NEGRO STRUGGLE BEGINS TO PICK UP AGAIN
By Evelyn Sell
The civil-rights struggle in the United States is gétting back to where it was, after the initial uncertainty following the Kennedy assassin- ' + ation, <At_the national conference of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee [SNCC]°in Washington the week end of November 29, not one student leader called for a moratorium on demonstrations. SNCC is not a general membership group but a leadership organization that provides trained and '. dedicated young people for civil-rights activities throughout the country, particularly in the South, It is the most militant of the nationally . recognized civil-rights groups, However, even the older, more conservative organizations have ennounced continuing demonstrations,
Roy Wilkins, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. [NAACP], was asked by reporters whether the civil~rights / groups. would call off their demonstrations in view of President Johnson's appeal for an end to all hate and violence, Wilkins responded tartly: "“T wouldn't equate civil-rights demonstrations with hate and violence, Until the Congress of the United States gives some evidence that it is~. . aware of this problem and gets away from its politics-as-usuel approach and from attempts to postpone this thing into the year 1975, I see no prospect that Negroes will restrain themselves from expressing themselves in whatever way is open to them,"
Martin Luther King, Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference [SCLC], announced, after a fifty-minute meeting with Johnson, "I made it clear to the President that demonstrations stand asa basic thrust of our movement and we will have demonstrations until the injustices that have caused them are eliminated." New York Rent Strike
One of the more interesting struggles dlready taking place is the rent strike in New York City's Harlem, the largest Negro ghetto in the U.S. Families in sixteen tenement apartment buildings started the action in protest against lack of heat and hot water. [In the winter Néw York can have bitter weather,] Many of the families are also complaining about rats. [Landlords are legally responsible to take preventive measures against vermin. |
_ Now other families have joined the pioneer group so that the strike at present involves fifty buildings housing some 3,700 persons. :
In a rent strike like this the tenants withhold payments until the ‘landlord takes remedial measures in the buildings. The rent money is “usually set aside in a special fund. When the demands are met, the tenants then use the special fund to pay the back rents.
Another method used to force landlords to repair run-down buildings is to appeal to the City Rent and Rehabilitation Administration, ‘This body has power to take tenements over, rehabilitate them and then return them to the landlord, charging him for the repairs. It can also order
rents to be reduced for tenants who are forced to live under inhuman, ~ degrading conditions. :
Strike leaders outlined the following tactics: (1) Urge courts to refuse to grant evictions of tenants from buildings where the. landlord refuses to comply with health and safety standards, (2) Stage demonstra~ | tions in court rooms with rubber rats tied around the necks of participants, ' (3) Picket the City Department of Buildings, demanding complete cellar-tow,. — roof. inspections of buildings. a
The strike is being organized through the Community Council on Housing. A similar strike, organized by the Congress of Racial Equality [core], ABs, taking place in Brooklyn, one of New York's five boroughs. ... Asked for My prayers"
“The struggle for equality goes on == and so does the struggle for the Negro vote, President Johnson is continuing | to woo the Negro vote he will . need so desperately this coming November if, as is. expected, he runs as. the Democratic candidate for the presidency. Within a few days after. being : sworn into office, Johnson called a number of national Negro leaders on” the telephone,:
Whitney Young, head of the National Urban League Cyun], reported about the telephone call he received from Johnson:. "He called to say he needed support and guidance and asked for my prayers, "
Within his first two weeks in office, Johnson had relatively lengthy a private meetings with Young, Wilkins, King and James Farmer, head of the ~
In his first official speech, Johnson urged the immediate passage of... the civilerights bill pending in Congress and it is reported that he has . personally intervened with congressmen to get the bill acted on béfore ‘the end of 1963, However, it is still tied up in legislative red tape, being held at the moment by the House Rules Committee: headed by Southerner Howard, W. Smith (Democrat, Virginia), a long-time enemy of civil-rights legisla-.. tion. Representative Smith stalled immediate action by promising to nodd "hearings" on the bill "in January." Threaten No Delivery
All of this political maneuvering is being closely watched by the Negro community; and their spokesmen warn the politicians time and again that they must deliver civil-rights legislation or the Negro will not deliver the vote on election day. :
The NAACP s traditional policy on voting has been to merely List ‘the. voting records of legislators and then leave it up to each voter to decide. whom to support, On November 2 Roy Wilkins announced a change. From now — on the NAACP will actively work for the defeat of congressmen refusing to . support civil-rights bills. "Next November, we're going to say this cone. gressman voted against the civil-rights bill and we urge you to defeat him. "
Such departures from traditional policies indicate the tremendous and. unrelenting pressure of the Negro masses on all organizations and. institutions -~ white and black. .
THE LAW OF VALUE IN