A CITY REJECTS RACISM
REPORT ON NEW ORLEANS; A City Rejects Racism The following is an adaptation of a report on the recent New Orleans mayoralty election prepared jointly by the Rev. Vincent J. O'Connell, General...
...We are concerned not only with the harmful effects that such un-American and unmoral doctrines can have on one third of our community, but even more, we are concerned with the moral erosion that master racism causes in the souls of those infected with it...
...double their previous registration, and one-eighth of the grand total...
...SINCE SOME OF COBB'S state ments were libelous, one of the radio stations refused to sell him time toward the end of the campaign...
...arid the overwhelming number who turned out to vote for Mayor Morrison...
...WHILE CREDIT must be given Mayor Morrison and religious leaders for helping to dispel some of the harmful effects of Cobb's appeals to race prejudice, the fact remains that this Southern city rejected this type of appeal completely when the issue came before them at the polls...
...But their aetrritiee are] boomeranging end beckiring licsmss the east majority of our citisens know [that] they cannot believe or trust those who hove sold thorn down the river in the past and who new resort to lost minute mud-slinging and smear tactics...
...His tally came to 2.5 percent of the total vote...
...We implore our fellow citiiens...
...Ralph J. Bunche, UN Mediator, who was brought in for a .speaking engagement by the New Orleans Committee on Race Relations...
...The presentation of the keys to our city to that Negro...
...In an election which brought a record turnout to the polls—ninety-one per cent of 203,000 registered voters —the people of New Orleans re-elected reform Mayor De Lesseps Morrison by a vote of 130,582 against 4,752 for his opponent, Alvin A. Cobb, who campaigned on a platform of white supremacy...
...Morrison's runner-up, Charles Zatarain, polled under 60.0Q0 votes...
...as election day approaches, they [Cobb's backers] are so fearful of overwhelming defeat, and so frantic...
...But, above all, it appears that New Orleans voters decided to register their disapproval of the lacist platform of Alvin A. Cobb...
...therefore, to ignore all attempts to arouse false fears and prejudices...
...improvement of streets in white and Negro areas...
...Factors like good weather, familiarity with voting machines, and the Mayor's personal popularity, helped produce a record turnout...
...which were labelled, "Proof...
...Cobb's early fire was directed at Morrison's alleged misuse of city funds and deals he had allegedy made with gamblers...
...But Cobb's activities became so vicious that it was decided they could no longer go unchallenged...
...is the first time a Southern Mayor has done such a disgraceful act since the days of Northern carpetbagger control...
...This change was imposed on the city by the State Legislature, led by Governor Earl K. Long (the late Huey's brother), in an attempt to win control of enough councilmen to stymie the Morrison Administration...
...Yet estimates claim that $25,000 was spent on his ill-fated attempt to become mayor of New Orleans...
...THEN, explains the size of a total vote which, local experts claim, is proportionately larger than that cast in any mayoralty election anywhere in the country...
...We do believe that it is just plain common sense and good business administration to administer and take care of the needs., health, recitation and well being nl all the people of our community, regardless of creed, race or station in life...
...Morrison had made mistakes during his four-year term as mayor...
...In his final radio talk, Morrison said "I denounce and condemn these hate-mongers for...
...Several thousand persons connected with social and civic agencies received anonymous phone calls asking them to vote for Cobb, and trying to lump Communists, Negroes and Jews together...
...that they have dipped down to the very bottom of the bag and have come up with a race issue...
...But—if you want to preserve our Southern traditions—if you believe in white supremacy, vote for Alvin Cobb for Mayor—Alvin Cobb who has exposed Morrison—Alvin Cobb who had the courage to announce himself as your while supremacy candidate...
...But the Morrison forces took every one of these council seats...
...Without this issue many independent voters might have failed to go to the polls thinking Morrison was in...
...It also demonstrates that increased Negro registration gives the Negro community an acknowledged place in the field of politics, with reasonable hope that jts demands and needs will be listened to with respect and consideration...
...A low appeal to racism is no longer taken seriously by growing numbers of white Southerner, in at least some Southern communities, and we are proud that New Orleans is one such community...
...Equally dramatic was the number of Negroes who registered — 25,000...
...They were distributed In front of schools by persons who told the schoolchildren that if their parents voted for Morrison they would have to go to school with Negroes in the near future...
...At the same time they iput into the race u police character as a hatchet-man and mudslinger...
...In addition to his extensive use of radio...
...WHAT...
...One evening papei, the Item, carried an editorial three days before the voting sharply criticizing Cobb's tactics...
...and similar reforms...
...The administration had used non-union labor on city construction projcets...
...Brant Coopersmitf\, Director, New Orleans Regional Office, AntiDefamation League, and Helen F. Cohn, Executive Secretary, New Orleans Committee on Race Relations...
...A City Rejects Racism The following is an adaptation of a report on the recent New Orleans mayoralty election prepared jointly by the Rev...
...sselriiMr *» coteete strife and discord...
...THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS has just thundered an emphatic "No" against white supremacy...
...Cobb employed sound trucks for concentrated campaigning in certain wards where he thought his program would pay of)' best, and is reported to have used epithets like "nigger...
...Many observers believe that injection of the race issue into the campaign was a major factor in bringing out the extraordinarily large vote...
...It appears therefore that the election was a forceful demonstration that the appeal to racism here was completely unsuccessful...
...One newspaper, in im editorial called "The People Spoke—and How," made this observation: "The candidate who Injected this issue into a city which had been clean of it In elections had his answer at the hands of an aroused and outraged people...
...Cobb's vote was scattered over the entire city, indicating that he had no concentrated strength in any economic, social or ethnic group, and that those who voted for him were members of the "lunatic fringe" to be found anywhere...
...a new railroad terminal...
...The campaign itself featured no unusual issues...
...UNTIL THE WEEK BEFORE election, groups ' which resented Cobb's campaign were divided on whether Cobb ought to be pubicly answered...
...The Chairman of the Catholic Committee of the South, the President of the local Rabbinical Association, two Episcopal ministers, and the President of the New Orleans Ministerial Union, thereupon issued a joint statement in which they said: "We are convinced that the citisens of New Orleans ere disturbed and distressed by recent attempts to poison their minds and to divide their loyalty to the community...
...Mayor De Lesseps Morrison himself, after ignoring Cobb throughout the campaign, declared at his final rally...
...and ho sought a mandate to continue his opposition to the Long Stat.' administration and its attempts to control this city of 600,000 for its own sell ish ends...
...So far as this issue is concerned...
...His chief slogan was, "Complete the Job...
...This opinion was shared by some of the newspapers and none gave Cobb a play but merely noted briefly that he had injected the race issue into the election...
...Frankly calling himself a Dixiecrat candidate (but repudiated by the head of the Louisiana Dixiecrats), Cobb said in, one of his final radio broadcasts: "The time has come—you will not have another chance—you must decide —if you want social equality with Negroes—if you want Negroes in our restaurants, picture shows, you will vote for Morrison...
...The prevailing view was to ignore him...
...The city's commission-type council was formerly elected at large, but in this election seven councilmen were elected by districts...
...Cobb also distributed 250,000 handbills carrying pictures of Morrison and Bunche...
...But generally the Mayor's record was good...
...my policy...
...He could speak of a recreation program for Negroes and whites which had gained national acclaim...
...He referred to the Mayor as "Carpetbagger" or "Eleanor Roosevelt Truman" Morrison...
...The., press generally manifested a mature and responsible attitude toward what was thought might be an explosive situation...
...has been consistently the same...
...Vincent J. O'Connell, General Chairman, Catholic Committee of the South...
...Thereafter Cobb became openly vicious...
...But a month before election Cobb announced that he would explode a "political bombshell...
...The local press could point to a thriving numbers racket and a rundown school system...
...Of course, their shirt front candidate...
...This turned out to be an attack on the Mayor for presenting the keys to the city to Dr...
...is piously soliciting votes from all groups...
...Alvin A. Cobb has run for minor offices previously, lives in a housing project, is penniless and without a job...
Vol. 33 • March 1950 • No. 11
