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Mayor Allen Must Not Have Read The Bill
The kindest thing that could be said
for Mayor Ivan Allen regarding his now
famous support of the President’s civil
rights bill before a congressional com-
mittee is that he had not read the bill,
as his speech clearly indicated.
It was publicly announced that the
mayor had been invited to testify on the
_bill itself, but instead he made a politi-
cal-type address and in the course of his
oratory actually endorsed federal legis-
lation which aid fcc ent privately
owned businesses to operate as the At-
torney-General of the United St
_fit. We are sure that businessman Ivan
“Allen would not want the thriving com com-
pany of the same name operated at the
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whim of any U._S. Attorney-General,
METROPOLITAN HERALD
Looking Ahead
Atlanta rung up another “‘first’”’ last week when
but that, in effect, is what-he supported,— the Mayor appeared before the Congressional Com-
Meanwhile, here at home Negro dem-
onstrators in seeking to take over a pri-
vately owned business also assumed the
right to take over the public streets and
sidewalks at a busy intersection in
downtown Atlanta. Traffic was blocked
and general confusion was the order as
the demonstrators stretched out in the
streets halting passing mo: motorists. There
patient a being unable to continue
along the downtown streets. Could this
be part payment by the demonstrators
for Mr. Allen’s support of the civil]
rights bill? Only time will tell.
oO DD ok a ee.
or ee
mittee which is holding hearings on the President’s
Civil Rights bill.
The solid rank of opposition of Southern senti-
ment against the bill was ‘bent’ not broken, when
Mayor Allen went on record as favoring the bill.
His surprising action shocked the community
into a rash of speculation as to just what his politi-
cal career can possibly gain from his stand.
There are those who claim he is looking forward
to a stab at the Congressional Seat when and if
Fulton County becomes a separate district and Rep-
resentatives are again elected to go to Washington.
There are others who staunchly declare that his
well-known ambition to become Georgia’s Governor ~
was the motivating reason for his stand.
The first reason seems most logical. With the
ever-growing Negro registration in Fulton County
it is more reasonable to think that his ambition
points towards the Congressional seat rather than
the Governor’s chair.
True there is a tremendous Negro registration
in Fulton County, but if what we hear is indicative
of local reaction, we might just have another ‘bloc’
white vote should this come about. Just what aroused
white voters can do when they decide they hae hs
enough was clearly demonstrated in Macon a few
weeks ago when B. F. Merrit was swept into office
over another prominent business man who had the
endorsement of the Macon branch of the NAACP
and the Macon daily paner.
Once before this combination resulted in the
election of lame duck Mayor Ed Wilson, an unsuc-
cessful candidate for Lt. Governor last year and
when Mr. Wilson emerged a winner the news was
broadcast to the four winds by not only local Macon
sources but also by Atlanta newspapers.
The curious quiet on the local scene about the
recent Macon election seems to prove that it was not
only unexpected in the do-gooder ranks but most
disappointing.
Therefore, while Mr. Allen’s reason for taking
his surprising stand on the Civil Rights bill might
point to his_ambition to run for Congress from an
Atlanta district and MIGHT BE SMART, HE TOOK
a BIG CALCULATED RISK IN VIEW OF THE
APPARENT CHANGING WHITE FEELING Oo
THE SUBJECT.
\. We believe Mr. Allen is smart enough to realize
just what he has stepped into in his political career.
Frankly, if his ambition points to a shot at the
Governor’s chair, that would point stronger to the
risk being much greater. Reallv. we. inst as mast
WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1963
figure just what was the motivating reason, unless
it was simply a shot in the dark or his biggest mis-
e so far. eo
Meanwhile, rumors going around have it that
Martin Luther King is in trouble with his co-horts
in the racial demonstration field. It is being said
that the older, more stable Negro organizations are
dissatisfied with King’s continued agitation and the
violence it is producing, and are using his rumored
Communistic connections to ease him out.
Mednwhile, although Atlanta heard first of
King’s connection with Q’Dell several weeks ago
through the columns of the Herald, Alabama papers
as well as the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the
St. Louis Globe-Democrat have been spreading this
news for months, in fact since last December, so it
took very little digging on the part of local reporters
to come up with this ‘stale’ story.
Yes, it looks as if the worm is turning and that
we'll probably have much more quiet on the racial
front as white people begin to let it soak in how they
have been taken to the cleaners by the minority
groups and the do-gooders, in recent months. —
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