Atlanta Daily World

ATLANTA DAILY WORLD
Thursday, May 3, 1962

N.O. Deportation Scheme
Is Denounced As Vicious

NEW YORK - Civil rights leaders and liberal politicians have been unanimous in denouncing as "cynical," "vicious," and "callous" the widely-publicized action of the New Orleans White Citizens Council in sending dissatisfied Negroes North.

In the vanguard of the hate-subsidized migration was Lewis Boyd, an unemployed longshoreman who arrived here from New Orleans on April 21 with his wife and their eight children.

Meeting the family at the bus terminal were Mrs. Daisy Bates, representing the NAACP; Dr. Edward Lewis of the New York Urban League; and representatives of the New York City Department of Welfare and of the Travelers Aid Society.

Mrs. Bates counseled the family and bought Easter clothing for the children. Dr. Lewis was instrumental in finding employment for Mr. Boyd and Miss Gladys Townsend of the Travelers Aid Society arranged for their temporary housing.

NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins called the trip sponsored by the racist White Citizens Council "a pretty cheap stunt" and charged the council with "using the Boyds as pawns in the battle for desegregation."

The NAACP he said, "regards the so-called Freedom Rides North as evilly motivated, cynical exploitation of human misery spawned by the sponsor of this hoax. There is no need for this publicity stunt to demonstrate the southern Negroes' dissatisfaction with conditions.

"The steady outmigration of colored citizens is amply documented in the census reports. Their resentment against their treatment in Dixie is evidenced by the intensification of their drive for equal rights and against segregation and all other forms of racial discrimination.

"Some will remain in the South and continue this struggle; others will leave and settle elsewhere with or without the prodding of the White Citizens Council or other bigots."

Clarence Mitchell, director of the NAACP Washington Bureau, sent a telegram to each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation asking that the two senators and eight representatives be available to aid the migrants "in whatever way is necessary in the provision of housing accommodations, meals and other requirements."

This demand brought a hot response from Rep. E. Edward Hebert of New Orleans who branded the Mitchell wire a 'hypocritical cry of anguish." The NAACP, he charged, helped establish the Freedom Rider pattern when it wholeheartedly endorsed Freedom Rides from North to South."

Meanwhile in New Orleans, Clarence Laws, the Association's southwest regional secretary, denounced the White Citizens Council's heartless prank." He warned that it "would be a tragic mistake for Negroes of the South to assume that they can attain the same success which has apparently come to the Lewis Boyd family of New Orleans."