New York Amsterdam News — 1963-00-00649

1» • N. Y. AMSTERDAM NEWS, Sat, Aug._17, 1963 America’s Conscience Letter of The Week - NKW YORK Amsterdam Netoc W? C. B. POWELL President & Editor P. M. H. Savory, Secy-Treas. - J. L. Hicks, Executive Editor *'*■*•*' (ora<*™O«i, X A. Wall. Advertialn< Director, E. M Jackaoa Orcutattoa Director; J. H Walter. City Editor. 4. W Wade. ClaastfMd Adv^ U*M Maaafar, O. Stepp.nl. Brooklyn M.naj.r weekly by the Powell-Savory Corporation at 2340 BKhth Ave., N. Y. Telephone Academy 2-7800 Brooklyn office, 1251 Bedford Avenue. Telephone ULster 7-2500. •utecrtptioo ratoa 1 year |7.k0 - « moo.. M W . * Continue Them Manhattan Borough President Edward R. Dudley has given the supreme answer to those critics who bemoan the current wave of civil rights demon-1 strations and feel they should either be curbed ori ended pending negotiations. Said Mr. Dudley: “I will ask these critics to search their consciences and see if they will not agree that, j without the demonstrations, the Negroes would not ha^e made one-tenth of one per cent of the progress they have made in the last five years.” ( Right on the button, Mr. Dudley. And it should be added that the demonstrations — where needed — will continue in New York and elsewhere in the country until the Negro reaches his goal, which is complete equality. In recent weeks, here in New York City substantial gains have been made in certain areas as direct results of demonstrations in Brooklyn, Manhattan and in the Bronx. Other gains were effected through the threat of demonstrations. Still some demonstrations are con­ tinuing, and must continue until the “power structure” is completely aware of and, what is more important, in sympathy with the demands of the Negro in the current revolution. The demonstrations should continue in the fields of education, jobs and housing opportunities. They should continue in an orderly fashion, however, with discipline and considered justification; with competent direction and responsibility. But they should continue. And we think they will. Welcome, Golfers The Three-Ring Golf Tournament now being played at the Asbury Park Country Club in Neptune, N.J., has been growing and drawing added interest year by year since it was first started in 1959, sponsored by the Amsterdam News and the P.J. Ballantine Company. This year’s tournament, which began Monday and ends Friday, is considered the largest ever held, with over 200 entries. The Amsterdam News is extremely grateful for the support its readers and golf enthusiasts in the area have shown. Our only regret is that every participant can not be a prize winner. Everyone wins however, we believe, in the spirit of comradeship and competition that the Three-Ring Tourney brings. Confusion , The idea of a Bedford-Stuyvesant youth develop­ ment program, along the lines of Harlem’s HARYOU program, has gone unsponsored here for years. This area, with one of the highest juvenile delinquency ratios in the whole city, needs it urgently. But why it should suddenly suggest itself to the two separate groups in this area which are about to launch independent programs in the same direction amazes us. The Central Brooklyn Co-ordinating Council, as well as a group headed by Assemblyman Thomas R. Jones (as yet unnamed) are planning prqgrams. In fact they held their meetings within days of each other. There were members of the Council at the Jones meeting listening to exactly the same plans being expounded without making com- » ment. *"• The Council states that their idea has been in the works a long time and their mistake might have been that they did not give it any publicity. We are not now debating the merits of either group. But we are certainly debating the confusion that is bound to ensue among municipal, state and federal authori­ ties as regards financial help and in the minds of the general public. It doesn’t take a. genius to tell these two groups to do the obvious: merge your forces and put a stronger, better foot forward for the good of the community. Mr. Meany Again The failure of the AFL-CIO, headed by George Meany, to wholeheartedly and unqualifiedly en* dorse the Civil Rights March on Washington on August 28 Is ironic indeed. Here is an American movement which has been endorsed and supported by President Kennedy and every fair-minded American from the White House down as a move aimed at the uplifting of the little man in the United States and yet it fails, of all things, to get the backing of the AFL-CIO which Is aupposed to be the organization of the common man. We note that Walter J. Reuther, head of the United Automobile Workers and the number two m'!". '' t ’ahor hierarchy, has denounced this fail­ ure by th' AFL-CIO as did A. Phillip Randolph, another of the organization’s vice presidents. We hate to admit it but we feel that this fail­ ure on the part of the AFL-CIO points up what this newspaper has tried to point up in the past: That George Meany is a reactionary leader who certainly cannot be classed as a friend of the Negro or his Civil Rights efforts and that as a labor lead­ er he stands as much in the way of the advance­ ment of the little man as do some of the sweat­ shop managements against whom he is supposed to be fighting. Hell Continue The Picket Line August 11, 1963 Sir: I thought that I and the other Negroes and whites who walked on the picket line, at the Down- state site in Brooklyn, were walking for a reason. I thought my arrest, along with the arrests of the other black and white citizens, was a non-violent method of bringing the inequalities in the field of employment into the open. It seems, however, we were wrong. The Rev. William A. Jones of Brooklyn states that the people who have resumed picketing at the Downstate site, “probably have nothing else to do *. This statement was made on August 8, the day after the ‘great capitulation’. Blacks and whites walked on the line before going to work, after work, and on their days off from work. They sang together and got arrested together . . . for freedom! The Rev. Jones now states that these people, who feel he and the other ministers have won a hollow victory and who feel the pickets must continue to demonstrate, “have nothing else to do”. How different this phrase sounds when compared with the eloquent speech the Rev. Jones made at Cornerstone Church, in Brooklyn, a few weeks ago when he spoke for about forty-five minutes,_I_ can still hear the audience response to his impassioned oratory describing the battle the Negroes were going to wage to win their freedom. x It may be that the Rev. Jones and I had nothing else to do for nearly a month. This would explain our presence at the Downstate site and our sub­ sequent arrest for dvl’i disobedience. I would not attempt to speak for the other pickets. I can only repeat what I heard as I walked with them. The daily cry was ‘freedom’! .The young, the old, the mothers with baby carriages, the white, the black, and the boys and the girls, were walking on that picket line to bring about some long needed changes in the life of the American Negro. I walked the picket line for days before the Rev. Jones and his colleagues translated their talk into action and joined the line. NoW that the ministers have capitulated to the Caesars of N.Y. State, N.Y. City, and organized labor, I shall have to continue to walk the picket line without the members of the clergy. History is replete with the shadows of men who made concessions to Caesar. Fortunately there are unsung heroes that history neglects to mention. History never speaks of the men and women who have placed their bodies on the altar of battle, who represent the masses. It is axiomatic that there can be no leaders, good or bad, without those who are to be led. The people, however, exist with or without leaders. The- Negroes will continue to fight with or with­ out outside help. When the hungry, poorly educated, ill housed, underpaid, unemployed, and tired Negroes begin to move, the Rev. Jones and all the Joneses of America had better take note, for the annals of history, past and present, show that the march toward freedom, once begun, cannot be stopped. Harcourt A. Carrington Brooklyn 13, N. Y. H. B. ATTMORE. D.D. south ernment cannot escape charges of limited good faith, which is bad faith, until there is a Cabinet post devoted daily to protecting civil rights for all. If ever there Is such a post, there should be no hesitation, about a Negro heading it. As one of the poets wrote many years ago, and as history demonstrates every day. free men free themselves. Good Man He’s a Good Man Senator Smith Is a good man Senator Smith has served five terms Thirty years gone down the drain He's served his country and the home town too and that ain't no easy thing to do All them voters In that there land Will tell you smltty's a , wonderful man and they all want the Ku Klux Kian Banker Brown Is a good man Banker Brown is a friend of the town Loans them money to spread around He's a lion, an Elk. a Kiwanis He's done more good than any of you Hts friends all say he's a wonderful man and they all want the Ku Klux Kian Lawyer Webb is a good man Lawyer Webb he serves the- law Out It depends If you're from north ' or south But he knows the law and he'll defend any man if he’s a member of the Ku Klux Kian Sheriff Tibbs Is a good man Sheriff Tibbs he has kids And he taught them all to tell no fibs Sent them all off to school made them learn the golden ruje Taught them all that to be a man you gotta be a member of the Ku Klux Kian Officer Clay Is a good man Officer Clay is a bull of a man sirong ngnt hand He wears a helmet as white i ice When he rides around on h motor bike He upholds the law against ai man unless he's a member of th Ku Klux Kian Now if you plan to move don Meet these people and you’ll ft out The Constitution la for any man II he’s a member of the 1 Klux Kian Richard J. Van Wetering 103 Moonachie Ave. Moonachie. N.J. Inner Resources Sir: I have never written a letters to any papers or mas tines tor publication nor do have any strong desire to s my words or name ia print t I would be elated if you pass this warning along to the Ame can Negro. From my limited observed It seems that many of the you sit-ins and demonstrators ai obsessed with the idea that coi ptete integration is the panac for the ills of our society Pies tell my dark brothers and s ters that integration will give more opportunities and that's i When the last sign of lnequ Ity has been erased we will si have to work for a living, stu for an education and pray 1 spiritual resources. Qualltl such as perserverance. coura and faith will still be the lauix ing pad for success ln any fi< and ln any society. No sensible person would de the fact that Dr. Martin Luth King has done and la doing tremendous Job but I am afri that there are some less "Kings" who are encapable demonstrating without hate, takes almost a moral and spit ual super-man to love Gov. W lace of Alabama and Gov. Bj nett of Mississippi and everyo la certainly not a super-man. So please tell my brothers a sisters DO Not put down tlx signs but DO NOT NEGLE< their inner resources which w always be the ultimate test a man. Rev. J. w. Wil Brooklyn. N. Y. People In Action Birmingham Part II Project “C” By DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING. JR. (This series was inadvertently interrupted by the crisis of Dan­ ville (Va.) Savannah (Ga.), Clarksdale (Miss) and Gadsden, Ala.) Project “C” our code name for our intended assault on the “Worst big city in America in Race Relations” was conceited at the Annual Board Meetirg in Chattanooga, Tennessee in May 1962. The name Pro­ ject “C” was the label given the Bir­ mingham plan by my Executive As­ sistant, Wyatt Tee Walker who has a native gift for coin­ ing names and phrases within our nonviolent move­ ment. DR. KING The original plan for Birming­ ham was scheduled to be launched at the tail-end of our Annual Con­ vention set for late September. Fred Shuttlesworth, leader of our Birmingham affiliate, the Ala­ bama Christian Movement For Human Rights, persuaded us that Birmingham’s moment of truth must be breached. For seven years, through ceaseless legal thrusts and sporadic direct action, little visible gains had been real­ ized. Whenever a long-fought and costly court victory was won, it was stymied by the misuse of the judicial process in the state courts of Alabama or via the racist tactic of closing down the public facility involved. Every thrust was attend­ ed by the most brutal mob vio­ lence with what approached ap­ proval by the police force. Albany Crisis As we began to detail our plans for Birmingham over the summer of ’61, we were sidetrack­ ed by our prolonged involvement in Albany, Georgia. On Labor Day Weekend, I dispatched Wyatt to Birmingham ostensibly to fi­ nalize details for the Convention but more importantly to get the “lay of the land” for our planned nonviolent campaign later in the month. Unexpectedly a long - distance call came a week or so later from Rev. Shuttlesworth indicating that there were feelers out to negotiate the grievances of the Negro com­ munity. He felt they were in good faith because he had been assured that for the first time leaders in the white community were will­ ing to negotiate with him. A - • . Tense City All Birmingham was tense when our convention opened. Somehow the word was around the city that demonstrations were to begin either during or at the close of the convention. By mid­ week, Rev. Shuttlesworth and his Board had agreed with responsible leaders of the white community that sufficient commitments had been made to warrant calling off a major direct action thrust. By Christmas, we learned we had either been fooled completely or stark fear had driven the mer­ chants to break their word. Thus on January 9th, 10th with several key Board & Staff mem­ bers, at our training center in Liberty County, Georgia near Savannah, we mapped the meticu­ lous schedule for Project “C” that would begin February 4th and climax on March 21st with our first foray against the awesome forces of Bull Connor and com­ pany and 100 years of custom and tradition. Pulse Of New York’s Public The Amsterdam News welcomes letters on either side of any subject. It is preferred that letters not exceed 2S0 words and they must be signed. Names will be withheld on request. No letters can be returned. All must be addressed to the Editor. at the Rochdale site in Jamaica, never accomplish anything. L._ - was jailed by one „f New Ever see . black Muslim light- Jamaica Support Sir: When picketing of con­ struction sites in New York City was organized, I felt enthusias­ tic and glad that New York’s Negro had finally decided to participate actively In the quest for freedom. As an American and a Jew, I felt a bond and a desire to help achieve this he Is supposed to be fighting The black Muslima are destruc­ tive never constructive. They al ways criticize never sympathize. __ Sir: A feature story in the New York Times Magazine Sec­ tion for Sunday, July 7. 1983, thaws the Attorney General, Ro­ bert F. Kenedy, and mom of his ing experts on dvfl rights. Not one black lawyer la to be seen This suggests to me that the line They make a lot of noise but Go*v7mm^7lZ:d to treat Arnert — I» people and they hate him why not |||.Advis«d Bob let him debate the grand dragon of the KKK to the public can see which character would last the longer doing the least good but rest assured both would tie for a top prize given for grand- standing and bull flinging. If, by not having Negro lawyers in the forefront of the civil rights effort, the Attorney General hopes to be ‘•objective,” as opposed to "subjective,'* about the problem he may soon learn. to his dis­ tress, that race Is an extreme ly subjective matter in America It is a disease with which this country was deliberately contam- 'nated ln 1619, when black slav­ es were brought here ln chains. It flourished through the days of .ng for social freedom? Quite of the natJvea ln 4^^ bondage and was nourished after ten they attempt to fight a police- |ed b th>tri _ aJ no( QUite_______ _____ ____________ Emancipation by Black Codes man only IT have the night stick ready help ia and Inertia by the Federal Gov sound like a singing fool on their ^^*44^ ln America, where con- moment. It was only after black doctors of legal science? acting bCTtarian Amendments has been ” 1*cUll«t« mixing Con.ti- prescriptions, had m-— i._------- taught the Supreme Court how to Malcolm X. is really living high fo|> many decadM the famous tutlonal on the hog by preaching racial UH uic HUH oy prvauiiing racial hatred while prophet Elijah Mu- provlnce of Ne®ro I>*F««- "y clnta ____ _____ . r . 1. hammed is waxing fat and living like a king in a palace out where the west begins and those poor unfortunate prison gates making sure to refill the prison cells in exchange for freeirtg Big Red alias Malcolm X. unbroken line of Negro civil rights lawyers from Charles Hou­ ston, William Hastle (both be­ fore and after becoming a judge), Thurgood Marshall and, in to­ day's time of crisis, Robert Car- After being refused admission ter and Constance Baker Mott Indeed, there is an heroic and ■dm‘n‘»t«requalitarian medicine to a mal-functloning democracy that the Attorney General’s'office awakened to Its duty. In 1963, It is very late to attack a sickness which was vaccinated into the American blood stream over three hundred years ago. It is York's finest Subsequent events however, have saddened me. In Jamaica a hard core ot actively partici- pating people constantly turnedUieads. then away to court they ~.............. rUSaJ±“x ings. The lack of support by the majority of this well off community was appalling. Do people who haven't any regard for its poorer brothers and sis­ ters have a right to ask for rights from others? The merits of the Brooklyn ministers' agreement with Gov. Rockefeller is debatable. Good or bad however, why did these ministers see fit to sign an agreement without consulting the Joint Committee? Is unity held ln such low esteem, or do the .linlsters consider themselves a ,;ower above reproach? . Martin I. Schulberg Jamaica, N. Y. to Africa by all of the other Af- rican nations the Government was willing to give the black Mus­ lims a pari of Northern Alaska to clear up and settle down but they refused on the grounds that It was too cold and the work was too hard, besides no relief checks would be forthcoming. Offers No Solution What fools these mortals be. They are only kidding themselves. Sir: After observing Malcolm Monroe DeChlcken, New York X on TV with other learned men, U’/.T absolutely nothing to offer In solv- ing the present racial crisis. «at !* h," S*raiqht Ticket --------- Sir: Please use the Influence of He is a good knock down, drag- your newspaper to enlighten our out bar-room pug and a tough people on the evils of voting a hog galore who can feint his op straight Democratic ticket. Ap- ponent into a lead then counter parently some Negroes either can- punch with a lot of off the wall not read or they misinterpret what jive and left-handed compliments they do read. He has no basic opinions of his own but relies in poll-parrot fash­ ion on quotes from Prophet Elijah Muhammed. Are there any doctors, lawyers or professional people following this Jdalcolm X or are they Just simple burr heads being led down the primrose path? Since Malcolm X hates white Would you also remind oor civil rights leaders that they could call on all men of color in the United States fighting forces to separate themselves from the service, returning only when we as a whole are given our rights, bar none. Kenneth H. Carter New York, NY ley to name tat . lew. So. there '"“'"‘S' I, no en.ee lor their ebeence nteU“ “ h“eTO""t Uw too By waiting so long before Act­ from the highest councils. Presi ing to lind cures for the maladies (tents who wish to endow their Administrations with excellence, ,,f deprivation suffered by black Americans, the Government has have always drafted the best brains from universities, busl- made 11 appear that the disease ness and the professions. In is acceptable, so long as It does eruP( in *«o- this draft, only the Negro lawyer .notmake its lent displays of high repute has been neglected, although he has performed bril­ liant feats of Constitution advo­ cacy under circumstances al­ ways difficult and often hostile. If the Attorney General had on his executive staff some Negro lawyers who have been in the forefront of civil rights litigation, he would not have been so shock­ ed by the attitude of the Negro intellectuals with whom he met earlier this Spring. That he was astonished by the hard resolve of Negroes and the unwavering ex­ tent of their demands, shows how ill-advised a dedicated man can be. should not reglect those Negro lawyers who know the problem by reason of birth Into It and because thev have fought it as expert resistance forces through The Attorney Genera1 should borrow liberally and Immediate­ ly from among the Negro lawyers who have been narrowing the gap between Constitutional rhe­ toric and black reality. In so doing, he* might well lessen the distance between his office and his own understanding of those who have too long suffered be­ cause his high office was net more active and earlier. For the Attorney General not to use the Negro experts who are available to him, is an awkward, if not deliberate, example of the very kind of discrimination which In the end, I suppose the Cov- \ *T y ars. Now that the country needs all the help it can muster, before vlolence becomes epidemic, it Hesmean sometimes as .11 get your paw He’ll help you out If he knew Untitled Document file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/hello.html2/18/2007 11:01:03 AMThomas M. Tryniski 309 South 4th Street Fulton New York 13069 www.fultonhistory.com