Box 19, Folder 2, Document 22

Box 19, Folder 2, Document 22

MISSISSIPPI|
NOTEBOOK

_~* By TOM ETHRIDGE





Behind The Headlines, Off The Cuff

LOVE’S LABOR LOST? — A
“liberal” Atlanta editor report-
edly was guest speaker, on the
subject of Race~ Relations, at
the recent Biloxi convention of
the Mississippi Association of
Chamber of Commerce Execu-
tives. .

Presumably, these state exec-
utives wanted some practical
ideas on how to maintain cor-
dial race relations.

We don’t know what the At-
lanta editor said at Biloxi but
we did read that front - page
story Wednesday from the As-
sociated Press in Atlanta under
the big headline:

TEAR GAS SUBDUES
ATLANTA RACE RIOT

First paragraph of this AP
report said “Tear gas scatter-
ed an angry crowd of about 500
Negroes”. Looks like our State
Chamber bigshots went to a
goat’s house looking for wool”
when they invited an Atlanta
journalist to give them some hot
tips in re friendly race relations.

SAD BUT TRUE, no one per-
son or group — not even Atlan-
ta’s all-wise Mastermind of
Journalism — has a guaranteed
formula for racial harmony in
today’s troubled world. .

‘It is obvious that Atlanta has
major problems in this. phase,
but ‘that hasn’t kept the North-
ern-owned Atlanta press from
pointing the finger of scorn and
ridicule at Mississippi.

Perhaps it’s coincidence but
since the Atlanta editor was in-
vited to Mississippi as a guest
problem-solver, his Atlanta pa-
per has front-paged a series of
special articles putting Missis-
sippi in a very unfavorable
light. . .

WE ARE DEPICTED as back-
ward, bigoted, c¢ a , oppressive,
un-Christian. . name it and
we've been called it by the
Northern-owned Atlanta news-
paper.

A recent page-one Atlanta
feature has even, accused Mis-
or of deliberately starving

d underprivi-

esr figures showing that
sot one in every five Mie

bme en te ae tough

the ‘welfare: program.

This ‘“‘starvation” charge, like
others aired in Atlanta papers
lately, has been made on the
basis of unsupported testimony
hy paid workers for The Bene
lution. Feature stuff praisi
state's NAACP talent has ean

printed over there in Georgia’s
capital city. , .





ASIDE FROM the “race riot”
there this week, Atlanta has
been experiencing other severe
tensions and is becoming a
Crime Center of Dixie. Murder,
rape, robbery and assault are
increasingly common.

Often called “The New York
ef the South,” Atlanta is getting
to be about as unsafe as Goth-
am, largely because of an -over-
dose of “rights,”’ without proper
restraint, enjoyed by LBJ’s
Chosen People. i

There are many sharp thorns
among the roses of progress; but
the seamy side of Atlanta’s
growth has never been - publi-
cized. Before undertaking to con-
demn Mississippi for lacking
“racial peace,” our Georgia
contemporaries need to improve

their own local sano it
would appear.
THE ATLANTA PRESS, a

mouthpiece for the Great So-
ciety and Omnipotent Federal-
ism, has been especially severe
in criticizing Mississippi’s ¢on-
servative newspapers which
faithfully publicize and support
Chamber programs, ~

Home folks may silouier™ why
State Chamber Executives have
gone far afield to honor an edi-
tor and newspaper so markedly
hostile to Mississippi's establish-
ed order.