Box 18, Folder 29, Document 27

Box 18, Folder 29, Document 27

. Che Ballas Morniug Revs

'” Phe News, oldest business institution in Texas, was established in 1842



: sents A, Lubben
‘Executive Vice-President

William C, Smellage
Secretary

H. Ben Decherd Jr.
Chairman, Executive Committee

Jack B. Krueger Dick West
Managing Editor

rh while Texas was @ Republic

E. M. le Dealey
James M. Moroney, Sr.
Chai! rman of the Board
Joseph MM: M.. rap ealey

Sprnes MM Monmney, Ze

Editorial Editor

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1966





The Trials

i. UNTIL THIS week, the City of At-
4 lanta had maintained a glowing repu-
| tation as one of the hardest-working
communities in the building of inter-
_ racial harmony and progress. Through
' the efforts and cooperation of whites
: and Negroes, it established itself as a
| model of peaceful integration, a model
studied by other Southern communi-
| ties trying to solve their own racial
problems.

_ Then Stokely Carmichael came to
town with his inflammatory sales
pitch for “black power” and his rant-
ings against “the white devils.’ And

_ on Tuesday night, Carmichael’s loud-

_ speaker campaign came’ to fruition

_ with the rioting of a mob. This mob

, attacked the mayor, who tried to rea-

_ son with its members, It attacked the
policemen who tried to restore order.

' But it did more—it attacked the con-

_ ‘cept Atlanta has represented, the con-

_ épt that real compromise and cooper-
ation can achieve a spirit in which all

+ races can work together to build a

| Better city.

| © THIS WAS perhaps the greatest

: damage that the mob did. Now other

_ city fathers may be tempted to shrug

| their shoulders and say: “What’s the

; use? Atlanta has done as much as any

}
4‘
i
iF
|
’
i

; city in the South to make cooperative

integration work, and look what hap-

; pened.”
Dallas citizens in particular may
A discouraged by Atlanta’s experi-
ence, for the two cities are very much
: alike in their populations, in their
economies and in their attempts to
build through interracial cooperation.
.. But before we decide to abandon
the path that Dallas and Atlanta have

of Atlanta

tried to follow, it would serve us well
to look deeper into the events of the
current week. There is more to the
story than the headlined activities of
Carmichael’s SNCC barnstormers or
of the hundreds of young rioters.

We should note that there were
Negro as well as white leaders who
tried, at the risk of their safety, to
quell the violence. There were Negro
as well as white policemen who skill-
fully restored order before the riot
turned into a bloodbath.

And, perhaps most important, the
Negro Atlantans, local civil-rights
leaders and ministers, were the ones
who organized a door-to-door cam-
paign the following day to counter
Carmichael’s efforts to turn the city
into a battleground. —

IN SHORT, in Atlanta, there is a
durable fabric of society, a fabric that
has been woven of both white and
black threads through the years of co-
operation. The efforts of these years
have not been as dramatic or as well-
publicized as the riot, but in the final
analysis they should prove to be more
lasting in their results.

These results of the work of men
of good will will not be destroyed
overnight by men of Carmichael’s
stripe. Rational Atlantans of both
races cannot stand by and see their
community torn asunder, because
those of both races know that they
have a stake in its future.

The Rev. Samuel Williams, presi-
dent of the Atlanta chapter of the
NAACP, summed it up most succinct-
ly when he declared:

“Atlanta is not by far a perfect
city but it is too great to be destroyed
by simpleminded bigotry.”