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The Southern Vol. 26, No. 1 PATRI0T January, 1968 Published by the Southern Conference Educational Fund (SCEF), Louisville, Ky.

Revolt~ Repression Blaek and White Divided At Grautbling College Laurel Strike Is Broken (By Staff Correspondent) "Students at Grambling College go on, in large numbers, to (Editor's Note: A 'tecent strike in Laurel, Miss., between Local 5-443 of the Inter­ a graduate school called Professional Football." national Woodworkers of America (IWA) and the Masonite Co-rporation points up what -Esquire Magazine trade-union experts in the South have been saying for some time:-that industries in Prologue them to Take bite-size mouthfuls the region plan to use divisions between white and black workers in a new way. Grambling College, La., is yet and Break bread before eating. (For several generations the owners of land and indust?·y have kept political and economic control another of those black colleges Girls may not wear slacks; men may not wear beards and must by getting w hite w orkers to believe they had an identity of interest with the owners because of the that resemble plantations:-pat­ colo1· of their skin. A t the same time, black workers w ere pushed to the lowest rung of t he ladder. ronizingly protected by white keep their shirts tucked in. overseers, an administration be­ Magazines and reference books (Today, because of the new strength of black people and their movement for freedom, employers can longing to another era, academic are kept under glass at the li­ no longer keep them down. So the employe1·s now try to convince black worke1·s that they will do better standards too low to trouble ~ost brary, presumably because the by going along with management 1·ather than with the white workers. high-school sophomores. students might damage them. Strolling couples found holding (The 1·esult is the same:-a division w hich benefits nobody but the e.mployer. The Laurel strike is Students are treated like chil­ hands are told by a black matron, typical because it also involves the questi on of auto·m.atic mach·ines' replacing people; it also involves dren; every aspect of their lives "That is not nice." Afro haircuts the continued moving of mo1·e industries into the South. is supervised. Large signs hang are frowned upon and a student (Robe1·t Z ellner, directo1· of gmss-t·oots o1·ganizin_g work (GROW) for the Southern Conference in the dining hall, admonishing who cuts class three times gets Educational Fund (SCE F), and Jack Minnis, SCEF research director, went to Laurel several times an "F." during the strike. -Hostile Students If the school suffers aca­ (Robert Analavage, assistant edito1· of The Southern Pat?-iot, went with them. His article tells the demically (it lost its accredita­ story f?·om the standpoint of both the black and white workers. It is hoped that this analysis will help Are Won Over tion this year) it excels in all of us to unde?"stand the necessity for black-white 1mity in the st?"uggle fo?" econmnic and political de­ sports. Often, it has been called mocracy in America.) By Peace Tour a "beef factory" for the pro­ football leagues; indeed, only By ROBERT ANALAVAGE fusal to do work not included in workers at the lowest cost. The By NANCY HODES (Assistant Editor) Notre Dame (with a student their job descriptions. experts suggested that the plant GREENSBORO, N.C.-Hostile, body six times larger) has LAUREL, Miss. -The strike But it began a long time before be totally reorganized, with auto­ sometimes violent, students greet­ more players in the pro leagues formally began in April, 1967, that. It began when Masonite mation the eventual goal. Masonite calls its operation ed our peace tour at several than Grambling, whose student when a shop steward was fired brought in a team of efficiency North Carolina colleges. But their population is 4,200. by a foreman. The steward was experts to determine how to make here the largest hardboard plant behavior was so bad that other backing two workers in their re- the most profits with the fewest in the world; it produces a The president of the school, students and teachers were shock­ $250,000 weekly payroll for the Laurel Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones, is ed, and many came to our meet­ area. The company and the local, largest also the baseball coach, and the ings-so some good situations in Mississippi, have had bitter struggles dean of men is the football coach. came out of the bad ones. over the years, but nothing to rival this Reason enough for students to one. I spent a month traveling in refer to their yearbook as a hard­ the state for SCEF, along with back edition of Sports Illustrated. This- time the local, considered the Tom Gardner, Lyn Wells and most militant in the state and possibly Bruce Smith of the Southern Stu­ The Revolt in the South, saw the actions of the dent Organizing C o m m i t t e e - company as the opening of an effort "Awaken black brothers and (SSOC). Here are some of the to destroy the local completely. It did sisters! I t doesn't make sense highlights of the third SCEF­ not hesitate to strike once it felt its for a person in college to live like SSOC peace tour: interest threatened. a man in the Ghetto. Yes, a At AP.palachian State, in Ghetto in the black belt of The strikers set up mass picket lines Boone, we had a mob scene. A Mississippi or even Viet Nam!" and refused to allow anyone, including crowd surrounded our literature - The In[01-mers •·' management personnel, inside the plant. table, shouting very crude re­ Hulse Hayes, a lawyer from the firm of marks, and finally ripping up our Much as a ghetto rebellion the late anti-union Senator Robert Taft, literature and throwing it at us. shatters the peaceful facade went to court for Masonite, seeking an built on a city's apathy, so are After discussion with the injunction against the union's activities. the order and tranquility of a Dean, we agreed to leave cam­ A lower-court judge upheld the strik­ pus temporarily, as the atmo­ college shattered when its stu­ ers' right to picket peacefully, so Hayes dents rise in revolt. A group of sphere was not conducive to appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Grambling students calling them­ rational discussion. The group Court. outside had at this point begun selves The Informers began to During the court proceedings the local to sing, "My Country 'Tis of hold discussions on what was argued that it had been pushed into the Thee," and we walked out into wrong with their school; through strike and so was unable to give the re­ a shouting mob of about 400 mass distribution of circulars quired ten days' notice before striking. people. they invited all students to take The local subpoenaed documents and part in a dialogue on how the exposed Masonite's reorganization plan. As we walked through the stu­ wrongs could be corrected. dents, Lyn and I didn't feel that The documents also showed that the we should leave like that, with­ Miss Gale Daggs, one of The company had hired Wackenhut guards out talking to some of the peo­ Informers, says: "If you want 10 days before the strike began. ple in the crowd. Lyn asked a to keep people down and op­ lta~~~G:;!~~J~ These guards come f rom t he same prof how he accounted for this pressed, don't let them get edu­ Ui~~l';;~~~ private detective agency used by Gover- kind of behavior. He stared at us cated and, most important, never GUN-TOTING WACKENHUT GUARDS patrolled Masonite's nor Claude Kirk to police the state of with disgust for a while and said, let them have a dialogue." Laurel plant during the seven-month strike (photos by Bob Florida. finally, "Patriotism, t hat's all, (Continued on page 8) Analavage). (Continued on pa ge 4) patriotism." As I got into the car I asked a boy in the crowd why he would Another SCEF-Case in Supre"'-e Court not talk to us. He had lovely blue (By Staff Correspondent) voided the sedition law. (Excerpts from this remarkable and historic eyes but t he hatred in them as LEXINGTON, Ky.-Last September three federal judges put opinion are on Page 3.) he stared silently was ugly. I seized SCEF documents in the hands of Thomas Ratliff for safekeep­ On that same day, Ratliff and the McSurelys got summonses from asked him a couple more times ing. a subcommittee headed by Senator McClellan of Arkansas. They were why he wouldn't talk, a nd he Last month the U.S. Government admitted in open court that copies told to bring the seized documents to a hearing in Washington. pushed me into the car, saying of some of the papers were given to a U.S. Senate investigator while McClellan claimed the papers would show that SCEF, SNCC, and "get the hell out of here". As we in Ratliff's care. other human-rights organizations were connected with ghetto upris­ drove off, someone thrust his Ratliff is the prosecutor who raided t'he home of Alan and Mar­ ings. Attorneys for SCEF and the McSurelys told the three federal hand in the window at Tom, and garet McSurely, SCEF workers in Pike County; carried away their judges that it would be illegal to turn over to McClellan any material someone smeared spittle over the papers; and put them in jail. He also jailed Joe Mulloy, then working seized under an invalid law. windshield. for the Appalachian Volunteers, and two SCEF executives, Carl and Then the government attorney admitted that copies of some docu­ Later Lyn and I went back on Anne Braden. ments had been given to McClellan before the summonses were issued. campus to talk to some profs. Two of the three judges on the U.S. court held that the state sedi­ This would have been while Ratliff was• supposed to be keeping them They said the whole campus was tion law under which the five were jailed violated t'he U.S. Constitu­ inviolate. Further admissions by the Government showed, step by buzzing about the incident and tion in several ways. step, how Ratliff worked with the investigator. (Details on Page 3). that many people were ashamed "It is difficult to believe that capable lawyers could seriously con­ The three judges ordered copies of the documents given to McClel­ of their or their f ellow students' tend that the statute is constitutional," Judges Bert T. Combs and lan, but actual transfer was blocked pending an appeal to t'he U.S. behavior. James Gordon declared. Supreme Court. SCEF attorneys William M. Kunstler, Morton Stavis, (Continued on page 3) Their opinion was handed down October 18, a month after they Arthur Kinoy, and Dan Jack Combs have filed such ~ n appeal. 2 THE SOUTHERN PATRIOT Neighbors Ask The President: Book. Notes Free the Kentucky Miners On Sojourner Truth (By Staff Correspondent) HAZARD, Ky. - Neighbors of four Eastern in the early sixties (see recent Patriots.) Jacqueline Bernard has written people from the chains of slavery Kentucky miners who went to prison in the after­ Their sentences-which originally ranged from for people who care the biog­ and then neglect. math of the roving-picket movement are asking four to six years-were reduced to one, two and raphy of a woman who cared Her life is a lesson in courage President Johnson to free the men. three years by the U.S. District Court in Lexing­ deeply. Journey Toward Free­ and determination. A tall woman Hundreds of mountain residents have already ton, Ky. on November 24. This followed wide pro­ dom is the story of Sojourner with a great voice, she sang and signed a clemency petition for Bige Hensley, tests in the mountains. Truth, born in slavery in the lectured for freedom across the Clayton Turner, Herb Stacy and Charles Engel. The petition was initiated by: George E. state of New York in 1797. Pub­ Northern states. She paid her They began serving their terms at the federal Archer, Walter Allan Archer, Jason Combs, Wal­ lisher is W. W. Norton, 55 Fifth way by selling her biography and prison in Terre Haute, Ind., in November. ter Gamble, Manerva Naylor, Rich Naylor and Ave., New York, N.Y.; 265 pictures of herself. Support is now being sought from people across Atha Whitson, all of Hazard; Hazel and William pages; $4.50. She was close to all the great the United States. The signatures will be taken to Bailey, Krypton; Sheldon and Rachel Br~wer, Sojourner Truth was not freed people in the abolitionist move­ the White House in February. Bulan; Francil Hager, Lothair; Charles Moore, from slavery until she was 30, ment and in the fight for equal The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review Walkertown; Sherman Niece, Darfork; Jim Hamil­ by which time she had suffered rights for women. They cher­ their conviction on charges of conspiring to blow ton, Cornettsville; and the Rev. Philip H. Young, the same blows and insults that ished her strength and her abil­ up a railroad bridge that was never blown up. of Blacks·burg, Va., President of the Council of slaves in the South were to feel ity to "tell it like it is." They were convicted on the strength of confessions the Southern Mountains. for another generation. She had Most of them were dead by the they later repudiated, claiming they confessed un­ They invite people who believe in justice every­ been separated from her parents time she passed away in 1883. der unbearable pressure. The prosecutions helped where to join in the petition. For copies write and her brothers and sisters by Friends in Battle Creek, Mich., to break the movement for jobs and justice here SCEF, 3210 W. Broadway, Louisville, Ky. 40211. the slaveowners, and her own where she is buried, put on her children had been sold away from tombstone the statement that she her one by one. was about 105 years old. They Mississippi­ After gaining her freedom, So­ must have thought that a woman Black Officials journer Truth spent the next half who had done so much must have century working to free black Are Sworn In lived that long.-CB (By Staff Correspondent) Two Views of Appalachia JACKSON, Miss. - Twenty­ three black people, elected in Two of the books about East­ and grainy, which is apparently November, have taken public ern Kentucky published last year intended to convey the mood of office in Mississippi. But it took were My Appalachia,. by Rebecca the text. They are perhaps too national publicity, the hard work Caudill, and Stinking Creek, by gloomy and neglect redeeming of many people, and considerable John F etterman. The first is features of mountain scenery, al­ pressure in high places to over­ written by a native of the area, though several are excellent. come the roadblocks put in their who spent part of her childhood Stinking Creek has been writ­ way. on Poor Fork in Harlan County; ten with a relentless refusal to One of them was Robert Clark, the second, by a reporter for the treat the "mountain people" as the first black person elected to Louisville Courier-Journal. one subject. It is an in-depth ob­ the Mississippi Legislature since Miss Caudill lived relatively servation of one particular com­ Reconstruction. Plans of his de­ well in Kentucky until her father munity with due consideration feated opponent to challenge his moved the family to Tennessee, for the different kinds of people seating collapsed at the last apparently to leave behind "law­ who live in it. The photographs · minute- after widespread na­ lessness and killing" and lack of are matter-of-fact, as is the tional attention to the threat. education. It is f rom this per­ prose. The 22 others had been elected ~pective that she writes, and her Fetterman has included com­ to local offices in several coun­ book suffers from it. Her de­ mentary on the war on poverty tries. Up until the last moment, scriptions of mountain residents, and Vietnam, which provides there was doubt as to whether often based on her childhood ex­ some perspective on h is report­ periences, are unfortunately gen­ age. The situation has of course eralized and without much changed - deteriorated - since Muhammad Ali subtlety. publication, but the discussion of The historical sections and in­ the "two wars" brings the people Muhammad Ali Appeals terviews are valuable and give a of Stinking Creek into a national more balanced view. The photo­ framework familiar to those of NEW ORLEANS, La. - Mu­ His appeal, w'hich is being graphs appear uniformly dark other areas.- S. CROWELL hammad Ali has appealed his handled by the American Civil conviction for refusing to be Liberties Union, points out that drafted into t'he army, on the only two tenths of one per cent Wansley Case Will Be Reviewed ground that Negroes were syste­ of Selective Service board mem­ RICHMOND, Va.-The Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to re­ matically excluded from his draft bers of Kentucky, his horne state, view the case of Thomas Wansley, who was convicted of rape and board. are black, even though Negroes robbery in Lynchburg last spring and sentenced to two life terms. The world heavyweight boxing make up 7.1 per cent of the Wansley, 22, has been in Virginia'S' jails and prisons for the last champion was sentenced to five state's population. The propor­ five years. The Virginia Supreme Court overturned his first conviction years in prison and ordered to tion is even higher, around 25 on t he charges; a second trial on t'he robbery charge resulted in a pay a $10,000 fine, after a Hous­ per cent, in his horne city, Louis­ hung jury. ton jury found him guilty of ville. At the same time, the high court said it would review a contempt draft evasion June 20. U.S. box­ The appeal also charges that conviction against Wansley's lawyer, Philip Hirschkop, Alexandria. ing authorities quickly stripped Ali's selective service files were. The lawyer was held in contempt after he had the case removed him of his title. jammed with "reams of letters from corporation court in January, 1966. Judge Raymond 0 . Cundiff Muhammad Ali claims he and newspaper clippings of a sentenced him to five days in prison and a $50 fine, but later suspended should be exempt because he is a prejudicial nature" that deprived t'he sentence. It was one of a wave of contempt charges which have minister of the Muslims, and a him of "fair and just proceed­ been brought against civil-rights lawyers across the south in recent conscientious objector to war. ings." Robert Clark years (see January, 1967 Patriot). Attorney Arthur Kinoy of New York, who is handling the case, many of them would be allowed said: ''I was very worried about whether t he court would take Hirsch­ to take office on January 1. kop's case and I am delighted that it has. This is the first important The Southern Patriot This was because the state law successful roadblock to the now-developing wide-scale attack on civil­ required that they be bonded and rights and civil-liberties lawyers." Postmaster, send P.O.D. Form 3579 to: bonding companies were refusing 1•------• SOUTHERN CONFERENCE EDUCATIONAL FUND (SCEF) to write their bonds. Some of Organizers' Library 3210 West Broadway, Louisville, Ky. 40211 the biggest insurance companies in the nation, which normally SCEF's Organizer's Library Series was among the "seditious The Southern Patriot is published once a month except July by th e Southern write such bonds, were involved Conferenc-e Educational Fund. dedicated to ending discrimination based on race, material" that Pike County prosecutor Thomas Ratliff seized last creed, color, sex, national oricin, or economic condition. Editorial and business in the refusals. August in his midnight raid on t he home of SCEF organizers AI and offices, 3210 West Broadway, Louisville, Ky., 40211: office of publication, 150 Tenth An. North, Nashville, Tenn. 37203; Eastern Offices, Suite 412, 799 In the course of the battle it Margaret McSurely. Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003. Back issues from 1942 to date are available on was learned that in some of the This is a series of "how to" pamphlets written for movement microfilm from Serials Section, University Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48106. Thirty cents a copy, $3 a year. Serond-dass postage paid counties the law requiring such organizer s who work with students, workers, peace and community at Nashvill~ , Tenn. bonding was not usually en­ groups. The seven pamphlets in the series, along with suggested Euoutin Committee: Thl' Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, President; Bishop forced for white office-holders. donations, are: Charles F. Golden, Jack Peeble.:, and Modjeska M. Simkins, Vice-Presidents; ClariStokely Carmichael, were Board of Aldermen has adopted matter thereof since October 6, The only exceptions are apart­ this Court should enjoin the state present. Mr. Ratliff replied in the a strong open-housing law as a 1967. After some discussion with ment houses with four or fewer court from proceeding further affirmative. result of demonstrations in which Senator McClellan, four sub­ apartments if the owner or a with the prosecution of these hundreds were arrested last poenas were signed and returned member of his family lives on plaintiffs. It seems to us that spring. 8. On the evening of October to Mr. Brick for further action. the premises. Persons making Dombrowski v. Pfister .. . is in Another result of the fight for 8, 1967, defendant Ratliff, 13. On October 18, 1967·, at false claims of discrimination point. The statute is an unduly open housing was the election of accompanied by Mr. Scott, 8:25 a.m., Mr. Brick served Alan would have to pay all costs of broad and vague regulation of a new board of aldermen on visited Mr. Brick in the Land­ and Margaret McSurely with the any investigation and litigation. expression and enforcement of November 7. Eleven Democrats mark Motel in Pikeville, Ky. appropriate subpoenas at their Mayor Kenneth Schmied, a Re­ the statute would necessarily were elected to replace Republi­ After some discussion among home in Pikeville, Ky. publican, said he would neither curtail activities which are privi­ cans. The only Republican re­ the three, Mr. Scott and Mr. sign nor veto the law, so it went leged under the First Amend­ Ratliff left Mr. Brick's room turned to the board was Mrs. into effect automatically on De­ ment. together. Mr. Scott returned A\~ Louise Reynolds, a Negro. cember 27. The mayor's office s Fire Mulloy It is difficult to believe that some time later, bringing with The new board voted 9 to 3 for was not at stake in the election, capable lawyers could seriously him a number of manila folders For Draft Stand a law providing $100 fines for so Republicans were able to keep contend that this statute is con­ containing xeroxed copies of refusing to sell or rent a house or PIKEVILLE, Ky.- Joe Mulloy control there. stitutional. The indictment fol­ some of the seized documents. an apartment to a person because They lost 11 aldermanic seats of Louisville was fired in Decem­ lows. the language of the statute Mr. Scott thereupon departed because civil-rights groups worked ber by the Appalachian Volun­ and in our opinion fails to state from the said motel room and hard for their defeat. The same teers (AVs) after he informed an indictable offense. It too fails Mr. Brick examined the xer­ Subscription Blank thing happened to the Democrats the A V staff that he would re­ to make the distinction between oxed material for two hours. The Patriot is sent to all per­ in 1961 after they refused to fuse induction into the army on advocacy of ideas and advocacy 9. On the morning of October sons who give $3 or more pass a law barring di.scrimina­ the ground of conscience. of action and is therefore insuffi­ 9, 1967, by prearrangement, Mr. annually to the Southern Con­ tion in public accommodations. Mulloy's previous occupational cient.... Scott picked up Mr. Brick at the ference Educational Fund. The Republicans then passed such deferment as an A V was not In addition, the conclusion is Landmark Motel and conveyed I enclos , of which $3 a law but refused to vote open renewed in 1967. He was charged inescapable that the criminal him by automobile to the Pike is for Patriot subscription. housing in 1967. with sedition along with four prosecutions were instituted, at County Courthouse. Mr. Brick Name______The resulting marches and pro­ SCEF staff members after he tests brought the arrest of hun­ least in part, in order to step brought with him the xeroxed helped t'he people of Pike County plaintiffs' organizing activities material which Mr. Scott had Address, ______dreds of demonstrators. More organize against strip-mining than half of these were white. in Pike County. That effort has furnished to him the night before last summer. (See recent Pa­ City______Officers and staff of the Southern been successful. Not only has and returned it to Mr. Scott. Mr. tt·iots.) Christian Leadership Conference there been the "chilling effect" Scott and Mr. Brick, upon arrival He and his wife Karen are Zip Code______(SCLC), the Southern Conference on freedom of speech referred at the Pike County Courthouse, now working jointly for SCEF Educational Fund (SCEF), and to in Dombrowski, there has found Mr. Herman Dotson, Assis­ and the Louisville Peace Council, SCEF the West End Community Council been in fact a freezing effect. tant Commonwealth's Attorney, organizing both in Louisville and 3210 W. Broadway (WECC) were jailed for con­ The Governor has issued a who opened a locked door to a in the mountains. (A complete Louisville, Ky. 40211 tempt for leading marches in public statement that federal room for one hour. article on the Mulloys will appear violation of a court order. funds to the Appalachian Volun- 10. On October 9, 1967, after in the February Patriot.) 4 THE SOUTHERN PATRIOT Masonite Splits Black and White Workers~ (Continued from page 1) tend each other's meetings. There were The other ingredient needed for a so. against those who had abandoned the Still the Mississippi Supreme Court three colored workers on the negotiating coalition is trust. And the black people strike. Jolly emphasized that the black granted the injunction. The strike was committee and they took part in contract who refused to take part in the strike strikers had also voted for these steps. ruled illegal, and it was made a crime deliberations. simply did not trust the white members "Our local is a democracy and we have for the international union or anyone "It wasn't integration; it wasn't seg­ of the union. to abide by the majority will," he said. else to support the strike. The workers r egation. Still ... well, our international When we talked with the black men carried on alone. constitution prohibited segregation and, who went back to work, they said there The Strikebreakers' View Wackenhut set up outposts all over to be frank, we knew all the time what was a slight possibility that they and The meeting we had had with the black the Masonite property, with shotgun­ we had to do. Then came the Civil Rights other non-striking blacks would meet strikebreakers revealed how they felt toting guards entrenched in sand-bagged Act (1964) and a suit was filed by six with the white union leaders to discuss about the whole business. One of their bunkers. The plant looked more like a of our brothers-one white and five an arrangement whereby the black work­ supporters was Mrs. Susie Ruffin, a vet­ fortress than a factory. colored. ers would honor the strike. But, said the eran. in the freedom movement and now The local had been through it all be­ "When we integrated, the whites had black workers, any such meeting would the numerical strength. They were 75 have to be on the initiative of the whites. a member of the Mississippi Freedom fore. As recently as 1964 the men had Democratic Party (MFDP). conducted a bitter wildcat strike. They per cent of the union. Candidates were They would make no effort to set up the saw the 1967 walkout as just another in put up for office and everybody voted meeting. She is very militant but was opposed to the strike. She arranged for us to a series of battles between capital and labor, and described it in those terms. meet some of the black strikebreakers in her home. They agreed to talk but As in the past, the workers felt that only on condition that their names be their union would stand firm. They had withheld. Their names are not impor­ no doubt about the outcome. But one tant; their views are. factor had changed since 1964. This They had supported strikes before, in­ was the growing number and strength cluding wildcats. One man who had of black workers and the efforts of the walked the picket line for six months in company to manipulate these employ­ 1964 said: ees. "What did it get us? Nothing In fact, some union officials said that changed; we were still treated like Masonite had planted agents in the plant second-class citizens, like niggers. to discover ways to divide the workers. Ain't no Negro union officials. There's These agents seem to have decided that only four black s'hop stewards, and the long history of division between they don't have authority over whites. black and white people made it possible "The union never asks us for help to pit them against each other. until something like this comes up. To In reality the Laurel local is two locals put it right down, Negroes are just sick -one white, comprising 75 percent of and tired of being fooled by whites. But the membership, the other 25 percent no more. I'm so tired of my people being black. Until a few years ago the black walked on." workers were in a sub-local. Although We asked another man what he more than 500 blacks were members of thought about the union. Mrs. Ruffin the local and felt that the 1500 white broke in: "It's a den of Kluxers." The workers accepted them as fellow trade­ man agreed with her. Yet, when we ran unionists, they still did not feel they down a list of union officials, he and the were really a part of the union. others referred to only one of them as No black people were elected to office a Klansman. They called all the local in the local. Officials of the local now officers "good union men." see this as a mistake. Some realize that Bob Zellner, a native of Alabama who a program of education might have still has relatives in the Klan, had raised brought about the unity they needed in the question of the Klan with the union this strike. The largest hardboard plant in the world leadership. They admitted that there were Klan members in the local. The Union's Position Herbert Ishee, the financial secretary, added: "There are some Klan on the In order to assess the whole situation along racial lines. None of the colored We reported this conversation to Jolly negotiating ·committee. They're good better, Bob Zellner, Jack Minnis and I candidates were elected and they never and other union leaders. We pointed out unionists, pretty good boys, but I don't met with seven or eight members of the ran again." that we were not in any sense represent­ believe in their politics." local's leadership-all white. The strike Jolly calls that election a mistake. ing the black workers; that they were As for the widely held belief in the had been going on for months and the He says: "I, from a practical stand­ not our clients and we had absolutely no black community that the Klan con­ local found it difficult to get its side of point, thinking of the union first, don't influence in the black community. We trols the local, Jolly said: "Sure, we the story to the public. The Laurel news­ want to freeze the colored out, because stressed to them that they would have have Klansmen in the local but they paper had even refused to sell the union we need them. If some of our colored to gain the trust and confidence of the don't control it. I'll fight anyone--any space to explain its position. members hadn't broken this strike and black workers themselves. outside group-that tries to take over Meanwhile, Masonite was recruiting gone back to work this· strike would Jolly and the others asked us what this local." strikebreakers from Georgia, Texas, and be over." we thought they should do. We told them We asked one of the black workers other parts of Mississippi. We asked what could be done to avoid they should contact the leaders of the why he refused to take part in the strike. "They had the whole Ole Miss football similar splits in the future. "Only thing black strikebreakers. They asked us He said: "You know, after the Civil team scabbing in there,'' said J . D. Jolly, I can see is that we've got to form a whom they should talk with. We told Rights Act the company integrated the president of the local. coalition,'' Jolly went on. "White and them they should know who the leaders facilities at the plant. Washrooms and A W ackenhut guard had been slain colored in the local will have to get to­ of the black strikebreakers were, and showers. The whites kicked up a fuss. the day we met with Jolly and other gether and come up with some candi­ added that we could not act as go-be­ "I don't appreciate a man using me leaders of the union. The room was dates from both races and everybody tweens. . . . saying we're together when there's tense as we sat down with these men. will have to back them. Otherwise this When they mentioned "good friends" a strike and then kicking up a fuss be­ We were very f rank about the fact t hing will continue to split us." they had in the black community, we cause we're using the same facilities. that we were in the civil-rights move­ suggested that these "good friends" Another thing, the whites didn't even ment. Minnis explained that at one time The Need for Coalition were probably not the leaders of the consult us when this strike began. Not we had all worked for SNCC. He said we militant workers. We said t'hat a new one word, like they figured we'd support were now with SCEF and were inter­ Coalition. A magic word these days. spirit was abroad in the black com· it anyway. I didn't desert the union; ested in building unity between black Quite simply it means the coming to­ munity, and it would be up to them to the union deserted me." and white working people in the South. gether of people with similar problems figure out how to deal with that spirit None of the black workers considered to fight a common enemy. It does not in the interest of unity. themselves anti-union. They said: "A Minnis told the men that we wanted mean love or brotherhood or integration, J oily and the other said they would worker has to be in a union for his own to help if we could, but we needed to although it could mean or lead to all of consider what we had told them and that security. We have good wages and job understand the full nature of the strike. these things. The men were silent for a moment. they would try to work out something. security only because of the union's Then J olly spoke up: " We don't care But coalition does require two ingredi­ However, Jolly said that it wasn't just work." who you are as long as you can help." ents, and one of these is strength. The a simple matter of the union leadership However, all of them were highly I think it is important to know Jolly. mostly white local did have strength and going to the black strikebreakers and critical of Local 5-441: for allowing seg­ His life has been dedicated to the local had shown it many times in previous bargaining over concessions. regated job classifications. They all said strikes. The question is: Did the black and to the cause of trade-unionism. His The union members honoring the strike they wanted to stay in the union, "if minority in the union have any strength ? name was in the headlines briefly in 1964 had already taken the necessary steps only it would change." after a white union official was beaten I believe Jolly answered tha,t when he to impose sanctions, if they chose to do We asked them if they would be will­ by the Ku Klux Klan for backing a said, "If colored members had not gone ing to meet with the white unionists to Negro in a grievance against the com­ back to work the strike would be over." try to work out such differences. With the balance of power they held in this pany. Jolly declared that the union would The majority of the black workers Company's Position go to war with the Klan, if necessary, had used their strength, but they used strike, there was a possibility they could to stop further such acts. it against the union. They gave rea­ CHICAGO - Masonite Corpora­ win concessions they wanted from the He was frank about the local's history. sons for this, which I will go into tion was asked to comment on local, since the whites had now seen the "You have to understand the nature of shortly, but first we need to stress that statements made in this article. need for unity. the South to understand it," he said. the black unionists did not act as a Their public-relations manager re­ If an understanding was reached be­ "Because of this, we once had a sub­ unit. Although about 300 blacks helped plied that "the article is untruthful tween the two groups, it could be guar­ local. All colored, with their own officers. to break the strike, about 200 sup­ to the point of being ridiculous." anteed by the strength of the blacks; The different races did occasionally at- ported it. He did not say what was untrue. the white workers would know that only THE SOUTHERN PATRIOT 5 Sets Pattern to Destroy Southern llnions united action would bring gains from in the Union of South Africa where its the company in future disputes. black workers are the most exploited in Here was shown the need for a black the world. It also needs to be pointed caucus within the union. Blacks have out that the company was simply com­ usually mistrusted white people in plying with a U. S. Government order similar situations because so many when it ended segregation in the wash­ promises have been made and t'hen rooms. broken w'hen the black people were Claude Ramsey arranged for us to no longer considered necessary. A talk with E. K. Collins, attorney for caucus within the union would make Local 5-443. Collins is also state senator sure that there would be no back­ from Jones County. He is most widely sliding on promises made and agree­ known to the civil-rights movement as ments reached between the black and attorney for the regular Democratic white workers. Party in Mississippi, which fought off However, this did not appear to be in the challenge of the Mississippi Free­ the minds of the black people, as re­ dom Democratic Party at the Democratic flected by these comments: National Convention in Atlantic City in Mrs. Ruffin- "If only those white peo­ 1964. He has a reputation for being a ple would come to us equal and bar­ strong trade-union supporter. gain... . " " I signed the first union card in this A worker-"l've seen something of state," he told us proudly. " I once these whites for years. They can't be worked for John L. Lewis (of the trusted. I see no reason to talk with United Mine Workers)." He said that them." as a boy "I had a job carrying water for Another worker-"If they would come the workers-white and colored." to us and ask us like men." Senator Collins said he had been one Setting a Pattern of the original organizers of the Laurel local and obtained its charter. "It was In Jackson, where we talked with the first union charter in the state," he Claude Ramsey, head of the Mississippi added. AFL-CIO, he gave us a larger perspec­ The attorney said he agreed with tive on the Laurel strike. He saw the Ramsey's charge of a conspiracy to Masonite strike as part of a plan to bust all unions in Mississippi. "No destroy trade-unions in the state. He doubt about it," he declared. "If they It looked more like a fortress than a factory believed the Mississippi Manufacturers' break this union, the shipbuilders in Association was involved. Pascagoula ·are next and after that "Masonite is the beginning of a pat­ the paper mills in Natchez and Moss them. The violence seemed directed at "Ain't it a shame," one rank-and-file tern," he declared. "This local has al­ Point." whites breaking the strike. member told us, "we don't even get to ways been radical and a thorn in the At the height of the violence, the Mis­ vote on it." company's side. They've had some bad "You see, there are all kinds of com­ panies up North that want to bring sissippi Highway Patrol sent extra men J. D. J olly and the rest of local strikes down there. If they destroy this plants down South because of cheap t o Laurel and the National Guard was 5-443's officials were removed from local, unionism in Mississippi will be set placed on alert. office and the local was placed in trustee­ back decades. Masonite laid a trap for labor. And every Chamber of Commerce is backing them." Soon there were 900 men working in ship, which meant that all property, them and they walked right into it." finances and other assets of the local (We were also told that all elements the plant, which was reported working What the company had done was to came under the complete control of the of the local power structure, including at 45 per cent of capacity. The 900 win many allies in the black community international. the Laurel Chamber of Commerce, men were about equally divided among by upgrading a few blacks in the plant white unionists who had returned to A man of about 50 said, "one of and ending segregation in the wash­ backed Masonite in the strike; indeed, "the city attorney represents the com­ work, strikebreakers (white) brought these days it's all corning to a 'head rooms. in from ot'her areas, and black union­ and it's going to be settled with guns. Minnis described how it worked in pany in disputes with the workers.") We asked Collins about the Klan ele­ ists who had refused to join the strike. There's going to be one final battle the Patriot last month: "Thus when between capital and labor." management was confident that it had ments in Local 5-443. He said he had But Masonite was being hurt. A the loyalty of enoug'h black wor kers it evidence that there were 65 Klan mem­ Standard & Po01·'s bulletin reported at The agreement was explained to the began upgrading black workers in a bers in the union, but he also pointed out the end of the summer that there had Pat1-iot by Ronald F. Roley, Portland, way that was certain to drive the that the local had published a manifesto been a substantial decrease in Masonite Ore., international president of the white workers into a wildcat." against the Klan in the Laurel news­ earnings due in part to strikes in Ohio union, on the ground that "our aim was Jolly had told us that this very up­ paper. and in Laurel. Standard & Poor's also to save as many jobs and as many bene­ stated that Masonite had sold more than fits as possible under the circumstances. grading of blacks had caused friction The Strike Continues with the whites, but he also admitted 210,000 acres of prime Mississippi tim­ A preferential hiring list was set up ber to St. Regis Paper Co. for $35 mil­ for those men still out at the time of the that the black men had previously "had As the strike continued, there were the dirtiest, the filthiest, the roughest bombings and at least five killings which lion. settlement." (There were over 1,200 men, jobs." authorities blamed on some of the "The colored workers (who went back more than half of the local, still on strike when the agreement was signed.) However, Masonite is no crusader for strikers. However, the black workers to work) make up the numerical differ­ the rights of black people. It has a plant told us that none of this was aimed at ence and give the company hope of win­ As for the company's reorganization ning the strike," J oily said several weeks plan, Roley said, "we'll try to resolve before the end of the strike. whatever we can." We talked with people in SNCC, the Members of the local scoff at this. The MFDP State10ent MFDP and the Delta Ministry about the They described the agreement to me as possibility of working together to build "a sellout, a sweetheart contract." The MFDP is investigating the strike in Laurel, Mississippi by the a black-white coalition to aid the local. Sources within the local also say they International Woodworkers of America (IWA) local against the Masonite They all saw possibilities in the situa­ have learned that the militants who led corporation, because this strike affects every member of the MFDP in tion, but were busy with other things the strike will not be rehired-ever. Ad­ Mississippi. they felt were more important. ditionally, all strikebreakers will keep If Masonite can kill the union in Laurel, this will set back both Negro Two weeks before the strike ended, a their jobs. and white workers 30 years. Whatever the result of the strike, it will be statement did come from the MFDP, What is clear is that Masonite ex­ copied by management and members of the Mississippi Management Asso­ which is made up almost wholly of black ploited the social divisions between the ciation to crush union organizing in Mississippi. Without unions, working people. The full text is printed else­ unionists masterfully, like pawns in a people can be fired without cause by management, they lose their right to where on this page, but the following giant chess game. Whether the same collective bargaining, better working conditions, higher wages and decent portion is worth quoting here: tactics will be used in other areas, as vacations with pay. "It is to Masonite's advantage to Claude Ramsey and E. K. Collins pre­ Members of both races are working at Masonite and are also on strike. emphasize the KKK element in the dicted, seems hardly open to question. Masonite claims that the union is completely controlled by the KKK. This union. This keeps the black and white The burning resentments of black places Negro employees in the unfortunate position of having to choose workers apart. We refuse to swallow workers exist everywhere; the failure, between the KKK or Masonite. This is too simple and too frightening to Masonite's claim of complete KKK even the refusal, of some white work­ be true. control of the union. ers to cope with this also exists every­ It is to Masonite's advantage to emphasize the KKK element in the " We have found t'hat labels, whether where. If the tragedy of Laurel is union. This keeps black and white workers apart. Since 1964 the union has Communist or KKK, prevent people not to be repeated, this situation must held integrated meetings, yet it was only since the strike began in April from thinking and cover up the real be corrected. that Masonite gave Negro workers many good jobs previously reserved issues . . . If Masonite can kill the Blacks have said they will not initiate for whites. But it is important to understand the history of t'he KKK's union in Laurel, this will set back both any reconciliation because they feel they power in Jones County. This power affects not only the union but Masonite Negro and white workers 30 years." have been betrayed too many times in and every important economic and political institution in Jones County. The Strike is Broken t.he past. Therefore, whites will have to The FDP is and has always been on the side of FREE trade unionism. make the first move. Unity remains the We refuse to swallow Masonite's claim of complete KKK control of the On December 12, 1967, after seven and working men's only protection; other­ union. We have found that labels, whether Communist or KKK, prevent a half months, the Laurel strike carne wise they will continue to be the victims. people from thinking and cover up the real issues. to an end. In San Francisco, an agree­ Masonite can now dictate conditions The Klan issue should not force Negro workers to reject unionism. A ment was reached between the inter­ and wages and, as the directors of that man should not be deprived of his right to a job or a right to belong to a national union, the Masonite Corp., and company can tell you, it will be a long union solely because he is a member of the KKK. Only if we protect the the federal mediation service. time before the workers of Laurel will rights of all men to freedom of association and speech, no matter how We happened to be in the Union hall again have the strength to challenge unpopUlar their cause, will our own rights be preserved. the day the agreement was announced. them.

------THE SOUTHERN PATRIOT

''Thoee who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate "If you want the happiness of agitation, are men who want the people, let them speak out rain without thunder and and tell w'hat kind of happiness lightning. They want the ocean they want and what kind they without the roar of its many THE PEOPLES FORUM don't want!" waters." ALBERT CAMUS FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Report From Sunflower County On Courage As you know, this area almost proportion than any other state receiving it, two lost and the rest I enclose a copy of a poem all Mississippians depend on cot­ in the union. Some say that their case haven't come up yet. by Yevtushenko, from which ton. Less was planted and once poverty program have helped 3. We had freedom school for I learned something very im­ it come up the farmers used Mississippi, but we say it have the children and adult education portant, which I'd learned in chemicals to keep the fields clean, hurt Mississippi, because after classes during the summer; we different form from Septima instead of the hand laborers. The all the· challenge is the money also paid the teachers, classes Clark when I worked with her cotton also opened late this year has been taken before it makes were held for two hours each at Highlander. Once you un­ and once it did most of the work it to the poor man there's hardly class night. derstand what he's saying it was done by the mechanical anything left and when you total 4. Improving the community helps you keep yourself in pickers, except for the small everything up the rich man get center in some places that we perspective, i.e. you don't go forty acres farmers. richer and the poor man gets built last year was $325. (Its around believing that you're People have been leaving poorer. cost was $4,225 last year to be great simply because you're Mississippi since the early spring Also we feel that the poverty completed and it's 50 x 50.) and on holidays when their chil­ honest. It's just the opposite. program was designed for two 5. We laid aside $200 to help dren or relatives come down they reasons; one, to give a hand­ start building on the super­ TALK would take many of their people full of poor people jobs to take market. You're a brave man they tell me. back with them, hoping they will their minds off their rights and be able to get a job. 6. During the early part of I'm not. they wants. while the rest of This in our feelings makes this year we helped the Head­ Courage has never been my quality. the people they promised to start School when it was oper­ things bad on both sides, first give jobs sit around waiting on Only I thought it .disproportionate ated in the community center, we for the Southern Negro to their promise and keep quiet, so to degrade myself as others did. continue hoping that one day gave $240. We helped 35 people the men on top sturdy gets get on Social Security. No foundations trembled. My voice they will have enough Negro ahead. Secondly, they will try votes to put people in all parts 7. Expenses for lights, gas, no more than laughed at pompous falsity; to hire people like us and close water, and gasoline for the car­ of the government to represent our mouth and closing our I did no more than write, never denounced, $435, and for the community them. Secondly, the way it mouths they close mostly I left out nothing I had thought about, center $220. hurt the north it makes more everybody's mouth. defended who deserved it, put a brand people be out of jobs, the slum The things we need now are In the town of Sunflower, we on the untalented, the ersatz writers gets bigger and by not being food, clothes, money, S&H have had two elections and lost (doing what had anyhow to be done). aware of how things are in green stamps and any other both of them. The city have men the north, this makes people kind of stamp, a sewing ma­ And now they press to tell me t'hat I'm brave. working on the poverty program, who have no skill not aware chine and material scraps for How sharply our children will be ashamed going around digging ditches or and looking for new hope. And the sewing co-op, and a type­ cleaning them out, and some of taking at last their vengeance for these horrors do not find it, have nothing writer. remembering how in so strange a time else to do but steal, kill, and these ditches that the men are For the 44 children that common integrity could look like courage. whatever else is necessary. working on have had work done As you know Mississippi have on them over a hundred times attends the white schools we gave JULIUS LESTER received more poverty money aid and everytime it rains they would clothes and we also gave clothes New York, N.Y. from Federal government in decay, and they would be in the and others to more than 900 same position they were in at people. first, because t hey are dug out This is how our salary was Movement Failed on Laurel Strike in a straight line instead of some paid through the year of 1967, On December 12, over 1,000 Masonite workers But unity and a fighting program is exactly curves along t he side. after we got started. Otis Brown, had their union put into t rusteeship and their 7% what the movement in Laurel did not have. We are still in hope of getting Jr., director, $600. Betty Hum­ month long strike sold out. The local Laurel move­ When Rap Brown talks about the need for started on the super-market. We phries, secretary, $250. Mrs. ment that day was very concerned because some developing an ideology to prevent one section of need about $1300 in order to Brooks, welfare, $125. preacher had thrown a wrench into a planned dispossessed people from oppressing another, really get started. We need about So we will close hoping you Christmas boycott of downtown Laurel aimed at he's not just whistling Dixie. And the move­ $17,500 in all, this includes land, will take concern to our needs, getting some Negroes hired in the stores. ment's got to go further than statements and stock, and building supplies; also and may all of you have the It would be dishonest, however, to say that the proclamations. Because big corporationS' will be we need $150 for our car in Merriest time during and after local movement had no position on the strike that trying to work the "Masonite Plan" for break­ order to get it over-hauled. the holiday. ended-for all practical purposes- in the busting ing unions all over the South, now that it's The money we received to SUNFLOWER COUNTY of the most militant union in Mississippi. The worked in Laurel. run our program for the year IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION Laurel movement did have a position: it urged Which means that instead of ignoring unor­ ganized worker s, we begin to organize them. That of 1967, was $3200, and this P.O. Box 398 black workers to scab for Masonit e, and did so for is how we spent it. Sunflower, Miss. 38778 the whole length of the strike. instead of ignoring strikes, we support them. That instead of playing ball with the union piecards 1. We gave the sewing co-op A main argument used to justify support for and misleaders (otherwise known as t he 'labor $200 to get started, it employed Freedomcraft and encouragement of the scabs has been that lieutenants of capital') we fight them to the eight ladies and they work two Seeks Support this waS' the first time most of these black men finish. And the last of these means that we take days a week, six hours a day, had "ever stood up." But when you have on your jobs in plants to begin organizing a caucus of r ank­ for $5 a day. These ladies make We are poor people of the side the Mayor, the Mississippi Supreme Court, and-file workers to take over the unions so as to be blouses and quilts. Freedomcraft Candy Cooperative the Mississippi Chamber of Commerce, the Miss­ in the South who make delicious better able to wage war on the bosses. 2. We have taken 98 people issippi Association of Manufacturers, t he. regional candies. We started our coopera­ If this seems a sensible approach to a real down to get on Welfare. 89 are NLRB, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation problem, then it also means certain things for tive in Edwards, Miss. t rying to Service, the International Woodworkers of the 'movement'. It means that staff people be help ourselves. You can order America, the city ·police, the state police, the required to spend a part of each year working THE WAR this candy which is carefully National Guard, the Wackenhut guards and, in on a job. It means that SNCC and t'he MFDP packed for you or as a gift to a the center of it all, the Masonite Corporation WITHIN THE WAR find room on their list of 'priorities' for organiz­ friend or neighbor. . .. well, hell, what kind of a "stand" have you As a follow-up to the article ing black caucuses in unions like the one in We ar e asking for your help to really taken? in last month's Patriot about Laurel. It means that SDS find the 'time' to proceed in making our candy. What essentially happened is that Masonite Tom Tuck, let me use your Freedomcraft has begun to make support strikes going on right under their noses, pages to make a plea. The wanted to get rid of the union, and felt that they (like the recent 60-day transit strike in Madison, two new products- pecan brittle needed a sizable number of workers who would Louisville Peace Council is do­ ($2.85 a pound) and roasted Wise., which the militant students didn't find ing all it can to assist Tom be willing to scab on a union-initiated wildcat. time to support because they were too busy with pecan!; ( $2.15 a pound), in addi­ They tried to do t his among t he black workers by Tuck and oth er Gis who are tion to our pecan pralines ($2.60) other 'more important' matters. like protesting organizing at Fort Knox. integrating washrooms and shower s. The strategy Dow's presence on their campus). and peanut brittle ($1.50) Post­ What we need is the name worked, and a union t hat the black scabs said There is no doubt that Southern (and U.S.) age is 75 cents a pound. of any soldier at Fort Knox "was good on fighting for economic issues and workers are unhappy about their condition. There You could also cooperate with (or who will be there) who is working conditions" was destroyed. is a major question as to whether some sections of us by asking different church against the war. If the read­ Now at least some of us should be able to see, the left (including the movement) are willing to groups to buy our candies to use ers of the Patriot would send at this late date in the history of U.S. capitalism, get their hands dirty and calloused enough to or­ for raising money. We also want us the name and company of that the forces of the corporations, their various ganize that discontent into positive and direct to sell to stores so that more any soldier who would be in­ State apparatuses (especially the courts and the struggle against the corporations and their state. people can enjoy what we make. terested in such a program, police), and their 'friends' in organized labor If the movement isn't willing, then the Laurel bust We can send large orders at we would appreciate it very (which is most of the international unions), are is just a taste of what's coming . wholesale prices. much. never going to be doing good for workers. So if FRED LACEY Remember: Freedomcraft can- we want something better than what we have, it New Orleans, La. (REV.) JAMES C. GORMAN dies make sweet gifts! means we must look to workers themselves. With (The writer of this letter, a former CORE field Louisville Peace Council MRS. LYDIA SWANAGAN workers' unity and a good program of struggle, the secretary in Louisiana, is now a dockworker who 1135 S. Brook St., No. 1, Freedomcraft Candies international unions can be taken over, and t he is active in the Progressive Labor Party in New Louisville, Ky. 40203 Box 139, corporations and their state beaten. Orleans.) Edwards, Miss. 39066 THE SOUTHERN PATRIOT 7 The Month in Review THE ROAD AHEAD Violence, Repression Continue

Rap Brown and Free Speech Violence by white racists con­ SNCC claimed that Nashville Officials in Pike County, Ky., By ANNE BRADEN tinues across the South. officials were trying to stifle free recently solved the problem of In Mississippi, the homes of speech and that police behavior finding money to raise county I have just signed a citizens' petition to the U.S. Supreme four churchmen have been had provoked the outbreak. The teachers' pay. Their solution Court asking that SNCC Chairman Rap Brown be freed from the bombed. They are Rabbi Perry U.S. District Court dismissed the should make everybody happy­ court restrictions that prevent his travel outside the island of E. Nussbaum of Jackson (his suit and congratulated the police except the poor people. They plan Manhattan. I hope thousands of other people are signing it too. synagogue was dynamited too); on their handling of the situa­ to set a three-cents-on-t he-dollar The facts in this case are frightening. Last July, Brown spoke Robert B. Kochtitsky, a promi­ tion. This left the way open for tax on all utility bills. Every in Cambridge, Md. Aftet he left town, a Cambridge school was nent Methodist churchworker in the grand jury to bring the in­ family will have to pay equally, burned. Cambridge officials charged Brown with inciting people Jackson; the Rev. Allen J. J ohn­ dictments. rich or poor. to burn it. The federal government issued an arrest warrant, son, a Negro minister in Laurel; * * * The teachers went on strike charging him with leaving Maryland to avoid prosecution. and the Rev. Dennis Delmar. Seven Mississippians con­ September 22 and stayed out for Delmar, a former Klansman, victed of taking part in a Ku five weeks, until the school board Brown aranged immediately through his attorneys to sur­ testified against the Klan at the promised to raise their salaries render in New York City. He was in the Washington airport on Klux Klan plot to kill three recent trial of men accused of young civil-rights workers (see October Patriot). his way to keep that commitment when the FBI broke its agree­ conspiring to kill three civil­ ment with his attorneys and jailed him in Alexandria, Va. have been sentenced to federal The crisis in the school budget rights workers. The bombings prison terms ranging from resulted from a $112,526.42 defi­ They later dropped the federal charge, but Virginia officials all occurred after Judge W. Har­ three to ten years. They are cit last year, caused by unpaid arrested him under a state "flight from prosecution" law. After old Cox said he would cancel the appealing the sentences. taxes. More than 325 coal com­ some maneu,·ering in federal court, he was released-but only on bond of the convicted men if any * * * panies which operate in Pike condition that he not leave the Southern District of New York. violence involving explosives oc­ William A. Rutherford, a form­ County were among the delin­ curred in southern Mississippi. er businessman, is the new execu­ quent tax-payers. Government A voided an Uproar So far he has not acted. tive director of the Southern Thus,' the government quietly and efficiently stopped Rap In North Carolina, the homes Christian Leadership Conference Brown from speaking across the country- avoiding the uproar of two civil-rights leaders active (SCLC) . TSU FIVE that would ensue if he was in jail. How anyone can square that in school desegregation have been He succeeds the Rev. Andrew DEFENSE FUND with t'he First Amendment is beyond me. bombed- Moses Forbes of Greene J. Young, who was named execu­ County and the Rev. Luther tive vice-president. Mr. Young Houston's SNCC chapter has Something has to be done to dissipate our national sickness Coppedge of Franklin County. will continue to be principal been reorganized to conduct "an that expresses itself in scapegoating Rap Brown and Stokely Mr. Coppedge's home was spokesman and representative of adequate and forceful defense" Carmichael. As long as people can blame two individuals for the bombed twice. SCLC and its president, Dr. for the five Texas Southern Uni­ crises we face, the longer we delay dealing with their real causes­ In Alabama, police have shot Martin L. King, Jr. versity (TSU) students charged racism and injustice. and killed two Negro men Rutherford will be chief ad­ with murder after violence at Furthermore, such scapegoating endangers us all. Last spring while allegedly trying to arrest ministrative officer of SCLC, in TSU last May (see December there was a rumor that Carmichael was in Lexington, Ky. The them. Police claim Willie Joe full charge of over-all organiza­ Patriot). Floyd Nichols has been police chief there assured a newspaper reporter that he was not Carter, 25, was running from tion. elected chairman of the SNCC because,. the chief said, if he was he "would be in jail." "What t'he scene of a robbery in Dr. King also announced the chapter and of t'he Defense Fund. would you have arrested him for?" inquired the reporter. "For Birmingham. Near Auburn, a selection of the Rev. Bernard The Fund issued a statement being Stokely Carmichael," answered the chief. state trooper killed an unidenti­ Lafayette, J r., as program ad­ which said, in part: "such frame­ fied black man (arrested for ministrator. One of his main jobs ups, if allowed to succeed in a What Free Speech Means drunken driving) after the man will be the organizing of a mas­ single case, will engulf us all in a allegedly stabbed the trooper. sive poor people's campaign for If Carmichael can be arrested for being Stokely Carmichael pattern of repression which will jobs and income. This is planned and Brown can be held in Manhattan for being Rap Brown, I can * * make the Age of Lynching and for the spring in Washington. be arrested for being Anne Braden- which I'm sure would please Fourteen people, including the persecution of the McCarthy Assisting Mr. Lafayette on this many people. And you, too, can be arrested for just being you. George Ware and Ernest Ste­ era seem mild by comparison. phens of SNCC, have been in­ program will be the Rev. James "You should understand that I personally want to hear what Rap Brown has to say. I may dicted in connection with an out­ Bevel, who returns to SCLC after the c'harges could be placed on not agree with all of it, but his ideas are important for this break in Nashville's ghetto last a year's leave of absence to work others. You could be charged country to hear-and we just bury our heads> in the sand if we April (see May and October with the peace movement. Staff with murder. These men in a don't listen. And I don't want it filtered through newspaper re· Patriots). members have been assigned to sense are your brothers. You and porters, most of whom I don't agree with either. When the gov­ Ware and Stephens, who are 10 cities and five rural areas to I have to try to save them." ernment imprisons Brown on Manhattan, they deny me my right on SNCC's national staff, are mobilize people for the effort. All donations, or requests for to hear him. This is the real importance of free speech-not just charged with meeting to riot and * * * one of the TSU Five to speak, one person's right to speak, but the right of US' all to 'hear. carrying a weapon. Five local Roy Innis, the militant chair­ should be sent to: If you feel the same way, you can get a copy of the citizens' SNCC members are among the man of Harlem CORE, has been TSU Five Defense Fund, Doug­ petition on Brown by writing SNCC, 100 Fifth Ave., New York, other 12 indicted. No date for named associate director of the las Wayne Waller, Secretary, N.Y. 10001. You can also invite him to speak in your community; the trial has been set. Congress of Racial Equality. He 2024 Eastex Freeway. Box his attorneys will use such invitations to support their efforts to SNCC brought a suit against replaces Lincoln 0. Lynch as #21085, Houston 26, Texas, free him from Manhattan. the city after the outbreak. CORE's second-ranking official. 77026.

The Continuing Struggle Something Is Wrong

By JACK MINNIS of racial discrimination in the same economic problems, and, enqu1nes about up-dated family which t he government says is (Research Director) employment could be ended to­ for a time, it might seem to income levels to the "Buying insufficient for living. There is a difficulty that many morrow, black people could black people that they had no Power" supplement of Sales The story is told that when people who have supported the immediately begin earning the economic problems at all. But Management magazine, published civil rights movement in the past same kind of money white that seemingly would very soon last June. The Census Bureau Franklin Roosevelt was prepar­ ing the propaganda for his presi­ are going to have to face. What­ people earn. end, as most of the whites in says these figures are as accu­ dential campaign of 1932, his ever "the movement" is, it is no But hold on. Black people have the country could testify. rate as anything available. researchers told him that two­ longer merely a "civil rights" also been discriminated against On October 25, 1967 the According to these figures, 65 thirds of the nation's families movement. The civil rights move­ in education-they've not been Bureau of Labor Statistics of per cent of the households in the were in want. He remarked that ment secured the passage of the permitted to develop the skills the U.S. Department of Com­ U.S. do not have an income nobody would believe such a civil rights acts. Those acts did and technical knowledge to make merce issued a report estimat­ sufficient to meet the "plain liv­ figure-it would be taken for all the federal government is it profitable for U.S. businesses ing how much it costs to live ing" standard set by the Bureau prepared to do to remove the to pay them wages equal to those "moderately" and to just plain of Labor Statistics. As would be mere campaign bombast. During the campaign he said that "one­ barriers of racial discrimination they pay the whites. So how live. The "moderate" living expected, the Southern states are third of the nation is ill-housed, in the U.S. It is obvious that the could they take their places cost a family of four just over in worse shape than the others; ill-clothed, ill-fed." Few people federal government is not willing alongside their white brothers $9,000 per year. The plain liv­ but the differential is less than know why he cut the figure in to risk the political hazards it with the supposedly fat pay ing cost a family of four might be imagined-10 to 15 sees in eliminating racial discrimi­ envelopes? Well, just for the $7,329, and this did not include percentage points. The best state half. Perhaps because it fright­ nation. It is also obvious that the sake of argument, let's suppose social security and federal in­ in the South, Georgia, shows ened even him. right to eat a hamburger any­ that such deficiencies of skill and come taxes. The report de­ 29 per cent of its households It seems reasonable to argue where they're sold, does not technology do not exist (I sus­ scribed the plain living as with incomes sufficient to main­ that any society in which 65 necessarily mean that the ham­ pect their effect is greatly. over­ "the cost of goods and ser vices tain existence. Mississippi and per cent of the families cannot burger-eater will have the two drawn in many cases-a cover-up needed for living." Arkansas tie for last place, with live decently (according to the bits to pay for what he's eaten. for continued discrimination), These figures, of course, tell only 20 per cent of the house­ society's own government) is a It was supposed at one time and that black workers could fill you nothing about the economic holds making a living. malformed and malfunctional so­ that if racial discrimination in any positions white workers fill. situation of people in the U.S., Now. to get back to the ciety. It is reasonable to argue employment could be ended, Would this, then, solve their unless you also have figures proposition this column began that such a society can be made then black people could "earn" economic problems ? showing the level of family in­ with. If all the black workers whole only by a complete re­ their way into the economic It would solve the economic come. The Bureau of Labor in t he U.S. could achieve wage structuring of its political and "mainstream," where the great problems of black people. It Statistics apparently did not pro­ parity with the white workers, economic institutions. The most majority of white people al­ would leave them with the same vide any up-dated figures on 65 to 75 per cent of them frequently used shorthand for ready were. That might be so. economic problems that white family-income levels. However, would still be faced with the such a restructuring is one word: It might be that if all vestiges people have. They would not be the U.S. Census Bureau directs problem of living on an income revolution. 8 THE SOUTHERN PATRIOT Louisiana~s Free Speech Movem~nt SDS ~onfronts Tulane­ Literature Is Seized Gran~bling Students Revolt By ROBERT ANALAVAGE (Continued from page 1) NEW ORLEANS, La.- White Southern colleges have been silent in comparison to the confrontations and rebellions that have rocked A dialogue is just what the black campuses. Yet similar conditions exist at these schools- the students had. Football games paternalism, the complete lack of real student participation in uni­ were forgotten; campus gossip versity affairs, the college's complicity in programs like the draft. ceased. A different atmosphere At Tulane University, which takes great pains to project a liberal prevailed at Grambling, and the image, a small but growing number of white students are beginning grievances of the 98 per cent of to challenge this. The challenge is being sparked by a chapter of the student body who do not Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) . They hope, in the words participate in athletics were of one member, Eric Gordon, to "bring about a series of confronta­ articulated. tions with the administration, by students, to show up the oppr essive In a series of "mandates", they nature of the university." · demanded that President Jones SDS has already succeeded in doing this. The group put a piece either initiate change or retire. of its literature in the student bookstore and it was confiscated, They called for a committee of on the ground that it contained obscene material. students and faculty to be set u p, "The material was a 14-page document," Gordon says, "and to discuss programs t hat would only two paragraphs contained obscenities." It was obvious to the bring "academic excellence to the students that the material was seized because of its political nature. school." Gordon pointed out that if the university was interested in such Most of all, they wanted an end censorship, "they would have to close down the bookstore." to "administration despotism." Harassment extends beyond the SDS group. F or example, the They wanted the old paternalistic student newspaper, the Hullabaloo, also came under attack after it system replaced by a system that criticized the seizure. Liberal Mississippi publisher Hodding Carter would be relevant to the needs of Jr., a writer in residence at Tulane and an advisor to the paper, re­ black people. And they called for signed because of statements by the Hullabaloo. the dismissal of those faculty In another incident, a participant in the school's ROTC program members who maintained the old was thrown out because he joined an SDS demonstration- which the system. administration itself had approved. One incident exposed the administration dearly. SDS had sought The administration was not and received permission to invite representatives of the New Orleans moved at all and ignored the Draft Resistance Union (DRU) to set up a table and recruit right students. The Informers called alongside the U.S. Marines. However , when the DRU arrived, the for a boycott of all classes. It university ejected them on the grounds that they were off-campus had some, but not enough, people. SDS challenged the administration. Gordon says they re­ effect. Then, one chilly morn­ minded them that "VISTA, the Peace Corps, the armed services, Dow ing, The Informers organized Chemical, the United Fruit company and the CIA have recruited on more than 2,000 students and campus and were all certainly off-campus people." The administration marched into classrooms, dis­ lamely replied, "those other organizations are established groups." GALE DAGGS, one of the leaders of Grambling's student revolt, con­ rupting them by loudly singing What may turn to be the confrontation SDS is looking for was fers with attorney Richard Sobol (photo by Bob Analavage). freedom songs. Classes stopped announced in a rather startling statement by t:he executive com­ and some faculty support was mittee of the student senate, that they will resign if real conces­ given--secretly. "A college cannot remain open hearing could be held before the sions toward "student power" haven't been ceded by the adminis­ At a rally that night, student if it has no students," he shouted. State Board of Education. tration by February 1. Even conservative senators favored the leaders argued that since power The next day more than The hearing was held in Baton possibility of a student strike if demands are not met. SDS is resided in the Administration 2,500 students purchased bus Rouge, much too far for campus making plans to mobilize the entire student body behind the sena­ Building the school would cease tickets. Parents began arriving supporters of the 29 to travel. tors' threat to resign. to function if the building was to drive some home, and every­ The LCDC attorneys argued that But there is a larger idea behind the SDS program at Tulane. shut down. The next day, with :l where students were packing the origi-nal hearing at the school Gordon talks about it: "The unive!:sity is !:eally a job-training school. picket line and a massive sit-in, bags. was valid and, because the school Students are taught how to be good business men, good teachers, human bodies literally brought "It resembled the Christmas had not presented evidence ~ood army colonels. It is impossible to change the nature of the the gears of the college machine break," Miss Daggs reported. against the students, the charges university since it merely reflects the larger society. Ideally, we can to a halt. It remained that way The Administration reacted by should be dropped. build radical consciousness in students so that they will move out into the larger society and make the real changes." for 48 hours. sending threatening letters to all They also argued that the Meanwhile President Jones parents warning them that, if students were being punished shrilled to the press about "out­ students did not return immedi­ because they had dared to side agitators" and "black-power ately, serious consequences would criticize the administration, and Peace Travellers advocates". The normally racist result. A stalemate lasted for their First Amendment rights newspapers, the Monroe Morning about a week and the students, were being violated. The at­ World and the Shreveport Times, fearful of jeopardizing their edu­ torneys produced 54 witnesses Tour North Carolina sprang to Jones' defense and cation, began to filter back slowly. who testified that the students (Continued from page 1) praised his administration and The revolt, although still popu­ had called only for "orderly policies. lar with most of the students, demonstration against a lack And two good things happened when we went back that eve­ lacked the troops to carry on a ning: Tom talked for hours in the student union with about 50 stu­ The annual Homecoming Game of academic excellence and an protracted struggle. OYeremphasis on athletics." dents, many of whom had been part of the mob earlier. He said was to be played that week end, every once in a while some kids would try to start something violent, and for Grambling (at least, for The Repression The Louisiana assistant at­ but others would shout, "shut up, we're trying to have a discussion." the administration) it is the most torney general, T. McFerrin, The 29 students who were ex­ Meanwhile the rest of us met with a group of about 20 or so important day of the year. Jones argued for the school and used pelled immediately enlisted t he faculty members and students who planned to form a study group, reported wild rumors that the only school officials as witnesses. help of the Lawyers' Constit u­ set up literature tables, and also invite us back on campus later. They disruptive students might prevent tional Defense Committee (LCDCJ All of th !; last 13 hours. But were all elated to find each other, each having told us he was the the game from being played. in New Orleans. Attorneys Paul thf" l'tat(• boar d upheld t he ad­ only enlightened person on campus. Saying that " law and order" had Kidd and Richard Sobol went mini!'t rat on and its expulsion The Appalachian affair was all over the newspapers; of course completely broken down, he ca l!ed into U.S. District Court and got order lt. took them only 20 they reported gleefully that we had been "booted off" the campus, and on the governor ~o send in the a temporary restraining order mirutes t <· decide. described the scene as pretty much of a riot. This, predictably, National Guard. The State glee­ against the college on the ground ·· Bare'y l'nough time to type up frightened administrators on most campuses we visited later. fully complied-the Guard was that the students were denied due the opinton, ·· Sobol said sardoni­ At Belmont-Abbey, a small Catholic school near Charlotte, we sent in and occupied the campus. process when they were expelled cally. had been invited by the student government to speak in classes in The game was played and without a hearing. Judge Ben the morning, show films and slides, do draft counseling in the Grambling won! LCDC is now trying to get the Dawkins ordered the students re­ students r einstated until a new afternoon, and present our panel discussion in the evening. The Then the administration admitted, but he ruled that the hearing can be held. "All the administration, allegedly to protect our safety, cancelled everything but an hour-long presentation in the evening. moved swiftly. Students were school could take action if proper students were trying to do," Sobol in the dining hall when news charges were filed. said, ·•was to get the president of The head of the student government was angry at this, and he agreed to back us in trying to get back the original program. Some came that 29 student leaders their college to talk to them." The 29 students then received students distributed leaflets on campus inviting everyone to come to had been expelled. They threw notice of the charges against Today the 29 students, who food and plates on the Boor. the one-hour meeting, not to hear us discuss the issues, as we felt them. The most important was sought only academic excel­ we could not have a two-way dialogue in one hour, but to vote on Chaos reigned and the hall was that they had provided the lead­ lence for their school, remain closed. Some 1500 students whether or not to invite us back on Saturday. ership for the revolt that shut out of school and would have That night we walked into a gym packed full of booing, scr eaming, followed The Informers off down the school. A discipline trouble getting into another campus but the little town of jeering students. Tom said he'd never heard such loud booing. Some committee was formed to hear college, as schools grow ever students held picket signs with such slogans as " God is a Marine" Grambling is a "company•·­ the charges. This consisted of more leery of dissenters. Also, more accurately, a plantation and others chanted, " Bring on the napalm, bring on the bombs." the very faculty members the The Informers reveal that 26 When they finally quieted down, we each gave a short summary -town, and they could not find students had criticized. The school of the 29 students have been a place to meet. of our usual talks, and told the students why we weren't giving our presented no evidence for the reclassified 1-A by their draft usual presentation. They applauded after each of our speeches. We Finally, gathering on the prop­ charges, but the expulsion order boards. asked if they wanted us to come back Saturday. They voted by erty of the U.S. Post Office, they was upheld. The repression against the stu­ acclamation a resounding yes-the applause and whistling were cheered as one Informer, Willie Sobol and Kidd went back into dents that began at Grambling astounding. M. Zanders, student government court and won a clarification of and was upheld in Baton Rouge The next day, the student government went back into negotiations president, urged all students to the original restraining order, may well end in Viet Nam in a with the administration and set up classes for us to speak in, and an withdraw from school. holding up the expulsions until a most complete and final way. open ended afternoon discussion.