Evening star., 1962-01-23
Matters of Fact

The Star of January II
carried a front, page article
by Betty Miles, entitled
"Study Warns Migrants of .
Hardships in D. c." A sub
heading stated: Leader Ur-
geS That Negroes Be Told
City's Lure Often Leads to
Poverty" On January IL a
Star editorial, CDR. johnson
PreScribes," praises the ere
port" as hallengin
thoughtful" and as present.
ing ideas for "the new ap-
proach which the Commits
sioners are seeking" to the
problems of dependency, in
digency and delinquency in
the District.
Subsequent to reading the
article and editorial, I read
the publication by DR.. Phillip
johnson. "A Citizens Task
Force"
I was surprised to discover
the inaccurate and mislead-
ing way IN which the facts
about the publication were
reported by your staff writer.
Two Misrepresentation ap-
pear in the headline Of the
article. First, the publication
by DR.. johnson is not a
Study" but, according to his
own words. it represents per-
sonal expressions" (see fore
word Of publication) and a
treatise" advocating a per-
sonal point of view (see page
II of the report. A second
misrepresentation appears in
the statement that the Lead
er Urges That Negroes Be
Told D.. :"
Nowhere in the publication
do I find that the report is
addressed primarily to Ne
groes. On the contrary, DR..
johnson states in his fore
word to the report" that his
expressions should not "be
thought of as impugning any
racial group" OF course, once
these two important misrep-
resentationS have been eS-
tablished in the readers mind
the accuracy of the content
of the rest of the article no
longer matters.
I must assume your edi-
torial was based on the mis-
conception that Miss Miles
article was essentially accu-
rate. Even a cursory review
Of the johnson publication
would reveal several factors
which make the publication
suspect as either newsworthy
or deserving of The Stars
editorial praise. The "solu-
tions" to social ills proposed
by DR.. Johnson are neither
new" nor thoughtful"
The indiscriminate regi-
mentation Of indigents, as
proposed in DR.. Johnson's
Symbolic Community" is
unworthy Of serious consider
alton in the Nations Capital
or anywhere else in a So
called democratic society.
Even the Elizabethan Poor
Law of 1901 rejected the idea
that indigents should have to
depend upon the arbitrary
discretion of such self
righteous" citizen councils as
suggested by the report.
Unfortunately, irreparable
damage has been caused by
such careless reporting. It is
interesting to note that neith-
er the article nor the editorial
stressed the two more signifi-
cant points Of the rather
sorry report; namely, that the
current social ills" are asSo-
ciated with a tendency in the
past to "pauperize" certain
people; and the fact that 13
States are primarily respon-
sible for the INDECENT migrant
group in D. c.
]. Emory Smith.
Associate Professor, Graduate
School of Social Work,
Howard University.
Editors Note: Miss Miles
story was not a misleading or
inaccurate representation Of
the johnson report. The story
stated that the report was an
expression Of personal views.
While the headline referred
to Negroes. the story did not
state that the report was ad-
dressed primarily to Negroes.
We continue to believe that a
number of the views ex-
pressed by DR.. johnson con-
stituted a worthwhile con-
tribution to the re-analysis
of welfare problems now in
progreSs.)