The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1963-09-20

answer must be that he knew as much
when he entered Ole Miss as when
he left. In Hoods case there was not
time to find out.
In personal terms the two young
men were themselves continually
torn. They were at odds with them
selves, at once heroes and villains.
They wanted to be left alone to study
and yet, by the very circumstances
of their admission, could never have
a moment to themselves.
In a way James Meredith and
Jimmy Hood did what the Budd-
| hists in South Wet Nam are doing;
they inundated themselves figura-
lively in order to point up griev-
ances that have afflicted their peo-
pie for 800 years, the last 100
supposedly freed from slavery.
Their one clear achievement has
been to force the white community
out of it's complacency and to end
self-satisfied talk about chow much
progress the Negro has made in re-
cent years.
The trials of Jimmy Hood and
James Meredith loom large against
the background of the long-heralded
March on Washington. Again many
people are genuinely worried. They
wonder what can come of taking
grievances out into the streets, rather
than into the courthouse.
These are legitimate concerns of
decent Americans who are genuinely
troubled by the Negroes plight. What
good, they want to know, can
sMarch" do? There have been other
marches in our history. Some have
accomplished almost nothing, others
have produced important after-ef-
fects. In her book 'Thaddeus Stevens,
Scourge of the South" Fawn M.
Brodie described and explained the
marches after the Civil War. She
wrote:
"When a slave was told that he
was free, whether by Union soldier,
by his master, or by the clandestine
whisperings of his own people, he
usually tested the truth of the matter
in direct and simple fashion-he
began to walk. The mass movement
of Negroes in 1865, in the words of
one Union officer was like the on
coming of Cities
TRAILING in the wake of single
Union army in the east, there were
at one time 5000 ex-slaves. They
were detailed from us and sent off,
said Gen. o. o. Howard. 1T took
three or four hours for them to pass
my quarters and they made a great
on me. There were great
many old people and women and chill
dren. They were bound for freedom"
The same disbelief, / think, is
what compels the Negro to march
again, whether it is in Birmingham,
Cambridge or Washington, d. c.
He has been told that he has good
friends in high places. But he wants
to test the truth of the matter.
To ardent segregationists it may
seem incomprehensible that Negroes
IAN even question the good inten-
ions of the Kennedys, or the Demo
,ratic-ruled Congress. But among the
Negroes over the years+and espec-
ally their leaders-expe has
,red skepticism.
Much as they admire the President
md his brother, they are aware that
both have worked closely in the past
With deep-dyed Dixiecrats, that the
Attorney General tried to get the
demonstration called
,ff, that both have urged course
If executive action rather than
and that in the last analy-
us, both are politicians, with ten
lency to compromise.
The Negro leadership, especially
he Rev. Martin Luther King and A.
Philip Randolph, have closely studied
he experiences of India and Kenya
nd, of course, the history of the
american Revolution. In each in
nance there came a point when the
.ood intentions of the ruling class
i'd not suffice, when more dramatic
tops were necessary to impress them
nth the urgency of the freedom
lighters cause.
Sometimes these denominations
become untidy. That could happen
again. 1t would be regrettable, but