Jackson advocate., 1963-06-01

nounce publicly that he had no
intention Of honoring any Of
their demands including the ap-
pointment Of a by-racial Com
mittee. However the Mayor lat
er announced that he was NAM
ing an all-Negro group to meet
with him to discuss the City's
race relations problems and in
cluded four Of those named by
the NAACP and the Human
Relations Council.
When it was announced that
the Mayor had named his own
committee the four members
chosen from the NAACP-
Human Relations Council meet
ing Immediately called a meet
ing and announced that they
would not be a part Of a Com
mittee appointed by the Mayor.
These four included E. w.
Banks, General Manager, Peo-
pie Funeral Home; Prof. I. s.
Sanders, former Principal of
Lanier High School; Rev. Leon
Whitney, Pastor, Parish Street
Baptist Church; and Rev. G. R.
Haughton, Pastor Pearl Street
AME Church. After their re-
fusal had been widely publiciz-
ed the four announced their
reconsideration whereupon the
Mayor renewed his request.
The meeting finally got un-
derway at the City Hall Mon
day afternoon with the follow
ing Negro group in attendance,
E. w. Banks, Rev. G. R. Haugh-
ton; Rev. S. L. Whitney; Prof.
l.. S. Sanders; Rev. R. l. T.
Smith; Rev. L. L. Williams;
Rev. G. w. Williams, Rev. F.
L. Barnes, Rev. T. B. Brown,
Rev. Charles Jones, Dean
Campbell College; Rev. C. P.
Payne, Supt. Jackson District
Methodist Church; Mrs. Eliza
beth Moman; Rev. E. A. Mayes,
Prof. James C. Gooden, rertired
Supervisor of Negro Schools;
Joseph F. Albright Former
Special Assistant to the Direc-
tor of the Veterans Administra-
tion in Washington; Attorney
Sidney r. Tharp, and Percy
Greene, Editor and Publisher
Of the Jackson Advocate.
Several of those invited by
the Mayor did not attend the
meeting. They included Rev. L.
H. Newsom; H. L. Denton, Sr.,
Of Denton Funeral Home and
n Willie ]. Miller, Editor and
Publisher of the Mississippi
Enterprise.
The city was represented by
Mayor Thompson, Commission
er Luckey, and Commissioner
Marshall.
The meeting got underway
with the Mayor reading
lengthy statement in which he
categorically rejected the pro-
posals offered by the NAACP
led group. When he had COM
pleted reading, Rev. E. A. Mays,
acting for the NAACP led
group, which did not include
Percy Greene, James Gooden,
Atty. Sidney Tharp, and jose
ph F. Albright, said that the
Mayors statement was such
that it precluded any discussion
of their proposals with him, and
announced that their group
would then and there walk-out
of the meeting. However, per-
suaded by the Mayor they did
not walk out before Rev. Mays
read their eight-point proposal.
The second and successful
walkout attempt came after
Rev. Mayes read the eight-point
proposal and the Mayor declin-
ed to Immediately announce his
acceptance.
The walk-out of the NAACP-
Human Relations Council Group
was followed by speeches by
Percy Greene, James C. Gooden,
Atty. Sydney Tharp, and Edi-
tor Percy Greene, who remained
in the meeting despite the
groups walkout.
In a somewhat lengthy, and
sometimes impassioned speech,
the Editor urged the Mayor and
the Commissioners to take some
action now in removing some
of the areas tension less he con-
tinue to play directly into the
hands of the Communist who
are using the southern racial