No subject

"Some things were beginning to change in the South and the Nation. =
Federal
civil rights legislation -- the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 =
Voting
Rights Act -- had come to pass. While vigorously supporting all of this, =
I
was also aware, thanks to Ralph Chaplin and the Wobblies, of some of the
negative effects of ostensibly friendly Federal legislation, especially =
in
the 30's.

At a large New York City gathering of supporters in February. 1964, =
before
the passage of the Civil Rights Act, I drew an analogy vis-a-vis the =
30's,
discussed the pros-and-cons of the Wagner Act, and then said: "There is
presently an unfortunate lull in activity at the grassroots -- a lull
traceable, among other things. . .to a wait-and-see attitude in regard =
to
the proposed Federal civil rights bill. This bill merits a few words as
posing -- if it passes -- a possible problem to the freedom movement.
Indeed, it could become a real threat. If it draws off the grassroots
militancy from the mass meetings and the picket lines and the sit-ins =
and
the mass marches and produces instead an endless labyrinth of long,
drawn-out test cases . . .then, obviously, we will be much better off
without the civil rights bill . . .Keep this movement rolling along with
ever greater scope and depth -- not just to token victories but to an
America where we will have that full measure of bread and butter, that =
full
measure of freedom, and that full measure of human dignity." [John R
Salter, Jr., "The Danger of Legislation," The Southern Patriot -- organ =
of
the Southern Conference Educational Fund, then published at Louisville,
Kentucky, February, 1964. Speech and copy of the newspaper in Salter
collections at State Historical Society of Wisconsin and Mississippi
Department of Archives and History.]

It was obvious by 1967 that the fires of the 60's were, with the =
exception
of mounting protests against the Viet Nam War, beginning to cool. This =
was
certainly true in the South, where some important victories had been =
won:
the very right to organize and dissent and vote, wide-spread =
desegregation,
and a substantial reduction in terror. But many activists were tired.
Others had been co-opted by tokenism, and many were severely compromised =
by
the frequently corrosive effects of the War on Poverty -- that shrewd
brainchild of the National Democratic Party. As OEO unfolded it was =
obvious
everywhere that it was sprinkling just enough money around for people to
fight over and never enough to substantially challenge massive economic
deprivation. ["We were better off," said a black woman long active in =
North
Carolina, to me early in 1967, "when we ran our movements on our own =
nickels
and dimes. Now too many people won't even come to a meeting unless they =
get
ten cents a mile."]

HUNTER GRAY  [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR]   Mi'kmaq /St. Francis
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk
Protected by Na=B4shdo=B4i=B4ba=B4i=B4
 and Ohkwari'
=20
Check out our Hunterbear social justice website:  www.hunterbear.org
[The site is dedicated to our one-half Bobcat, Cloudy Gray:
http://hunterbear.org/cloudy_gray.htm
=20
And see Outlaw Trail:  The Native as Organizer:  =
http://hunterbear.org/outlaw_trail1.htm