3
'Guess who might be coming to dinner?'
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THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1868
NON-VIOLENT MURDER
King Both Right, Wrong
A madman not yet Identified
last Thursday gunned down Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights
leader and apostle of non-violence,
as he stood on a motel balcony in
Memphis, Tenn. The murder
touched off a nationwide reaction
ranging from mourning to rioting
and stirred in the nation's white
citizens emotions ranging from
sympathy to hate.
Respect for Dr. King and his
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference was not universal, but
was widespread. That he was not
respected by many people in the
South was abundantly evident in
their conversation following the
tragedy. The vast majority of
Southerners, however, condemed
the man who gunned down, and a
great many paid tribute to his
work and his purpose.
Martin Luther King Jr. was,
first of all, a minister, and al
though certain of his preachments
were not, In our opinion, in the
best interests of either his peo
ple or the country, basically he
preached Jesus Christ and broth
erly love. To that extent, he was
right. He also was right in many
of his zealous campaigns for the
rights of Negro citizens, partic
ularly at the beginning of his cru
sade, when he led boycotts, sit
ins, and non-violent marches
through the countrside of the Deep
South proclaiming "freedom" for
his people.
To that extent, Martin Luther
King was a good man even a
great man but his effective
ness as a non-violent leader faded
as more and more American
Negroes were swept up in more
impassioned outbursts which led
to the so-called "long, hot sum
mers" of recent seasons. And
when King's tactics were opposed
by the likes of Stokeley Car
mlchael, Rap Brown and other
militants, King's control over his
marches were gone, and with it,
the essence of his rirht to pro
test, because the man at the head
of the march must be held re
sponsible for the people march
ing behind him. Once their ranks
were interspersed with savages,
the ultimate climate of the march
was assured, because these people
were never marching with noble
purpose, but for an opportunity
to do evil, and King's instructions
to keep the peace went unheard
by those criminals who peppered
the ranks.
The first amendment to the con
stitution of the United States gives
citizens of the United States the
undisputable right to "peaceably
assemble' and that right extended
to Dr. King and his followers no
more or no less than to any other
citizen or groups of citizens. The
key word in this guaranty, however,
is "peaceable.' When a gather
ing led by King or anyone else
becomes anything less than peace
able, the constitutional right no
longer applies.
As a matter of law, then, King
was conspiring to break the law
at the very time he was killed
in Memphis. He had led one
March two days previously, and
the march had produced violence,
laying, and looting which law
enforcement forces in Memphis
were hard put to bring under con
trol. The city of Memphis then
asked the courts to enjoin King
and his followers from conducting
further marches in the city, be
cause it seemed certain that the
exploslveness of the situation
guaranteed more violence. The
court, therefore, enjoined King
and the others from further pub
lic demonstration.
King himself had fled first
afoot and then by car when
the violence broke out during his
first Memphis march. From a
far city he announced that the
"illegal" Injunction would be dis
regarded, and he later returned
to Memphis to plan the second
march, which was scheduled to
be staged the week following the
Friday on which his untimely death
subsequently occurred.
There, King was wrong. And
while his error was no Justifi
cation for bodily harm to him,
and certainly none for his murder,
it substantially compromised the
good he might have done.
First of all, there is no such
thing as an "illegal" injunction.
The fact that it is Issued by the
court, by order of a judge, es
tablishes it as lawful until such
time as it may be set aside by
higher Judical authority, or by the
Judge who rendered It in the first
place. The moment it is set
aside, of course, it is invalidated,
and never exsists as an "illegal"
instrument.
Great good may have evolved
from King's activities for a time,
but when a small portion of his
race became violent, the day of
peaceful marches was gone, for
all extents and purposes. It was
and is a simple matter for the
savages to infiltrate the non-violent
marchers, and King had no
more control over them than
Ghandi had over the "non-violent"
Hindus who murdered tens of
thousands of Moslems In the wake
of the mahatma's marches through
Calcutta, Bombay, New Delhi, and
other great cities of India
So, when King declared that he
was confident the "illegal' march
he was set to conduct in Memphis
this week could be kept under con
trol, he deviated from the logic
and reason which must prevail in
such critical times. Two days
previously, when violence errupted
In his march (which, lncldentlally,
was in support of striking gar
bage collectors, mostly Negro),
a newspaper story described
King's flight by saying he "sprint
ed down a narrow side street,
Jumped Into an old model car,
and sped away." That, while not
at all humorous in light of the
seriousness of events. Indicated
precisely how much control King
had over the crowd
The civil disobedience he
preached and practiced were not in
the best interests of his nation,
or even his people, because we
are persuaded that whatever helps
or hurts the Negro and all
poor and underprivileged Ameri
cans also helps or hurts the
nation. Not even civilized human
beings can be taught to break one
law and obey another. The rioters
and looters are not civilized, and,
thank God, amount to only a minute
percentage of their race.
It is, Indeed, a shame that the
Negro race must bear the shame
of the few of them who have de
nounced the responsibility of citi
zenship, just as it is a shame the
white South must bear the shame
of the death of Dr. Martin Luther
King. Perhaps King's martydom
will lend longer life to the good
things he taught than to the evil
that exploded with his death.
CLIFF BLUE .
People & Issues
:: By Jim Taylor
The New
Morality
Hark, the death knell: the
nation is dying.
The land and the people
are wasting away.
Not great poetry, perhaps, but
the above couplet expresses In
10 metric feet the tragedy that
Is befalling America.
It has been said before, pro
bably by every generation suc
cessive to the Pilgrim fathers.
Pessimists throujhout our his
tory have sighed in agreement,
and optimists have proven them
liars.
Not so at this hour.
America, the land of the free
and the home of the brave, ac
tually is no more, as of this day.
Bravery is reserved for the
soldier in uniform, the ssvaue
In the street, and the lunatic
who stands ready to touch off
civil war by taking the law into
his own hands.
They contitute perhaps 5 per
cent of the total population in
the nation. The other 95 per
cent including plain, law
abiding me and thee have
lost that physical and moral
courage that provided us vic
tory over every foe.
It is ironic, but not unprop
hesied, that we shall perhaps
fall victim to our own compas
sion, and in the end, may be
beaten by ourselves.
The commonplace criticism
one heirs this day and time is
that the leadership of the nation
has gone to hell.
That, like so many other
shortcomings characteristic of
this day and time, is a false
hood. What happened to the leader
ship happened first to the peo
ple. And It began happening
a generation ago.
I call it "the new morality."
Which is to say, less morality
than before.
Today, there Is a psycholo
gical, sociological and philoso
phical justification for every
sort of Insane behavior in the
world, including murder, arson,
and grand theft,
Some people say the break
down of law and order began
with the Brown decision, hand
ed down by the United States
Supreme Court in 1954. That
decision, you may or may not
remember, was the one which
declared that separate school
systems are Inherently unequal.
At the time the Supreme Court
made the decision, there was no
precedent for the action. The
matter of segregated schools
had been brought before the
court on several occasions, and
In each Instance, the court held
that the "separate but equal"
doctrine was constitutional.
In the Brown decision, die
court pointed out that the action
was justified on "psychological
and sociological" grounds,
which has caused many author
ities on constitutional lawtodif
.fer in opinion with the court.
Nonetheless, the Brown de
cision has not been reversed.
And while it merely forbade
segregation, it did not force
integration. That was given
to us in the Civil Rights Act
of 1964.
Whether the Supreme Court
decision in that and other mat
ters concerning civil rights is
responsible for a growing dis
regard for law and order Is.
at best, an academic argument.
It did not, by any stretch of
the imagination, account for
the moral degeneration which
followed in its wake.
White people, particularly
Southern whites, are fond of
pointing to the rioting Negroes
as the primary exponents of
lawlessness. That, too, Is not
altogether true.
What about the white South?
By and large, we said soon
after the Brown decision that
It stood as die law of the land,
and we would obey the law.
In most cases, we have. Inso
far as the spirit of the law Is
concerned, we have not.
Perhaps we have lived up to
our legal obligations, when that
responsibility was trust upon
us, but we have disregarded our
moral responsibility in the mat
ter. For In obeying the law vis
a vis the Brown decision -- we
have by every legal means pos
sible, evaded compliance with
the spirit of the law.
Even today, we comply only
so far as we are forced to
comply. If we have devoted as
much energy, money and effort
to solving die problems inherent
in changing our school system,
during the past 14 years we
might have wiped out the prob
lems. But that is not the theme of
this article, except as it re
flects a certain moral Irrespon
sibility. The breakdown of our society
actually began in the home, per
haps while Daddy was away at
World War II and Mommy was
working In a defense plant.
When the war was over, too
many of us failed, in our re
habilitation, to pick up the re
sponsibilities of parenthood.
Along came television, which
may very well provide the means
by which man may observe the
destruction of the human race.
I mean the bodily destruction
of civilisation.
It already has affected the
mind, perhaps irreparably.
It brought the abolition of the
family unit, and the neighbor
hood concept, which always have
been the most cohesive agents
in a democratic society.
You don't believe It?
How many real "neighbors"
have you? 1 mean in terms that
people were neighbors as lately
as the 1940s?
We don't have corn shuck
ings, log rollings, barn rais
ings, wheat threshings, wood
chopplngs, hog killings, or,
more in the social line, tec
cream suppers and community
Christmas trees.
If you visit a "neighbor" these
days, he's watching television.
If you like "Bonanza," you've
got it made.
Otherwise, you Just about have
to telephone your neighbor the
next day to find out how he's
getting along.
Families have lost the to
getherness that once was char
acteristic of the American
home.
Half the mothers In Raeford,
I'll wager, prepare breakfast
two or three times each day
once before the old man goes
to work, once when the child
ren get ready for school, and
again when she eats, If she can
afford die calories.
See TAYLOR COLUMN, Page 7
j Philosopher Has Idea To Help
1 Columnists Compete With TV
ii5
Dear edits r:
There havt been so man
surprises in politics lately, top
ped by president Johnson's de
cision not to run again, that
there simply cant be anymore
left, outside maybe ot Bobby
Kennedy's showing up with a
crew cut and DeOaule'a offer
ing to pay France's World War
I debts.
The worst thing about these
aurprltes though la what It dots
to newspaper columnists. I got
ho .d of a bunch of old news
papers last night and began
reading them in the light of
what has happened a few weeks
after they were published, and
they're eon fusing.
For example when Rockefel
ler thwarted the experts and
aald he wasnt running, the col
umnists were caught flat-footed.
"Political analysts had
thought he certainly wa going
to run," one of them wrote,
not mentioning he was one of
the analysts.
Another one wrote only two
weeks ago; "Anybody who knows
Lyndon Johnson knows he's not
going to give up four more years
of power."
When Eugene McCarthy first
announced he was running,
another columnist said bem
usedly "he la like Emmett Kel
ley, the clown, trying to sweep
up hie own spotlight.'
And ao It went, proving that
this Is where television has an
advantage over newspapers for
experta. An expert can be 100
per cent wrong and almost swal
low his foot on T.V but when
the program ehangea, his words
fade with the picture and It's
hard to pin anything on him.
But with a newspaper it's
different. There the words are,
in black and white, and you can
clip them out and carry them
around and examine them after
events have shown the expert
dldnt know anymore about what
was going on Inside the mind
of the President for example
than he did next week'a weather.
Consequently I have worked
out a solution. Newspapers car
rying columns by political ex
perta ought to be printed In
disappearing ink. Twenty-four
hours after their profound and
analytical opinions have ap
peared, the Ink ought to fade
like a television picture with
a burned-out tube.
This of course does not ap
ply to The News-Journal. Not
as long as I'm In It.
Yours faithfully,
J.A.
HISTORY . MAKING EVENTS
Two hlatory - making events
have taken place In the United
States since last week's "Peo
ple t Issues" column was typed
on Saturday night, March 30.
Nine months from now when
the 1961 highlights are record
ed. President Johnson's an
nouncement that he would not
seek reelection and the murder
of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
will likely lead the list.
JOHNSON-We feel that Pre
sident Johnson's decision not to
aeek reelection waa one of his
"finest hours" In the White
House for himself and for the
country.
We do not feel that the pre
sident made hie final decision
against running until Sunday af
ternoon or evening. Had he de
cided with finality not to run
before, why would he have had
so many people out working for
his renomlnatlon? We feel that
hla low-ebb popularity as re
ported by the Gallup pollon Sun
day, March 31 was the final
straw that led him to hla de
cision not to run. We say this
because the president has lone
been reported to be an avid
follower of the opinion polls.
People who know President
Johnson personally say that he
has a tremendous yearning to
have a big place In history. We
feel that by stepping aside and
devoting hla remaining days to
a peaceful settlement of Viet
nam that Johnson can have as
great a place In history than
had he run and served another
four-year term.
And we all must admit that
his reelection, had he decided
to run, would be far from cer
tain. Present Indications are
that he rfould not have had a
S0-S0 chance to win, although
the poUilcal Udes ebb and flow
aa do the tides In the sea.
DR. KING For ten yeara, Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., bad
been the leader of the Integra
tion and desegregation move
ment In America. In behalf of
his race, he did much to break
down the racial barriers in
public Institutions and accomo
dations In America. Regardless
of whether a person agreed or
disagreed with the tactics of Dr.
King people believing In "law
and order" of all races wUl
condemn without reservation the
cold-blooded and cowardly shot
which took his life.
BOBBY KENNEDY We will
not underestimate Bobby Ken
nedy. A man who can cross
over from hla home state Into
another state and within a few
weeks be elected United States
Senator over a veteran senator
is not to be taken lightly.
But here In North Carolina,
we are not running serosa Ken
nedy support. One Democrat
has heard to remark) "I will
never vote for Bobby Kennedy
no, not even If ht cuts hla hair!"
But with the Kennedy millions,
don't underestimate hlml
MONEY IN POLITICS It
takes a lot of money to conduct
campaigns now, and unleas a
man has an Issue, Its hard to
get far without a pretty good
else pocketbook.
Moat of the delegates to the
Democratic and Republican na
tional conventions will be cho
sen not through primaries but
through conventions. The aver
age citizen seldom takes part
In the precinct, county, dis
trict, state or national conven
tions. The grass roots beginning in
the "making of a president" la
at the precinct level. Usually,
not more than a dozen, general
ly not more than half that num
ber, attend precinct conven
tion a.
Through the convention me
thod of selecting delegatea, It
la altogether possible for a
minority with not more than 10
per cent of public support to
name the delegatea while re
spectable, tax-paying citizens
stay at home glued to televi
sion or some other form of
relaxation.
A well-organized minority
can overcome a dormant major
ity; and this has been done many
times In the past,
DELEGATION We see noth
ing particularly wrong with the
Tarheel delegates to the na
tional convention In Chicago
endorsing Governor Moore or
former Governor Terry San
ford as the state's favorite son
for president. We would prefer
Dan or Terry to Bobby, Hubert
or Eugene.
While we are not going to
hold our breath while Dan or
Terry builds an organization
to seek the presidency of the
vice president's office, we sus
pect that Terry if nominated
for either would have a pretty
strong national puU because of
his educational leadership and
his support of the national Dem
ocratic ticket in 1964.
i ' SENATOR
SAM ERVIN '
I SAYS ::
WASHINGTON The Senate
has taken a step toward dealing
decisively with the growing
threat to our monetary system.
On April 2, it passed an amend
ed version of the House-passed
Tsx Adjustment Act of 196S.
As amended by the Senate
under the Wllllams-Smathers
substitute, the bill to extend
excise taxes on telephone ser
vice and automobile sales In
corporates a 10 per cent sur
charge on Individual and cor
porate Incomes and provides
for substantial reductions In the
fiscal 1869 budget submitted by
the president In January. I vot
ed for the measure as amended,
because I think that It la Im
perative that the federal gov
ernment set Its financial house
In order,
, We now face a serious danger
of inflation which will rob every
American of his earnings and
savings if we continue to engage
In deficit financing of the mag
nitude of $20 to $30 billion an
nually. Moreover, the value of
the dollar la at stake In the
efforts we make to eliminate
deficit spending by the Federal
government.
No one that I know welcomea
additional taxes. Nonetheless,
the nation has reached a point
In its fiscal affairs that It roust
choose between unpleasant al
ternatives, if Congress does
nothing to provide additional
revenues and la unwilling to
make substantial reductions In
spending, we face crippling In
flation and a new attack upon the
dollar. In that event the entire
monetary system of the free
world would be ImperUed.
During myservtce In the Sen
ate, I have warned against the
dangers of fiscal Irresponsibi
lity many times. I have advo
cated consistently that we ba
lance the federal budget as we
went along. I have voted against
a number of major programs
that I deemed to be unwise ex
penditures of Federal funds. Had
my views prevailed, federal
expenditures would have been
reduced during my Senate ser
vice by more than $70 billion.
When the tax measure waa
first proposed last year, I took
the position that I would not
vote for any kind of Increase
In taxes unless there was a
corresponding reduction In ex
penditures. The net effect of
the Senate-passed tax bill would
be to reduce expenditures by
several billion dollars more
than the revenuea derived from
the surtax. This would make
necessary fiscal adjustments.
The facts are these. We ere
In the midst of fiscal 1961 that
WSLB.
-4
could produce a deficit of some
$20 billion or more. The 1969
budget projects an even great
er deficit of $24 billion or more
unless we reduce spending or
Increase taxes as this bill pro
vides. So the Senate has faced facts
and added the surtax and spend
ing reductions to the House
passed excise tax bill. The
surtax will apply to 196S and
1969 Income. The spending re
ductions represent a $6 billion
reduction In proposed spending
and a $10 billion reduction In
obllgatlonal authority for fis
cal 1969. The net effect would
be a spending reduction ap
proximating $16 billion In the
foreaeeable future.
The measure also forbids the
sale of American gold to any
nation delinquent In Its debt
payments to the United States,
Imposes a limitation on the
hiring of new Federal employ
ee a to fill certain vacancies,
and Impose quotas to protect
the American textile Industry
against foreign Imports.
The outcome of these amend
ments la uncertain, for the
House must concur In them. Still
the measure as amended seeks
to restore fiscal responsibility
where It Is needed more the
federal government.
Letter to the Editor
To the Editor;
We Join the world In mourn
ing the death of our dear brother
In Christ, Dr. Martin Luther
King. We pray that Americans
everywhere, regardleas of
race, creed, color or belief,
will dedicate themselves to the
establishment of a world based
on his dreem of peoples every
where walking hand in hd In
peace, harmony and brotherly
love.
May we here In Hoke County
let his death give Impetus to
our part In bringing about the
fulfillment of that dream, and
thereby a greater America.
The Sunday School Class
St. Peter Baptist Church
Raeford Rt t
Salt from the world's oceans
would form a layer 100 feet
thick about the height of a
40-atory building over the
earth's land surface.