-THE CAROLINA TIMES SATURDAY, OCT. 1, 1967
2A
The Image of Durham's Mayor
At Monday evening's meeting of
the City Council, Mayor Grabarek,
resplendent as usual with a red
carnation, listened to Negro attorney,
H. M. Michaux say in frank terms
that a continuation of residential
segregation in Durham could have
the explosive consequences of Watts,
Hough I Cleveland), Newark or De
troit. Speaking with reference to
the proposed Bacon Street public
housing issue, Michaux ended his
statement saying. "If you do not wish
to aid us in the perpetuation of pro
gress, then we will not aid you in the
preservation of peace."
With an air arrogance and pom
posity, the Mayor deigned to par
don the speaker for his presumption
to "tell it like it is," by saying he
would not interpret the attorney's
words as a threat to the Council. To
this. Michaux said: "I'm simply
stating the facts. Mr. Mayor." The
mayor's tone became terse and au
thoritarian as he told Michaux that,
"this council will not be intimidated
by threats."
Mayor Grabarek's trick of maneu
vering a Negro, however humble his
remarks, into a position of attempt
ing intimidation or threats at his
adversary is so old it stinks to high
heaven. Such maneuvers can be
interpreted as having one and only
The Voice of the Poor
After his official presentation to
the Citizens' Advisory Committee
here Wednesday, N. C. Fund Direc
tor, George Esser. remarked that
"effective dialogue is usually ac
companied by pressure."
Set in the context of what he had
been saying to the Committee, the re
mark points to a fundamental prob
lem generally involved in establish
ing communication between the poor
and city officials whose decisions
affect their lives, and a specific di
lemma in our own city.
The term "dialogue" refers to re
ciprocal communication; it involves
speaking out and being heard.
If the poor speak out in concert, how
do they insure that they will be
heard? And if city officials listen to
what they have to say, how do they
insure that these officials will allow
what is said to affect the decisions
they make? The term "pressure"
refers to what it takes to enliven a
deaf ear, what it takes to get some
action.
In Durham we have several or
ganizations that give voice to the
sentiments of different segments of
our population among them, the
Durham Committee on Negro Affairs
and The United Organization for
Community Improvement. These
The Tobacco Industry
Young men and young women,
both in and out of our schools, and
colleges, who have allowed them
selves to become addicts of cigarette
smoking, should read with horror
the recent report in which U.S. Sur
geon General William H. Stewart
charges the tobacco industry in this
country with being "unconscionable"
for introducing the 100 millimeter
cigarette. The charges were made
during his visit to the Research
Triangle Park, located near this
cigarette manufacturing center of
North Carolina and the nation. They
should view with increasing horror
Stewart's statement revealing that
cigarette smoking has been the cause
of 55,000 deaths from lung cancer in
this country.
Along with this newspaper's loyal
ty and profound interest in the
growth and development of Durham,
as a manufacturing center, we And
ourselves confronted with the matter
of weighing in the balances the
health and lives of the future citizens
of this nation against that of the
tobacco industry. It is regretful that
we find the tobacco industry de
cidedly WANTING!
Yes we have taken into considera
tion what tobacco manufacturing has
meant to Durham and North Caro
lina, financially. We have also taken
into consideration what the health
and lives of our fellow citizens mean
to this country. After carefully
weighing the charges of U.S. Surgeon
General Stewart in the balances we
view the entire tobacco industry as a
licensed murderer whose only con
cern is the almighty dollar profits at
the expense of the health and lives
of American citizens, principally our
young people who will take up the
one objective in mind and that is re
fusal or denial of the pleas of the
representative of the 35,000 citizens
of Durham not to build another hous
ing project in the already
crowded section of this city.
With three bond issues for the city
and county of Durham now pending,
in the near future and the distant
future, the action of Mayor Grabarek
and his ilk are making it hard for
Negro leaders to influence voters of
their race to support even one of
them to say nothing about support
ing all three. •
What galls us further is Mr. Gra
barek's hostility to soul-talk outlin
ing what we have reasons to believe
are true predictions, although dire,
of what will happen if the white pow
er structure in this city persists in
policies and actions detrimental to
racial harmony. The mayor also
seems to think that the Negro has no
right to say bluntly that he will not
help those who refuse to help him.
What is even more disturbing is
the fact that Mr Grabarek's attitude
is one of "arrogance of power." He
is practically paranoid about the dig
nity of his office, and any attempt to
nity of his office, and any attempt to
exercise a citizen's democratic right
to make demands of elected officials
is met with raised hackles.
two collectives have competent and
articulate leaders who have pre
sented to the City Council the views
of their members concerning the
construction of public housing in
southeast Durham. They have done
their part in attempting to establish
an "effective dialogue" in commu
nicating these views. But the City
Council refuses to do its part, it liv
tens but will not hear; if it hears, it
refuses to allow the words of the
people to influence their decisions on
this housing issue.
The language of the common man
is course, plain talk. It comes from
the streets and the back alleys, from
the porches and pool rooms, yes,
even from the gutter. Part of the
problem is' that the city fathers are
offended because the language of the
people is not their own, and they
allow themselves to be more con
cerned with how something is said
than with what is said. On top of
this, we believe they don't even want
to hear what is being said.
If the City Council continues to
fail to do their part in establishing
an "effective dialogue," they will
have to be pressured by every means
the inventive minds of such men as
Howard Fuller and Ben Ruffin can
come up with.
murderous habit of cigarette smok
ing. So we join with the U.S. Sur
geon General when he says: "I don't
know what it will do to the cigarette
industry in North Carolina, I can't
equate the North Carolina Tobacco
economy with 55,000 deaths from
lung cancer."
Back in the days when it was vio
lently against the rules of our schools
and colleges for any student to be
caught smoking, on or off the cam
pus, it now appears that their presi
dents, principals and faculty mem
bers wrought greater than they
knew. As replacement for the
abandoned rules against smoking in
our schools and colleges we would
like to suggest the organization of an
anti-tobacco club or group in every
school and college in this country. By
so doing we would at least be doing
something to safeguard the most pre
cious possession of any human be
ing good health.
Just one race — human
BROOKLYN, NY. Re Dean
Rusk's daughter's marriage: The
Bible and science are in accord with
the fundamental principle of the unity
of mankind as expressed in the uni-
V4?rgfll cfloccpt of the Fatherhood 01
God and the brotherhood of man.
There is but one race, the human
race. Father Divine and good Pope
John preached this over a million
times. To all enlightened persons,
there is do validity to the idea of
"marrying out of one's own race;
despite what Nazi Rockwell and his
technicolor "soul-hrothers might
wish to believe.
Ku Klux Klan fanatics and Black
Power bigots are preaching a dang
erously stupid, destructive, and divi
sive philosophy. Since there is but
one race, it is utter nonsense to be
lieve that certain human beings have
an innate monopoly on vice or virtue,
and this based on pigmentation.
FREDERICK V. SEABROOK
A DAILY PRAYBR IN THE GHETTOS
'MEN SHOW THEIR
CHARACTER IN
MOTH I NO MORE CLEABLYIgI
THAN BV WHAT THEY
THINK LAUGHABLE.' ■
—AND PLIASC 000 - OOW
■—y LET THC RATS COME IN AND
UTEMSANYMOM/ K*
VueN "
I TELL IT LIKE IT IS 1
(By THAD GIVEN)
In the language of labor.
Negro workers attempting to
organize their own independ
ent unions seem to have de
fined "Black Power" for them
selves. "Power to Demand,
Power to Negotiate, Power to
Decide" has become the slogan
of the Negro American Labor
Council. The campaign to or
ganize Negro unions repre
sents a more militant stance
on the part of the NALC which
was organized seven years ago
in protection over discrimina
tion against Negroes in the
AFL-CIO. The plan is to focus
the campaign primarily on
service workers. Represented
in the effort are members of
the United Auto Workers, the
United Steelworkers of Ameri
ca, the International Long
shoreman's Association, the
Equal Employment Opportuni
ty Commission, and the Office
of Economic Opportunity.
The slogan is interesting. In
the early days of union acti
vity, workers emphasized the
rights of labor to make de
mands of management, to ne
gotiate their differences, and
to decide what is acceptable
in terms of their own interests.
For the most part, manage
ment has conceded these rights
to labor. In the case of the
NALC, the emphasis is not*
labor's rights, but on the paw
•r that organization confers
on labor's rights, but on the
To Be Equal •
He Sees Signs A Sleeping Giant Is Awakening
There are signs that a sleeping
giant is awakening. I'm talking about
the immense power of nongovernmen
tal institntions to use
their many billions of Mb
dollars of economic
power to help cure the mm
racial and urban ills of JL
America.
In the past, everyone H|K2» ?
looked to Washington,
Business said that put
ting money into slums
was too risky, religious
and nonprofit groups
said that such action
didn't concern them, and local gov
ernments said they just didn't have
the cash, although that didn't prevent
them from finding it for other causes.
So it was up to the federal govern
ment. But its response was inade
quate. It ended some forms of legal
segregation, but in matters like hous
ing it failed to make discrimination
illegal or to provide an adequate sup
ply of low-cost housing. As a result
there are over 7 million dilapidated
homes and apartments in America.
Private industry needed
The big lesson here is that the fed
eral government can't do the job
alone. Building decent housing for all
needs the cooperation of private in
dustry, nonprofit groups, and govern
ment, all working together. In the
past month a beginning has been
made in this direction.
America's huge insurance industry
announced that it would invest 91 bil
lion, mostly in low and moderate cost
housing projects in slum neighbor- |
hoods. The government will uiwr«
their investment, guarding them
against losses in what has always
been a risky investment area. With
out such government help it would be
nearly impossible to get those private
dollars into low-rent housing con
struction.
In a little more than a year, 1,000
moderate, income families will move
into the first of the buildings which
will be constructed by the insurance
industry. As part of its share in the,
eta billion dollars, the Prudential j
ance Company will build a co
operative apartment house on the
edge of the Newark ghetto.
pow«r that organization con
fers on labor to exercise these
rights.
The difference in emphasis
is significant, and probably in
tentional. The stress on pow
er reflects a strictly racial
concern. Superimposed upon
the shared concerns of work
ers generally, are the special
concerns of Negroes specifi
cally. In his frustration over
his attempts to control the so
cial forces affecting his life,
the American Negro has iden
tified his need for power. He
is laboring to define "power"
and to specify how and in
what areas it is to be applied.
The NALC has taken a step in
this direction. Their slogan
seems to imply that power
must be wielded against man
agement. Actually, the anta
gonist it whit* organiwd la
bor.
The exclusion of workers
from established unions be
cause these workers are Ne
gro is the most damnable form
of discrimination, even more
heinous than that of preju
diced management. It is ques
tionable whether the NACL
will be able to deal with this
problem effectively by forming
independent Negro unions.
When it comes down to it,
the source of "power" for the
worker comes from his hav
ing specialized knowledge and
skills. This is what most Ne
gro workers do not have.
Nonprofit groups also are beginning
to take part in the revival of private
interest in decent housing. The
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New
ark has announced that it will spon
sor new housing and rehabilitation
programs in several northern New
Jersey cities.
But this is more than a bricks and
mortar plan. Recognizing that many
low-income families need help in
many areas and that a decent home
won't solve all their problems, the
Archdiocese plans to provide fpecial
help for tenants.
They will help furnish and decorate
the new home, and will provide guid
ance in educational, economic, me
dical, and other needs. Such services
are desperately needed. They can
help create the sense of community
which the typical barracks-type of
low income project destroys.
The importance of these planned
projects is that they show that busi
ness, religious, and civic leaders arc
coming to realize that they have an
important stake in the cities, and
that they must do something about the
explosive urban conditions wtuch
threated America's future.
Can't be answered by funs
After this summer's riots many
people called for repressive measures
and police action. But the creative
people in leadership roles understood
that the cry from the ghettos cannct
be answered by guns, but by action to
end poverty and popr living con
•- •». •
The Catholic housing plans in New
Jersey, for example, grew out of
Archbishop Thomas A. Boland's visit
to Newark's riot area, and his deci
sion to involve the church in the
social and economic problems of the
poor. And enlightened leadership of
the business community has respond
ed with the insurance industry's
housing commitment, the formation
of the Urban Coalition of dtv, busi
• ness, labor religious and civil rights
leaders, and with expanded work
with groups like the Urban League
to open up job opportunities.
I
Those that do (carpenters,
bricklayers, etc.) are denied
access to the most potent
means of controlling their
livelihood when they are de
nied union membership. Those
that don't are denied access
to work itself—they cannot ac
quire the skills they need to
practice a trade, because the
unions control the training of
recruits to the trade through
their apprenticeship programs
If skilled Negro workers
form independent unions, they
will conflict with white unions
as they compete for contracts.
Management will be able to
play one off against the other.
Racial antagonisms will in
crease. This is no solution.
Separate dnions only make
sensi-4vhere Negroes predomi
nate in an occupation impor
tant to industry or business.
The NALC would do better
to establish Negro Technical
Institutes where unskilled Ne
groes can acquire the know
ledge and skills they need. As
more Negroes acquire special
ized skills, white organized
labor will have to allow them
into their unions to keep man
agement from being able to
tap a large pool of skilled
workers at non-union wages.
Whether they know it or not,
the source of "power" for the
NALC will be the training of
Negroes, not establishing their
separateness as workers
Catholic Church takes part
. flu (tarollla &Bf g
Published every Saturday at Durham, H C.
by United Publlthert, Inc.
L. E. AUSTIN, PubliMher
SAMUEL L. BRIGGS Managing Editor
J. ELWOOD CARTER Advertising Manager
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PRINCIPAL OFFICE LOCATED AT 436 E. PETTICRKW STREET,
DURHAM, Norm CAROLINA 27702
THE WAY I SEE IT
By DAVID W. STITH
BACON STREET . . . DAVID AND GOLIATH
Note: David W. Stith, young
Durham educator, is President
of Southeastern Business Col
lege. A one-time candidate for
Durham City Council he con
tinuei. to show his interest in
and concern for community
affairs in this series of articles.
The struggle between Dur
ham's Negro and white citi
zenry over the Bacon Street
Housing Project continues.
Each day it seems that mor«
and more the superior num
bers of the white citizens are
carrying the day. And each
white citizen must hold him
self responsible as he quietly
agrees to the course of actior.
being imposed on the Negro
citizens. Represented by their
Goliath of votes on the city
council they believe David will
be easily defeated. But this is
not so.
Despite the many efforts of
the Negro citizens led by Ben
Ruffin of the UOCI and oth
ers proceeding through the
legitimate governmental chan
nels the view of the Negro ci
tizens have been ignored. Dis
obeying a basic precept of our
governmental system the city
council has refused to really
listen to the legitimate protest
of the Negro citizens. When
even smaller groups of white
citizens protested housing de
velopment in their areas (Club
Boulevard and Benjamine
Street) the city council ac
quiesed to arguments carrying
much less force than those
currently presented against
Bacon Street proposal. In its
single-minded attraction to
this project, despite the oppo
sion of the citizens of the
area, the City Council has
shown it would rather be ra
cist than reasonable.
When all these methods have
failed to rout the Philistines a
single stone by David may win
the victory.
May I suggest a stone to
throw. Let them put on their
armor that is, build their
ghetto housing project if they
must. But Negroes do not have
to live in it. If the whites want
the Bacon Street Project so
badly let them live there. A
boycott of the project by the
Negro citizens will give the
whites a toy to play with.
What will they do with a hous
ing project in the middle of
the Negro ghetto?
WHERE IS SCHOOL
INTEGRATION GOING?
North Carolina's pattern of
school desegregation is mov
ing towards something other
than integration. Why are so
many well qualified experi
enced Negro teachers being
put into the predominantly
white schools and being re
placed by relatively inexperi
enced white teachers? To pre
serve an unequal system fav
orable to the whites? The re
sult will certainly be to pro
duce schools more unequal
than they have been in the
past and also gives a hint of
the beginning of a pattern to
sharply reduce the number of
Negro teachers.
Is school integration in North
Carolina to be simply a one
way street? Does it mean only
that Negro students will at
tend predominantly whit e
schools with no traffic the oth
the other way? Consider the
situation In Durham where a
number of Negro students at
tend predominantly white Dur
ham High School. But how
many white students attend
the Negro Hillside High
Research
Facility
To Open
A regional mass spectrometry
center that holds dramatic
potential for research advances
in chemistry, biology,
pharmacology, environmental:
health, and medicine is being
established at Research
Triangle Institute.
Created by a $173,000 grant
from the National Institutes of
Health, U. S. Public Health
Service, the center will be
operated by tbe institute in con
junction with Duke University.
Durham, tbe University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
and North Carolina State
University at Raleigh.
Tbe Institute la a separately
operated, contract research
STITH
School? What will be the re
sults of these two trends? T">
produce a new type of dual
school system which carries
more faults than the old Ne
gro-White School system? In
this system there will be on
the one hand the predominan
tly white schools with just
enough of a sprinkling of Ne
gro students to be called in
tegrated and a few highly
qualified Negro teachers. On
the other side will be the Ne
gro schools with well integrat
ed faculties supplied with the
less experienced white teach
ers. The percentage of Negro
teachers will be cut almost irt
half, and whites will be
quieted with only token inte
gration in their schools.
The Negro principals are
taking the worse beating in
this whole affair. Why is it
that when a Negro and a White
school are consolidated into a
single unit the Negro principal
nearly always loses his job,
even when he is the better
qualified of the two principals
in terms of both training and
experience?
And what of the attitude of
city and county school admini
strators to the schools? Why
is it that—again in Durham—
white teachers in a Negro
school are able to get materials
and equipment by personally
going to the administrative of
fices when the principal of the
same school had been repeat
edly denied the same supplies?
Does this mean that only white
teachers will have access to
the materials needed to teach
their students while they are
denied to Negro teachers in
the same school?
White doesn't make right—
or even best for that matter —
in education or in anything
else. To take the white as the
best simply because he is
white is to do irrepairable
harm to our educational sys
tems. In a day when rapid
scientific and technological ad
vances demand a superior edu
cational effort, North Caro
lina, in its seeming concentra
tion on maintaining a white
oriented educational system
with only token integration, is
building a system which may
be radically inferior in the
years to come.
In rejecting pratically all
the Negro principals (except
for almost totally Negro
schools) North Carolina is fail
ing to use many of its best
educational administrators. In
decreasing the number of Ne
gro teachers North Carolina is
reducing that group of teach
ers which is best qualified in
terms of advanced training
and degrees. Such loses should
not be taken lightly.
organization closely affiliated
with the three schools.
Initial activity at the center is
now under way following the ar
rival of a high resolution,
double-focusing mass spectro
meter at RTl's Chemistry and
Life Sciences Laboratory.
A model MS-902 produced by
Associated Electrical industries,
Ltd., the instrument possesses a
tmiqrse capability lat precisely
measuring the masses of ionized
molecular fragments.
This will enable scientists to
determine the identity and exact
structure of complex organic
compounds with unprecedented
aocuracv.
One of only about half a dozen
similar Installations in the
United States, and the only one
of its kind in tbe South, the
center will serve the scientific
needs of the entire Research
Triangle area of North Carolina.
Laboratory director Dr.
Monroe E. Wall of RTI is
designated as principal In
vestigator at Uw new facility.