ustxtxb_obs_1961_06_10_50_00003-00000_000.pdf

1114,4111111111411411111111011111111 EMI Good Music Good Times Good Beer & Setups at the BOX Soloists John Burke and Clyde Hager Also STEREO Presenting Classical & Show Music and Folk Songs 2305 S. Shepherd Houston Grady Price, John Burke, Owners 01111011/114111100.0.06810111100011/111 A FINAL LETTER with the Lord. He accepted that as being God’s will for him. He knew that with God’s help he could go through with it, and he was . . . of course, you saw how calm he was. “You get close to ’em, someway or another. Twelve months, seeing him once a week, talking about the case and doing things for him that you can do . . . “After I talk to so many of these, and after I hear so many stories, I don’t believe all of them are lies. And a lot of these fellaswell, take him for example he wasn’t criminally inclined. But he held to that story to the last, that he was not guilty.” Arriving in Austin four hours later that morning this letter was found, printed in ink carefully, with curlicues, postmarked Huntsville, June 1, 5 p.m., 1961: ” P. O. Box 32 “Huntsville, Tex. “Mr. Ronnie Dugger, “I received those two newspapers which was telling me about my case, the writer was real nice only if you could seperate the Lies from the truth, some peoples may think my story is all a Lie, but its not I am right, but those peoples is wrong and they know they are that is why they say I am Lying, Dent did not tell me anything to say, I am the one that told him how my case went down, I understand they said I would have did anything they told me to do, well that is a Lie because they try to make me say I was guilty, but did I? No I didn’t, I told those ‘lawyers’ before I went to court that those peoples had beat me. I can’t understand those peoples Lie to get a man killed. I want everyone to know I am not guilty of this And Mr. D.A. how do he know I was not beat? he was not in Rusk I know those .peoples in Rusk did beat me and I have no right to tell a lie about this case, because God know what happen and I know also Mrs xxx but she have not told the truth, but it will come out one ‘day and I hope it is not to late, I can’t explain things like I want to in this short note, but if you can come down here for a short time that will be just fine, we can talk about Mr D. A. and those others also, Thank for the write up, Charles E. Williams P.S. May God Bless and Keep us all in my prayers. hope to hear from you soon TAX BATTLE RAGES IN SHORT INTERIM Kicks for Picket Ordinarily He’d Fight Back AUSTIN. Booker T. Bonner is not a humble Negro. His normal instincts are to fight the integration fight on a physical basis. He claims to have taken on five white men at one time in a roaring brawl, rather than swallow racial insult, and there is something in Bonner’s eye that tells you he did not exaggerate the number. Bob Sherrill Nevertheless, this week Bonner ended seven days of self-imposed humility, peacefully protesting the segregation policies of theaters near the University of Texas campus, and for his one-man revolutionto borrow the proper Thoreauean phrasehe was paid with enough jeers, threats, East Texas arguments, and \(on one age man a life-time. One old woman whose age Bonner estimated at ’75 drove by slowly and stuck out her tongue at him, swinging her head like a turret and aiming a steady, dribbling, fire of “raspberries” at the young Negro. Once in a while, though rarely, a young white woman would shout an imprecation to get his attention and then present him with the traditional one-finger semaphore of lewd rebuke. Bonner just laughed at them. But the eggs that were thrown at him Tuesday weren’t funny. Neither were the three young men who whipped into the curb beside him and sat in their car mumbling while one of them fingered a gun. “It was a real gun, all right,” said Bonner. “I know a cap gun or a water pistol when I see them, because they’re fired at me lots of times. This was a gun. Of course, I knew they were bluffing, but you never can be absolutely sure.” He was even less amused by the young man . who kicked the stool out from Under him, kicked at the sign Bonner carries, and once kicked Bonner himself, while the manager of the. Varsity theater watched. Police put an end to that attack. The stool is part of Bonner’s equipment. He doesn’t picket the theaters walking. He spends too many hours in front of them for that. He brings his own stool and sits. As for his sign, he usually leans on that. Imbecility On one side is the message: DESTROYER OF OUR GLOBAL A DAMNATION IN OUR DEMOCRACY.” Bish. Hines Compares Birchers to Commies AUSTIN Writing in The Texas Churchman, the official publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, Bishop John E. Hines last week compared members of the John Birch Society to communists in their . methods of harassing and attempting to silence their opposition. He said both John Birchers and communists limit inquiry, forbid differences of opinion, and decide for others what is “healthy” for them to read and hear. Quoting from Nietzsche, Rev. Hines admonished members of secret societies ostensibly organized to fight totalitarian governments: ” ‘Beware, lest in fighting a monster you become one yourself.’ ” The Texas Churchman has an estimated circulation of 25,000. On the other side, in script: “Racial Segregation is an imbecility, a coward’s shield, and an unearned badge of superiority.” Bonner finds it ironic that many of those who stop to argue with him, using the argument of the white man’s “basic mental superiority,” will read the sign aloud, but when they come to the word “imbecility,” they pause and then pass on, unable to pronounce it. When he is not engaged in arguments, Bonner finds other means to pass the tense hours. “I have taken a kind of informal poll,” he said, “and I find that segregationistsI identify them as such by gestures or remarks they make in going by drive General Motors cars five to one. And of those, they drive Chevvies three to one. And over 90 percent of the Chevvies are Impalas. I would say that these people are status-seekers. “Foreign car drivers will ‘more often give you this sign \(making the okay sign with thumb and get jeers from a foreign car owner, it will usually be from an MG or sporty job than. from a familystyle foreign job like a Renault. If you get anything from them, it’s usually a cheery wave.” It would be incorrect to assume that Bonner runs into a great variety of arguments. He doesn’t. They run to half a dozen themes. One of the most common plaints is: “I don’t see why you’re out here. Most Negroes are satisfied.” Bonner grunts. “The man who says that is probably talking about the Negro who works for him. He doesn’t know whether he’s satisfied or not. He may just act satisfied on the job, and then go home and beat hell out of his old lady because he had to work five minutes overtime without pay.” Right now Bonner is out of work and looking for a job. He admits that he doesn’t always find it easy to work for white men because he bridles at the least indication that the employer is judging him as a Negro rather than simply as another employee. “I may be too sensitive about it,” he said, “I don’t know. I’d probably take’ offense at some things you wouldn’t take offense at, but here’s the reason why: “I could never be my boss’s boss, but you could.” One gets the impression that Bonner gets as bored by qualified liberals as he does with rampant racists, the former frequently stating that they are for integration all the way except for marriage. His response: “In this country we don’t believe in telling people who they can marry. We shouldn’t try to tell them who they can’t marry either. Anyway, how much white blood does it take to make you white? When do you become 99 and 44/100th percent pure?” Bonner’s skin is a light tan. He says his mother is about the same tint, but his father is very light complexioned. Bigot Scale This isn’t Bonner’s first fling at the picket line and he knew what arguments he would run into. In fact, that’s why he came out. “I’m trying to find out if there’s any way to reason with a bigot,” he said. “Before I started this, I thought bigots were just generally ignorant. But I’m running into all kinds. Some are really intelligent except on racial matters. There, the wall comes up.” Sunday morning he took up his position early in front of the Varsity Theater \(which is just across from the University MethChristians would react to me.” He was disappointed. “I got the usual scummy looks, but no encouragement at all. Usually, among that many, somebody will say something nice. Only one of the people going to church said anything at all to me. He said, `So you’re still out rabble-rousing.’ He could have been joking with me, but it didn’t sound like it Bonner isn’t mad at church people. Dawn at the University Presbyterian, which he attends, he says he and his wife get treated fine.. But he hasn’t been back to test the atmosphere there since he started this picketing. Neither, in fact, is he angry with the people who harass him on the picket line. He figures that the actions of the “white trash” help the Negroes. “When they throw eggs at me, intelligent white people are ashamed. When they kick me, intelligent white people are ashamed. They side with us. That’s why our leaders like Martin Luther King don’t want the help of the wino Negroes, the Sixth Street Negroes they wouldn’t contrast as well with the dumb-bunny whites.” Up and Down Along this line, Bonner thinks he has noticed something else consistently among the people who stop and bait him. “The guy with the strong NorA characteristics runs down the Negro. The guy with a mish-mash of racial characteristics tries to build the white man up.” Bonner is a senior government student at the University of Texas. He made bad grades last semester, he says, because he worked nights as a cook. But he expects to graduate by February. He came to Austin to attend Huston-Tillotson College, a Negro school. If he had stuck to that plan, he figures he would have his degree by now, because in his opinion Negro schools are easier to get through than are predominantly white colleges. “You have to apply yourself more at the University,” he said. “But it’s worth it. The teachers are better. This equipment’s better. Everything’s better. But it’s harder, and that’s why so many Negro colleges. They don’t think in socio terms; they think in economic terms, and they know they can get through a Negro college faster and easier and get out and start earning money faster. I don’t see it that way.” When Bonner gets his degree, he says he will probably go back to his hometown, Wallis, and teach. He likes Wallis. “There’s some racial trouble. But it’s settled man to man. You don’t find one block of society against another block.” is scheduled for June 13. Daniel’s office said it had ceived several thousand letters, telegrams and telephone calls in response to the governor’s opening television blast at what he called the lobby-controlled legislature, and the spokesman for the governor’s office said the response is running more than 16 to 1 in favor of the governor’s position and against a general retail sales tax. Other response was not quite so complimentary. Sen. Dorsey Hardeman, who plays in the Senate backfield with Lt. Gov. Ben Ramsey and Sen. Wardlow Lane on tax matters, denounced the governor’s speech as “pure demagoguery.” Rep. J. Edgar Wilson, Amarillo, said the governor wasn’t telling the truth when he said that a general sales tax fell 90 per cent on the people, 10 percent on business. Wilson quoted the Texas Research League’s statement that such a tax would fall 36 percent on business. Defends Lobby The governor’s complaint that lobbyists are using unfair pressure tactics to put across the sales tax also riled Rep. Wilson, who said “the lobbyists with whom I am acquainted are honorable and respected men who are in Austin to present their views regarding legislation the same as the governor.” Daniel’s appointments to the citizens committee, set up to work out a compromise tax program, while recruited from the boards of directors of colleges and hospitals and state schools, also show a direct and close alignment with some of the more conservative political goups in the state and with some of the more well-heeled factions. If he gets an equitable tax program from the group, the source of the program would itself be a good sales pitch for easing opposition from business interests. Stalking Horse But some liberal leaders are fearful that this grottp will serve the governor only as did the last citizens committeethe one that came up with the ill-fated payrolldeduction plancoming up with a program that the governor can at best support only half-heartedly, that can be killed easily, a kind of Trojan horse tax plan which the sales taxers will use as a vehicle for a comeback. Chairman of the new group is Lee Lockwood, Waco, chairman of the Texas Commission on Higher Education, wealthy lumberman