GRANTS POLITICAL ASYLUM TO GI IN JAPAN
An American soldier, Pfc. Kenneth C. Griggs, 20, of Boise, Idaho, has become a tough diplomatic problem for the Japanese government.
The GI went to Tokyo from Vietnam on March 18. When his leave of absence expired, the army sought to track him down.
It was then learned that he had gone to the Cuban embassy and asked for political asylum. This had been granted as is customary in the Latin-American countries that still observe democratic traditions in this respect.
The Cubans asked the Japanese government for a safe conduct for the GI so that he could leave Japan and go to the free territory of Cuba.
But the Japanese government does not recognize the right of an embassy to grant political asylum and sought to have Griggs turned over to then.
If this were done, the Japanese would then have to turn him over to the U.S. in accordance with their treaty with Washington.
The case is still further complicated by the fact that Griggs was born in Seoul in 1946; his parents were apparently killed during the U.S. aggression in Korea. Kim Jin Soo (his real name) was adopted as a Korean war orphan; but never took out U.S. citizenship. He enlisted in the U.S. army in 1963 and was eventually sent to Vietnam as one of the armed missionaries of the "free" world.
It is a sign of the times that in trying to find a country with which he might identify, this GI turned to Cuba.
Edgard Diaz Valera, the first secretary of the Cuban embassy in Japan issued the following statement on the case April 14, according to The People's Korea:
"Kim Jin Soo, 21, who was brought to the war in South Vietnam as a U.S. soldier, on April 3 sought refuge in the Cuban Embassy in Japan, wishing to be sent to Cuba as an exile. We asked for instructions from our Revolutionary Government on how to deal with this problem. ‘As the refuge is quite justifiable, we decided to receive his application. We have already notified the Japanese Government about this fact, and refused its demand that the refugee be handed over to its side. Kim Jin Soo is now under our protection."
PLAY BASED ON MALCOLM X STAGED IN ENGLAND
A play based on the life of Malcolm X, Message from the Grass Roots, drew a near-capacity house and an enthusiastic nine curtain calls when it had its world premier April 5 in the Theatre Royal in Bristol, England.
The American author, 41-year-old Robert Riche, said that his play "is inspired by the life of Malcolm X. It is based on it spiritually, but some of the facts are different. The play is a plea for people to look at each other as they really are and not through the old clichés."
Riche said that he had never met Malcolm X.
"I heard him on the radio and TV, and I believed what most people were inclined to believe -- that he was a violent man, antiwhite and so forth.
"Then I grew to realize that he went through this antiwhite stage and grew into something much bigger than most of us are ever able to become."
The play is the first one the author has written. He tried to get it staged in New York but without success. Director Val May "discovered" it while in New York recently with the Bristol Old Vic Repertory Company. He liked it very much.
The cast of more than 40 was allwhite. "I wrote the play for American Negroes," explained the author; "but they just didn't have any in the Bristol 01d Vic Repertory Company."
Riche paid tribute to the director. "He was courageous enough to be willing to do it with white actors which you could never do in New York. I think it works pretty effectively."