St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1957-02-01


thoughts" the fiery Negro leader
asserted in a speech which also
attacked President Eisenhower for
not using his high office" to
curb lawlcssness and violence a.
gainst the Negro In the South.
or the situation OF tho white
southerner, wilkins added:
Their ministers are not free to
preach unless their sermons up
hold segregation, Even those who
believe In segregation. but do not
believe In the wild words and the
cowardly crimes OF the extremists,
do not dare to offer a mild dis
sent"
The NAACP officer said the
President can see the plight OF the
Hungarians. he gives the drouth
area his personal attention, but he
Chooses to remain silent while
American citizens are being blud-
geoned out OF their freedoms and
their rights"
wilkins said "our churches have
been bombed. our ministers ar
rested, our boys and girls driven
from school by mobs. our families
uprooted and made 10 flee for
their lives" and no rebuke has
come from any high official.
He added: THE wave OF terror
and intimidation that has swept
sections OF the South in recent
weeks without rebuke from our
president OF from any other re-
sponsible federal or local official
is reproach to our nation and TO
human decency."
Wilkins noted that Georgia's
Gov. Marvin Griffin, In q recent
address TO the legislature. called
for the preservation Of racial seq
regation mo matter what any
court may rule"
BY this declaration, Wilkins
said, Griffin was telling all ir-
responsible elements in Georgia.
and indeed. in the South. that they
need not pay attention TO the
courts. He was giving green
light 10 the hoodlums. The dyna-
miter, the sniper. the poison pen
artists. the cross burner and the
run OF the mill mobster have all
been given absolution In advance
by Gov Griffin and others like
him in high places who speak as
he has spoken.
Referring TO an iron pattern OF
conformity" in the South, the
NAACP official pointed out that
despite all the talk about settling
these matters (segregation) on the
local level. certain states are not
permitting local action"
Georgia was among the first
states 10 pass law cutting off
funds for any school which admits
Negro. even In response 10 a
court order. White people in the
South are finding out that their
bosses at the top, much like the
bosses at the top in Moscow. win
crush any expression OF freedom
at the local and community level"
'The method is adopted by pri-
vate groups operating at the thug
level. and by legislatures operat-
ing at the so-called legal level.
suggest that the leaders are not so
sure that II communities had a
free choice all Of them would defy
the Supreme Court" he continued.
we may yet have a sort Of Hun
garian revolution over this ques-
tons. for Il is uncomfortable that
white southerners viii submit in
definitely 10 the stultifying gags
being stuffed down their throats."
As for southern Negroes. VIII
kins declared: Il do not have to
remind you that the Negro citizen
has also suffered during this dark
time. He has been an easy target
especially since his attackers have
been assured In front that they
win suffer no punishment for their
deeds"
The official cited bombings, ar
rests. mob violence. shotgun
blasts, threats and economic pres
sure directed against Negroes.
But. he said, nothing that has
been done thus far has frightened
any Negroes from their deter
mination to secure their rights"
He pointed to Montgomery. Ala.
as an example OF Negroes who
continued the struggle to attain
citizenship rights after the Ma
ACPwas barred from the state.
1T does little good TO bar the
NAACP" he asserted. The truth
Of the matter Is that this kind Of
action only makes our people more