Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Sept. 8, 1962, edition 1 / Page 2
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TKl CAROLINA TIMES S-A-DUIIHAM. N. C. SATURDAY, SBPTEAMER i mS The Governor's Proposed Interracial Commission ' WE CANT AFFORD THIS KIND OP SWOWJ 'lUlSONilSfARr fiovernor’s Sanford’s plan to appoint a com mission composed of citizens of both races for the purpote of* attempting an amicable and satisfactory settlement of the several problems now confronting this state over the question of sefjrepatlon is a splendid idea. We think, however, that before the pnvernor begins appointing Negroes to the commission, he should have the advice and counsel of that group of Negro leaders usually sidestepped or overlooked when such matters are beinp; con sidered. Unless he does and heeds them, the commission will be just another interracial group of citizens that holds perioditf"meetinp;s with polite bowing, grinning, handshaking speectws and scholarly -papers which in the en«l will mean absolutelv nothinrj. This newspaper recalls that North Carolina has had interracial commissions of a kind be fore whose member* were also appointed by its governor while in office. So far as the Negro members were concerned, the com missions were' most always composed of so- called Negro leaders, mostly state employees, who would be certain to agree, agree and agree with any proposal or suggestion made by their white fellow members, most of whom were also state employees or persons in posi tion to cut off the bread and butter of any Negto who might get out of line as a member. It was not accidental or incidental that the record will disclose that no NAACP leader, Negro lawyer or Negro newspapeman was ever appointed to an interracial commission of this state in the past. Onlv those persons whose jobs as teachers, welfare workers and such, and being under the watchful eyes of their white overlords and masters, the super intendent of Negro education or a simila posi tion, were ever ap|)ointed. As a result of such creaf puff interracial commissions, North Carolina Is now reaping the harvest of Negro dissatisfaction and un rest as exemplified in sit-ins, picket lines and other demonstrations against segregation. Contrary to the belief of many, the dissatis faction is nothing new. Though subdued, it has always existed in the form of a ground- swell that continued to grow until it resulted in the demonstrations now being carried on by young Negroes all over the country. We say again the appointment of an in terracial commission to look Into the prob lems of segregation now facing this state is a splendid idea. We would like to advise, however, that the governor in making such appointments must be willing to name repre sentatives of NAACp, CORE, Negro attor neys and other segments of the race, hereto fore circumvented. It’s white members must be willing to sit down' as man to man with such Negro leaders and face up to the ques tions now before them with an open mind. The situation cannot be amicably solved by whitewashing. To do so is to merely prolong the agony that is certain to grow instead oi diminish. Letter to the Editor TO THE EDITOR There seems to be a plague of racial demonstrations as at How ard Johnson’s in Durham and at Albany, Ga., etc. It seems to us that the wnole husine.s.s can bn stopped oy quot ing just one authority to the demonstration: “And when Uiou praypst, thou shall not b’ as the hypocritcs are; for they lovu to pray standing in the synagogues and in the coioers of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou prnvest, enter into thy clofiet. and wh»^n thou h.ist .shut thv door, pray to thv father which is in s.“”ret: and thy fathfr which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” .Matt. 6:5-6). I submit those words of th# Master without any comment They need more. C. S. Thrift Durham * White Minister Sets Up Sunday School for Negroes In Mississippi SPIRITUAL INSIGHT REV. HAROLD ROLAND That "What the Negro Needs Most" Article You will need to read thoughtfully and prayerfully the article entitled "What The Ne gro Needs Most”, condensed from Harper’s Magatine and appearing in this month’s Read er’s Digest, by John Fischer. Whether inten tionally or unintentionally it has dealt a vi cious blow at that segment of the Negro race convposed of those who through hard work and sacrifice are trying to better the lot ot their people. The article contains just enough truth to, appear the work of one who is sin cerely endeavoring to produce a panacea for the conditions facing the Negro in this coun try. Like most white persons of John Fisch er’s ilk there is much evidence that he con siders himself an authority on the race ques tion. Hidden behind a few praiseworthy state- ,^mepts lor the efforts of the NAACP, the Ur ^ ban League, CORE and other organizations now fighting for Negro rights is an apparent sinister effort to undermine the leadership of those same orj^anizations with the sugges tion that "before the Negro community can make its^ next big forward step, it must find ganization and a radically different method of attack." The afticle then goes on to state that the aim of the new organization would be to pro ducc such changes as to ‘‘Make Every Negro A First-Class Citizen.” Its goal it says is ndt “merely to win the full rights that belong to every American citizen, hut to make sure the Negro is both willing and able to carry the full responsibilities of good citizenship Once he does, he may be surprised to see hoiy fast white prejudice melts away,” the article continues. TW t#sk of the n«w orgMiuatioo, •*jr» Mr. FisclMr further, “wfll be to find #lww«rs to three cpiestions: L What timit whit* iMople afraid of? (Why do to move out of ■ neighl>orhood •9VB •• NegroM move in? Why are so ■MMjr liMMregAted schools becoming "re- MBMfMlAdk” u white parents withdraw tWr ehJUran?) 2. How much of this fear !• raliQBal, and how much is simply Mind, ■wrMsoning prejudice? 3. What can be done ** reasons for such fear? The Aen points out in answer to the tfcraa i|iiestians that whites fear crime, Seifliboiliood deterioration, civic apathy and moral irrwponiilility. It thus appears that so far as Mr. Fischer is concerned the Negro must become a perfect race of people and like Caesar’s wife each one of them must be above suspicion if he ever expects to be acceptable to white American society. He does not point out what an awfi-./ predicament such a race would be in to find itself having to deal with another race of peo- Owgai§B|flgiiitfg ViblMiMi rreiy Saturaa; at D«nuni, N C. IV Uaited Publishers, Ine. L k. AUSTIN, Publisher triijfcMn: and 681-8S12 IMWi M tfmmi class matter at the Post Offle* •t North CaroUaa. under th* Aet of Maith S, 18T» DnrtUfli. Worth caroina OCte kwatad at 486 C. Petttgrew tt ION RATES: S4J)0 PKB TKAB MMiNMr Mtervet the right to make diangea a iMMHit pobUsbed, except letters to the Wt goarantee return of uneolleited j)le that has produced such characters as “Raby Face” Nelson, Al Capone, Billy Sol Estes, Elizabeth Taylor, "Bugs” Moran, John Dillinger and the like. Neither does he ap pear to offer any apology or explanation for the exploitation of Negro workers, lynchings, police brutality, phettoes and other unsavory conditions of which Negroes find themselves the victims, On the contrary he demands that the race produce a Utopian situation before any of them are acceptable as first-class citi zens. It is our hope that the Negro masses and sympathetic whites will not be influenced by this latest move apparently designed to under mine both the white and Necro support now being given such as sjt-ins, picketing and other demonstrations produced by young Negro«*.|, agjiiiist racial discrimination. Basically Ne>- groes are no bettef or no worse than any other race and in spite of good and bad conditions which they face from time to time they like wise may be expected to produce their share of good and bad men and women. It therefore is just as asinine to castigate or praise the en tire race for what a few of them may do as if is to label all white people in the South as viciously opposed to Negroes and as lynchers No white man is able to truthfully say “What the«.Negro Needs Most,” Only those who have suffered the deep wounds of segre gation are in position to say what is needed most for the Negro. Any white man who at tempts to even suggest a panacea for the ills of the race is either stupid or has ulterior motives in mind. It Is Tragic When Law Is Violated By Its Authorized Defenders "Can you legally flog a man who is a Roman citfien . . . Acts 23:25. Injustice of the highest order, and only injustice, would flog a citizen without the due process of law. But evil has often dealt in this manner with basic rights of citizens. Justice is often trampled unrder foot. Justice is often abused with out the simple protection ot the law. Prejudiced discrimina tion is often guilty of violaij ing the basic rights oi ^tlzeb' sfclp." Every mistreatmieiR of* citizen undermines the sanctity of the law tf the land. Thl« was true in ancient Rome as well as twentieth century America. Thus we .see Paul the preacher of the Gospel stand up for simple rights as A Rqmah citizen , . . “CriT yoi!i'legally flog a man who is a'*fepman citizen . . .”? ' I It is tragic when lav^ Is vio lated by its authorized de fenders. police power Is sworn to defend, the sanctiljr*'hf the law. We have had mAhy ex amples where the defenders ot the law have winked at the sins of the mob in its murder ous fury. This is dangerous. Why? It is the first step, to ward that undesirable state of society called anarchy of law: lessness. Disrespect for one law becomes according influence against all law. Thus when we stand for the rule of law we declare ourselves for the order and peace of society. A wilful irtjustice done to a citizen is a bloyr at the stability of the *• eommttiftty . ; . 'Tie rtot de ceived for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap. . .” We should stand boldly for our rights as citizens. But we should remember that citizen ship is a two-sided coin. We, ’ as citizens, have responsibili- ■ ties and rights. The two Rs go together. ’There is the responsi bility of paying taxes and there is the privilege of the vote. The government demands the taxes and we ought to de mand and make use of our iballot. We fight In defense of the government in the time of national crisis and the police power of the state should be used to defend all citizens in itheir basic rights and privi leges. Thus when we have done our duties, we ought to standly boldy for our rights as citizens. Can we remain silent when fellowcltizens are being dpen- NEW YORK; This nation has come to expect stories of N\egroes below the Mason-Dixon Line standing up for their rights. But the current Octo ber issue of Pageant magazine reports on a white man who atands up with them. In the article “Rare Hero In The Deep South,” the magazine com mends the work of Rev. Thomas E. Johnson, a Baptist minister engaged in setting up rural Sunday school for Ne«rro families in Canton, Missi issippi. In Madison County, where Rev. Johnson does most of his Sunday school work, almost 70 per cent of the 32,000 resi dents are Negroes. The John- ^ns, his wife Marcella and youngsters started their work in February 1957. "We were appalled by the conditions in which so many of our people lived when we arrived,’’ he re calls in the article. “There were no buildings for Sunday schools, or funds to build them, so we took to holding meet ings in the houses of our mem bers." However, in short order, the white citizens of Canton start ed harassing the Johnson fami ly with threatening calls, maligning accusations and rag ing insults. When threats failed to in^ timidate the Johnsons, gays Pageant, the pressures were turned on the Negro families with whom he worked: share croppers who allowed meet ings in their homes were tOireatened with eviction, sheds for Sunday school meet ings had foundations under' mined and their windows shot out. But the Johnson meetngs still go on against all odds. Perhaps one reason is to de scribe what happened when a Negro who owns her own farm was told that she better stop holding the gatherings in her home. “TTie school is going to get bombed,” she warned. "If I’m going to be bombed,’ she answered, “there’s no better time for it to happen than when I’m in Sunday school studvintf God’s word.’ Asked whether it’s all worth it. Rev. Johnson quietly re flects on the progress of his students. “We’ve seen kids who might have ended in jail, or worse, becoming decent Christ ians, going to school and find ing respectable jobs. There doesn’t have to be many cases like that to make all the other things completely insignificant Rev. Thomas E. Johnson, truly “a Hero In The Deep South.” His story, dramatical ly depicted in the October is sue of Pageant magazine. "Architect Continued from front page nouncement that the selection of ly and brazenly mistreated? made^ft^**ca^^*i*** w* pan htit. UFA ™ f careful consideration of North Carolina .Mutual’s-'re- We can but we are undermln- . j 1* public throughout also business. Then, tomorrow may “The Board of directors) be- be your turn. We must be alert no,,. tv,. to every sign of injustice di- Belton rected toward law-abiding citi zens. I am mistreated today Beckett firm to be the wisest that might have been made,” he said. A good portion of his s\ate- the tyrannic aote of injustice ... ‘he Beckett firm dealt with the and tomorrow may be your turn. We all must fight against that would rob us of the simple dues of citizenship. As citizens let us ever remem ber that “Righteousness ex- alteth a nation but sin is a re- preach to any people . . . .” Howard Johiison Demonstrations Provide Community With an Active Conscience on the Race Question -Union company’s policy of hiring Ne groes. Spaulding said the firm had a “fair employment program of more than 20 years standing,” and went on to add that qualifi ed Negro technicians, drafts- ment and trainees have been given places in the firm. -Physician Continued from front page gressive civil rights movement in North Carolina after flr?t Worl^ War. Along, uritt ih late Dr. James E- Sheparu founder and first president of North Carolina College, Dr. Rivera served on some of the early interracial committees de singed to improve human rela tions in North Carolina. A member of the board of trustees of Palmer Memorial in stitute in Sedalia, N. C., he was likewise an ardent support of the NAACP. He was a member of Kapoa Alpha Psi Fraternity and a Mason. He was also one of the founders of the Old North State Medical Society. Dedication and Degradation There is ii ya»t difference between the thousands of yoiiths in the South and various sections of tihe country who are stag ing non-violent sit-ins. pickets and other dem- onstartions against the evils of segregation, as practiced in the Ui^ited Staes, and the near ly 1.000 white high school and college students who went on a rampage at Seaside, Oregon, to stage a free-for-all fight with police last week-end. According to Associated Press reports of the Oregon debacle the white students became violent when motel and hotel accommodations became exhausted due to an overflow of guests who had gathered at the little resort city for the Labor Day week-end. When Oregon State police were called to the scene, so ter rible was the rioting. Superintendent of the police who has been with the department for 31 years stated that it was the worst affair of its kind in his memory. ' - During the melee the drunken students pulled down a 30-foot high lifeguard tower and dragged it to the main street. Fire hoses were slashed, windows were broken and signi were smashed. In addition police were attack ed with beer bottles and rocks before the mob violence could be brough under control. Add to this similar events at Lake George N. Y., and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where drunken, twist rampages have occurred. Add again similar explosions of white students at Ocean City, Maryland and Hampton Beach, N. H., and you will be able to discern the difference betwMfi th« dedication of Negro students to the cause of obtaining freedom for their people and the degradation of the dninketi white Ktudcnt*. ‘I A man cannot live for long in decency and with .self re spect unless he has a con science, an active oortjicience, a conscience which asserts it self and which coniit'ols tfie man instead of being controll ed. A community or a state is just like .1 man. A community must have its con.scicnvp, and it must hear true allcgiance to that cnn.sciencp and it must hear what that conscience ha.s to say, A community must have to underst.-md not only what its con.scioncc is saying is right and what is wrong, but must also try to under stand why its conscience must say those things. A cohnmunity which re fuses to hear its cop.science is just like a man who refu.ses to hear his conscience. After a few refusrils to hear,'the con science no longer .speaks, or can no longer speak loudly en ough to be heard. We people in Raleigh now have active consciences. And it now appears tliat we will have to decide in the days im mediately ahead whether we will permit our conscience to speak and whether we will permit ourselves as a commu nity to hear what that consci ence may say. In the years just back of us we here in Raleigh and in North Carolina have been per mitted the luxury of not hav ing to listen much to our con sciences on racial matters. We have been able to point our flagers toward our neighbors to the South,-7K>tlO( that th^y were having their soui shak ings and soul searchings over race relations, while things in our blessed Old North State were so quiet and peaceful and wonderful. Those years of luxurious fing er pointing are over and done with so far as we are con cerned. It will do us no good to shake our heads sorrowfully over the mess which grips Al bany In Georgia. Our mess isn’t nearly as big as Albany’s, ffr which we must be ever lastingly grateful. But right here in Raleigh, we have seen yo\mg Negroes tried and sen tenced in a case brought sole ly because they tried to obtain service at a restaurant open to the white public, or it should be added, also open to any Orientals who happened in. Those young Negroes were sentenced to prison, too. And, right here In North Cnrolina, we have on our con science at this very moment a ”oung white* man from New York who is on a hunger strike in prison. He was .sen tenced to 60 days on charges b>-ouBht In connection with an attempt to integrate another all-white restaurant. The con.science of our com- mnnitv and of our state must hold that the owner of a re» taurant must have the right to decide who will be served In his place of buslnese. That must be a basic right for any individual operating a bust- nets. But Juft M wrtljr M our community conscience must as- Continued from front page .h.. run. .O o«™,, th. Of the restaurant, our commu- piaoue to 208’s president Walter nlty conscience must tell the o Daye restaurant n»n that he will i„ the principal address to not be penalized for serving a the gathering. Rev. Speaks said decenrtly dress^, decently be- are living in an age of fear- haved man whose only sin is paradoxes and contradictions the color of his skin. It is not must be resolved if we easy on occasion to do what are to live together as brothers, our consciences tell us we should do. It is especially hard Speaks listed as essentials for resolving these contradictions when what must be done cuts the right to be free, the right directly across a century of deeply ingrained customs. We, as individual residents to work and the willingness to struegle for these rights. ^ I. . “Human freedom is the divine of North Carolina, can no long- ^leht of ev-v man,” Speaks de- er afford to say to aitother ^,ared, and he pointed out that Carolina America must grant freedom to that he shall not dare to aspire 3,, to better things simply be- „ jhe leader of cause he is a Negro.. And, above all, as a community or as a state, we cannot afford to make a dark skin an auto- con- the "Lott Carey Continued from front page matic barrier to hope. We, as white men, must realize that we cannot in good conscience continue to maintain the old vert S. Hobbs. PhiTdelphla, Penn, myth that we must have a treasurer, Mrs. Kate B. Price, monopoly on aspiration and on Washington. D. C.; treasurer, hope. emertius, Mrs. Rebecca Bul- ’This is not a pleaaent time lock, Washington, D. C.; Chair* for us in Raleigh. Our feeUngs man of executive board, Mrs. have been hurt, and no man Ellen Alston, Raleigh, N. C.; co- likes to have his feelings hurt, chairman executive board, Mrs. especially when he sees that Janev Garland, secretary ot »x- the thrust which hurt may ecutive board, Mrs. Janey Hair- have been triggered by out- stien, Pittsburg, Pewn.; suparip Veteran's Questions aiders. Bitterness never salved hurt leelings. And sulking over them never helped hurt feel ings. But deep searching into the conscience could help and could heal. Ck>vemor Sanford has aald hf will appoint a comndiaioD to aa«k a 9^ out al torait tindent of Young People’s de- Here are 'authoritative answers by the Veterans Administration to questions from former service men and their families: Q,—What l( the funetion et tliK ov»raa* Veterans Affairs Of firM of th* C>«parfm«nt? A.—These offices at the Amerl can emh'issips in London, Paris Rome, Mexico City and at the American consulate eeneral in Frankfurt, Oormany, furnish as sistance to United States vete rans and their dependents on the full range of veterans benfits matters, includino authortration of VA medical treatment and hos pitalization benefits for eligible veterans, Q.—What states have paid a banus to veterans of World W*i II? A. — States that have naid a bonus to veterans of World War n are; A1a.ska, Connecticut, Dela ware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana Iowa, Kentiickv. Louisiana, Massa chusetts, MichiPan, Minnesoia, Montana, New Hampshire, New York. North Dakota, Ohio, Ore pon, Pennsylvania. Rhode Island South Dakota, Vermont, Wash ington and West Virginia. partment. Mrs. C. E. Grlffen, Norfolk, Va.; associate secretary Mrs. Barbara W. Wingfield, Pittsburg, Penn. of hurt feelings and injured pride and denied hopes in which we now find ourselves. This commission could help all of us a great deal. Or It could vary easily make a bad litiatio« infiBlialy If thlg Its conscience deeply it could help us all. If it simply searches back into old passions and old hataf and old bitternesses, it would have been better if tl>e com' s4»ioa had naver bean beam- Tba Balalgb V
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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Sept. 8, 1962, edition 1
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