San Francisco: Los Angeles:

HOUSING TENANT UNION WE NEED FREEDOM SCHOOLS THE CHALLENGES AUTHORITY IN THE ~ORTH ..... "There's a terrific fear in the peo­ The history of the American- school MAY ple. It's not lack of intelligence, but system is one of molding young people 1965 it's fear of the Public Housing Authority. to fit in the society, to advance the Vol. 1 MOVEMENT The tenants don't know their rights, system. The idea of challenge to the No.5 Pub Iished by _ and the Housing hasn't been courteous existing structure is thwarted early. If The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee of California enough to inform them", said Mrs. there is little academic freedom in Audrey Smith, chairman of the Yerba colleges, there is none in high schools. Buena Plaza and Annex Tenant Union. Students are directed to look at tl1ings She and other tenants in the San Fran­ 'objectively' and 'practically' rather than cisco Yerba Buena housing project have as things really affecting their lives. formed the Union to protect the rights In the end, there is perhaps little dif­ aud interests of tenants, improve their ference between the high schools in AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MRS. JOHNNIE MAE WALKER, liVing conditions and provide them with Mississippi and those in Los Angeles.. My name is Johnnie Mae Walker and I live in Hattiesburg Mississippi. I have recreational facilities. There is a thread between those students lived here all my life. I was born in Forrest County on May 31, 1934. The Union is growing stronger, but who have been intimidated in Mississippi I've been a rebel all my days. It started when I first realized that the white man only slowly, Mrs. Smith said. "People for raising questions with teachers about was doing me wrong. It was picking cotton that did it to me -- all day in the sun, show up for two meetings, then when their ability to vote or about segrega­ getting up at 3: 30 in the morning and going until 8: 30 at night -- and all for two nothing drastic is accomplished, they tion, and those who are intimidated and dollars a day. That was when I began to hate the white man. Maybe I don't really get discouraged ... Most of them have isolated in Los Angeles for raising hate him but I can't think of another word. n.ever fought for anything in their lives. questions about loyalty oath's for teach­ Then when I was eighteen I thought I was really getting up in the world. The When I want something from the Hous­ ers, the students' role in choosing a big day came when I went out on a maid's job. I worked at that job harder than I ing, I call up and demand it. Not every­ curriculum, what student government ever worked at anything in my life trying to keep it. And then the big pay day came one can do that. A lot of people are really is, or who determines policy for and I got twelve dollars. (I had one child, Carolyn, so three dollars went to the afraid they'll get thrown out of the school newspapers. And there is a final baby sitter.) I quit because I wasn't satisfied. That twelve dollars disgusted me. I projects if they stand up for themselves. " thread perhaps, between those students wished I hadn't worked a day in my life. and others whose only protest is to drop out of these schools because they I followed this routine of getting a job and quitting, getting a job and quitting, Network of Building Captains until 1963 when the movement came to Hattiesburg. This is the time that I fully can't fit into the mold. realized that what I had felt all along was right. We are being treated unjustly; To counteract some of the fear and The Mississippi highschool students working hard and not getting paid hardly enough even to survive. This is wrong. doubt, she said, "We're going to' have were not as caught up in abstractions, one tenant in each building be a Captain. I knew it but I did not know how it could be better, how it could be changed. And I so they not only raised their own ques­ Building Captains' will know all of their did not know what I, personally, could do about it. tions, they taught the teachers how to I still don't know exactly what to do, but I do know how to begin. We have to neighbors and help them deal with the relatE\. Many students had no education stop hating. The reason I hated the white man was because he was on top of the Housing Authority, the Welfare Depart­ in the proper sense so what they gave system. It was the system that I hated. The system kept us from going to school ment or any other problems." to the white students from the North and getting a good education; kept us from eating well; and having clothes which is "We've also had some of the project was themselves. They did not need important for our children. managers come to Tenant Union meet­ college degrees to do that. People are I stopped hating and started understanding. That was my first step toward free­ ings, and some of the tenants will go called 'ignorant' if they know about dom. in a delegation to the City HousingCom­ nothing except their own lives. Are peo­ One Monday night I went to a mass meeting. While I was sitting there Bob Moses mission. When the tenants get to talk ple 'educated' if they know about every­ began to talk and he asked a simple question: "What have you to fear? Death? to managers and commissioners, they thing except their own lives? That was They've been killing you all along. Job? What job? You don't have a job. You don't won't be so afraid." the question which related the young make enough to even feed your families well." That is when I began thinking: "He's "Some of the project managers think Mississippi Negro to, their northern right. If I'm going to die, I'm going to die for something. The Negro has never the Tenant Union is a marvelous idea," teachers. been free." she said. "Some of the higher-ups don't The possibility of interschool con­ The COFO called a Freedom Day on January 22, 1964 and I was one of the first like what we're doing, but they haven't ferences may be good to draw closer to join the picket line around the county courthouse. On that picket line I thought got any choice. Just the name of our ties between young people. This might I was doing something to help myself and even doing something that might someday Union has some of the important people be particularly good if the schools were help everybody. in San Francisco shaken up." held in different areas within Southern Since that time I've tried to register thirteen times. The registrar failed me The Union was started last February, California (Watts, East LA, San Fernando every time but I know I'm qualified. I quit school when I was twelve at the end of when Mike Sharon and Judi Lynch, two Valley, Long Beach, Wes;, LA). There the fifth grade because I hated that rotten school. It was a cold crummy joint -­ workers from Freedom House -- a Fill­ may be several conferences where peo­ more organizing center -- began to nothing but a run down wooden shack. And the teachers were brutal; they called ple may check their own growth in the meet with some of the Yerba Buena you stupid and beat you if you didn't understand. But my education didn't stop. I schools. The largest reason for the tenants. read and studied on my own and took correspondence courses. conferences may be to break the con­ At the first small meetings, tenants I realized that working for the movement would cause sacrifice. But I am the trolled conferences h e I d in regular sole supporter of my two children so I tried to keep my job as a presser in a dry talked about their immediate problems. schools. cleaning store. But the day came when I had to make a decision: Would I "uncle CONTINUED ON PAGF' 4 Can students feel free to talk about tom" to keep that job, that survival ticket, or should I stand up for freedom? What themselves in high schools - their fears, did I really owe to my children? I made up my mind. I went with the Mississippi shames, guilts, God, happiness, joys? Freedom Democratic Party to Washington, D.C. When my employer found out, ~ I don't think so. Most schools seem to I had no job. Today is February 4, 1965. The lights were turned off two days ago, ,:, ~ ~, try to make people ashamed of what the heat goes off tomorrow and the phone gets cut off in a week but the hell with ~( they are so they'll want to be something it. Somehow we'll make out. We borrowed an extension cord and ran it over to ~. else (more pliable to the system):That's , /­' ...... the house next door. They can't keep us down anymore. ~ what my school tried to do to me. It Now I work full time for the movement and I'll be with the movement until the got so bad, the only reasons I went to day I die. This is one job I don't intend to qUit. My goal is not freedom for the school were because of the dances and Negro but freedom for all men. ~J3 sports, and because there was no place else to go. I couldn't talk about my Mrs.JOHNNIE MAE WALKER IS A FIELD SECRETARY FOR THE MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM DEMOCRATIC PARTY \. ~-.:,-- -- ,. - - -==-~-- life because it had little to do with my .' j! teacher's life. It certainly had nothing .- to do with what my country wanted me to be. MFDP RUNS CANDIDATES IN LOCAL ELECTIONS I think people can talk about them­ SUMMER REPORT FROM THE SNCC McCOMB PROJECT selvel? in Freedom Schools, but only ~ There was a special election for At the nominating convention, L. J. if the atmosphere is right, only if they feel that they can do that freely. The I VOLUNTEERS town selectmen in McComb, Missis­ Martin, a registered voter, was nomi­ sippi, this spring to fill two vacancies nated for the office of selectman-at­ leader must continually ask questions ­ I NEEDED in the city council. After lengthy con­ large. The convention also chose' a 'not only of the people, but about them­ sideration the local Freedom Demo­ non-registered voter, Willmer Dodds, selves, the deepest questions, ultimately what am I and why? Can leaders (mostly to join in a massive student lobby in cratic Party decided to run candidates. to run on the Freedom Ballot for the Once the decision was made, discussion office of selectman from Ward 3. Mr. college students who grew up in this Washington, D.C. in behalf of the centered on "what does it mean to be Martin is a machine operator in a box society) trust themselves enough topose these questions? Are they that free? It Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. 'qualified.' " plant and Mr. Dodds is a tin machine When we first stmied discussing this, operator. Fifty registered voters had is not accidental that the leaders of tbe Student lobbyists will join in seminars, the McComb FDP office reported, names to sign a petition to qualify Mr. Martin Free Speech Movement at Berkeley came mentioned as possible candidates were for the regular ballot. Sixty-four names out of the Freedom School experience workshops, and Freedom Schools with those of ministers and prominent busi­ were on his petition when the city start­ last summer. Students who had gone South to help free other people saw, SNcC staff and FOP leadership. nessmen. Then people started saying ed disqualifying some of them. A couple "but those people don't come to meet­ of days before the filing deadline, the when returning to their universities, The purpose of the lobby is to unseat ings - they don't represent us." The campaigners scurried around for more that they were as deeply slaves as the people in Mississippi. the raci st Mi ssi ssippi Congressional whole- bit about education was raised­ signatures to make sure Mr. Martin it was decided that education was ir­ would be declared qualified by the Mc­ The purpose of a Freedom School i. ­ delegatior, relevant. A lot of time was spent dis­ Comb Election Commission. Los Angeles is to create, by raising cussing if the candidates need be reg­ basic questions, an educational expe­ For applications contoct your nearest rience for young reople which would istered voters or not - what if the best CAMPAIGNING SNCC offi ce (see back page) or the potential candidate had failed the test? make it possible for them to challenge There was strong feeling on both sides, Small neighborhood meetings talked the authority of a system which stifles SNCC Regional Offices but it was generally agreed there would the issues that became the platform and destroys, and to seek new dirE'c­ be great value in having a candidate on for Martin and Dodds. One of the main tions for action. the legal ballot. CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 CONTINUED ON F G€ 4 THE ~MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM DEMOCRATIC PARTY ...,. "ItA"CE HAS KEPT US BOTH IN POVERTY"

Only one year old, the Mississippi guns and driven away from the polling D~mocratic Party in the past ...; (3) Smith notes that FDP delegates learned Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) is places. Despite the fact that no votes the intransigent and fanatical determina­ a great deal at the Convention. It was one of the most exciting political phe­ counted, the confrontation was an im­ tion of the State's political power struc­ clear, he said, that at the Convention nomena of the country. Born of the portant one. State officials became ap­ ture to maintain the status-quo,.." At "the delegates did not vote on any­ voter registration drive initiated in Mis­ prehensive over the national publicity its founding meeting, the MFDP stated, thing ... It seems, however, that the sissippi by the Student Nonviolent Co­ around the voting and in' some cases "We are not allowed to function ef­ delegates were satisfied to have their ordinating Committee (SNCC), the MFDP Negroes had their first polite treatment fectively in Mississippi's traditional right to vote us urged, and the decision now is an independent organization, by a white official. Democratic Party; therefore, we must handed down to them." He points to the claiming before the nation its right to Equally important, the primary elec­ find another way to align ourselves contradiction between this and the FDP be recognized by the national Demo­ tion Negro turnout demonstrated to civil with the National Democratic Party." pOSition. "The FDP philosophy was one- cratic Party as the Democratic Party rights workers in the State that their So that such an alignment could be es­ . man, one-vote, a philosophy born of the of Mississippi. The MFDP first came painstaking door-to-door, ch ur ch to tablished, the MFDP began organizing democratic process, and fostered in to the attention of the nation when it church, bar to bar work was paying meetings throughout the State to send the faith that if the people are allowed challenged the seating of the so-called off. Morale was bolstered, both among delegates to the Atlantic City Democratic to decide they will make the right and "regular" Democrats at last summer's the full-time SNCC workers and among Convention. just decisions." Atlantic City Democratic Convention. the Negroes in the communities wheroe Again the country was aroused by the election challenges took place. NO TO THE COMPROMISE T~ Mississippians when, on opening day of THE PEO PLE. COME TO A NT! C CITY Congress, they challenged the right.of 83,000 FOR FREEDOM The credentials committee, reflecting Mississippi's five Congressmen-elect Beginning at the precinct level, mov­ the Johnson Administration, offered a to sit as the Representatives of the 0u-t of the summer election came new ing "then to county meetings and Con'­ series of compromises. The "best" State of Mississippi. Behind these na­ discussions about politics in Mississip­ gressiona( District caucuses, and end.! compromise they offered was to give tional confrontations is a quiet, but pi -- and a new concept, the "freedom ing with a State Convention on August Aaron Henry and Rev. Ed King votes even more dramatic, story of people vote". Excluded from the official elec­ 9, 1964 in Jackson, Mississippi, the as Delegates-at-Large, to require the in Mississippi creating their own state­ tions in the state, Negroes in Missis­ Freedom Democrats went to work. The Regular Democratic Party of Missis­ wide political organization, an organiza­ sippi decided to hold their own elec­ meetings we r e conducted under the sippi to pledge support for the national tion growing up from the grass-roots, tion. The Council of Federated Organi­ leadership of a temporary State MFDP Democratic ticket and to establish a expressing the demands of the move­ zations (COFO) met on Oct. 6, 1963 Executive Committee which had been committee to work on requirements ment in Mississippi and reflecting the and named Aaron Henry and Rev. Ed chosen on April 26th. Out of the meet­ for ending racial discrimination in the problems of poverty and deprivation A. King as freedom candidates for Gov­ ings came a full delegation, ready to Party by the 1968 Convention. Liberal faced by the vast majority of Missss­ ernor and Lt. Governor of the State. go to Atlantic City claiming the right spokesmen across the country could sippians, both black and white. (COFO, probably the most mis-inter­ to sit as the Democrats of Mississippi. not understand why the FDP refused to preted civil rights organization in the accept the compromise. Among other TO RALLY AGA INST FEAR country, is a loose coalition of local NATION-WIDE SUPPORT: BUT NOT things, they called the decision "apol­ , movements in the State of Mississippi, FROM THE WH ITE HOUSE itical". The FDP answered its critics Beginning in 1961, Negro cltlzens including some branches of the NAACP, -- though the press never saw fit to increasingly sought to register -to vote. and of full-time staff workers from At the same time as work was being carry the answer. In its reply to critics, For SNCC, two basic problems had to SNCC, CORE and SCLC). A freedom done in the State, representatives of the FDP said, be faced. First, the overwhelming fear ballot, naming the "regular" candidates the MFDP were traveling across the .•. In analyzing why the FDP did not based on the experience of. beatings, -- Democrat Paul Johnson and Repub­ country seeking support from Demo­ accept this compromise, it is im­ killings, home bombings, evictions and lican Rubel Phillips -- and the freedom cratic Party delegations for the Chal­ portant to understand first what the firings that confront Negroes who seek candidates, was printed. Freedom reg­ lenge. As Convention opening drew near, FDP delegation represented and their constitutional rights in the State; istration forms were used to enroll the follOWing States were among those what it accomplished at the con­ second, more subtle, and more difficult voters. The fir s t experiment wit h whose State Democratic Executive Com- vention. The FDP delegation was to work with, was the feeling shared. Northern college students coming into .mittees or State Conventions had passed not simply an "alternative" del­ by many Negroes in the State that pol­ the State as volunteers was initiated as resolutions (some of them not binding) egation chosen by Negro instead itics wasn't their business. The phraSE some 30 students from Stanford and supporting the MFDP's Challenge: New )f white Mississippians. The FDP commonly used was, "politics is white Yale joined regular staff and local com­ York, Massachusetts, District of Co­ is not a Negro party, but an inte­ folks business". The oppression of the munity activists in the circulation of lumbia, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, grated party, open to all whites. It caste system leaves its mark on the the freedom registration forms and the Oregon, California, and Colorado. A grows directly out of the civil rights consciousness of those who must live election day collection and tabulation SNCC worker who travelled across the movement in Mississippi. It came under. it. Behind that phrase was a of ballots. When all the ballots were Country seeking support for the MFDP to Atlantic City demanding, not sim­ sense of inferiority, a sense of being turned in, 83,000 Negroes had cast later described the Convention expe­ ply that Negroes be represented, but "unqualified", that was shared by many freedom votes, with the overwhelming rience. Writing in the October, 1964 that racism be ended - in Missis­ of the Negroes in Mississippi. majority cast for Aaron Henry and Liberator (an independent Negro month­ sippi and in the Democratic Party. For two years, first one at a time, Ed King. ly), Frank Smith said, Moreover, the conditions under then in tens, then in hundreds, Negroes " ... by the time the Convention start­ which the FDP delegation was chosen went to the country courthouses seeking A PARALLEL POLlTlCAL·FORCE ed, there were eight state delegations were certainly unique. Though the to register to vote. In some cases, they which had passed resolutions support­ ."DP delegation was chosen accord­ were not even allowed to fill out the The Mississippi Freedom Democratic ing the seating of the Mississippi ing to the laws of Mississippi, its application form that p~eceeds regis­ Party was a logical extension of the Freedom Democratic Party, but word role. was only partially political. tration. In most cases, they were told concept of freedom votes and freedom had come down from Washington that This is so because simply to take they failed to successfully complete the candidates. That the new Party be a President Johnson wanted the Reg­ part in political processes of the application. Two questions were gen­ Democratic Party was a matter of some ulars seated and the FDP ousted. The state makes the Negro in Missis­ erally used to flunk the applicant: (1) discussion in the State. Following the word from the President came as an sippi automatically a rebel against interpret the follOWing section (chosen November, 1963 freedom election suc­ unexpected shock to the FDP, because the segregated society. This means from 383 sections of the Mississippi cess, another state-wide meeting of their basic strategy had been. built that he is in immediate and grave State Constitution) of the Constitution; civil rights activists in Mississippi, around the idea that the President danger of losing his job, his home, (2) interpret the duties and obligations held April 2(:>, 1964, discussed the fu­ would either be on their side or be and possibly his life. Many of those of citizenship under a constitutional ture. Their decision was to create a neutral. There were, however, po­ who represented the FDP at At­ form of government. Whether the ap­ panillel Democratic Party -- one that litical considerations involved, and lantic City have suffered the most plicant passed or failed was determined would, in every respect, comply with there is an old political adage that brutal and continual reprisals ever by the registrar of voters, usually a the rules and regulations set down by says 'whenever there is cake to be . since they began working for their member of the White Citizens Council. the Mississippi State Constitution for cut, never fail to get your two cents' CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE the conduct of political parties, and worth.' With this in mind, it now THE FIRST BALLOTS CAST 'that would be Democratic because it seems foolish that the FDP could was in the Democratic Party that sig­ have ever expected the President to Early in the summer of 1963, a Yale nificant decisions about the lives of the be either on their side or neutral." THE MOVEMENT law student who had come toMississippi people in the State were made. How­ is published monthly by the to work with SNCC, discovered a statute ever, the MFDP was independent in the "The hearing at the CredentialsCom­ Student Nonviolent Coordinating which allowed any person who believes sense that it owed no patronage or ap­ mittee added more brush to the fire. Committee of Col ifornia. he is being illegally denied the right to pointments to the National or State The FDP had developed a strategy vote to cast a ballot along with an af­ Party. This double character of the of getting the reqUired 12 signatures Editorial office: fidavit stating that he is an elector in Freedom Democratic Party, at once out of the Credentials Committee to 584 Page Street, Son Francisco, the State. In a state-wide meeting with inside and outside the system, is a file a minority report, and thus get California local movement leadership, the statute major source of its national strength their fight to the floor of the Con­ Editorial Group: was described and discussed. It was and the fear that it later caused the vention, and to get the reqUired eight Terence Connon decided that a concerted effort would "pros" of the National Democratic state caucuses to sign a petition to Bernice Glenn be made across the State to get Negro Party. get a roll-call vote on the floor. So· voters to the polls with affidavits and Underlying the Atlantic City Conven­ that when Washington decided to bring Jeannette Harr is that they would seek to vote. In the first tion challenge were three basic con­ pressure, it first started on the Cre­ Jean Hume state primary election, thousands of siderations. A special MFDP report dentials people from the states that Judi Lynch Negroes in Mississippi went to the named them as "(1) the long history had already passed resolutions in Subscriptions: polls for the first time. The response of systematic and studied exclusion of support of the FDP. By Sunday, the $1 per year, individual copies. across the State varied. In some places, Negro citizens from equal participa­ second day of the Credentials Com­ $20 per thousand per month, like Greenwood, ballots and affidavits tion in the political processes of the mittee hearings, there were reports bulk subscriptions. were accepted and later disqualified by state ...; (2) the conclusive demonstra­ of threats of bank charters and judge­ local officials. In other places, like tion by the Mississippi Democratic Party ships being denied and various kinds Drawings by Bernice Glenn Ruleville, Negro voters were met with of its lack of loyalty to the National of appointments being in jeopardy." /

political rights. This lends a pe­ within the State of this posltlon. De­ William S. Mailliard (R) (6th) over FDP. Just as the FDP raises culiar and unique air to their ef­ spite Evers' pOSition, branches of the Jeffery Cohelan (D) (7th) fundamental questions and issues, so forts to attend the Convention. and NAACP in Mississippi remained active George P. Miller (D) (8th) does it also fu'nction in a way that is means that they we r e literally in the FDP, some of them providing Don Edwards (D) (9th) frightening to the manners of polite gambling their lives against the the Party with active members. In other John F. Baldwin, Jr. (R) (14th) society. The FDP is genuinely a party right of being seated in Atlantic places, local people had their first real Chet Holifield (D) (19th) of the grass-roots people inMississippi. City. internal political fights. It is interesting Augustus F. Hawkins (D) (21st) They participate in and run the Party. The third thing that must be un­ to note that recently national colum­ James C. Corman (D) (22nd) 3harecroppers and domestics. laborers derstood is that the FDP had the nists, like Evans and Novak. have sought Ronald Brooks Cameron (D) (25th) Ind unemployed, they make up and con­ support it needed to win the fight to use these internal debates as a lever James Roosevelt (D) (26th) trol the destiny of their Party. Because at Atlantic City. Within the Cre­ to split the FDP and to weaken its Alphonzo Bell (R) (28th) this kind of participation has become dentials committee there was suf­ Northern support. In their nationally George E. Brown, Jr. (D) (29th) so alien to American political thinking ficient support to get the FDP's syndicated column, Evans and Novak Edward Roybal (D) (30th) (the Town Meeting was alright then, demands on the floor. there was spoke' of three known Communists in Ken W. Dyal (D) (33rd) but after all ...), man y Doubting sufficient support to force a roll the FDP delegation. Mrs. Fanny Lou Lionel Van Deerlin (D) (37th) Thomases have questioned its existence. call vote. Once a roll call was Hamer, former sharecropper and now Generally. they advance a conspiracy allowed. most observers agreed that a major spokesman for the FDP, whose For seating the Mississippians; oppos­ :heory regarding the FDP. It is, they the FDP would-have been seated. testimony before the Atlantic City Cre­ ing the MFDP: say. manipulated from someplace else What prevented this was the mas­ dentials Committee stirred the Nation, Don H. Clausen (R) (1st) -- most frequently it is alleged that sive pressure from the White House. was recently called "demagogic". More Harold T. Johnson (D) (2nd) SNCC manipulates the FDP. And the through the mediation of Hubert interesting and important than. the at­ John E. Moss (D) (3rd) more SNCC staff pulls out of Mississip­ Humphrey. The FDP delegation was tacks has been their apparent lack of Charles S. Gubser (R) (10th) pi to begin work in other places where aware of all of this. and if there­ success in changing the minds of either J. Arthur Younger (R) (11th) the movement has not yet begun to take fore know that the leadership of the Negr-oes -in Mississippi or people aCTOSS Burt L. Talcott (R) (12th) hold, the more sinister is S CC's con­ Party and the Convention was deny­ the country who are tired of the East­ Charles M. Teague (R) (13th) trol over the MFDP . ing it what if fact it had the popular lands, and Whittens who have for so long John J. McFall (D) (15th) The two qualities of MFDP -- its support to win. This kind of dicta­ represented the Magnolia State in Con­ B. F. Sisk (D) (16th) rank and file participation and its ability tion is what Negroes in Mississippi gress. Cecil R. King (D) (17th) . and desire to raise basic irsues and face and have always faced, and it With 'Atlantic City behind them, the Harlan Hagen (D) (18th) questions -- are related. It is. after is precisely this that they are learn­ Freedom Democrats went back to Mis­ H. Allen Smith (R) (20th) all, those who are hungry. ill housed ing to stand up against. sissippi to begin work on two new en­ Del Clawson (R) (23rd) and ill-clothed, those who are denied deavors. First, and by this time almost Genard P. Lipscomb (R) (24th) the right to vote and who are beaten THE FREEDOM PRIMERS a routine, was a freedom election. with Ed Reinecke (R) (27th) and abused by local police who are freedom candidates from tQe FDP run­ Charles H. Wilson (D) (31st) most likely to raise questions ofpoverty The FDP has launched a major ning for office and supporting the na­ Craig Hosmer (R) (32nd) and civil rights. And because they have new educational program in the tional Democratic ticket. Second, and Richard T. Hanna (D) (34th) nothing to lose. having nothing to begin state through the use of Freedom now the major national effort of the James B. Utt (R) (36th) with. they are also least likely to "sell Primers. The Freedom Primers FDP, was the Congressional Challenge. John V. Tunney (D) (38th) out". Thus their participation in and are short, simple booklets on dif­ control of the MFDP is intrinsic to ferent phases ofpolitics. economics, ROCK I NG THE BOAT FROM THE BOTTOM The Statutory Challenge to the seating its ability to remain a voice of honesty, and civil rights as they effect Mis­ of the five Mississippi Congressmen dealing with central issues, refusing sissippians. The first primer con­ The Congressional Challenge is based n'ow is supported by the American Civil to substitute rhetorical gains for sub­ cerned The Convention Challenge simply on the idea that the Congress­ Liberties Union (ACLU), the Southern stantive victories. And it is here, in and The Freedom Vote. men of Mississippi have been illegally C h r i s t ian Lea del' s hip Conference this area, that the day to day politics The primers will be distributed elected and should, therefore, not sit (SCLC), the Congress on Racial Equality of the MFDP is fought out. to MFDP activists and to students in the House of Representatives. (CORE), the Students for a Democratic For some time, it was argued that in the Mississippi Project's Free­ On the opening day of Congress, act­ Society (SDS), the Student Nonviolent the Mississippi movement ought to be dom Schools. As much as possible. ing in close contact with the MFDP, Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the guided by a national Board of Directors MFDP distribution will be made but using a different legal base for the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), that would include representatives ofthe through local officers of the party. Challenge, Congressman William Fitz the National Council of Churches (NCC), major liberal and civil rights organiza­ In this way they will serve an or­ Ryan of New York introduced a "Fair­ and the Louisiana Committee of Con­ tions in the Country. It was always ganizational as well as an educa­ ness Resolution" which stated that in cerned Citizens. In addition, numerous SNCC's position -- and others came tional function. all due fairness to the challengingMFDP organizations at the state' and local to share it -- that such an idea was a The primers will be used as the candidates and in recognition of the level have given support to the Chal­ direct violation of the spirit of one­ basis of discussion at precinct and discriminatory practices of the Mis­ lenge, as well as many less known na­ man, one-vote. SNCC workers took the county meetings and at voter reg­ sissippi Democrates, the Mississippi tional organizations. position that people who lived and work­ istration meetings. It is hoped that Congressional delegation should not be ed in the State of MississjJ«.pi would the primers can be published once seated and the contestants, Mrs. Fanny THE MFDP:. CANNOT BE BOUGHT have to be the ones who made the deci­ every 10 days for a full year, each Lou Hamer, Mrs. Victoria Gray, and AND SOLD sions. This did not mean that everyone' issue on a different topic. It is Mrs. Annie Devine, should be given had to automatically accept these deci­ hoped the primers will provide a floor privileges through the session of Within this national coalition and with­ sions; it did, however, mean that con-' breadth of facts and concepts more the House so that. should their ~hal­ in the State of Mississippi a quiet strug­ trol of decision making would have to vital to the growth of political un­ lenge be successful, and should they gle goes on over the Freedom Dem­ be in the hands of the people of the derstanding than a more rigid ed­ later be named Congresswomen, they ocratic Party. Two central issues are State. ucational program. would have the opportunity of knOWing involved. One has to do with the militant This decision has now been accepted the history of the session of Congress. stance of the FDP, especially in regard -- in part because it is a reality, and, DEC ISIONS RISE TO THE TOP Again the Freedom Democrats stirred to the national Democratic Administra­ in part because some have come to the nation -- and rocked the political tion. No State Democratic Party is as see the merit of the view. The basic tool of political education boat. Working through adhoc committees There tends to be a corre­ and decision-making in the FDP at the in many Congressional districts, through ~;;:/~ ~./~:-:~t--;) lation between social status in the Negro local level is the workshop. Workshops Friends of SNCC groups, CORE chap­ /1( - - ~~.j ,: --< ~ community and the militancy advocated are designed to do two things: (1) to ters, some NAACP branches, ACLUs, \. . ..\ ..... \"-. /,.~ .~. ~ for the mov.ement and the issues to be share information; (2) to open discus­ ADA chapters and other organizations, . /I .... raised. The moderates tend to be the sion and begin to break through the the FDP was able to build a movement '\. ~;JF,<'\ people with more status in the com­ feeling of being unqualified that still t that led, finally, to 150 votes in support A~ ....; ..fflr-"';:::' \ munity -- whether this be the status exists among many Negroes in the State. ~~:;.. of the Challenge. While the final result !•. ! i'/ " '.: of money or education or position. The In most places, workshops are now is impressive, it was not enough to moderates also tend to be the tradi­ ' i",:....,.Jtt,." \. : '; i ~ \ \ i led by members of the MFDP. Only in win. Equally impressive was the way 1 tional leaders (or no~-leaders) of the ( fw ' \«<:~.~~ new, unorganized areas do staff mem­ in which the' coalition backing the chal­ community, and this relates to the whole bers organize initial workshops and lenge was built. Many of the national independent as.the MFDP would be it question of qualificatiol1s and who can these are soon led by people from the organizations that were to finally back it were to become the Democratic Party participate in politics. There is now local community. Workshops deal with the FDP's challenge only did so after of Mississippi. Despite the fact that a new leadership in the State, built real problems confronting the FDP, they began to receive pressure from our civics books tell us that the na­ around people like Mrs. Hamer. Some like organizing in the next community their own members at home. The final tional parties are weak, there is a web of the people of status in the Negro or county, or developing a program for January 4th grouping that was around of Presidential power that keeps most ·community have joined with this new coming county elections, or circulating FDP was built from the bottom up, State Democrati.c Parties in line. The leadership in raising basic questions. Freedom Registration forms, or select­ beginning first with maverick chapters, web is held together by powers of pat­ Most have not. ing local Freedom candidates to run for branches and locals of national organ­ ronage and appointment by the discre­ The issue is particularly painful as council, sheriff and other local posts. izations that only after questions from tionary powers'involved in the awarding the voting bill nears passage. Even on below began to move. of contracts and the selection of sites its face. the bill has serious inadequa­ THE MODERATE OPPOSITION The California vote for the January for public spending. The tools of na­ cies. In particular, it offers no protec­ 4th Fairness Resolution is a clear in­ tional power that can be mobilized tion a g a ins t economic harassment Atlantic City represented a major dicator of how Congressmen may be against recalcitrant Congressmen and against Negroes who seek to vote, nor new stage in the development of the expected to vote on the Statutory Chal­ maverick State parties are many, and is it clear why this bill will be any FDP. Conservative civil rights spokes­ lenge when it comes to the floor of the they are manipulated by a master in more forcefully executed than the many men joined with conservative -- and House again. It should not be taken for the arts of politics. Lyndon Johnson's good laws already on the books. It is some liberal -- Democrats in question­ granted that Congressmen who voted Great Society does not seem to include clear, however, that some Negroes are ing this new maverick party. Since for the opening day Fairness Resolution room for the MFDP; nor does his style going to register to vote -- and that Atlantic City, FDP leaders have been will also vote for the Challenge. The of consensus politics allow the sharp this number may, in some cases, be a warned against starting a Third Party. voting record of the California Con­ raising of fundamental questions that key bloc vote able to carry primary They are told to be "realistic". They gressmen follows: .has been so characteristic of the MFDP elections or even general elections one are urged not to move too fast. These (R) Republican; (D) Democrat; in its short history. way or the other. So basic questions warnings are reflected by the behavior (Number of Congressional District) are raised. Will Negroes conti'lue to of the NAACP National Staff person THE MFDP: BELONGS TO ITSELF support the MFDP and its present posi­ in Mississippi, Charles Evers. The Against seating the Mississippians; sup­ tions? Will Negroes support white NAACP said it was pulling out of COFO porting the MFDP: This quiet struggle goes on, perhaps "moderates" when they run against (though the National was never really Robert L. Legett (D) (4th) even more intensely in Mississippi. blatant racists? in) and Evers became the spokesman Phillip Burton (D) (5th) Here is the second aspect of the fight CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 MFDP - CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 lems. A Mississippi Freedom Labor The McComb FOP spent about $100 Many of the Yerba Buena families THE "REGULARS" FEUD. Union is being organized specifically for newspaper ads and another $50 for are on welfare. or Aid to Dependent to raise issues of wages, hours and stamps, paper and office supplies in Children. They are concerned be~ause Within the State's Democratic Party, conditions. Farmers' Leagues are grow­ the whole campaign. they are charged higher rents than a split appears to exist just below the ing in the State and making demands people not on welfare, who have the surface of racist unity. One wing of the for just treatment for the small farmer. THE RESULTS AND WHAt THEY MEAN same incomes. Often money from their Party seems to be ready to concede Small co-ops are being talked about welfare food allotment is used to pay that the days of Southern style racism and, in Ruleville, the first start to The campaigners sum up the election rent and extra electricity charges. The are done. They are the realists who building them is underway. Federalpro­ results as follows: There are 3,410 reg­ Tenant Union is starting a Welfare recognize that de facto segregation will grams, such as those under the Depart­ istered voters in McComb; about 200 of Rights Committee to work towards either have to be tried now, and who are learn­ ment of Agriculture, the Housing and these are Negro. Mr. Martin received higher rent allotments or lower rents ing how to do that from the North. The Home Finance Administration, the De­ 62 votes in the regular election. Many for people receiving aid. white patriots who defend "the Southern partment of Health, Education and Wel­ Negro voters did not vote for Mr. Martin way of life" to the end are now on the fare, the Office of Economic Opportunity, because they feel he isn't "qualified." THEY WANT FUNDAMENTAL defensive. With the voting bill, the na­ are being investigated. Still a weak There are 7 precincts in McComb ­ CHANGES tional Party will be able to align itself point in the COFO program is its white only 3 of them include Negroes - yet with the realists in the State. This means community project. Mr. Ma1'tin received votes from every Beyond these immediate goals, Mrs. that tremendous resources will suddenly precinct. 2,262 people voted in the reg­ Smith said the Union is trying to b::ing become available to those who will THE CHALLENGE ular election; the winner received 1,517. together tenant groups from each of the make some concessions toward joining Freedom Vote polling places were set ten projects in San Francisco. Such an the rest of the country in its more For MFDP, the problems of the im­ up - 9 in all, covering the 4 Negro sec­ alliance would be politically forceful subtle forms of discrimination and prej­ mediate now take priority. Calls to the tions within the city limits. Five hundred enough to demand fundamental changes udice. The realists are joined by a country for support of the Challenge sixty (560) votes were cast in the Free­ in the administration of existing proj­ tiny number of white Mississippians are now out. SNCC Chairman John Lewis dom election - Mr. Martin received 558 ects and in the design and location of who are committed to racial justice recently called the Challenge the most and Mr. Dodds received 547. We esti­ future public housing. but who have been silent. Generally important political event of 1965. To mate that there are about 1,000-1,500 The Union thinks tenants should be these are churchmen professionals and support the Challenge and to raise the Negroes of voting age in McComb. able to choose managers and other others in the middleclass. issue of home rule in Washington, D.C., This campaign has been very signifi­ administrative personnel for their proj­ SNCC is calling for students from across cant for McComb. Mr. Martin is the ects. Tenants should also be able to THE NEGROES MAY SPLIT the country to come to the Capital from first Negro to be on a local ballot in elect from among project residents at June 13 to July 4. During that time Mississippi since Reconstruction, r;md least three of the five Housing Com­ The Negro moderates see in the de­ there will be a student lobby for the the first Negro candidate ever in Mc­ missioners, presently appointed by the velopment of the white realists an ally. MFDP. Subsequent to the lobby, some Comb. We've all - staff and community Mayor. Then public housing tenants would Since their major concerns have to do students will be asked to return home - learned more about local government, have a voice in important decisions with civil rights and not poverty, they to engage in lobbying activities in their taxes, etc. than we ever dreamed pos­ which affect their lives. do not demand a program of social home districts; others will go South to sible. This election really shook the Judi Lynch reform along with a promise of legal join in summer projects. white people uptown - they kept inviting reform. To the extent that their voices Whatever the future for MFDP, it Mr. Martin to meetings and to their LA FREEDOM SCHOOLS are still respected in the broad Negro constitutes, in the eyes of many, the homes trying to get him to compromise CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE community, their advocacy of modera­ most exciting political event of post­ on his platform. He didn't. Can young people, who've been told tion may well be extremely powerful. World War 11 era. Whether, the MFDP A great many people became deeply that they're too young, not qualified, They might even take the position that will be able to maintain itself as a involved in this campaign and worked not fully educated, that they have to be the MFDP ought to be allowed to die movement of the poor or whether it is very hard on it. The small turnout in molded and developed and have to be and that Negroes ought to join in the only the first in the development of the Freedom Vote was disappointing ­ administered, make decisions about their formation of a new Democratic Party new movements at the grass roots level it also shows us the necessity of organ­ own lives just as they are? Can they which would force the rabid racists into that are soon to join in the development izing people around issues other than run their own school newspaper, student the State's Goldwater Republican Party. of a program that addresses' itself to the vote. All in all, though, this cam­ government, Board of Education? Maybe the basic problems of the society can paign was very good, because a great by the end of the Freedom School ses­ NEEDED: A WIDER INSURGENT only, at this point, be a question. many people were involved in making sion some of these questions will have MOVEMENT Mike Miller decisions that affected their lives. been dealt with. Ji'!'my Garrell The moderates position is strengthen­ CANDIDATES - CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE SF HOUSING- ed by two other facts. First, the MFDP, issues was the proposed bond election CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE REGIONAL STAFF CHANGES:' Donny Benson is leaving Boy Area SNCC for field work in the South. His as it is now constituted, has no counter­ to allocate $1 million for the repair of The Housing Authority had suddenly parting words ore "I shoJI return. ',' Norma Whittaker parts anywhere in the country. There streets in hite !leighb rhood, v{th beg'.!!"! to charge tenants for the extra ;5 .:llso leaving regional s'~H. Coming on s~off full­ are IOCJlI movements, such as the county only one street in any Negro area in­ electricity they used. Many bills were time: Ron Bridgeforth, iust returned from 10 months in movem~:::-~ in Louisiana, Vir gin i a, Mississippi, and Terence Cannon. Cliff Voughs is volved. Out of these meetings came high -- up to $34 -- and the three-day joining Jimmy Gorrett and Ed Wilson in the L.A. Alabama and other places in the South; the campaign to start legal action con­ deadline forced many tenants to use Regional Office as special fundraiser. there are small pockets of insurgency testing this bond issue if it passed -­ food money to pay the charges. Boy Area Events: THE SAN FRANCISCO MIME in poverty areas, such as Appalachia, on the grounds of Negroes' tax money Tenants were a Iso angry because TROUPE presents a double feature: Bertold Brecht's the California farm valley, and the being used without their having a voice, Housing managers would not provide a The Exception and The Rule and Robert Scheer urban ghettos. But nowhere is there a perforce of their being denied the bal­ room for their meetings, even though relating Brecht to Vietnam. 8:30 p.m. May 14, 15 ­ lot. (The goal now is to stop construc­ several rooms were 'made available for at Garfield Junior High in Berkeley. May 21, 22 at full fledged insurgent Democratic Party. Marines Memorial in Son Francisco. May 29, 30 at The reform Democratic movements in tion until federal registrars start func­ Boy Scout troops and election polling Polo Alto Senior High in Polo Alto. Tickets $2.50 the North tend to be led by professionals tioning.) places. . at Downtown Center Box Office - PR 5-2021, and -- lawyers, businessmen and professors. Both candidates conducted a he a v y The tenants at the small meetings at the Mime Troupe - AT 2-7462. Thus poor Negroes in Mississippi who campaign. During the last two weeks formed a Union for all 819 families in now lead a political party must feel before election, Mr. ~artin and Mr. the Yerba Buena project. They decided themselves quite alone and must, in­ Dodds spoke at 17 meetings in homes to solve some immediate problems to deed, wonder at times whether they all around town. Mass canvassing was give their fearful or disinterested neigh­ really can do what they are doing. Sec­ done with brochures and ads in the bors confidence in the Union. Mrs. Smith ond, within the State, there is no move­ local newspaper. Mailings went out to was elected chairman, and Mrs. Ethel ment among poor whites which could northern contacts: press, ex-staffmem­ Mosley was elected secretary-treasur­ be a counter-part to the realists who bers and ministers who had worked in er. have emerged within the Democratic McComb. Letters giving Martin's plat­ Party. form were sent to 650 white residents THE COMMISSION BACKS DOWN The white community project, initi­ who had signed a "Citizens for Prog­ ated well over a year ago by COFO ress" statement of principles before Mrs. Smith and tenants from another under the slogan, "Race has kept us last November's elections. San Francisco project, North Beach both in poverty", remains more an Place, met with the Housing Commis­ organizing goal and political strategy sion to discuss the extra electricity than a reality. Efforts to bring whites FINANCES charges. The Commission admitted the together to discuss their problems of " All the money for this campaign extra fees had been badly handled. They poverty have invariably failed because was raised locally," the campaigners agreed not to penalize tenants who were of the identification of the white COFO report. Students put on a play "Me-_ unable to pay the bills within the. time­ workers who were in the project with Comb, U.S.A." and raised over $125. limit and are considering refunding the the Negro based movement. People pledged $1 and more a week. money already received. Other fund-raising events were a piano The Union is fighting to have apart­ concert, wig show, pancake sale and ments repainted more often than every FREEDOM LABOR UNIONS, CO-OPS dinners. The office rented for the cam­ seven years. They also want pest ex­ paign is continuing as the FDP county termination services, bulletin boards COFO staff in Mississippi is begin-' headquarters, manned by a local woman, for meeting notices and night-watchmen ning to deal with some of these prob- who's being paid a salary of $21 a week. for each building cluster.

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