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,, ' -~t· The Week in Perspective OPINION Obituaries, Weather B WASHINGTON, D. C., SEPTEMBER 11, 1966 Dead End Awaits the Black Power Road EDITORIAL The arrest of Stokely Carmichael gation of last month's trouble in the Anacostia a rea is a case in point. That affair, involving a clash between Negroes and police, has been under study by a group of prominent citizens appointed by Commissioner Tobriner. Its co-chairman is Sterling Tucker, a respect ed Negro leader. The study group has reached no conclusions. In fact, it is just beginning the job of drafting its report . Yet Adam Clayton Powell, whose posit ion in Congress entitles one to expect something better from him, has charged into print with the accusation that the investigation is a "whitewash " and that the committee has too many "mild-mannered Negroes." Following this lead, Julius Hobson, who heads the group known as ACT, paid his respects to "pasteurized Negroes" on the committee who, he said, would sell oth er Negroes short "for a and two of his SNCC lieutenants on charges of inciting last week's riot in Altlanta may mark a turning point in what appears to be a struggle for supremacy beitween the moderate and the extremist elements in the civil rights movement . The importance of the decision by Atlant a's Mayor Allen, who has taken a strong lead in behalf of Negro rights, -lies in one simple fact. Public officials, assuming that the requisite proof is in hand, must be willing to prosecute a Carmichael or anyone else where a serious offense is involved. If for a political reason or some other reason they will not take firm action against a leader, how can they expect those in the lciwer echelons to respect and obey the law? And, of at least equal importance, wh y should anyone suppose t ha;t--the moderate civil rights leaders will speak out and act against violence 1! the civil authoribies are unwilling to do so? This is a testing year, a year in which events may d-et ermine whether good sense or "black power" in its ex~ treme manifestations will carry the day. It will be t ragic 1!, because of weak knees in oity hall, it should be made to appear that the rock-thrower and the Molotov cocktail are the wave of the fut ure. There is risk of oversimplification in discussing the moderate as opposed to the extremist wings. There is good reason to believe that a very large majority of Negroes do not support and are even opposed to the extremist tactics. This does not necessarily mean, however, that all moderates will condemn t he extremists out of hand. Some of them may even derive a certadn vicar1- .. ous saJtisfaction from the excesses of a Carmichael or an Adam Clayton Powell, [ even though t hey know in their hearts that an appeal to black power, for ex' ample, can eventually lead only t o a 1 dead-end street as far as any perma- I 1 few pieces of silver. " To -the ext ent that 'Trouble I got, man-what I want is progress!' nent advancement of civil rights is concerned. In this connection, it is interesting to note t he results of a recent survey conducted by a respeoted polling agency in Watts, Harlem, Chicago a nd Baltimore. The questions were asked by trained Negro pollsters. And the responses revealed that most Negroes, even in the ghettos, want pretty much the same things that most white people want . They want better housing. Not surprisingly, since they are the principal victims, they are worried about crime, and th ey are more interested in adequa,te police protection than in talk about police brwtaJity. They want their children to have a sound, disciplined education. In Harlem only 2 percent of t hose interviewed said that school integration was t heir greatest problem. The real educational problem, in the majority opinion, is the pressing need for better neigh borhood schools. Again, a cautionary note is in order. It does not necessavily follow from the survey findings that most of the people in the ghettos are against violence 1:n pursuit of their reasonable objectives. In Watts, for example, 48.4 percent ot those interviewed think the rioting there helped their chances for equali~ in jobs, schools and housing. Only 23,Q percent believe the rioting was harmful d The obvious in eren e tro{n h1 1 that the demagogue, t-he racist-in-reverse, will find his best opportunity tn the ghettos and that this ls why he makes his major pitch there. It hould be borne 1n mind, however, that the ghetto is not synonymou With the N gro commi1111ty tn the United s anyone fn Washington takes Powell and Hobson seriously, this sort of demagogic prejudgment is as harmful as it is outrageous. And it should not be allowed to go unchallenged. Althoug·h not aimed specifically at the Powell-Hobson combination, the executive board of the District chapter of the NAACP h as just approved a resolution which is a reflection of responsible thinkihg by moderate leadership. The resolution, offered by H. Carl Moultrie, president of the local branch, said that t he NAACP "must condemn with equal Vigor the gath ering Of crowds to protest the arrest of an individual, or individuals, as it does any form of police brutality." If witnesses think the police are guilty of brutaJity in making an arrest, the resolution continued, ~here are appropriate avenues, including the NAACP, through which corrective action can be sought. But "violen ce on t h e part of a person, or persons, or gr oups of persons, must be unequivocally condemned." The resolution ended with an expression of· hope that "all other organizations do the same as we in calling· for law and order." . _so far the call from other organizations has been considerably less than deafening. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, however, has just denounced "black power" in any context of violence. As the struggle within the civil rights movement shapes up, and if public authorities follow Atlanta's example in cracking down on violence and incitement to violence, the country should hear before long from other mod- erate voices. F �