Bronze Reporter [Volume: 7, Issue: 40]

Circuit Court Rules:

FLINT ~ On March 1, 1961 the}

Hon. John W. Baker rendered
hjs decision in the celebrated
case of J. Merril Spencer. Flint
Memorial Park ~Association. The
Court ruled that Defendant Association could not refuse to
honor the tranfer of title to
Spencer because of his race.
Whether Negroes can be buried
in the cemetary is a question
the Court need not decide, said }
Judge Baker, because the.record

Belafonte Stars
at Miami Benefit

MIAMI, Fla., ~ Harry Belafonte, ~ Sammy -Davis, Jr., an
Floyd Patterson appeared here
last Sunday night in a benefit
for the defense of Father Theodore R. Gibson, president of the
local NAACP chapter. |

Father Gibson faces six months
in jail and a $1,200 fine for refusing to turn over. names of
NAACP members to the Florida.
Committee.

~The case is of strategic importance to the survival of the
civil rights movement in Florida
and the entire southeast,~ said
NAACP Executive Secretary Roy
Wilkins in a ~thank you~~ message
to the noted performers.

The benefit was held at the
Miami Beach auditorium and
5,000 people packed in to see
the famed trio, with an equal
_, Bumber. being turned away.

The Hiami. NAACP _ presented
_Mr,- Belafonte with a plaque in
honor of his <~achievements in)
-the. field of. eivil- rights.~ A
similar award was given re =
branch~ last year fo.Mr, D.

ote eT we

coming heavyweight. bout. with~,

Ingemar Johansson. Mr. Patterson
~contributed ~the tickets.
The affair was promoted by
David Marks, a member of the
sh NAACP chapter.

indicated ~that no bodys was, ever

Dones, A. Glenn Epps, Paul V.

~to-allow George F. Hamann and
Pauline~ M. ~Hamann,. his: wife, |

presented for burial.

Mr. J. Merrill ine -y the
House of Spencer. Mortuary purchased by assignment. ~tile to
lots of section one on the 24th
day of June 1959, and after. defendant refused to honor Spencer~s assignment because he was
a Negro, Spencer~ filed his Bill
of Complaint
for. the County of Genesee on
September 3, 1959 under the De
claratory Judgement Act asking|_

the Court.to deéclare:that he.was
the legal owner of the lots in
controversy and that Defendant
be compelled by mandatory injunction to abide by its rules and
regulations with respect to the
opening of graves and affording

plaintiff all the rights and pri-|

vileges incident to said ownership.

~

The Flint ~Branch, NAACP by: {

its then president Eugene E. Miller filed a motion to intervene_as
amicus curiae for and on behalf
of the Negroes of the City ~of
Flint and attorneys Ollie B.
Bivens Jr., Ma Dean, Kenneth

Gadola Jr. Herman Gibson, Morton Leitson, Leitson, William S.
Price III and Elisha A. Scott, Jr.,
joined in the request which the
Court granted.

On April 10, 1960 the trial of
the cause wa~ had and Atty. John
T. Damm stipulated on. the record
that Defendant~s refusal to honor
Spencer~s assignment was because |:
of race as an act of courtesy to
Atty. C. Fredrick Robinson. who
otherwise would have to take the
witness stand. for Spencer.

Judge Baker reopened the. case

to be: added ~as party~
action. ~

lates ~his next~ move. Neither Mr.
Eugene Miller or Sam Duncan,
President of NAACP was able for
comment as to their reaction as
we go tet press.

Newspaper

Memphis ~Join~ U. S. A.

MEMPHIS, Tenn., ~ To draw
attention to injustices suffered
by Negroes of this area, the Memphis Branch NAACP resorted to
a provocative, half-page advertisement in the Washington~s Birthday issue of a daily newspaper
here.

Addressed. to President John
F. Kennedy and ~loyal American
citizens everywhere,~ the published appeal was both poignant and
satirical. It asserted that Memphis
and surrounding Shelby County
was outside the pale of American
democracy and it called upon
the~ President to consider ~a
modest proposal for the annexation of Memphis~ to the United]:
States because ~we have heard
that America is a country which
believes that her citizens are endowed with certain inalienable
~lpighte). 4 +.

~Tragically, while you call us
to launch out on ~The New
Frontier~. of life, we here in
Memphis are engulfed with unresolved problems of the old
frontier....,~ the Memphis NAACP declared in the purchased
news space.

And it proceeded to cife such
grievances as. segregated juries
and. segregated courtrooms and
_ the denial of use of parks, libra
ries and other public tax-supported facilities..

In the concluding text of the
page-long advertisement the NA
Readies For Sixth
Annual FFF Dinner: Announcement that Damon J.
Keith and Dr. James J. McClen
tions to make a whole. The Jab
Ad Asks

ACP paraphrased the President~s
inaugural address with:

~Mr. President, we ask you
to take action not for what America can do for us but what we,
if given a chance, can do for
America.~

The ad asesasel in the Memphis Commerical Appeal, Feb. 22,
under the names of Jesse Turner,
local NAACP president, and the
Rev. H. C. Nabrit, chairman of
the unit~s freedom committee.

~Television US A~
Jabberwock
Theme

~Television U.S.A.~, the: theme
chosen by the Flint Alumnae
Chapter of Delta Sigma. Theta
Soroity for its fourth Jabberwock,
promises to be a highly entertaining evening.

The Jabberwock _ originated
from one of the characters in
Louis Carroll~s Alice in Wonderland.~ Just as several different
parts of various animals were put
together to make a whole, the
Jabberwock program follows
through with various skits of
several participating organiza
berwock is copyrighted and can
be used onfy by Delta Sigma
Theta Soroity as a program.

Each ~year. Delta chapters
the United Stated

it in the Circuit Court

WASHINGTON ~ President

Kennedy issued an executive or- |...

der Monday night banning bias
in -all USS. hiring.

IN HIS order Mr. Kennedy -

said any discrimination because

of race, creed color or national |~
origin is. contrary to constitu |.

tional~ principles and policies of
the. United States. He added
that in -view of this:

~It is the plain and~ positive.
obligation of the United States
Government~ to ~promote and

insure~ equal opportunity for all | ~

qualified persons, without ~regard to ~race, creed, color

seeking ~employment: with ~the
Federal ~ government
bo ean ontracts

ors of eclal: mine

rities.
Every company~ doing work

for the Govérnment asa con
tractor. or subcontractor in. the

future will have to sign a new,

much more comprehensive

clause against discrimination.

* * %

WHILE THE order contains
ho direct sanctions against unions that discriminate, the committee is empowered to publicize
union. practices at hearings and
take other. steps. to bring pressure against the unions.

Reports to the President must
be submitted by the committee
from time to time on any - discriminatory practices and _ policies of labor | organizations.

THE PRESIDENT, in announcing the program, said imple
~| mentation of the policy against

discrimination had been hampered in the past ~by lack of
personnel, by inadequate - procedures and ineffective enforcements.~

The.most significant.. changes
in the program are probably the
specific powers to investigate
and punish noncomplionce, by
contractors.

IN ADDITION to investigating, the committee or anyone it
designates is authorized to hold
hearings ~public or private.~
Significantly, tne order adds
that such hearings may be ~for
compliance, enforcement or ed
~| ucational purposes.~

A whole section of the order
sets out penalties, none of. which
were mentioned in the Eisenhower orders. Among other
things, the committee may:

@. Publish the names of contractors or unions that it finds
violated its rules.
@ Recommend to the Justice
Department that suits be brought
to enforce the non-discrimination clauses in Contracts.
Terminate..any contract for

a
failure to cdmply with nondiscrim-.

inatory: provisions..

@ Instruct contracting - agencies to refrain from. entering
into further contracts with any
noncomplying firm, pending assurance that there would be
compliance in the future.;

SPECIAL CHURCH
be er ap DRIVE

or
national~ origin, employed orf ors

and ~on| ~

- James Lewis ~of Morgan State Coll
of the National Association of Col

Among the principals at last Sunday~s FREDERICK

was:the group shown here admiring the bust of the noted abolitionist. ~They:
ege, sculptor -of the bust; Dr. Rosa L. Gragg of Detroit, president
lored Women~s. Clubs, sponsors of the: program; Sen. Philip Hart

of Michigan, a speaker; and Dr. Joseph H. Dougla ss of: Washington, great-grandson of Douglass. The
program launched a $100,000 drive by NACWC to restore Douglass~ Washington home and main

tain it as a national shrine.

Fiery Attorney D
At Jud

Sweari

FLINT~Last Monday the Hon. John WwW. Baker, Circuit
Judge, granted Pontiac~s Councilman Milton R. Henry~s:petition to bring up the Municipal Court records for review
as to questions of law and adjourned the habeaus corpus
proceedings until March 20, 1961.io allow the wag s Attorney~s office.time to prepare its case.

Municipal Court Judge Dale C.
Showley sentenced the fiery Coun
-cilman for contempt. of Court the

preeeding Friday, allegedly for
swearing and a contemptuous attitude toward the Court. ~

epresenting the ~Hon: Dale C.
saow y was the veteran Wade
Withey, accompanied by versatile Don.W. Mayfield. Milton
Henry was flanked by Atty, Herman Stallings of Pontiac and
attys. John H. Tuomas and C.
Frederick Robinson of the Genesee Bar. Also in the Henry entourage was Mrs. Doris Johnson
of Pontiac,
bonds lady. Withey and Henry
are not strangers to each other.

The Hon. John Baker had just
explained for the record that
he had released Henry on his own
recognizance from Friday. until
10:00 a.m. Monday because there

-was no court reporter available

at 5:00 p.m. Friday. The brief
hearing~ became explosive as Withey and Henry started to. engage in a sharp exchange of
argument, but Judge Baker firmly separated the lawyers by. order-| J
ing Withey. to aliow ae to

el

33: as i

_journment.

Henry~s__ personal]

i

sF

and began pointing out ~alleged
fiaws in the return, The veteran
Withey sharply broke in demanding.to know ~whether Henry was

arguing the merits of the cause

or~ was there going to be an adJudge. Baker ruled
that Henry could continue. Henry
said that he had received the
record of conviction and warrant
of arrest on file, but no warrant
of! committment as required by
law. That those records set forth
admissions favorable to him and
should be preserved in ~all their
purity~.without: an opportunity

to be tampered with; whereupon}:

Judge Baker ruled that the peti:
tion be filed in the cause. with
opportunity for the city attorney~s
Office to-file any amended papers

~it deemed advisable and adjourn,

ed the cause.

-From. the affidavit of Milton
Henry. and the.geiurn of the City
Attorney~s Office on file it seems
~that: the case of the- People V.
Haywood Beasley~ was ~set for
trial on March 3, 1961 at 9:00
A.M.; that ~the Councilman called
e Showley~s court officer at}. a.m. informing the officer
that he had another matter set

enies

00 to $1,000.00:remanded Beasley
to Jailj and adjourned the hearing until March 17, 1961 and left
his bench.-It-is admitted that
Henry followed the Judge toward
chambers, that the Judge fined
Henry ~after~ stating ~that this
wasn~t Russia~ whereupon Henry
retorted: ~I'll be. damned if Ill
pay one cent of. that so called
fine.~ Henry claimed the Judge
said, ~that'll -be $25.00 more~
whereupon he said,~T'll be damned if I'll pay that either, you are
not on the bench and court is
~notin. session.~ -

Henry claims that he was. unsuccessfully ~trying. to. get the
Judge to listen to arguments of
counsel. Judge Showley contends
that Henry was talking so incherently and contemptuously
that he is not certain of all Henry
did. say.~ ~

Both admit that the Judge returned to the bench before~ passing sentence.

In an. interview with Councilman Henry, he stressed that his
fight was a fight of principle,
and placing his arms around Atty.
John H. Thomas he thanked him
for what he attempted to do,
but stated that if he had
allowed Atty. Thomas to purge
him. of comptempt or pay his.fine,
he~ would have been abanfoning

~adhneye Tfoscondeam! eogie

to jail without: an opportunity o:

ice tisk hesed wae bale aod
~conscience he could not do. ~This
is not Russia,~ Henry said. ~This
is America:where every one has

r

at least the right to be heard. soa |
kahit which I stand

Counsel For CEEO

~WASHINGTON ~ Hobart Tay
lor; Jr., of 675 W. Boston~ was
picked Monday as the first fulltime official of the ~President~s.
Committee on Equal ~Employment Opportunity.
Taylor. will be. special. counsel
for the. committee, which works
to halt racial discrimination in
Government agencies and in. private companies doing eae
with the Geverament..,

ATTY HOBART TAYLOR, ox.
PRESIDENT Kennedy issued

tablisning the committee and
giving it proad new powers. Vice
rresident~ Lyndon Johnson will
be chairman and Labor ~ Secretary Arthur Goldberg will be vice
cnairman,~

Vaylor a Johrison supporter before last summer's Deméocratic
Corivention, is chief of the Civil
Division of the Mayne - County
Prosecutor's office..

As special counsel, Taylor will
be the top lawyer on the Equal
Opportunity Committee. He will
have delicate ~legal Problems to
solve.

Sterling Tucker, director df the

Washington Urban League, arid
Clarence Mitchell, NAACP director, both expressed pleasure and
satisfaction at Taylor~s appointment.
TAYLOR, 40, joined the Prosecutor~s office i in 1949. Two years
later he was appointed head of
the Civil Division..

A graduate of Howard University, Washington, D.C., he received his law degree at the
University of Michigan.

~They're nice people down
there, but I have absolutely nothing at all to say,~ = said.

Youth. Official

NEW YORK~The solley of the
Muslims,. whose activities center
in this city~s Harlem area, is
nothing more. than. ~bigger and
better segregation,~. Herbert
Wright, NAACP youth secretary,
said here in a debate at the City
College of New York.

He argued the point with Malcolm X, the local Mislim leader,

Debates ~Muslim.

an executive order Monday ~s- _

~,