Evening star., 1962-04-25
FAMILIES
Negro Groups Warn
j: Against Free Trips

everything in its power to
block integration in schools, on
streetcars, buses and the public
library. 1t is inconceivab.e to
think their plans to send Ne
groes north are motivated by
good intentions.
Apparently the leagues
warning had effect because its
office was beSeiged with tele-
phone calls all day yesterday
from men who said they had
intended to accept the free
ride north. but had changed
their minds after hearing the
leagues advice.
Find Some Humor
Some Negroes found some
humor in the situation.
Nathan King, public relations
agent for a wholesale liquor
house, said: II know q lot of
people who would be glad to
go north. but they want to go
first class by plane to Detroit
about August 90. This is when
the ElkS Grand Lodge meets
and they wouldn't mind paying
their own way back either"
Cecil Carter, director Of ac-
counting for the Good Citizens
Life Insurance Co., said,
Negroes would rather stay
here in New Orleans and battle
it out. They are among friends
and the weather here Is not like
it is in Washington, Chicago,
Detroit and New York. They
don't have to leave here to
get relief"
A. P. Tureaud, prominent
civil rights attorney, termed
the council offer "trickery and
fraud"
"It is q cruel hoax to play
upon unSuspecting people," he
said. 1T could boomerang be-
cause mass migration would
deplete the South Of its labor
supply. But I don't think any,
thing will come Of it."
P. B. Perkins, a retired Negro
customs inspector, said he re-
ceived a letter several days
ago from the Citizens Council |
asking for a contribution to
support the transportation
plan.
"They are just using this
gimmick to raise money" he
said. THE people they really
want to move aren't going to
go away"
Mr.. Singelm a nm, spokes-
man for the Citizens Coun-
Gil. wrote the NAACP and
the Urban League asking them
to assist us in finding Negroes
who desire to move to Northern
areas so we may assist them
by providing transportation to
these cities"
Clarence Laws, regional Sec
retary for the NAACP, de-
scribed the Citizens Council
program as q "cruel hoax"
Tragic Mistake
Mr.. Laws said it would be
a tragic mistake for Negroes
to assume that they can go to
Washington or any Northern
city on a one-way ticket furn-
ished by segregationists and
obtain the same success which
apparently was enjoyed by the
Louis Boyd family Of New Or
leans. now living in New York.
He said he feared some
people who are destitute might
seize upon" the councils plan.
He called the plan a scheme to
draw attention from some of
the inequalities that Negroes
are suffering in the South"
For any group to start a
mass exodus from one section
of the country to another on
the strength of a heartless
prank could only create new
and more perplexing problems, ~
Mr.. Laws said. ANY Negro
who becomes party to the
segregationists' insulting scheme
must surely be desperate and
those who revel in the mis-
fortune and misery Of other
human beings must be terribly
confused and disarranged."
In his reply to the Citizens
Councils letter, Mr.. Laws said
that running away" won't
solve the racial problem. He
told Mr.. Singelmann that the
NAACP will continue to urge
Negroes to remain in the South
and work to make life better
for all its citizens.