Newspapers / Jones County Journal (Trenton, … / April 8, 1965, edition 1 / Page 4
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MESSAGE OF LOVE TO ALABAMIANS By Tom Johnson, Borroh MONTGOMERY INDEPENDENT Dr. Martin Luther King, whose Nobel Prize certifies him to be the supreme reigning force for peace and reason, delivered himself of a love message to Ala bama this week. On national television, he call ed for an embargo of Alabama products and other measures de signed to inflict hurt on the state, forgetting or ignoring — as Lt. Gov. James Allen point ed out — that Negroes would suffer along with the whites. One of his lieutenants, the Rev. James Bevel, had another idea: Impeach Gov. Wallace. Love is getting out of hand. Indeed, love has been getting out of hand for several days. Dr.' King was finally forced to make a small acknowledgement of this last week when he was asked about the behaviour of some of the marchers. Said King: “There may be some unfortunate things going on, but I believe this crowd has a higher moral tone than most.” The city has been -swarming with rumors to the contrary. Most of them were untrue. The most persistent report — repeated and enlarged upon irt almost every office and gather ing place — had it that a white girl marcher was attacked from 25 to 60 times (the number in creased with each telling of the story) and that she died at (1) St. Margaret’s (2) Jackson’s Hos pital, (3) St. Jude’s Hospital. If there was any truth to the story, no part of it has been corroborated. But other things did happen and were witnessed. Since the story of the Selma-Montgomery march has been treated univer sally as a stainless example of dedicated protest, the actions of the demonstrators who made the march are pertinent. The Birmingham News veri fied reports of illicit relation ships on the streets of Selma. Said Selma Public Safety Di rector Wilson Baker: “There def initely was some of it.” He said it happened during an all-night “prayer vigil” on March 10. To quote the News: “An Associated Press writer, Kelso Sturgeon of Atlanta, was also at the scene that night and he told The News there was ‘no doubt about it.’ “Sturgeon said: ‘I saw at least three couples involved in in tercourse. There was considera / ble other hanky-panky.’ “Baker said it ‘was very def initely open 4n kissing and lov ing and drinking.’ “The charge that simitar ac tivity took place at the various campsites during the march to Montgomery could not be sub stantiated. The tents were seg regated, the men in one and the women in another. Troops form ed a semi-circle around the campsite and marshals on the march staff patrolled the area during the night. “A reporter for The News al so said there was evidence of petting and lovemaking between white and Negro demonstrators. Some ministers were present and witnessed it, he said.” The State House of Represen tatives passed a resolution ac cusing out-of-state clergymen of “drinking strong promiscuou lsy” and of “using- the most vul gar arid profane language on the streets of Montgomery.” The resolution also said that "‘young women are returning to their respective homes,' ap parently as unwed mothers.” But the legislature did not mute a public.record in verif ication of specific names and incidents./ The organization known as SNCC (Snick) is invariably de scribed as “militant,” even in the Northern press. It is a mild word to describe the intentions as well as the manner of the Snick demonstrators. It is simply taking judicial no tice of a reality to say that the Snick demonstrators could not achieve Such personal untidi ness, to express it politely, with out working at it ‘ The males exude an odor that is somewhat unlike the Camay soap. The girls are habitually in a slump, their hair looking as though it were washed up on the beach. One girl was picked up by the county and held as a juv enile. A county official called her father, an Ohio school sup erintendent, to inform him of the news. The father was indif ferent to the point of being bor ed. “Do you know where your daughter is?” the official asked. “All I know,” the superinten dent answered, “is that she and a couple of boys drove off for for Alabama a few days ago. I guess that’s where she is.” The county official, somewhat aghast, asked if the father was not concerned about the welfare of his daughter. “I guess she knows what she’s doing,” the superintendent re plied. He never asked why the girl was being held. The Snick demonstrators are skilled at taunting police offi cers hoping to provoke them into anger or an attack. A gash on the head photographs well. One favorite line to the of ficers: “Who’s your wife with tonight while you’re down here watching us.” It is a measure of the officers restraint that they just grit their teeth and hold on. However, Alabama is being painted in the press, the state has held jtself in exemplary re straint during days and weeks of provocations. The National Guardsmen who were federalized found the duty distasteful but performed it faithfully. One Guardsman finally let himself speak when, on the march, a white boy walked by with a negro girl on each arm. As United Press Interna tional reported it, the soldier finally said: “Aw, why don’t you just go ahead and kiss her?” While the government spent $25,000 a day to shepherd the march, not counting the cost of the Regular Army support forc es, airplanes and other equip ment, the marchers had a pleas ant stroll along Highway 80. UPI repolrte4 pn the third day: “The only grumbling came at chow time when early feeders got ham, baked beans, salad, bread and chocolate, and late eaters got fried chicken instead of ham. The ham-fed group want ed to get back in line for chick en and was turned away.” When the marchers got to Montgomery, the informal en tertainment turned formal. live entertainment. \ The march was held up an hour beyond Dannelly Field while Dr. King awaited the arrival of entertainers Tony Per kins and Harry Belafonte. When his plane landed, Bela fonte jointed the head of the march column and posed for pictures. Then he got a ride in to town. That night Belafonte was but one of several entertainers who performed at the St. Jude’s biv ouac. Shelley Winters was on hand (saying “this is the most exciting part I’ve ever played”). So was Sammy Davis, Jr., James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein and Alan King. Gov. Wallace was the butt of the jokes. When Shelley Winters finish ed her performance, Belafonte embraced her and said. “Boy, if Gov. Wallace could have seen that.” Some of the jokes were not bad. Dick Gregory: mat wasn t any scientific feat when the Russians sent a man into space last week and had him crawl out of his space ship. What real ly happened was, the Russians had trouble with the space ship and radioed the pilots that they would have to land in Selma, Ala., and one of those cats said he would rather jump out.” Comedian George Kirby said he saw Gov. Wallace pulling Gregory on a pair of water skiis, and a bystanding remarked that integration was making pro gress. Kirby told the bystander: “Integration, hell, they’re troll ing for alligators.” -f These are some of the scenes that come to mind from their week’s events — multitudes of unwashed beatniks, who if they were not demonstrating in Ala bama would be staging motor cycle rumbles in California or otherwise advertising their root lessness and uselessness in the universe; the entertainers jet ting to Alabama to catch the camera’s eye; throngs marching through town, many of them sincerely persuaded that this had something to do with voting. Even from the viewpoint of the most ardent civil rightist, it would seem hard to connect the march with civil rights. The death of the Detroit housewife was senseless—sense less because the “cowardly act” (as Wallace called it) happened at all and senseless because of the occasion that brought her to Alabama and placed her in the sights of a gunman. That the whole world is not , under a mad hypnosis is indi cated by an editorial in The Na tional Observer, which attempt ed to relate the march and the : murder: it The creature who pulled the trigger can count his toes and • that is about it;'we have him with us always in his senseless1 FARM and HOME Requirements Of Petroleum Products Hodges Oil Co. Phon* JA 3-2338 P. O. U. S. 78 EAST OF KINSTON, N. C. ness — on Highway 80, at a Black Muslin meeting in New York City, or at a motorcade in Dallas. “You can’t do much about him except what is being done —arrest, trial, punishment. So many have said this is^no de terrent, that a creature who pulls a trigger or a knife in his emotion is a sick. creature. So he no doubt is. The irony is that so many who readily per ceive the sickness of a man in California or New York are so readily vindictive toward a sim ilarly sick creature in Alabama. “But you can’t do much about human nature, either. When emotions run riot, and even the pretense of reason is avoided if the cause be “right” (the Klansman also thinks his cause is “right.”), human na ture is apt to show its least at tractive sides. “In a situation like that of the oppressed Negro in Ala bama, you probably have to have bigh emotion. But you c$n’t have the revolutions these emo tions are used to foment with out casualties. You can’t stop the isolated murder with all the Federal soldiers, FBI men, mar shals, indignant editorialists, and aroused moralists in these Unit ed States. “When the Hollywood stars gather, the airliners and their cargos flock in, the newsmen and photographers and assorted celebrities ride forth, and the prophets thunder, there is no doubt that mountains can be moved and mighty reputations made. In the scope of things, it may well be considered by some that this is more important than what transpired, on Highway 80, between a triggerman from Ala bama and a housewife from De triot.” Glen Raven Opens New Offices in NYC New York offices of Glen Raven Mills have moved from 1480 Broadway , to larger space at 1450 Broadway, according to announcement from Allen E. Gant, president of the operat ing divisions of this pioneer North Carolina textile firm. Marketing, advertising and promotion people for all of Glen Raven’s products will be located in the new offices, Mr. Gant said, adding that the New York expansion is part of the company’s modernization pro gram. This program includes Glen Raven’s ultra modern circular . office building here plus addi tions and new machinery in all of the company’s eight plants. Glen Raven employes 2,000 with an annual payroll of $7, 500,000 in its North Carolina plants. These plants are locat ed at Glen Raven, Altamahaw, Asheville, Burnsville, Kinston, and Newland. Foreign opera tions consist of plants in Can ada and Holland._ Veterans Corner q — Can the VA assist me in locating my fugitive husband? I know he gets compensation. A — The VA may forward mail to veterans although it can not reveal their address without their consent: Send a letter to your husband to the VA office last known to have handled his claim The VA will forward it to his address of record. Q — Am I too late to file a claim for illness incurred while in military service? A — No. A claim may be submitted to the VA at any time. UscRcad^i? No Meu — No Waiting — Our Ready-Mixed Concrete Is on the Job When You Need It. Also Sand, Gravel and Crushed Stone. Barrus Ready Mixed Concrete Company Free Estimate* — New Bern Highway, Kinston, N. C. PLANT BED and TRANSPLANTER Watering Supplies l'/a" Pumps, UP gpm__$100.00 2" Pumps, 140 gpm -$110.00 1V4" wire-lined suction hose-$1.25 foot IVi" discharge hose, rubber-.50 foot i" aluminum pipe, 30 feet--.60 foot Rain Bird sprinklers-$4.95 each Repair parts for Gorman-Rupp pumps Thompson Irrigation Company Richland* Road Kinston, N. C. ..—--: WHEN YOU NEED AMBULANCE SERVICE CALL Gamer’s Funeral Home DIAL JA 3-2124 or JA 3-2125 Ambulance Equipped With Oxygen For Emergency Use “COURTEOUS ATTENDANTS”
Jones County Journal (Trenton, N.C.)
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April 8, 1965, edition 1
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