The Atlanta Inquirer

Let Freedom Ring
By Lonnie King

"Let's not forget that the students are going to jail not only for their freedom but for yours and mine; not only because they have been hurt by the indignities of segregation but because we have all been hurt.

As I watch them, as I see the movement spread from college to college and city to city, I am deeply stirred as are millions of other Americans. What is it we feel? What do we hope for? I can answer only for myself: for me it is as if the No Exit sign is about to come down from our age.

It is the beginning of new things, of a new kind of leadership. If the white students will join in ever-increasing numbers with these Negro students, change will come; their experience of suffering and working together for what they know is right; the self-discipline, the refusal to act in violence or think in violence will bring a new spiritual life not only to our region but to our entire country.

But you and I must help: first by understanding what non-violent resistance means, what its possibilities are: and second, by giving these students our personal support. They need money, yes: but they need even more to know that we are with them."

The words above were written by a Southerner. Ten Atlanta students visited with the author Sunday. She is Lillian Smith, and she lives in Clayton, Georgia, on top of Old Screamer mountain. She asked us to come because she likes young people. She was not afraid to have an interracial group visit her in her home because she believes that all men are equal.

We ate and talked. We exchanged viewpoints. It was an interesting and informative session for all of us.

The re-opening of the Ashby Street Colonial Store with qualified Negro employees is a sure victory for Atlantans to be proud of. We have seen what a procedure of selective buying can do.

Intelligent negotiation at a Highway Road Food Town store began to solve the problem of discrimination before picketing and boycotting became necessary.

The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee will hold its conference in Atlanta on the weekend of the 14th of October. Among the speakers will be Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Miss Ella Baker, Lewis Wade Jones, Wyatt Tee Walker, and James Lawson.

When Senator Kennedy was on TV last week, he said, "If a Negro is born... he has about one-half as much chance to get through high school as a white boy... one-third as much chance of getting through college... about a third as much chance to be a professional man, about half as much chance to own a house... about four times as much chance that he will be out of work in his life. I think we can do better. I don't want the talents of any American to go to waste."

Let's hope Senator Kennedy means what he says.