Box 17, Folder 11, Document 46

Box 17, Folder 11, Document 46

AN OFFICIAL OPINION OF

= WSB

DICK MENDENHALL Editorial Director



“FEBRUARY 28, 1963
“THE BARRICADES DON'T WORK:
TAKE THEM DOWN

Last Friday night, one of the barricades on Harlan Road was
tne target of vandalism. Somebody sawed through it and tossed
part of it into a creek. We deplore this sort of thing. Thosa
barricades, however poisonous and hateful they are, should ke
removed by the very agency which placed them there <= the City
of Atlanta, acting officially and with deliberation -- not by a
bunch of race-baiters, do-gooders, or vandals.

Yesterday, it was learned that more property had been pur-
chased behind what is becoming known as Atlanta's "Little Berlin
Wall" by a Negro real estate man. So it seems, as we pointed
out some weeks ago, the barricades aren'® doing the job they we»
supposed to do.

These barricades, in fact, show the world that Atlanta is
losing its touch in maintaining good race relaticnus. These
barricades are a visible mockery of some nica wowd2 once prints?
about our city in Time, of all Magazines, that Alblanca is a
"city steeped in its traditions but not mired down joy them." ‘These
barricades are causing the forces of understanding cid common
sense to split ranks and scatter, allied against <Acn cther.
Ironically, it scems, these barricades are opening inc flood-
gates for promaganda, hate, and hallucination unkne« to the
Atlanta spirit.

And just what is the Atlanta "spirit?" Ivan Allen, Canior =
father of our present Mayor -=— once published a bookiet 2n which
he said the Atlanta spirit was a combination of "altituds #24
attitude," a combination equaling greatness. With 8 decgrapnical
location 1,050 feet above sea-level, making for good health, and
a political and sociological location between extrames, ~alting
for common sense, the elder Mr. Allen believed this At?

"spirit" was the key to future progress.

CAdgaita

Thanks to the vision of the senior Mr. Allen, and tc scthers --
not the least of whom has been his own son, Mayor Ivan AlLieu -»
Atlanta has indeed enjoyed progress and greatness.

But now that's all threatened. Progress has come to a
standstill at Peyton and Harlan Roads. The barricades are up,
but they're not doing the job. They can't. It's time for the
Board of Aldermen to take them down. This must not be left up
to vandals and wildmen. It's the Aldermanic Board's job. These
barricades have given Atlanta a black eye, and they must be
eliminated before the whole face of Atlanta is ruined. Take
the barricades down -=- and make it official.

White
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