THE Who Decides? Within the past four years the Negroes'( I APRIL mass protest movement in fhe South 1965 has exploded many times -- in areas all Vol. I over the black belt. The names Danville NO.4 MOVEMENT Virginia, Gadsden Alabama, S a van n a h Published by Georgia, St. Augustine Florida are known The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee of Ca lifornia at least to people who' 9re close to the movement as places where some kind of mass action has taken place. And Albany Georgia, Cambridge Maryland, Birming­ ham Alabama, and very lately Selma Alabama are known at least to the gen­ QUESTIONS RAISED BY MOSES eral public in America and in some cases (Transcript of the talk gil/ e 71 by Bob Moses at the 5th Q/111iversary of SNCC) to the entire world. In these places, thousands of people What you should suppose about SNCC got up and then murdered, that jury is participated in protests and in one year, people is that they are not fearless. like them. That's a hard thing to under­ 1963, 20,000 went to jail delTIonstrating. You'd have a better idea about them if stand in this country. An outgrowth of these protests has been you would suppose that they were very The only place where they can be tried an omnibus Civil Rights Act in 1964 and afraid and suppose that they were very for murder is by a jury, a local jury, a pending Voting Rights Bill. But what afraid of the people in the South that called together in Neshobe County. They­ has happened to all those people? Where they have to figf1t and struggle against. 're being tried now, not for murder, but are the people who marched IS,OOO strong And suppose also that they are very afraid for depriving people of their civil rights in Birmingham? Where is the Albany of this country. But suppose, then, that in the act of murdering them. That's the Movement? Where are all those people they had no choice, that is they can, through actual charge. People don't understand (also thousands) who protested and went many different ways, see that their backs, that. to jail in Mississippi since 1::I61? so to speak, were against the wall and That jury, that local jury, if you called In Mississippi, there is an active Free­ they had to move within that fear. And it together, would presumably be the dom Democratic Party wh;ch meets in then suppose that what they are trying murderers' jury because the juries in country areas usually once a week. Thou­ to do is explore how to move within the the counties in the South are called to­ .sands of people participate. The FDP is boundaries of fear and that what they've gether under the auspices of the sheriffs challenging the seating of five Mississippi got to learn about fear is that it paralyzes and the sheriff is pres mably one of the congressmen. There is an active Council you so that you don't move -- you don't persons indicted for t Ie conspiracy to of Federated Organization::, (COT,'O) which do what you think you should, be it ask murder. 1 am fascina'ed with that. It's grew out 'of national civil J/ght ::, groups. a question or take a person down to reg- a very, very clear kinJ of thing. Suppose COFO is now many local groups working ister. And suppose also about the Mis- the sheriff killed som~body; then to have to attack local problems. The Missis­ sissippi people that they're not heroes his trial, he calls the jury together. So sippi Student Union, growing out of t':le and that we're not heroes, that we're you have the murder(,lr's jury. And the Freedom Schools, is one of the most trying very hard to be people and that problem seems to me to be, how can a active student protest groups in the coun­ is very hard, If anything what'we're try- society condemn itself? try. In some counties of the Mississippi ing to do, or have to do, is to see how I think that that question is a question Delta area, they have suc:::eeded in set­ you can move even though you are fOr the country in this sense. The coun­ ting up their own school syste'l1. The afraid. try refuses to look at Mississippi, and movement in Mi t,sissippi h2,s contiI"led 1 have just one thing that 1 would like at the white people down there, as like since 1961. It is constantly crea.':ing, re­ to share with you, It's a question, it's a them. So, therefore, they miss the main evaluating, and growing.' problem, that our country faces tangled point, it seems to me, about the deep The Negro communities of Birmingham up with thousands of other problems. We South and about the people there and, also, and Albany are two o~ the most well suppose that the people who murdered, about ourselves. armed in the U.S. Spor~dic poL-e riots Micky and Andrew and James were not Life magazine had a picture of the break out, particularly in Albany. They like us, not like most people in the coun- people who did the murder and they pic­ only serve to tear the lives of the people try. And 1 think that that's a deep mis- tured them eating and laughing and joking who are involved in them. There are no take, that we don't understand the im- and talking as though they were morally active civil rights movements, though plication of that. People keep asking me, idiots, And 1 think most people in the most of the problems still exist that .. Do you think that they will get con- country reading that got that impression. gave rise to the. mass demonstrations, victed?" and I keep saying, "No." But But you don't put yourself in that classi­ In 1962 and 1963 tne eye:;:. of the Deople I also wonder why they keep asking be- fication so they're other people -- they're were wide and alive. The! marched and cause if you think about that, it seems not like you or like us. The Saturday went to jail and continued to march. that our experience will tell us that they Evening Post had a picture of a Klu Kll'.c Today one can set the E'ame emptiness cannot be convicted, that they will not be Klan on the front page just recently and and hopelessness which exists in Harlem convicted, that the chance of their being at the end of the article talked about them and South Chicago. convicted is almost zero. For them to as outcasts, as people who are in no way There are no great differences between be convicted would be for society to con- like m'ost Americans, as rejects from the problem which{affected Danville, St. demn itself and that's very hard for the society. 1 think that's a false inter­ Augustine, Albany, Birmingham and Mis­ society to do, any society. Condemna- pretation which people are getting and, sissippi. It is on0 of people simply trying tion seems to have to come from outside therefore, the y analyze the problem to live as human beings. But the approach or from the ranks within that are not a wrongly and, therefore, they look for to the solution of the problem was radi­ part of it. wrong solutions. cally different. It centered around leader­ So the jury that votes together to de- The problem is so c..:ep, all you can ship and decision making. cide whether or not the people, the 18 do is raise these questions. We feel that In Birmingham, the people invited lead­ or 21 people who eVidently got together if we're going to get to the bottom, if ers in through the church. The ministers and sat down and then planned and then CONTINUEO ON LAST PAGE CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 " ...-I .... J=; ...- (,l III FRttDoH JIH~£A.s

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\~., 6 ~_ SUNDAY, JUNE g, 1963 THE SELMA TIMES-JOURNAL THREE This suppleme'nt to The Movement is published by The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 584 Page ASK YOURSELF THIS Street, San Francisco, California The Movement is the mon'thly newsletter of Colifornio Friends of SNCC IMPORTANT QUESTION: Reprints of the supplement are available from this office. single copies 5¢ What have I personally done to 2 - 10 copies 4¢ 10 - 100 copies 3¢ 100 .. 1000 2¢ Maintain Segregation? Individuals willing to send'packages of food and clothing to the residents If the answer disturbs yau, prabe deeper and decide what yau are of Selma should mail their packages . willing to do to preserve racial harmony in Selmo and Dallas County. to S Nee Is it worth four dollars to prevent a "Birmingham" here? That's what it costs to be a member of your Citizens Council, whose efforts are 31).-2 Franklin Street not thwarted by caurts which give sit.in demonstrators legal immun. Selma, Alabama ity, prevent school boards from expelling students wllo participate in mob activities and wauld place federal referees at the board of voter {,II pa ckages shou Id be in su red, and registrars. return requested. Law enforcement can be called only after these things occur, but your Citizens Council prevents them from hoppening. Why else did only 3S0 Negroes attend a so·called moss voter regis­ tration meeting that outside agitators worked 60 days to organize in Selma? of New York, 2nd and 3rd largest banks Gov. Wallace told a state meeting of the council three weeks ago: in the United States. "You are doing a wonderful job, but you should speak with the united Policy control of the Liberty National voice of 100,000 persons. Go back home and get more members." Insurance Co. is exercised by persons Gov. Wallace stands in the University doorway next Tuesday facing possible ten years imprisonment for violating a federal injunction. who are very much a part of the fabric of the topmost political and economic I. It worth four dollars to you to prevent sit· ins, mob marches and wholesole Negro voter registration efforts in Selma? power in the US. (ed. note: The Hammer­ If so, prove your dedication by joining and supporting the work of mill Paper Company announced Feb. 4 the Dallas County Citizens Council today. Six dollars will make both that it would build a $35 million plant you and your wife members of an organization which has already giv· in Selma, because, said the Chairman en Selma nine years of Racial Harmony since "Black Mondor" of the Board of Directors, of the "char­ acter of the community and its people." The Liberty National Life Insurance Com­ Send Your Check To pany bought $400,000 worth of industrial development bonds from Hammermill in order to finance the building of the plant.) THE DALLAS COUNTY This tangled web of power reaches into Lyndon Johnson's White House and into the US House of Representatives (in the person of Congressman Howard Citizens Council Callaway, who sits on the board of the SELMA, ALABAMA Trust Company of Georgia and Georgia YOUR MEMBERSHIP IS GOOD FOR 12 MONTHS Power Company, another operating sub­ sidiary of the Southern Company ..... What hope is there for American Ne­ CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Other directors of LibertyNational are: groes, and for those who support their are the Trustees of the Massachusetts -- E. A. Camp, Jr., a trustee of the asperations, when the President who ap­ Investment Trust of Boston. These trus­ University of Alabama. points the judges and the US attorneys tees include: F. E. Spain, general counsel of (who supposedly will enforce the civil -- D. P. Robinson, Jr., of US Smelting US Fidelity and Guaranty. rights act) is so closely tied in with the and Refining Co., Illinois Central RR, -- F. P. Samford, Chairman of the industrial and financial elite which' sees and Texaco. Liberty National board, and a director fit to honor the murderous Alabama Police -- K. L. Isaacs of Southern Pacific of the Birmingham Trust National Bank, minions of Governor George C. Wallace RR and Phelps Dodge. 182nd largest in the U.S. He is also a and Sheriff James Clark? -- Thomas D. Cabot of Cabot Corp, director of AT&T's southern operating And do not these honored and esteemed First National Bank of Boston and Har­ subsidiary and of the West Point Mfg. financial and industrial leaders hold the vard University. Co. On the West Point board, Samford whips and clubs with which Selma Negroes -- Paul F. Clark of Armour and Sea­ sits with directors of the Coca Cola af­ were driven from the streets on March board Airlines RR. filiated Trust Company of Georgia, largest 7, in the same sense that the financial -- W. H. Claflin of United-Carr Fastner stockholder of which is the First Na­ and industrial elite of Germany were Corp and United Fruit. tional Bank of Atlanta. The largest stock­ found guilty of participating, by consent, The Southern Company President, Har­ holders of First National Bank of Atlanta in the massacre of 6 million Jews in lee Branch, J r., is also a director of are nominees of the two Rockefeller Nazi Germany? United States Steel, Alabama's largest banks in New York City -- Chase Man­ And what will the American people do single employer. hattan Bank and First National City Bank about it?" Bloody Sunday' meeting in Atlanta that day and Saturday, QUESTlON many members expressed their opposi­ As seen through the reports coming tion, but it was decided that in view of Where am i from the South, events moved quickly their concern for and commitment to in our history books toward Sunday, March 7, 1965. SCLC the local people, SNCC would prOVide came to Selma as an organization in the services already agreed on - radios, i built the December 1964 and began to work with the WATS line, and the services of the ark that SNCC in voter registration. A Freedom Medical Committee on Human Rights. saved you Day was planned for four days inJanuary. SNCC staff members would participate from the sun John Lewis and Martin Luther King were in the march on an individual basis. ERRATUM both in Selma for Freedom Day January Events in Selma were approaching a and nursed 18, and led 500 Negroes to the court­ crisis. Wallace had ordered the troopers your babes To the quote house. They were forced to stand in an to use "every necessary measure" to with black "families that alley all day, and then no one was reg­ stop the march. Martin Luther King was milk laughter pray together istered. King was punched; Lewis pinned in Atlanta. The march, when it began, everywhere stay together" the attacker's arms to his side. was led by John Lewis, SNCC worker On January 19, Lewis, John Love, and Robert Mants, SCLS's Hosea Williams, so where Lafayette Surney of SNCC were arrested, and Albert Turner, head of the Dallas together with SCLS's Hosea Williams County Voters League. and Mrs. Amelia Boynton. Day after day The facts are well known. the people came back to the courthouse, Two to three thousand people were on February 10, 600 students, on the 15th marching. 2000 adults and 1000 students. At a few minutes past 4 in the after­ A boycott of downtown Selma merchants noon all hell broke loose in Selma. SNCC was begun, individually and spontaneously worker Lafayette Surney was at a phone by local people, when they saw some of booth near the bridge: W. W. Long the merchants serving on the sheriff's "4: IS p.m. State troopers are throw­ former SNCC Coordinator who worked in Selma­ posse. The latest report from John Love ing tear gas at the people. A few are reprinted from the Frederick Dou~lass Free Press (March) says that the boycott is effective running back. A few are being blinded and spreading. by tear gas. Somebody has been hurt trial, political and financial elite must On February 20, the Dallas County -- 1 don't know who ... They're beating bear the major portion of the guilt, for White Citizens Council held its annual them and thrOWing tear gas at them. they were the ones who could have stop­ barbecue, at which Ross Barnett spoke. 4: 16 p.m. Police are beating people ped the massacre, and didn't. The place for the barbecue was the Na­ on the streets. Oh, man, they're just We shall make no attempt to do a def­ tional Guard Armory in Selma. A tele­ picking them up and putting them in initive analysis of the structure of eco­ gram of protest was sent to Washington ambulances. People are getting hurt, nomic power which lies behind, aids, by SNCC over the use of Government pretty bad. There were two people on abets, and approves such police brutality facilities for the racist meeting. the ground in pretty bad shape ... I'm in Alabama. The evidence is so near the On February 22, another march led by going to leave in a few minutes surface of everyday life in America that Lewis and King. The people were put People are running ack this way. no definitive analysis is required. through the process of signing an "ap­ 4: 17 p.m. Ambulances are going by On December 4, 1964, in the Municipal pearance book" and were then told if with the sirens going. People are run­ Stadium in Selma, "law enforcement of­ they came back on March 1 they would ning, crying, telling what's happening. ficers from the state, city, and county... be registered; if not they would be con­ 4: 18 p.m. Police are pushing people were guests of honor at a barbeque given sidered ineligible. into alleys. I don't know why. People by the Liberty National Insurance Com­ The following evening, 60 students, are screaming, h 0 11 e r i n g. They're pany." -- Selma Times-Journal, 12/6/64. led by John Lewis, left Brown's Chapel bringing in more ambulances. People These guests who were honored by (the headquarters of the demonstrations) are running, hollering, crying ... the insurance company included "law to march to the courthouse in protest 4:20 p.m. Here come the white hood­ enforcement officers" from Al Lingo's against Wallace's ban on night marches. lums. I'm on the corner of one of the State Police, Sheriff Clark's deputies and They marched six blocks to the Coca main streets. One 1a d y screamed, Posse, and the Selma police department. Cola plant, where they were confronted "They're trying to kill me." Offici'9.ls and employees of Liberty Na­ with three times their number of city 4:26 p.m. They're going back to the tional, ... stood behind the serving coun­ policemen. They knelt to pray, sang, and church. I'm going too ....." ter's and loaded the plates of the hungry returned to the Chapel. "law officers." On March 4, high school students ex­ Who Is Responsible For Who and what is the Liberty National pelled for leaving school to attend the Alabama Police Brutality? Insurance Company? Our records do not funeral of Jimmy Lee Jackson, murdered indicate who owns the stock of the com­ This question is raised in a SNCC by State Troopers, urged their fellow pany. But we do have a list of the mem­ Special Report issued Monday, March 8. students to boycott the school. The first bers of the Board of Directors, the gov­ We quote in part: day of the boycott was 99% effective. erning body of the corporation, w hi c h (On absence notes signed by their par­ "A clue to the answer is prOVided, determines all policy matters and must ents, the reason given for their absence ironically, on the same evening, March approve, ultimately, all expenditures, in­ was "brother's funeral"). 7, The ABC network presented their cluding the cost of paying tribute to the At a meeting between the staffs of Sun da y Night Movie, "Judgement in "law officers" of Alabama... SNCC and SCLC in Selma on Friday the Nuremburg." The movie is the story of The Liberty National Board of Directors 5th, the SNCC staff expressed its op­ the war crimes trials held in Germany includes: position to the planned march from Selma after World War II. The trials attempted -- Walter Bouldin, President of the to Montgomery. SNCC workers thought to fix the blame for the murder of 6 Alabama Power Co. and a director of the danger to the people involved' was million Jews in the Nazi gas chambers. Birmingham Trust National Bank. Ala­ greater than the objectives and any pos­ The movie points out that the best edu­ bama Power is a wholly-owned subsidiary sible achievements of the march war­ cated, most respectable, most prestigious of the Southern Company. The largest ranted. At the SNCC Executive Committee and most powerful of Germany's indus- stockholders in the Southern Company As word of the SNCC project spread,a worker in Dallas County was able to completely free reign. and made no vis­ call for help came in from a group of add at the end of his fiJld report, "While i.ible elfqrts ·t9 .restraIn him. 'fhe present farmers in Wilcox County, where there driving through a rural area returning to administration seems more anxious to has not been a registered Negro voter Selma after a day cif canvassing I passed control him - though it is questionable in 50 years. James Austin left Dallas a Negro farmer, on a mule drawn wagon, whether this is possible ... (Ed. note: County to aid them: a number were suc­ singing 'We Shall Overcome' to himself." At 7 p.m., March 7, 1965, SNCC's La­ cessful in filing applications, but none fayette Surney reported from the Good were registered. Wilcox County still has A Few Words About Smaritan Hospital in Selma: "I just fin­ no registered Negroes. $heriff Clark ished talking to Police Commissioner Before it was necessary for the La­ Baker. He said that State Troopers took fayettes to leave Selma a year later, One of the strongest forces operating over and just took it out of their hands. ") Bernard was successful in organizing a against the movement in Dallas County At this point it doesn't seem that the powerfully functioning youth organiza­ is Sheriff Clark and his Posse. (which, people of Selma have been turned around tion, working with the students of Hudson he claims, is used only for floods, fires, by Clark's brutality. The 300 people who High School. These students took over and civil defense). The Posse is not nec­ were active in the first Freedom Day the job of canvassing the city for voters. essarily more brutal than the s tate in October of 1963 are still with us." In September, 1963, it was the high school troopers - it was the troopers who beat Sheriff Clark's terror has served not students who spearheaded the street dem­ the movement to death in Gadsden, using only to keep the Negro in constant fear. onstrations. These demonstrations or­ cattle prods on people, beating women As one white citizen of Selma' said, "The ganized by SNCC and led by the Dallas on the breasts, and men on their testi­ trouble is, too many of 'our people fear County Voters League were the first in cles. But Dallas County is the only county the white man more than they do the the county's history. Sit-in demonstra­ with such a posse, and it provides a Negroes." tions against local downtown establish­ concentration of brutality unexcelled else­ ments met with stiff and often brutal where. The Eye Of H~rricane resistance from municipal, county, and In December, 1963, Sheriff Clark, to­ By summer of 1964 things had subsided: state law enforcement officials. SNCC gether with County Soliciter Blanchard "The county got an injunction prohibit­ McLeod and fqur policemen, raided the Chairman John Lewis came to Selma to ing assemblies of three or more persons participlate in the operations, which were SNCC office - striking a SNCC worker, in any public place. Named in the injunc­ continuing hard and fast, and which broke confiscating the office files and ripping tion were fourteen organizations, includ­ through the fear and apathy that was the telephone from the wall. They than ing SNCC and SCLC, and forty-one in­ prevalent at that time among 10 cal raided the SNCC Freedom House and dividuals. Negroes. arrested 9 persons. The combination of arrests, intimida­ Sheriff Clark, with a federal suit pend­ Clark has attended every mass meet­ tion, violence and the injunction brought ing against him, was understandably ing held by SNCC, the Dallas County civil rights activity to a temporary halt nervous. He called for and received aid Voters League, or the Dallas County in mid-July. But it did not bring to a from State Public Safety Director, the lmprovem~nt Ass ciation, with his hand halt the determination to create change notorious Colonel Lingo, in the form of on his hip and frequently a cattle prodder in this old Southern city, although the 150 state troopers. He also organized (which he describes as a "most humane past as well as the present in Selma has what is now called "Clark's Posse," a instrument") in hi hand. In September, not created a situation in which change band of 300 tocal citizens to help in 1963, SNCC wo:rke Worth Long reported: is easy." -- Jerry oemuth, "Black Belt, quelling demonstrations. "Selma is in a tate of siege. Every­ Alabama. " A Freedom Monday was scheduled for where you look you see state policemen An important step was taking place dur­ October 7, 1963 (at that time the Reg­ or members of the special posse bran­ ing this time of calm. At the same time istrar's Office was open only every other dishing clubs and cattle prods." that Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, Mrs. Monday), and the demonstrators pressed That's fall, 1963 - a year and a half Victoria Gray and Mrs. Annie Devine harder to arouse as many Negroes to before things erupted in Selma. were challenging the regular Democratic register as possible. The Posse, used to hinder union ac­ officeholders in Mississippi, a Selma Street by street canvassing was car­ tivity as well as harrass voter registra­ woman, Mrs. Amelia Boynton, qualified ried on. The week before Freedom Mon­ tion efforts, is a specially deputized to oppose veteran Representative Kenneth day, Jim Forman arrived to join in the group, empowered to carry weapons and A. Roberts in Alabama's May primary. organizing, John- Lewis and other SNCC make arrests. At least 100 wear old She was the first Negro to run for workers being in jail. On the afternoon army fatigues, helmets, and boots. They Congress from Alabama since the Re­ of October 7, 450 Negroes were lined work closely with the state troopers, construction, and the first woman ever and have travelled as far away as Birm­ up in front of the Court House. Sheriff to try for the office. An insurance agent Clark issued orders that no one could ingham, Tuscaloosa and Gadsden to quell and employment office operator, and res­ leave the line for any purpose. Two SNCC civil rights activity. ident of Selma since 1930, Mrs. Boynton field secretaries were beaten and ar­ Just before the events of Bloody Sun­ ran a vigorous campaign, and of course rested when they attempted to pass out day, March 7, 1965, John Love reported, lost. There are 860,073 white voters in sandwiches and water to people on the "There seems to be some confusion Alabama, and 66,009 Negro voters. line. Clark and three deputies drove and uncertainty in the white community One problem was made clear to SNCC away Forman, James Gildersleeve, presi­ over how to deal with us, and a possible workers after the Boynton campaign: they dent of the Dallas County Voters League, split between the supporters of the brutal would have to dig deeper into the com­ and the state senator from Maryland, Sheriff Clark and the more moderate munity with their work. Their own ex­ Mrs. Welcasne, when they attempted to Commissioner of Public Safety, Baker. perience, combined with the nearby Mis­ speak to people on theJine. The old administration sissippi model, indicated to the SNCC About 14 Negroes were processed that (which was in office staff that they had much work to do before day, but the events had shaken Selma, until October, 1964) the Dallas County movement would reach and work was accellerated, high school the poorest Negroes in the area. At this students canvassing in the city, and SNCC point the movement was led by only a workers in the rural areas. few 'local people; the full participation of The fear and apathy had been enormous, ~. many local Negroes in every level of but the break-through was equally great. a decision-making remained an unrealized By November, 1963, Bruce Gord9n, SNCC t .... '---- goal. MA CHING THROUGH SELMA A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT OF DOCUMENTS AND ANALYSIS

The White City "MAlDS" tration drive, the Justice Department was "With the minimum wage per hour be­ successful in obtaining a federal voting The county seat of Dallas County, Ala­ ing $1.25, there are still hundreds of referee. However, between November 3 bama, lying on the bluffs of the Alabama maids here in Selma working for $15 per and December 18, 1964, the referee River, an important Confederate military week. With hours varying from 7 am to registered only 2 of 61 Perry County depot in the Civil War, today the birth­ 5 pm." -- Frederick Douglas Free Press, Negroes who tried to register. The Justice place and stronghold of the Alabama White 1/15/65. Department has challenged his rulings. Citizens Council, is an ordinary town, a "Median family income in Dallas County "Perhaps we need to charge the Justice friendly, ordinary town. Listen to the is $2,846 (compared to $3,937 for the Department with something more than a people who should know: state), but median family income for Ne­ mindless mechanical approach to a vital "Selma is now a little country town groes is only $1.393. Median school years problem. On January 21, 1965, Judge that is typical of most small Southern completed in the county is 8.8 (compared Thomas was petitioned by NAACP lawyers towns." - Alabama Historian, M.B. Owen to 9.1 for the state), but median school to issue an injunction against Sheriff in Our State Alabama. years completed for Negroes is 5.8" -­ Clark's repressive acts. Thomas granted "The white and Negro races have lived Jerry Demuth, "Black Belt, Alabama," this relief on January 23, saying: together in Selma and Dallas County for Commonweal, 8/7/64. Under the guise of enforcement there many generations in a state of peace and Selma is an ordinary town in the Black shall be no intimidation, harrassment, tranquility ... We have enjoyed mutual Belt of America, whose counties are or the like, of the citizens to regiS­ confidence and trust between the races, economically and socially among the worst ter to vote, nor of those legally at­ and this will again prevail regardless of in the nation. tempting to register to vote, nor of current unrest." - 23 Dallas County Busi­ those legally attempting to aid others ness Leaders in a full page ad. Washington Winds in registering to vote, or encouraging "There hasn't been a lynching around them. here for 50 years." -A Citizen. Slowly O'er T e Lea On the scene was US Deputy Marshal , 'You can walk any place in Selma at The Justice Depart ent has been active Fountain, policing the Federal Judge's rul­ any time of day or night without fear of in Alabama since 1 57. In April, 1961 ing for the Justice Department. He chose being clubbed, which is more than you can they filed suit again the Dallas County to enforce the ruling to its strictest letter, say for Washington, D.C." -- The Mayor, Board of Registrars, eekingan injunction even denying registration drive leaders the Chris B. Heinz, also president of the against discriminatio in voter registra­ right to speak to applicants in line or Selma Citizens Council, tion. The US District Court denied the in­ bring them food and water. Inspection of There is no Klu Klux Klan in Selma junction. The case was appealed to the the statement of Judge Thomas' rule "because people put their trust in lawen­ Appellate Court, Judge Cameron presid­ given above indicates this Justice Depart­ forcement." -- The Sheriff, Jim Clark. ing. In November, 1963, 30 months after ment man's sudden zeal for enforcement The industries in Selma are small and the filing of the suit, the injunction was exceeded the bounds of court order. There based mainly on cotton. There is also the granted: it does not, however, touch the were no complaints from Sheriff Clark, at Craig Air Force Base, three miles away, major varieties of discriminatory prac­ whom the injunction was aimed. the home of the Jet Qualification Course tice. And there have been no complaints from and Basic Instructors School. The finan­ In June, 1963 the Department attempted him since then." -- "Justice Department cial and business ties of Selma to the to get the Federal District Court to keep Activity in Selma, J\labama," Special North are important and will receive at­ the County officials and Sheriff Clark SNCC Report, 2/25/65. tention later. from intimidating Negro applicants. Judge It should be noted that most of the Thomas refused to grant an injunction. Judges who frustrate Justic..:l Department The Negro City The appeal failed. The Department finally efforts at gaining voting rights were ap­ There are also some Negroes in Selma. got a hearing in October, 1963, but no in­ pointed by Democratic Presidents. Judge They account for over half of the urban junction resulted. The case is still on Johnson, whose recent order cleared the population and 58% of the county's popula­ appeal. way for the Selma-Montgomery march, tion. Of those eligible to vote, less than This sketch of legal redresses suggests is an Eisenhower appointee. one percent are registered. the legal state of affairs in Selma and "Did the Shriff strike at you?" Dallas County: the impotency of the courts "He did." to relieve an inevitable situation. The Agitators "Did he miss you or hit you?" "As early as 1961 ... the Justice De­ "You're an agitator: that's the lowest "He hit me." partment filed suit against the Board of form of life." -- Sheriff Clark "How many times?" Registrars of Dallas Co. Four years and SNCC workers bernard and Colia La­ "He hit me over the head three times, five more suits later effective relief is fayette, Frank Hulloway and James Austin punched me in my stomach two times, yet to be forthcoming, and the first voting came to Selma in the early fall of 1962 punched me in my side once, and then referee is yet to be appointed. The ex­ to begin a voter registration drive. They kicked me in the chest." -- Testimony of traordinary concentration of the legal re­ set up a voter registration class in the Bosie Reese, registration worker, ar­ sources of the Justice Department has house across the street from the county rested at Dallas Co. courthouse. Quoted in been to no avail" -- Congressman Resnick jail, then in some of the churches. They John Fry's "The Voter Registration Drive of NY in the Congressional Record. also made contact with the Dallas County in Selma, Alabama," Presbyterian Life, In nearby Perry County, where SNCC Voters League, which has been operating 1/15/64. has also been conducting a voter regis- in that area for 20 years. OVER CONTINUED first year. But people began to do things, will probably be hard to take. The spot­ were the leaders. The leaders decided to act, and to decide and they marched light is gone and self satisfaction must to push for a single objective (employ­ and formed their own political party and be derived a completely different way -­ IDent of Negro policemen and cit y community organization. Everyone led. that of seeing people do things them­ workers). The leaders then told people Everyone got a chance to speak. They selves. Maybe at this point the leader how to solve the problem. The leaders are writing their own voting bill. MFDP can raise the question of rotating leader­ made decisions and the people followed. says that the people who can say best ship pOSitions in and out (like MFDP) The leaders said march and the people what it means to be denied the right to so that the person not the position is marched. The marches got publicity be­ vote are the people who aren't allowed most important. This rotation might be cause the leaders were going to jail. to vote because it has happened to them. made effective if it's projected that lead­ The people went to jail too but little was Mississippi, through people like Fannie erShip can change as tactics or issues said about them. The leaders spoke for Hamer from Ruleville, Susie Ruffin from change. The same may be done with the people on TV, articulating what the Laurel and HartmanTurnbow from Holmes structures. In this context structures people wanted. But in "high level" meet­ County, shows that maybe the most im­ have to be such that they are molded to ings, the leaders only met with other portant thing is that they came from in­ fit people's needs rather than the usual leaders, not with people involved in the side rather than outside. They are al­ case of the structure becoming so im­ local area. So after a while the leaders ready the people. They are by no means portant that people have to fit into them. got a Civil Rights Act and the people proper by outside standards. They split (in a large sense like the U.S. Govern­ stopped marching. verbs and flatten phrases. And they are ment and a smaller and sometimes more The people in Birmingham trusted lead­ leaders. tragic sense civil rights groups.) ers just as we all do. We trust people Maybe the most important thing about In negotiations this is more difficult to do our job for us when we don't want a leader is his personality -- his self­ because the only people who can really to take on our own responsibilities. Fur­ confidence, the way he walks and talks. negotiate about people's lives are the ther still we are taught that it takes He knows he can lead and likes it. What people themselves. Also with news re­ qualifications like college education, or would happen if there was a complete porting more people should be able to "proper English" or "proper dress" to reevaluation of leaders who know they speak. Newsmen are very much oriented lead people. These leaders can go before can lead. The role of a leader could to seeking out leaders. Maybe that ori­ the press and project a "good image" change so that he would use his dynamism entation has to be reevaluated so that to the nation and even to the world. But to project other people -- tell them they they talk to more people. The idea is to after a while the leaders can only talk can lead -- ask people questions rather broaden leadership roles. to the press not with the people. They than give them answers. Maybe the pres­ The question of leadership and it's can only talk about problems as they ence of a leader reaches the point where role in the Movement is one which will see them -- not as the people see them. the best thing he can do is withdraw -­ very soon have to be dealt with or the And they can't see the problems any­ just leave. The leader would work him­ destruction of people will continue. Using more because they always are in news self out of a jo . (This is the reason a people as a means to an end cannot con­ conferences, "high level" meetings or large number of the staff of the Student tinue. Perhaps even if the ends justify negotiations. So leaders speak on issues Nonviolent Coo. dinating Com mittee the means what justifies the ends? If many times which do not relate to the (SNCC) are leavin$!;Mississippi after near­ we destroy people for an objective then needs of the People. And leaders ne­ ly four years wotk to expand organizing what good is the objective? Who does it gotiate with leaders of a town (the mayor in other states.) If he continues to pro­ serve: No one has the right to go into or sheriff) for the people. Sometimes ject people he'll oon find that he's need­ an area to lead people and not allow among themselves the leaders reach po­ ed less and less as a leader even if them to decide in which direction they litical agreements but the prohlems of more and more as a person and this want to go. JIMMY GARRETT the people are not solved. So the leader leaves -- to spe"-k up North or to lead other people. And what of the people WHAT MEANS TO WHAT ENDS? who stay? They played no played no part in deciding what took place and since ... differences in means can sometimes be as important as differences in ends. their energies were used for demonstrat­ The defect of the traditional NAACP approach is not that it is ineffective but ing and getting beaten and going to jail, that, in (Louis) Lomax's phrase, it achieves its goals by "doing the job for the since they nevL'r discussed why they people, rather than having the people do the job themselves." ... should do these things but were told why Important as the demonstrations have been to Negro morale. however, it would by the leaders and since they did no be a mistake to exaggerate their impact. They have contributed a great deal to negotiating or even talking about whether Negro self-pride -- but not enough to conquer apathy, not enough, certainly, to or not they wanted to negotiate, they are stir the great bulk of slum dwellers into action on their own behalf. Indeed, Louis acting in a vacuum. And many times Lomax, the chronicler of "the Negro revolt," occasionally seems puzzled at they are worse off than before the leaders the superficiality of the results to date. Writing about Montgomery, Alabama, came in because they have no other way for example -- the birthplace of the "revolt" -- Lomax asks why "such a deep­ of attacking the-'problem. That's Birming­ rooted movement as the Montgomery boycott resulted in nothing more than the ham and St. Augustine and soon, probably integration of the buses." In fact, the boycott did not do that, either. Integration Selma. came as a result of an NAACP suit filed six months after the boycott began. Nor In Mississippi ther? were also people was the movement as deeply rooted as it appeared at the time; as soon as the with common problems. A leader came original leaders left the scene, the movement dissipated. In 1962, for example, whom the people trusted. But the leader less than a year after Rev. Ralph Abernathy had left his Montgomery church for got the people toget) ~r and said, "You a pastorate in Atlanta, the SCLC held a state-wide conference in Montgomery. decide, you make decisions about your The leaders hoped to climax the three-day meeting with a mass rally in one of life." "You decide about voting. You Montgomery's Negro churches. Not a single church was willing to lend its fa­ decide about demonstrating. Just as you cilities for the rally -- not even the church Reverend Abernathy had headed, are. You don't have to be articulate or where a year before a group of Freedom Riders had spent the night besieged by politically developed. You know your con­ a white mob outside. And by 1963, most Negroes in Montgomery had returned ditions better than 1, better than anyone." to the old custom of riding in the back of the bus. It took a while. There were no marches (Charles E. Silberman, Crisis in Black & White, Random House, N. Y., pp. 140-2) the first week or, even sometimes the MOSES CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE HUAC AND BIGOTRY ARM IN AR~~ we're going to go down there and try All this does not mean that HUAC names - from the Legal Educational and create anything new, then we have to and its counterparts alone originated the Advisory Committee established in Mis­ do

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