North Carolina Newspapers

4 THE CAROLINIAN Rf LEIGH N. C., SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1965 Editorial Viewpoint WORDS OF WORSHIP Wr know that God is better than most people suppose. In fact, this was a part of the me.-s.ige of Jesus--that God is Supremely better than any body dared to believe. Not a petulant Creator, who had lost control of his err; ion and, in wra'.h, was determined to destroy it all. Not a stern Judge dis pensing impersonal justice. Not a vain king, who Kina Must Consider Boycott Wisely The proposal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to lead the non-violent movement into an eco nomic boycott against the State of Alabama may be similar to “cutting off the hand that feeds.’’ The Negro has a magnanimous “buying power”, but he has almost no “productive pow er” in the sense of manufacturing goods. There fore. if h cuts off his buying power, whites could—if they wished - lay off Negro workers both domestic and industrial. It must be re membered that the Negro’s buying power is largely dependent upon money e imed from jobs provided by white employ; rs. Thus the massive effectiveness of an Ala bama economic boycott could be reduced to a matter of inconsequence by the simple proce dure of firing K :;ro i conic -a <s. Miami Tie-raid's columnist, Robert C. Ruark. has stated the si'andon wi ■ 1y when he com mended that “the bur,'; n of it is that you can stretch a sit-in too far. you can make a free dom march too long uv; \vh< n you start boy cotting things—•" )]< or places—it’s apt to boomerang n urn rthv ecus, s once the prece dent is set.” To us. it seems that Whitrn y Young, director of the Urban League, has viewed the problem more practically. He understands that thous ands of Alabama Negroes would suffer terribly from an industrial boycott. At the same time, we must not punish “the good with the bad Alabamans” inasmuch as large numbers of white citizens in Alabama do not side with the governor, nor are they members of the White Citizen’s Council and the Ku Klux Klan. To initiate an economic boycott has led Whitney Young to say, “We will live together as brt fliers or perish as fools.’’ A Different Image From Alabama Congressman James D. Miller, (R-7th dis trict Ala.) brought a new image of Alabama and a new approach to the political status of the South when he spoke to a Wale County Republican Fund Raising Dinner Saturday night in Raleigh The congressman acted more like a states man than a politician. Os course he was parti san and told the party faithfuls how to organ ize for victory in 1966, but he went beyond par ty* lines in the discussion of current issues. Mr. Miller began by saying that he got into politics because of the bad image that Alabama solons were creating in Washington. It is to be remembered that he kept Senator Lister Hill up all night when it. appeared that he had lost to Miller in the race for the U. S. Senate, Mil ler let it be known that he did not ride into of fice on Goldwater’s coat tail. He said that the South was in its own way. due to the fact that most of its representatives in Congress were out of step with the times. He was not the rip-snorting type of politician and at no time used the worn out approach of the “tradition of the Old South” and made no effort to fight the Civil War over again. The congressman let it be known that he was not in accord with all of the things that were being done in his state and hr also disagreed with Governor Wallace’s approach to the raci al situation. He was not at all satisfied with the injustices that the Negro suffered, not only in Alabama, but throughout the nation. He was conscious of the fact that there wer< other groups that suffered indignation du« to the fact that there was an element in our society that wanted to live by the philosophy* of white su premacy. He was not in accord with all the demon Reynolds Scholarships For Negroes Twenty-four Negro students of North Caro lina, entering colleges in the fall of 1965, will receive Z. Smith Reynolds scholarships valued at SIOO,OOO. It was announced by the Z, Smith Reynolds Foundation that $24,000 in scholarships would be four-year grants to six finalists in the Na tional Achievement Scholarship Program. The remainder of the money will go for four year scholarships for nine young women en tering Bennett College in September and to nine male student? entering Livingstone Col lege. The Reynolds scholars were nominated by their high school principals around the State of North Carolina. Winners of these scholarships will be tested Legislators Must Acquit Themselves The largest number of Negroes since the Civ il War Reconstruction Period is now serving in State legislatures throughout the naton, ac cording to an Ebony magazine survey. Ninety-four Negroes are serving in 24 State legislatures. Among the list are two State sen ators in Georgia, and this is indeed a healthful sign of political progress. More Negroes are expected to join the IS senators and 76 representatives now serving following the U. S. Supreme Court’s ruling on reapportiomnent becomes fully effective, tive. Thi‘7RO PRESS — believes that America can best iwtd the world nuA away from racial and national antagonisms when it accords to every mar. jfrf rh.. regardless of race, color or creed, his human and legal rights. Bating no man |§ s fearing no man — the Negro Press strives to help every man on the firm be - Hai that all men me histi as long as anyone is held back. r#W '-**'•—* i ' rfj ~.ir i *h||i -mi . , .. , ■ f must be flattered and bribed into concessions of mercy. Not a rigid accountant, checking up the sins agains the penances and striking a cold hard balance. Not any of these . . .nothing like these . . . but a Great Companion, a Wonderful Friend, a Kindly Indulgent, Joy-Loving Father. Furtherthemore, Mr. Young says, “What is wanted is education and preparation and hous ing. It is a matter of pitiful fact that a great many Negroes who live in areas where there is no voting difficulty have no more right to the ballott than some of the “rednecks” and “hillbillies” and fat cops who heat, burn, bomb, shoot and kill Negroes for the “sin” of being black. We consider Mr. King’s most recent error serious indeed. He has called upon labor unions to impose a boycott upon the State of Ala bama. If this plan was carried out, the labor union members of Alabama would find them themselves financing their own boycott through their dues to the national labor councils. Next, King has asked the federal government to remove federal funds from Alabama banks. This irresponsible suggestion sounds as if it comes from a person ignorant of the sound principles of banking. King may he a good non-violent leader, in that he can inspire the masses into action, but he certainly is no bank er. Often, the leader of a people wins numerous successes—which, in turn,makes him drunk with power, consciously or unconsciously. What Dr. King needs now is to surround him self with good common sense and spiritual counselors, who know when to stop when a victory is won in any given area. No one tech nique can be applied forever in the same kind of situation. We consider the urging of an economic boy cott against Alabama improper at this time, because it would injure the Negro economically more than it ever could the white segregation ists. To use the economic boycott by Negroes in Alabama is like a small boy playing with a loaded pistol. strations, but felt that every? citizen had a right to protest injustices wherever and whenever they occurred. He felt that the streets were not the place, hut he urged the use of the Consti tution. the courts and the ballot box. He is a stickler for States Rights, but said when the rights of any citizens were violated in the execution of States Rights, he felt the State had gone beyond the bounds of the Con stitution and the victim should then seek re course to the federal government, the courts and any other authority to which the State is responsible. His interpretation of the controversial Vot ing Bill was that it was the result of too hasty action and in its present form would not be Constitutional. It was his opinion that that is what the die-hards would like to happen. He wanted an “All-American Bill” that would not be directed at any particular section or State, but that would protect the Negro in Alabama, the Peurto Rican in New York and the Mexi can in California. He let it he known that he was against medi care and gave as a reason that it would destroy? Social Security. He charged Social Security is in a 3-billion dollar hole. He was highly ap prehensive about the Viet Nam situation and said that there was no time left for negotiation. We agree with Congressman Miller that the South should take a new look at its represen tatives. Persons elected to represent the South on the racial issue lose sight of the real issues. Mr. Miller is in the oil business in Gadsden. Alabama, and looks at politics as a business and not a past-tme. If he is representative of the new crop of congressmen from Alabama, regardless of party, then the South needs more of his ilk. in the fires of academic achievement and other characteristics. And since much of the final judgment as to the winners will be dependent largely upon intellectual ability and achieve ment, behooves every high school student in the State to earn a record of which he will not be ashamed. Remember that scholarships are now being a warded to “the cream of the intellectual crop.’’ Each pupil must discipline his mind and be come a student in order to seek the truth that makes men free. May the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation continue giving these scholarships as long as it is practical, for in this way we can raise the leadership level of the-American people. Heavier concentrations of Negro voters are expected to bring about the election of addi tional representatives in both the North and South after districts have been revamped. With increased Negro representation in the legislatures of our various States, we expect each elected candidate to give to his constit uency the best of his energies, wisdom, and commitments. Each new legislator must ac cept the challenge in good faith, or else what is the benefit of increased privileges in Negro registration and voting? •lust For Fun RY MARCUS H BOULWARE GO GO-GO! This is the fifth weekend that I’ve been away from Tallahas see: but this time, I am not visiting practice teachers. In session is the Florida Speech and Hearing Association at the Robert Meyer Motor Inn in Or landa, Da. I got here in time for the Ex ecutive Council meeting which began at noon in the Spanish Room. We met from noon until 6:30 p. m„ and then resumed our meeting at 7:30 p. m. until ten o'clock. Boy, was I tired from sitting down. The session got undewav at about nine o'clock on Friday, April 2. The delegates of our racial group are being housed this time in the convention hotel. This is luxury, but our institu tion do not allow enough per diem payments to take care of the expense. So the delegate “winds up" digging into his OX LI IX \ BY HARRY GOLDEN THE CITY OR THE COUNTRY The never-ending debates in the elementary school classes on the Lower Last Side of New York City, "Resolved: The City is a Better Place to Live in Than the Country.” The contra always lost since so few of us had ever seen the country. The Supreme Court of the United States has sided with all those junior debaters. It has ruled that representation in the State Legislatures must be on the basis of population. If there are those who would lose pati ence with the Supreme Court, let it be said the Supreme Court exercised great patience with those legislators from rural areas who certainly showed themselves loath to vote against the job they held. There are those, of course, who will call a murraine upon the Supreme Court no matter what it decides, but 1 think on this issue their voicevS will be feeble. While the Supreme Court decision no doubt disadvantages one group it advantages equally another. Thus, the rural legisla tors in the North w ill no longer be able to vote inordinate ap propriations for rural highways along which clank solitary milk trucks while the law-makers in the South will finally have to stop lording it over the grow ing metropolitan centers of the section. It is a felicitous ruling. One of America’s problems has been for the last three decades that it is an urban nation govern- i by rural administrators. Thus we may, by reapporhonment, lessen some unendurable tens ions. The State Senator from eastern Connecticut couldn't care less about the New York ill n his Our Slav ft BY C. A. CHICK, SK TOO MUCH TAXES?’" Event hough Tom, Dick, and Harry are paying taxes almost each day of their lives, appar ently they do not become tax conscious until the time arrives to pay their income taxes. Lven thouf h the amount of taxes in dividuals pay in the form of sales tax, luxury tax. and hid den tax, no doubt amount to far more than their individual in come tax, they sciemingly do not get “mad” about the prob lem of taxes until time conies -> pay individual income taxes. That no doubt is caused by the fact that the individual in come tax bill is stated in one lump sum, although the individ ual may have paid it on the in stallment plan—withholding tax. The average individual seldom, if ever, thinks of taxes as being too high until he pays his in come tax and maybe also when he pays his property tax. Os course as to whether or not taxi's are too high depends upon a thousand and one different things. Does the various levels, local, state, and national, of government, spend the lax dol lar wisely, honestly, and effici ently?, arc simple a few of the questions that -would have to be asked in any attempt to decide whether or not taxes are too high. Belie ve it or not, we will say out one corner of our mouths “let the government do this or that.” But out. of the next corner of our mouths, “tax es are too high.” “What is the government doing with so much money?" We often forget that • regardless of who does it, the Other Editors Snr... * FEDERAL SCHOOL AH) Southern Governors were told in no uncertain terms that the Federal government intends to pursue with speed and vigor all of the provisions of the 1984 Civil Rights Act, especially the one that requires that racial discrimination end in all pro grams receiving Federal financi al assistance. School districts by the hun dreds have been issued desecra tion compliance forms. They must sign them or lose Federal funds. There are eleven Dixie state* that collect every year $350,- 000,000 in Federal money. U. S. Commissioner of Education Francis Keppel read to the six Southern governors who attend ed President Johnson’s breok fant briefing, the formal state ment of compliance on desegre gation. pockets and coughing up extra dough over and above what he will be reimbursed. Our major consultant at this meeting was Dr. Joseph Wepman from the University of Chicago. He is a specialist in the disorder of aphasia—a language disorder, traceable to brain damage. WRONG TURN: In Richmond California, three passengers said they would tell the cab driver, David Hager, where to go. It was raining hard. It was pre-dawn dark on Saturday. Hager's windshield wipers had more than they could handle. "Turn right here,” one pas senger said. Hager did—and water flowed into the cab. Angry, the passenger sloshed ashore without paying. Hager, 27. and on the job on ly a month, bad driven down Cutting Boulevard’s boat ramp into the bay. (Tough luck, kid, eh?) commuters in Fairfield County made savage by the inadequacy of the transportation. We have seen the United States Senate, whose Commit tees are dominated by rural Southerners, halt operations and tolerate dismal delay while these men satisfy a constituency that, in combined numbers, are less than the population of any one of the big cities in their re spective states. When John F. Kennedy pro posed the creation of a new cabir.nt post for the Department of Urban Affairs and Housing he was sadly aware that the House of Representatives was controlled by rural and small town legislators. He foresaw that these rural representatives would in all probability defeat his request. He made therefore a public announcement that he would ap point a Negro to this cabinet post, Dr. Robert Weaver. Every one said he was playing politics which was certainly true, but he was aware that this cabinet post would have rough going and he wanted to make its defeat as costly as possible for the op position. If the opposition beat down a Department of Urban Affairs and Housing, they would have to vote against the appoint ment of a Negro, too. Y--t there is something sad a bout the Supreme Court’s de cision too We all pride our selves upon being a democracy. More and more, however, we have to look toward the Su preme Court for the salvation of democratic principles. While I am a strong advocate of the en lightened minority, it would be even better for America if once in a while we could depend up on a enlightened majority. cost of production must be borne oi paid. A government, no loss than an individual, can no:. produce for less than the cost of production. The question we need to ask ourselves regarding laxes is whether or not our tax dollar is getting us a dollar’s worth of whatever it is spent for? An other thing we need to consider is whether or next my dollar does me more or less good when it is spent collect, rely with other tax dollars? For example, the average Individual’s tax dollru would purchase him a very poor school system. And. moreover, assuming that an individual was able t.o build himself a school house for his children, end to employ teachers for the same, how many people would want to do that.? Not many. How 'many people are able financial ly to build and maintain roads for their personal travel? Not many, and few would want to do such were they able. The fore going are smple examples of how that an individual’s tax dollar, put with other peoples lax dollars, secures for the in dividual things and services that he would not be able to purchase alone. .So let’s pay our taxes with n big smile. And when taxes are increased let’s assume that the increase is needed to secure for us goods and services we need and want on a collective basis. But on the other hand, let’s ex ercise our civic duties to the end that people who get in pub lic office and thus handle our tax dollars are both honest and efficient. Requests for Federal budget ary support in 1965-88 are now being prepared for submission by local school authorities throughout the South. Except for the few districts under court-ordered desegrega tion a detailed integration plan is the only acceptable way of qualifying for continued aid, Keppel emphasized. Some Southern districts, how ever, are not complying with that provision. In Birmingham, Ala., the Bessemer School board filed tllie first Federal court challenge to the desegregation portion of the Act. The board asked that Title IV of the act be declared un constitutional on grounds it. is vague, and an illegal delegation of legislative powers to the Ex ecutive branch. Gov. George C. Wallace has asked all Alabama school board# The little Men Went One Step Beyond Sherwood Ross' ' ' IF AMERICA WAR THE WORLD The other night I dreamed that the entire world, with all its peoples and problems, had been somehow crowded into the United States. And this is what I saw: Every person living west of the Mississippi Riv er went permanently hungry. Most would do any thing for a loaf of bread. Each day we burried 10.000 victims of of starvation, most of them chil dren under five years of age. Plague and smallpox epidemics broke out reg ularly in a dozen States, including Arizona, New Mexico. Utah, Nevada, North and South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi. Malaria was common to every State south of the Ohio River. One out of every six Americans suffered from trachoma, many impaired to the point of bind noss. One of 30 persons was wracked by yaws, a disease which covered their bodies with gaping, open wounds. And one in 60 was afflicted by fi lariaris, an invasion of parasitic worms In the blood or tissue. Water-borne diseases took a high annual toll. One out of 15 Americans lacked sanitary drinking water. Os every three American families, one lived in unspeakable slums. Countless millions of people slept each night in the streets of our cities. Outside of the prosperous New England and Middle Atlantic States, and Texas, poverty and hopelessness was man’s daily lot. There were too many mouths to feed; too little food, and no fam ily planning. Population was growing faster than food sup ply. 1964 became the first year in recorded history when America's per capita food output dropped— an ominous turn of events since, by 2000, our population would number 400,000,000 souls. One out of every four Americans was illiterate. Three out of every five American children suf fered from illiteracy, hunger, or disease—or all three. Seventy percent of the public did not have ac ceess to a radio. TV set or newspaper. About one-third of the people had only the ALTAR CALL BY EMORY G, DAVIS, 8.8. (For Negro Press International) “THANKS! VIOLA, JIMMIE LEE AND JAMES” Several years ago, the Rev. Howard Thurman of Boston university gave the world a classic word concerning the dead that Is most applicable for those being slain in Alabama’s Golgotha. He said: “They die, but we must face a far greater problem. For we must live, and then ghosts shall drive us onward.” Viola. Gregg Liuzzo, now Joins the honored dead —Jimmie Lee Jackson and the Rev James J. Reeb, victims of savage inhumanity inflicted up on them and thoae who dare to live not for them selves alone but for otners as well, that through them, we might have life more abundantly. It is by no means sacrilegious to suggest that cruficixion in Alabama is equally as darnatic for our age as that of a carpenter’s son named Jesus from the village of Nazareth to history. The only difference* is to the aftermath. Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead to “drive us onward." Now we have the “ghosts” of Viola, Jimmie and James doing the driving. To feel a sense of this drive, one must talk to a white person from the North who has been to Selma and Montiomery. These whites are not the same persons they were before they went “down home.” Whatever theological concepts they had about, man and God; whatever sociological ideas they had about human relations: whatever psy chological pre-concepts they had about human be havior have been altered for all time. Now they are being driven by a force that de mands of them a new course for their lives. A white college chape! dean came to my home asking what he could do to further the cause of civil rights in our city. A white assistant minister, a veteran of the Ko rean conflict, said that he had never known the fear he experienced in Selma. A Jewish rabbi was stunned to Selma when he was told. “Go home, kike.” A white college coed got up out of her conva lescent bed, following an operation, to call her parents and beg permission to gc to Alabama to march. not to sign until the Bessemer c am is decided to the courts. The iKhooi districts that elect ONE WORLD to follow Wallace's advice will be without Federal funds for quite some months. In fact they clothes on their backs, although, in all fairness, the typical man often owned an extra shirt. The average family lived on Sio a week. Un employment stood at astronomic levels. D..-fast ridden men couldn't lift, a pick; millions of u ;:.n workers couldn't read or write well enough to be useful. Nearly four-fifths of all workers outside of Nev England and New York worked the land using crude, primitive tools. They reaped barely enough to feed their families, perpetuating the poverty cycle. Only in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas did people eat well, drive cars, spend princely sums on luxuries and live to the age of 60. Unfortunately, much of their wealth was ay; or dered on arms. The governor of Texas had ened to "bury” the State of New York. A ; ' a a, threatening to invade California; New J v i Virginia had about come to blows ova : n Islahd. etc., etc. The public was unprotected by a standi u Fed eral army; the States ignored the Supreme Court and imposed fantastic tariffs on "foreign" scc'\ Congress had no power to pass bills reguiat n : commerce, or anything else; the White House r :i no power, whatsoever, the President was a fig urehead. the Treasury was bankrupt and the threat of thermonuclear incineration hun? like a shroud over the country from coast to co: Every now and again, the gov: rnors of the rich states would lend the people in the poor staS.« a little money to help keep them a live but this aid was not equal to what the poor s ates lost be cause the rich states had them at a fade disad vantage. Consequently, this "aid" was bitterly re sented. The last . ' mg I recall was that about a doz >n states wen ut to declare war on each other and an ap : tic conflice looked inevitable I awoke bead <’ ah sweat,. "What an insane night mare!’' I r r.iPd to my wife. “Let’s thank God it wasn't real j ‘‘Wasn’t It?” she replied. The white hatred seen and felt in Selma, a white minister said, was the same as that he saw and felt at a city council heaving on an anti block busting ordinance in a Northern city. This is the tidal wave of white reaction and re sponse that, in ever-widtning circles, is sweeping our nation, driven by the "ghosts” of those who have died. There is yet bitterness and hostility in the minds and solus of Negroes North and South. It’s like the bitterness felt, by Saul of Tarsus, when he tried to join forces with the disciples in Jerusalem, after his * conversion" experience on a Damascus road. The disciples wondered if Paul was the same Cliristian-killer of recent days. For the Negro to continue to view all whites with suspicion, bitterness and hostility is to be lieve that conversion is impossible. Many whites are no longer what they were. They have been tru ly changed, and the Negro must accept this as fact. However, these whites do not. know what to do or how to do what ought to be done. Having insulted themselves for over a century, they have no conception of Negro feelings of the intensity of the very segregation to which they have silently given support. Now that they have joined hands and locked arms with Negroes in Alabama demonstrations, they must and they will join hands and lock arms with the Negroes in their home towns and cities. The Negro of the North, who has grown com placent with his pseudo-freedom, must now come alive and meet these ghost-driven whites at. the point of their concern, join hands and lock arms in attacks upon the bastions of discrimination and segregation—housing, employment—that we must overcome in these regions beyond Alabama, Miss issippi, Louisiana, South Carolina and Georgia, The Altar of the Black and White Clasped Hand is here. We are driven to it. The problems of our personal prejudices and sensitivities will be over run if we ore to live. And, live we will, with God felt and reverent thanks to the “ghosts” of Viola, Jimmie and James. may have already forfeited their claims to Federal aid. 'IKE CHICAGO DEFENDER.