St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1959-10-30

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reporters at a news conference
that State Senator William NJ.
Rainach, leader of the White
Citizens Councils in Louisiana and
a candidate for governor, was be-
hind the anti-NAACP injunction
issued by a state court at Shreve-
port on Oct. 8.
Campaigning on an about seq
regation platform, Senator Rain
ach. the NAACP leader said, lis
seeking to purge Negroes from
voters lists throughout the state
because he knows he cannot carry
these voters in his race for the
governorship." More she
charged, the state senator believes
that his role in instigating the
Injunction will enhance his can
didacy among white voters" This
view, she said, has been repeated
ly expressed in Louisiana news
papers.
Robert L. Carter, NAACP gen.
eral counsel, announced that the
Association will seek to have the
injunction dissolved at a hearing
scheduled for Nov. in the district
court at Shreveport
Registration Drive On
The NAACP in Louisiana, as
elsewhere in the South, has spear
headed a drive to increase the
number of registered Negro voters
and has resisted efforts to purge
the lists. The Association is en-
gagged in a campaign to secure a
registration of 100000 Negro
voters in the South by November,
1860.
The injunction was ordered on
the eve of the 18th annual NAA-
CP conference in Louisiana, slated
for Shreveport last weekend, Oct.
10-11. Action came so quickly that
many NAACP delegates could not
be notified. John A. Morsell, as
sistant to the NAACP executive
secretary, was scheduled to deliver
the keynote address.
However, the meeting was not
held. The NAACP is a peaceful
and lawful organization which re-
sorts to the courts of the land when
the constitutional rights of Ne
groes are in jeopardy" Mrs. Com
bre said. I'VE have and shall con-
tinue to comply with the injunc-
ton"
This was the second time within
three years that state action has
been invoked to suppress the As
ISOLATION in Louisiana. On March
%, 1856, an injunction was issued
restraining NAACP activity in the
state on the ground that the or
ganiZation had failed to file a list
Of its members and contributors
with the secretary Of state in &C
cordance with provisions Of a 1924
statute enacted to curb the Ku
Klux Kan.
Louisiana Court Lifts Ban
On November 20, 1856, the
Louisiana Court Of Appeals ruled
that the lower court injunction was
null and void and should never
have been issued. The ruling was
on the technical point that since
the NAACP had filed a motion in
the Federal court prior to action
by the state court, the latter bench
had no right to hear the case or
issue an injunction until the Fed
eral court acted.
Following this ruling, NAACP
activity was resumed in certain
cities in the state during 1857. Be-
fore the original injunction was
handed down in 1856 there were
IS local branches with a member
ship of 1880. There are now II
branches with a total Of 1000
members in the state.
The present injunction was is
sued on the basis of the 1924 anti
Khan statute and on a new law
passed in 1858 requiring all state
groups affiliated with national
organizations to file affidavits
that no member of the governing
body of the parent organization
is a member of any organization
listedas subversive by the House
Un-American Activities Commit
tee. The NAACP last year filed
suit in the United States District
Court seeking a declaratory judg-
ment that the statute is unconsti-
tutional and an order enjoining
state officials from enforcing it.