ustxtxb_obs_1967_12_22_50_00016-00000_000.pdf

Dialogue IM###########,##,44N,########. Southern University should be closed down, as has been proposed, Graves said no, that given the low level of education in grades one through twelve which Negroes receive, such second rate universities as TSU are still needed. He said that faculty integration in Houston often has meant “sending the two cruddiest white teachers in the district” to a Negro school, “and this is what you’re stuck with.” He advocates giving examinations to all Houston teachers as a means of weeding out the incompetents, who, Graves indicated, are found largely in Negro schools “poisoning Negro kids’ minds.” When men of moderate, normally dispassionate temper such as Curtis Graves condone violence to any degree it is time for thoughtful people to pause and consider. How much longer can we expect Negroes and other minority groups to accept the back of this society’s hand before there is a massive upheaval? I’d have been in the streets long ago if I’d been subjected to this sort of thing. As who of us would not? We must have law and order, yes. But let us have social justice, too. Order without justice is tyranny. Two Amendments Two amendments are necessary to correct items in the Dec. 8 Observer. First, in my column last time \(In My billion for the poverty war in fiscal year 1968. Actually, just one house of Congress did that; a conference committee set the figure for 1968 at $1.98 billion and at $2.18 billion in fiscal 1969. Still, that is roughly what is spent in 20 days in Vietnam, as I said last time. The second amendment is to the story on the Galveston meeting of the Texas labor leaders. I said that Don Gladden was the only candidate, announced or 16 The Texas Observer otherwise on hand. Don Yarborough also was there, I have since found out, though he and I didn’t encounter one another that weekend. The Connally Years State Rep. Ed J. Harris, the stalwart liberal House member _ from Galveston, has some interesting comments in his most recent newsletter to his constituents. Commenting on the governor’s scheme for revising the state constitution, Harris writes: . If the people are going to yield power to the legislature, then the people alone should decide how much power they wish to yield. Governor Connally wants to revise the constitution by a commission appointed by high state officials, including himself and his political protege, Ben Barnes. He is dogmatically opposed to an elected constitutional convention, which is the usual method used in such cases. Can’t you imagine the results of his private committee: a con Connally in Life Read the Life article by Connally yet? For raw Texas humor don’t miss it; ‘course, if you’re looking for history, why, forget it. History. Like the Texas delegation in 1956 “strongly supporting JFK for vice president.” Well, of course, Texas did vote for Gore first to embarrass and, hopefully, to defeat Kefauver. Then, as a last resort, Texas voted “for Catholic Kennedy” \(along with virtually all other reto stop Kefauver. Some supporters. Ahh, and as for Kennedy’s coming to Texas in 1963? Why, ol’ John Connally was really put upon by President Kennedy. The fact that JBC faced a primary in five months, and that the Texas Kennedy partisans Connally himself mentions still thought JBC anti-Kennedy, and that the Texas GOP was to have the largest primary ever in 1964, and, finally, that Houston Chronicle poll JBC referred to had, uh, some additional information such as the fact that Connally was only a 50-50 bet to win renomination in that primary. Well, all this had nothing to do with the JFK visit, or when and how it was planned. Of course not. Chuck Caldwell, Harrisburg, Penn. A Gutsy Effort My congratulations upon running Dave Hickey’s notably contained essay on [Willie Morris’] North Toward Home [Obs., Nov. 24]. I’m sure every other Texas paper was running local-boy-makes-good featuresand there was some of that in the TO, as it wasbut Hickey kept his stitutional right to pollute, abolition of the homestead exemption, and a few other ‘modernizations’ of state government?” Turning then to summarize Connally’s six years as governor, Harris writes: “The tragedy of the Connally years is that the man had the potential to be a great governor. Unlike his predecessors in the office, Connally realized that Texas had to make some moves in education, in pollution control, in constitutional revision, and in labor legislation. But he never could escape the influence of the special interests, and as a result, instead of a true tribute to his ability, his legacy is a legislative sham. “The pollution control laws he supported are phony, his education bills revised form rather than substance, his constitutional revision program worked against the people rather than for them. “Yet his contribution to Texas history may yet be measured by what he said rather_than what he did, for he did make Texans aware that change had to come IP G.O. eye on the book and, after gulping a bit, in print, went right ahead and said what he thought about it. As far as I can tell, he said the right thing. When I read one of the Mississippi bits in the New Yorker three years ago, I thought it was first-rate and that Willie was right up there. Then I read one of the Texas bits in Commentary and thought, well, Texas is a joke but no laughing matter and the whimsy seemed a bit flimsy. The NYC thing that appeared in Harper’s was just passable, reeking as it did of Wolfe and almost everyone else who came up here. Incidentally, why do Texans feel alienated when it snows? My god, if alienation is what you’re after, recall how it feels to be in Texas after a Democratic primary. Hickey still hasn’t made his peace with The New York Review of. Bookshe couldn’t get past his first sentence without mentioning it and dropping a most unfortunate metaphor about an “exploding cupcake,” to boot and I wish he would concentrate on giving the reader more of the feel of the book he’s criticizing by synopsis, quotes, and the order of examples. Stillthat was a gutsy effort Hickey made. It was a great improvement over his previous appearances. The fact that it was shorter helped. I’m looking for his by-line from here on out. My thanks for being really, salt of the earth liberal enough to run this dissent. But of course I, like Hickey, am an artsy type and not a sweaty old pragmatist. . . . Harris Greene, Jr., 331 W. 87th, New York City, NY. 10024.