THE MOOD OF AMERICA
Rich, William Abbott and Marvin
Akron Goodyear workers, for example, know about such a line in the Goodyear Topeka, Kansas, plant. "Who isn't worried about automation?" said Rocky Galloway, a leader in the "First CIO Union,"...
...Miami was chosen as the site because the racial pattern was so varied that action projects could be selected to give participants experience useful in border and Northern communities as well as in the South...
...But I just built my own home...
...Even though the Action Institute was scheduled to end September 20, CORE agreed to postpone further demonstrations...
...They're unemployed...
...Subsequently CORE members negotiated with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce as well as with managers of individual stores...
...The following Monday two CORE members, Ishmael Howell and Charles Siegel, were assaulted and beaten while participating in the sit-in...
...Howell and Victor were fined $50 each, and Siegel was acquitted...
...John O. Brown, Miami CORE project director, that the restaurant would begin serving a few Negroes on a trial basis WILLIAM ABBOTT is assistant education director of the United Rubber Workers of America In Akron...
...Most downtown restaurants do not serve Negroes who want to sit while they eat a sandwich or dish of ice cream...
...Four witnesses testified for Victor, and seven witnesses testified for Howell and Siegel...
...But many are "vertically integrated"— Negroes may take orders out or stand and eat while brushing shoulders with whites...
...Miami Experiences Racial Stalemate by MARVIN RICH A NEGRO and two white men were beaten, a prominent Negro doctor was threatened, and a restaurant closed its doors in Miami during the last two weeks of September...
...Stopping the machine isn't the answer...
...Florida Attorney General Richard Ervin ruled that a restaurant owner could legally refuse to serve a guest if he determined it would injure the reputation of the establishment, even though the guest did not engage in any misconduct...
...Members of CORE filed into the restaurant, took vacant seats as they became available, and then sat waiting for service...
...We're working...
...Acting Miami Police Chief Paul M. Denham has said that he will eject anyone who refuses to leave a restaurant when requested...
...I know a family that's been unemployed for almost a year...
...They're ashamed, and we're ashamed because of their shame...
...At McCrory's the waitresses remained but ignored the group...
...Victor admitted striking both Howell and Siegel several times and acknowledged that he himself had not been struck...
...It's not their fault," another asked...
...At Grant's the waitresses disappeared...
...Another manager declared that things had been "going along fine" and "the Jewrs are stirring up all the trouble...
...But he firmly refused to open his counter or to permit service to Negroes on a once-aday or even on a once-a-week trial basis...
...On April 30, CORE, believing that negotiations were stalled, launched a "sit-in" protest demonstration at the W. T. Grant and McCrory's stores...
...On September 25, Gordon Carey, National CORE field secretary, was beaten about the face just outside the washroom in the Jackson's-Byrons store...
...They're our neighbors," said his buddy...
...My wife tells me she can't look them in the eye...
...Certainly it is not a typically Southern community...
...Miami itself is more rigidly segregated...
...A half-made sandwich was deserted on the sandwich board...
...After five days of demonstrations, the lunch counter was closed to the public completely...
...Why are we ashamed for making them take things from us...
...A TV commentator who interviewed 100 white passersby during the sit-in found that 98 had no objection to Negroes being served, and many were surprised to learn they were not...
...The unionist smiled back bitterly...
...Across the bay in Miami Beach, where tourism is the prime industry, many public accommodations are open to Negroes...
...One of several projects selected by the Action Institute was restaurant desegregation at the Jackson's-Byrons department store...
...Sit-ins involving as many as 80 people a day took place the next four days...
...September 21, provided CORE did not publicize the arrangement...
...Fixtures and supplies have been removed and alterations begun to dispense aspirin and cigarettes instead of ham and eggs...
...Yet at least four restau rants in Miami do not discriminate in any way...
...MARVIN RICH is community relations director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE...
...Municipal Judge Goldman heard the case...
...Everything I've got is tied right here...
...He was a big, strapping man of 35...
...Howell, a 28-year-old partially paralyzed veteran of Korea, was dragged off his stool and beaten severely by George Victor, a white electrician...
...The Miami CORE organization previously had tested the lunch counter and engaged in preliminary negotiations with one of the owners, Jack Reichenbach...
...You know how they get along...
...On September 21, four Miami CORE members were refused service...
...we're ashamed...
...Cohen told Dr...
...Reichenbach and his attorney, Frank Cohen, then met with an interracial group of six, representing both the Action Institute and Miami CORE...
...The manager of one large chain dime store is reported to have said, "God bless you all for what you are doing...
...Interracial testing teams of CORE members visited many of the restaurants and lunch counters in the downtown area during March and April...
...A white and a Negro would enter a restaurant and attempt to order...
...They beg...
...And I could cry at the thought of it...
...By the dinner hour, demonstrations were resumed...
...It has to be done...
...said Rocky Galloway, a leader in the "First CIO Union," Goodyear Local 2, during a bull session at the local union hall...
...Those beaten and threatened are members of the Miami Committee of Racial Equality (CORE...
...Victor then shoved Siegel, a slight, 54-year-old, retired businessman off his stool and beat him about the face...
...The Institute was designed to train leaders from all parts of the country in the techniques of investigation, negotiation, and public demonstration...
...Meanwhile, the restaurant in Jackson's-Byrons has been closed since September 28...
...Both of these chains had eliminated discriminatory practices in other cities after CORE groups took action...
...The Miami CORE organization has been working since March to end discriminatory practices in the downtown restaurants...
...Desegregation of the municipal golf course and the buses was accomplished with little public concern or excitement...
...The group is an affiliate of the Congress of Racial Equality, "a national organization . . . working to abolish racial discrimination by direct, non-violent methods...
...Why should they be ashamed...
...Well," said one CORE member, "at least we're all equal now in Jackson's-Byrons: nobody eats...
...However, when interracial teams returned on other days they were often refused service...
...February, 1960...
...Victor did allege that Howell had insulted him...
...After the pattern of discrimination at each restaurant became clear, CORE members attempted to discuss the problem with the management...
...I can't stop the machine, but if automation keeps on, what am I going to do...
...Howell did not attempt to retaliate...
...Institute members repeated this process...
...As soon as CORE members appeared at Jackson's-Byrons, waiters displayed "THIS COUNTER Is CLOSED" signs and refused service to everyone, annoying many white customers who wanted to know why they could not be served...
...Sit-in demonstrations were begun only after negotiations failed...
...When the police arrived, Howell, Siegel, and Victor were all booked on charges of assault...
...Police officers were present, as were onlookers and TV cameramen...
...In a few cases they were served...
...CORE was still negotiating with representatives of these stores when, early in September, the national Congress of Racial Equality began an Interracial Action Institute in Miami...
...The restaurant that dosed its doors is one of several in Miami at which the CORE group has demonstrated in protest against the refusal to serve Negroes...
...they're ashamed...
...You figure it out...
...These discussions proved fruitless, and subsequently several larger and more sustained demonstrations occurred...
...Miami has often been called "a suburb of New York...
Vol. 24 • February 1960 • No. 2
