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University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library

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Pun Plamondon Papers, 1968-2003 (majority within 1968-1973, 1982-1983)

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Summary

Creator:
Plamondon, Pun.
Abstract:
Papers of Pun Plamondon, activist, writer, and journalist who in 1968 co-founded the White Panther Party with John Sinclair. Papers include material related to Plamondon's political activism in the late 1960s-early 1970s, material related to the White Panthers Party, the Rainbow People's Party, and Plamondon's relationship with John Sinclair, as wells as material related to law suits against Plamondon and his trials, most notably United States v. U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, et al. and the State of Michigan v. Craig Blazier and Lawrence R. (Pun) Plamondon. Also material related to his autobiographical writings.
Extent:
4 linear feet
Call Number:
2014095 Aa 2
Authors:
Finding aid created by Olga Virakhovskaya, June 2014; updated in December 2023

Background

Scope and Content:

The Pun Plamondon papers mostly include material related to his political activism in the late 1960s-early 1970s, legal trials, and imprisonment.

Biographical / Historical:

Pun Plamondon was born in Traverse City, Mich. in 1945 to a part-Ojibway mother and half-Ottawa father. He was adopted by a Caucasian couple, the Plamondons, who named him Lawrence Robert. Plamondon was not aware of his Native American roots until he was 16 years old. Plamondon attended Catholic schools, then spend some time on the East Coast before returning to Michigan in 1965. That summer he got a job as a union organizer of migrant farm workers with the American Federation of Labor/Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL/CIO), traveling throughout the Midwest. At the same time Plamondon took to heavy drinking and drug use.

With a group of friends Plamondon settled in Flint for a short while, drinking alcohol and "jumping through welfare hoops," by his own admission. In 1967 he arrived in Detroit, settling in on Plum Street, a hippie enclave near Tiger Stadium. There he got a job making sandals and accessories. At some point in 1967 Plamondon met John Sinclair who at the time edited and wrote for the 24-page The Sun, a publication that "brought together a new cultural content in the highest artistic form." Soon he started spending time with Sinclair, journalist Peter Werbe and artist Gary Grimshaw, who were running two underground newspapers, the Detroit Sun and the Fifth Estate.

In the 1968 the group moved to Ann Arbor, Mich. where they established a commune. Shortly after Plamondon became inspired by an interview given by Huey P. Newton, cofounder of the Black Panther Party, in which Newton suggested that in order to support the Black Panthers "[the white people] can form a White Panther Party." At this point Plamondon was becoming more political, and more militant. Plamondon and Sinclair modeled the White Panther Party after the Black Panthers, fighting for a clean planet and the freeing of political prisoners. The White Panthers went further, advocating rock 'n' roll, dope, sex in the streets and an end to capitalism. The ten-point program of the White Panther Party demanded economic and cultural freedom. "Everything free for everybody!" and a total "assault" on the culture by any means necessary were the essence of the White Panther program. Plamondon, the White Panther Party's Minister of Defense, took on the affectations of a revolutionary, donning a black motorcycle jacket and a swaggering attitude.

In October 1968 Plamondon and Sinclair were indicted for bombing a CIA office in Ann Arbor on September 28, 1968. No one was injured in the blast. The bombing was one of the eight anti-establishment bombings that had occurred in the Detroit area at the time. A sealed indictment was returned by a grand jury on October 7, 1969. The named defendants were Sinclair, Plamondon, and John Waterhouse "Jack" Forrest, the White Panther Party Minister of Education for Detroit.

Changing his appearance by cutting shoulder-length hair short and shaving off his beard, he went underground for 11 months, traveling between San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Toronto, Germany, Italy, and Algeria. In May 1969, at the age of 24, he made the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. In July 1970 he went back to Michigan. Plamondon and "Skip" Taube, also a White Panther, were stopped for littering near St. Ignace. Thus Plamondon was discovered, arrested, and spent 32 months in federal prison waiting for his trial.

Sinclair, Forrest and Plamondon were charged with conspiracy to destroy government property, with Plamondon also charged with the dynamite bombing of the CIA office. The government attorneys involved in the prosecution were Ralph B. Guy, J. Kenneth Lowrie, and John H. Hausner. Plamondon and Sinclair were represented by Leonard I. Wineglass and William Kunstler. Hugh M. Davis, a lawyer with the National Lawyers Guild Detroit chapter represented Forrest. Judge Damon J. Keith presided over the case. During proceedings, federal government officials admitted to wiretapping Plamondon's conversations without a warrant. During his trial, U.S. District Judge Damon Keith ordered that the government release the tapes, but the prosecution refused. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. United States v. U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, et al. case, also known as the Keith Case, resulted in a unanimous 8-0 ruling, the requirements of the Fourth Amendment in cases of domestic surveillance targeting a domestic threat. The Supreme Court upheld the prior rulings in the case, holding that the wiretaps were an unconstitutional violation of the Fourth Amendment and as such must be disclosed to the defense. This established the precedent that a warrant needed to be obtained before beginning electronic surveillance even if domestic security issues were involved.

Plamondon returned to Ann Arbor to join Sinclair who himself was released on bond while appeals were heard. The cumulative effects of the imprisonment had marked the end of the White Panther Party in Michigan, which renamed itself the Rainbow People's Party while Sinclair and Plamondon were in prison, before disbanding in 1973.

Early in 1972, Sinclair founded (with Peter Andrews) the Rainbow Multi-Media Corporation, serving as its vice-president and creative director. A Michigan non-profit organization, Rainbow Multi-Media (RMM) was designed as an alternative music-business company with a community-service orientation. To further its ultimate goal of restructuring the music industry and the entire society as well along cooperative, creative and communalistic lines, the company made its resources available on a cost-or-less basis to community organizations committed to progressive social change.

In July 1973 Plamondon and Craig Blazier, the Rainbow People's Party member, were arrested on the charge of conspiracy, extortion, armed robbery, and criminal usury. The case involved a sale of $3,000 worth of marijuana by Plamondon and Blazier to a Traverse City drug dealer Uwe Wagner. When Wagner refused to pay, Plamondon and Blazier threatened to expose Wagner as a drug dealer in the Ann Arbor Sun. Despite numerous contradictions in the State's case, Plamondon and Blazier were bound for a trial and their bond was set at $100,000. It took 30 days and three bond hearings, before the judge reduced the bonds to $5,000 for Blazier and $25,000 for Plamondon. Blazier was bonded out but it took 25 days, two rock-n'-roll benefits, and two more hearings before Plamondon's bond was reduced to $10,000. The Rainbow People's Party organized Plamondon and Blazier defense campaign. During the trial the prosecution used as evidence taped telephone conversations between Wagner and the defendants in which the threats were made. The phone calls were made by Wagner on request of the police and no search warrant was ever obtained. In July 1973 all charges were dropped, except one: extortion by threat of accusation. Blazier received 3 years of probation while Plamondon received a 5-year probation sentence. In 1975 he State Court of Appeals reversed the 1973 extortion conviction, stating that the taped conversations admitted as evidence violated Plamondon's and Blazier's right against unreasonable search and seizure.

Plamondon found work driving equipment trucks for rock bands including Kiss and Foreigner, and for Bob Seger. During this period Plamondon was drinking heavily and used cocaine and other drugs. After several lost years, in 1981 he met Louis Sawaquat, an Ottawa Indian who invited him to sit and smoke a traditional pipe of tobacco. That night, Plamondon told his new friend about his Native American heritage and opened up about his troubles with alcohol and drugs. Sawaquat then suggested that Plamondon learned more about his heritage. Plamondon changed his life by stopping drinking, rediscovering his roots, and becoming a respected Odawa tribal elder. In the early 1980s Plamondon began writing an autobiographical novel he called The Outlaw Papers. This resulted in publishing a memoir Lost from the Ottawa: the Story of the Journey Back (Cloverdale, Mich.: Plamondon, Inc., 2004). Also in the early 1980s Plamondon became involved with the Circle Pines Center in Delton, Mich., a non-profit education and recreation center, where he organized summer camp programs for youth. Plamondon continues to work with children by visiting schools, libraries, museums and summer camps telling American Indian stories and leading storytelling workshops.

Acquisition Information:
Donated by Pun Plamondon (donor no. 11113 ) in May 2014.
Arrangement:

The collection is divided into four series: Activism, Legal Files The Outlaw Papers, 1945-1975, and Other Activities.

Accruals:

No further additions to the records are expected.

Rules or Conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Contents

Using These Materials

Info for Visitors

How to Request

Ordering Reproductions

Download PDF Finding Aid
RESTRICTIONS:

The collection is open to research.

USE & PERMISSIONS:

Copyright is held by the Regents of the University of Michigan but the collection may contain third-party materials for which copyright is not held. Patrons are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials.

PREFERRED CITATION:

[item], folder, box, Pun Plamondon papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan

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Collection

Pun Plamondon Papers, 1968-2003 (majority within 1968-1973, 1982-1983)
Call Number 2014095 Aa 2
Total components 128
Last indexed 2024-06-25