St. Paul recorder., 1963-05-30
Birmingham Affects
Northern Cries
CONTINUED from Page u


planned, too. In San Francisco,
CORES Mr.. Ussery says he cur
rently is documenting examples of
job discrimination against Negroes
in public utilities, trucking, and
other industries. Within a month,
he says, he'll ask Mayor George
Christopher to call a meeting with
white business leaders to draft a
Birmingham style pact opening
more job opportunities in these in
dustries to Negroes.
Housing is another focus Of Ne
gro complaints. In Boston, the local
NAACP is pressing the city to
drop its neutral and ineffective
policy of non-discrimination" in
public housing and switch to a
positive effort to advance demo-
cratic living by promoting racial
integration throughout all its pro-
jects." 1t wants the city to stop
letting applicants for public hous-
ing specify the project in which
they want to live. AS a result of
this policy, it says, three Of Is
housing projects contain no Ne
groes and five others have a total
Of SO Negro families among them.
I'VE filed a formal complaint
with the Massachusetts Commits
sion Against Discrimination and
we have been negotiating since
last June" says Kenneth I. Gus
colt, president Of the Boston NAA-
CP. I'VE are getting sick and tired
Of negotiating without getting any
where. Time is rapidly running
out; we will have demonstrations
If we don't get results pretty
quick"
In housing, too, however, quieter
methods also are being pushed.
In Philadelphia, a group of Negro
clergymen are organizing "selec-
tive housing" compaign to place
high-income, well-educated Negro
families in al-white suburban
neighborhoods. The plan is to sell
ect carefully screened Negroes and
buy homes for them with no fuss,
placing no more than one Negro
family in every three blocks of
suburban neighborhoods to mini
mize apprehensions among white
dwellers. The organizers say they
have lined up sources for mort
gage money outside conventional
channels, but they won't say
where.
In some Of these campaigns, in
tegration leaders say, they're get
ting considerable support from
whites. Frances Levenson, director
Of the New York-headquartered
National Committee Against Dis
elimination in Housing, says her
organization has counted some 300
fair housing committees" formed
recently by liberal white subur-
banites with feeling Of guilt" to
arrange sales Of homes to Negroes.
In the past year, Miss Levenson
says, such committees have been
responsible for the sale Of Negroes
of at least 200 New York-area
houses in what had been all-white
neighborhoods. AS a result Of
Birmingham, she says, II think |
you'll get a faster development Of
these local, grass-roots commit
tees"
Other integration leaders say
they've already noticed a surge Of
new white support since the Birm-
ingham crisis. We've received
some calls from white people who
are interested in doing what they
can to aid the situation" says
Ofield Dukes, an official Of the
Michigan Chronicle, Detroit's larg-
est Negro newspaper.
In Cleveland, Harold B. Will
liams, Negro head Of the local
NAACP, Is interrupted in dis
cussing local race relations with a
by Harold Quigley, white
head Of Cleveland'S Ethical Cul-
ture movement, who pokes his
head in the door to inquire: "Can
we borrow some signs and get
some real good men to picket the
capital building in Columbus on
May % to get that state fair
housing law out Of committee
Certainly not all Northern whites
look with favor on the Negroes
& growing aggreSSiVeness. And
among some Negroes, Birming-
ham-fueled bitterness over what
they regard as unequal treatment
is growing.
In New York's Harlem a white |
watches a loudspealer car call
Negroes to a mass rally to protest |
Birmingham segregation; a we'll
dressed Negro accosts him and
shouts in his face: you got to
give US our rights. We're gonna
get our rights some day, and II
you don't give 'em to US, wen
get 'em somewhere else. II we
don't get 'em here, we'll turn to
the arms Of Khrushchev." Mr.. Rob