Editing Symbionese Liberation Army (section)

=== 1973 ===

==== Murder of Marcus Foster ====
On November 6, 1973, in [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], California, two members of the SLA killed school superintendent [[Marcus Foster]] and badly wounded his deputy, Robert Blackburn, as the two men left an Oakland school board meeting. The [[hollow-point bullet]]s used to kill Foster had been packed with [[cyanide]].<ref name="WashingtonPost19731111">{{cite news|date=November 11, 1973|page=A2|url=http://www.maebrussell.com/Hearst/Cyanide+Bullets+in+Foster.html|title=Oakland Bullets Had Cyanide|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2007-08-18|quote=Investigators say bullets used in the murder of Oakland's school superintendent contained cyanide. Roland Prahl, chief investigator for the Alameda County coroner's office, said Friday that five slugs recovered during the autopsy on the superintendent, Marcus Foster, had the "distinctive odor of cyanide." A coroner's report verified the presence of the poison.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927214157/http://www.maebrussell.com/Hearst/Cyanide%20Bullets%20in%20Foster.html|archive-date=September 27, 2007}}</ref>

Although Foster had been the first black school superintendent of any major public school system, the SLA condemned him in their flyers for his supposed plan to introduce identification cards into Oakland schools, calling him "fascist." Foster had already gained the support of the school board to change the proposal.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Rise and Fall of the Symbionese Liberation Army {{!}} American Experience {{!}} PBS|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/guerrilla-rise-and-fall-symbionese-liberation-army/|access-date=2021-08-15|website=www.pbs.org|language=en}}</ref> 

Some SLA members had mistakenly believed that killing Foster would gain support for them in the Black community and help them recruit new members; instead they alienated most black people and other leftists by this crime. Harry Reynolds, a deputy superintendent in the system, said those who published the flyers had "irresponsible flapping at the mouth."<ref name="fear"/> In addition, he said "somebody didn't like this guy [Foster] bringing all these people together. They may have been jealous of the type of progress he was making."<ref name="fear">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/20/archives/killings-in-oakland-turn-air-of-optimism-into-one-of-rising-fear.html|title=Killings in Oakland Turn Air of Optimism Into One of Rising Fear|last=Caldwell|first=Earl|work=The New York Times| date=20 November 1973| access-date=13 August 2022}}</ref>

Robert Blackburn, who served for a time as acting superintendent, later discussed how wrong the SLA was: 
<blockquote>These were not political radicals, Blackburn said of the SLA. They were uniquely mediocre and stunningly off-base. The people in the SLA had no grounding in history. They swung from the world of being thumb-in-the-mouth cheerleaders to self-described revolutionaries with nothing but rhetoric to support them.<ref name="taylor">{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/11/14/BA85190.DTL&hw=Marcus+Foster&sn=001&sc=1000|title=Forgotten Footnote: Before Hearst, SLA killed educator|last=Taylor|first=Michael|date=November 14, 2002|work=San Francisco Chronicle|pages=A-17|access-date=2009-03-17}}</ref></blockquote>

On January 10, 1974, Russell Little and [[Joe Remiro|Joseph Remiro]], also SLA founding members, were arrested during an armed encounter with police. After police found extensive SLA materials at a house the group was renting, the two were charged with Foster's murder. Both men were convicted of murder in 1975 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Seven years later, on June 5, 1981, Little's conviction was overturned by the California Court of Appeal. He was later acquitted in a retrial in Monterey County.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9400EEDB1238F936A35755C0A967948260 ''Around the Nation: Russell Little is Acquitted of Slaying on Coast in 1973'']. ''[[The New York Times]].'' June 5, 1981. Retrieved April 30, 2008.</ref> Remiro remains incarcerated; his eleven parole requests have been rejected. 

Russell Little said later that in fact Soltysik had shot Foster, and [[Nancy Ling Perry]] had shot Blackburn, aided by DeFreeze.<ref name="pbs.org">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/guerrilla/filmmore/pt.html |title=American Experience &#124; Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst &#124; Transcript |quote= Who actually pulled the trigger that killed Foster was [[Patricia Soltysik|Mizmoon]] (Soltysik). [[Nancy Ling Perry]] was supposed to shoot Blackburn, she kind of botched that and DeFreeze ended up shooting him with a shotgun.|publisher=PBS |access-date=2012-06-24 |archive-date=2005-10-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051003235907/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/guerrilla/filmmore/pt.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>