Emily Harris - Founding The Symbionese Liberation Army

Founding The Symbionese Liberation Army

Emily and Bill Harris arrived in Berkeley, California in 1973 from Bloomington, Indiana. They came with their friends Gary Atwood and Angela Atwood. They soon joined a left-wing group, one of whose activities was visiting prisoners in northern California. The Harrises made the acquaintance of an escaped prisoner, Donald DeFreeze. They joined the SLA, created by Mizmoon Soltysik, Nancy Ling Perry, Joseph Remiro, Russ Little, Willie Wolfe, Angela Atwood, Theo Wheeler, and Camilla Hall. Emily Harris's nom de guerre was Yolanda. On November 6, the SLA committed its first public act, the assassination of popular Oakland, California school superintendent Marcus Foster. The SLA mistakenly thought that Foster was behind a plan to require student identification cards in Oakland high schools. Subsequently, they kidnapped Patty Hearst, the college student heir to the Hearst newspaper chain.

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