"The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and
property shall never be taken from them without their consent."
(Northwest Ordinance, 1787, Ratified by Congress 1789)
"...but this letter being unofficial and private, I may with safety give you a more
extensive view of our policy respecting the Indians, that you may better comprehend
the parts dealt to to you in detail through the official channel, and observing the
system of which they make a part, conduct yourself in unison with it in cases where
you are obliged to act without instruction...When they withdraw themselves to the
culture of a small piece of land, they will perceive how useless to them are their
extensive forests, and will be willing to pare them off from time to time in exchange
for necessaries for their farms and families. To promote this disposition to exchange
lands, which they have to spare and we want, for necessaries which we have to spare
and they want,we shall push our trading houses, and be glad to see the good and
influencial individuals among them run in debt, because we observe that when these
debts get beyond what the individuals can pay, they become willing to lop them off
by cession of lands...In this way our settlements will gradually circumscribe and
approach the Indians, and they will in time either incorporate with us as citizens
of the United States, or remove beyond the Mississippi.The former is certainly the
termination of their history most happy for themselves; but, in the whole course
of this, it is essential to cultivate their love. As to their fear, we presume that
our strength and their weakness is now so visible that they must see we have only to
shut our hand to crush them..."
(Classified Letter of President Thomas Jefferson ("libertarian"--for propertied white
people) to William Henry Harrison, Feb. 27, 1803)
*My Employer has no association with My Private and Protected Opinion*
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