19 years ago this week in Metro Times: Rosanne Less interviews Duncan Murphy, one of several veterans staging a hunger strike on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to oppose U.S. policies in Central America. A World War II veteran, Murphy says, “I’d spent three-and-a-half years of my life fighting Nazism, and I thought, ‘Well, we’ve finally done it.’ We hadn’t. It survived, and it survives in that cursed CIA — the CIA actually funds the death squads.” What was happening: Bad Brains at Graystone Hall.
Nine years ago this week in Metro Times: The paper runs several articles tracing the aftermath of award-winning reporter Gary Webb’s controversial “Dark Alliance” series in the San Jose Mercury News, which connected the CIA, the Nicaraguan Contras and the crack cocaine epidemic. Though the story has never been effectively discredited, the Mercury News published a retraction under pressure and reassigned Webb to a remote suburban bureau. Eight years later, Webb would commit suicide. What was happening: The Detroit Cobras at the Gold Dollar.
Three years ago this week in Metro Times: Tom Schram covers the Vang family’s struggle against deportation. As the story explains, “The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service held a hearing on the Vangs’ appeal for political asylum in 1990. It issued them Social Security numbers so they could work until a full hearing could be held. And then the INS lost the paperwork.” As of 2005, the case is still dragging on, with a decision expected from the Board of Immigration Appeals in about six months. What was happening: Ryan Adams at the State Theatre.
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