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PAGE ,4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, JULY 16, 1964 Archdiocese of Atlanta the J GEORCI SfRVINO GEORGIA S 71 NOIITHMW COUNTIES Official Organ of the Archldocese of Atlanta Published Every Week at the Decatur DeKalb News PUBLISHER- Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan MANAGING EDITOR Gerard E. Sherry CONSULTING EDITOR Rev. R. Donald Kiernan ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rev. Leonard F. X. Mayhew Member of the Catholic Press Association 2699 Peachtree N. E. P. 0. Box 11667 Norths ide Station Atlanta 5, Ga. and Subscriber to N. C. W. C. News Service Telephone 231-1281 Second Class Permit at Altanta, Ga. U. S. A. $5.00 Canada $5.00 Foriegn $6.50 Senseless Killing At a time when we were con gratulating ourselves on the fine compliance with the Civil Rights Law by the majority of Geor gians, a senseless killing of a Washington, D. C* Negro educa tor took place in Madison County. Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn, Negro Army Reserve officer and head of vocational schools in the nation’s Capital was slain as he and two fellow officers were re turning from Fort Benning. The act is a blot on the good name of Georgia and no stone should be left unturned in the search for the killer or killers. Col. Penn is dead now. His widow weeps, and his children mourn the loss of their father. For them it is an irretrievable loss; for others the hope that it will not happen again. We endorse Gov. Carl E. San ders’ appeal for moderates to speak out against such acts of extremism. No one can sit com fortably on the fence while evil little men stalk their fellows with murder as their end. Admittedly, only a minority of Georgians have such hate in their hearts, but even one is one too many. We must all work to eradicate the lawlessness which is display ed by those who foster racial prejudice in the community. The slain Negro officer was a veteran of World War II and was one of hundreds of thous ands of his race who have given their lives in the cause of free dom. No one challenged his entry into boot camp; no one said he was ever unworthy to die for his country; no one objected to his membership in the army reserve. Yet, despite the service he gave to his country, he was deprived of many of the essentials of hu man dignity, including the love and respect of many of his white fellow-citizens. And why? For no other rea son than his color. If only the millions of uncommitted Ameri cans would rise up from their fears and speak out in the name of justice, the assassins would not last long, and peace and tranqui lity would prevail. America can not afford the present wave of excesses. It’s time to stand up and be counted on the side of law and order. .... Mississippi Shame . . . and to those who say we are exaggerating on extremists within our midst, let them dwell upon the recent events in the State of Mississippi. Three Civil rights workers are still missing three weeks after their disappearance was reported. No trace of them has been found. Furthermore, this week two Negro churches in Natchez were burned down. The local police admit that arson ists were responsible. What is most distressing is that quite a number of unsolved mur ders of Negro citizens are on the books in that state. The facts show that Negroes have had little protection from the law, and have lived in almost feudal bondage, terrorized against protest through economic and other form3 of oppression. It’s been going on for years, and few whites have had the courage to speak out against it. The fact that the FBI has now moved into Mississippi in force, may now offer some hope to the Negro community.) Certainly, they should be allowed to regis ter to vote, without the intimi dation which has for so long pre vailed. This is one of the mair reasons why the missing civil rights workers were in the state-- to help Negroes attain their voting rights. What callous ward-heeler has the right to thwart the constitution by put ting impossible impediments to the exercise of voting privi leges? What hypocrisy for those sworn to uphold the law to ac- qiesce in the wholesale flout ing of it; Democracy is a stranger in Mississippi. So is justice. Per haps its citizens will now see the folly of following the dema gogues and the bigots down the road to anarchy. We have faith that the present shame of Miss issippi can be the means for its concerned citizenry to make amends to history and the ideals of our country. Power Of Attraction . •* •. 7 .• * v*_. M * • v Memo to Motorists GEORGIA PINES Women’s Rights - And Lefts BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN I started up the motor of my car for the weekly trip into the Big City and switched on the radio at the same time. Over station WDUN the manager, John Jacobs, was engaged in a bit of “horse play*’ with Claire Palmour about how badly women drive. As I drove out of the city and eventually out of the range of the Gainesville station, I flipped the dial to WSB in Atlanta. Just then, over a network program, the announcer was talking about women drivers in Germany. It seems that there are so few women drivers in Germany that the possession of an opera tors license is quite an asset to a young lady in landing a boy. IT HAS become a tradition in this country that we take a dim view of women drivers. Much has been written and said about this subject and Indeed it has be come a favorite indoor sport to talk about the gentle sex and their driving habits. I read recently some statistics about women drivers. It is a proven fact that women are much better drivers than men and that they have few er accidents. (Of course, there is the remote possibility that this is due to the fact that there are fewer female drivers than male drivers and consequently fewer have accidents I). I RECALL many years ago when I took my driver's examination that the Inspector quizzed me on the various hand signals. Finally he said, “If you are driving behind a woman and she gives this signal (here he demonstrated with his hand) what does it mean?** I gave him what I thought was the answerfrom the manual. “No**, he said, “it only means that she has the window open!** There was a story abroad many years ago that a man's automobile stalled on the Merrit Parkway up in Connecticut. He hailed a passing motorist and asked for help. He said that if he had a push he was sure the motor would turn over. Then he explained that his car had an automatic trans mission and it would be necessary to get the car up to 35 miles an hour speed before it would start. The assisting motorist happened to be eC woman. SHE OBLIGED and the gentleman sat behind the wheel of his car and patiently awaited the gentle tap. Seconds passed and he looked in the rear view mirror to see what was causing the delay. Sure enough, the woman had taken him literally and backed up her car far enough so that she was doing 35 mph before the impact. Well, you can guess at the results. Then there is the one about a boy who came into the house crying because his mother had run over his bicycle. The father chided the young son with the remark, “how many times have I told you, son, not to leave your bicycle on the front porch.** NOW I KNOW that I will bring down the wrath of the good Sisters on me if I make any comments about their driving accomplishments, it suffices to say that one day here in Gainesville a group of nuns stopped by and before they left I discreetly drove my own automobile around and parked it in the back yard. One psychologist advanced the theory that wo men are so accustomed to giving orders that when they get behind the wheel of an auto that they auto matically take it for granted that men will pay at tention to their driving idiosyncrasies. IT IS STILL a sign that our gentlemanly habits have not disappeared completely everytime 1 see a male motorist stopping to assist a damsel in dis tress. Things like flat tires puzzle a woman (or else they remain purposely in invincible igno rance over rudimentary mechanical functions). A new menance in this automotive age has ap peared, though. In one police station there is ac tually on record an incident inwhichawoman was charged with reckless driving while operating an electric cart (the kind so popular on today's golf courses). It made interesting reading until it was revealed that a highway ran through the center of the golf course and the woman was driving on the highway while looking for a ball she had knocked out of bounds. I GUESS THAT I should close up this week's column with a bit of an apology to my women Headers. Actually, they are careful drivers and if at the same time you don’t think that their driving habits are Interesting just follow one] TRUTH ABOUT SUDAN Your World And Mine The evaluation and classifica tion of movies has never been an easy job, and, at times, it has been done rather badly. How ever, this is not to suggest that because something is difficult, it should be set aside. Many self-appointed critics of rating systems are liberal and open about a viewpoint whenever it agrees with their own. Speaking to the Catholic Asso ciation of Cinema Operators this week, Pope Paul maintained the right of the moral law in the pro duction of movies. Instead of re flecting the true values of life, the Holy Father criticized those films whose power of attraction comes from ‘‘the ambiguous and often unprincipled and exciting portrayal of immodest scenes,..’ Artistic expression is all too of ten mistaken for freedom from the norms of morality. It was Pope John who turned the attention of the Council Fath ers to modern communications including the role of films. Pope Paul told his audience that the moral order did not harness the strength of art rather did it re lease “dramas of incomparable power, enriching them with psy chological, educational and fan ciful themes.” These are the types of pictures which we need, which movie pro ducers can give us and which thoughtful patrons will encour age by their support. THE PILOT, BOSTON BY GARY MACEOIN Spokesman of the Sudan dictatorship are making cynical efforts to whitewash the persecution raging Foreign missionaries were expelled last February because of “legally proved*’ interference in the in ternal politics of the country. They added that the expelled missionaries are to be replaced by Su danese priests. I traveled in southern Sudan less than two weeks before the decree of expulsion. I saw' the m ilitary build-u^ in Equatoria arranged to terrorizethe people into ac cepting the blow. I gathered evi dence from people on the spot which satisfied me that the mis sionaries were leaning over backward to observe the harsh ly discriminatory laws and thus avoid any charge of refusal to cooperate, AT THE very moment of expulsion I was inter viewing victims of the persecution in refugee camps and elsewhere in neighboring countries. These were not foreign missionaries. They were Sudanese who had fled the terror. They were en during hunger patiently in the hope that somewhere in the world people would be found who so loved jusUce and hated evildoing that they would come to their aid. On the very day that Sudan’s Interior Minister announced the expulsion of the missionaries, law yer K. Bechgaard, chairman of Kenya Justice, was telling me in Nairobi that the Sudan Government had persistently and repeatedly refused to allow him to enter the Sudan. He is the impartial in vestigator named last year by the International Commission of Jurists of Geneva, Switzerland, to report on complaints of Sudan's violations of hu man rights. His interim report based on evidence taken from refugees is in the hands of the Commls- CONT1NUED ON PAGg 5 ‘POINT OF ORDER’ McCarthy Revisited BY GERARD E. SHERRY The other day I went to see the documentary film on the famous “McCarthy Hearings*'of near ly a decade ago, which is being rescreened under the title of “Point of Order.*’ I found it a fascinating movie. Its reshowing on the wide screen picked up many of the things missed during the television hearings. What is more it had special meaning for us at this time when extremist forces are trying to capture both of our political par ties. I met Senator Mc Carthy only once. He didn't impress me then, and his supporters have never convinced me since. I think the crux of the difficulty lies in the fact that despite the millions of words that were spoken by him on the subject of communist subversion in our government, he (McCarthy) never himself dis covered one communist. To be sure he bandied about a lot of names — he was a skilled advocate of the guilt by association process. His insinua tions and challenges to the loyalty of Army and government personnel won him some friends but many enemies. This because, most of his insinua tions and charges could not be backed up by facts. Perhaps the best insight into the late Senator McCarthy is contained in the final scene of “Point of Order.'* Deserted, not only by the Liberal Democrats but also the Conservative Republicans at the Senate hearing, he keeps swinging, charg ing a vast conspiracy to silence him. The evidence was all in, but the late Senator preferred to ignore it because it proved him wrong. The Political heirs to the late Senator McCarthy are as active as ever today. We no longer call them McCarthyites, we have a whole lexicon of new terms —Birchites, Minutemen, Minutewomen, “Patriotic Americans" (Anyone who disagrees with them is unpatriotic and Liberal), Paul Re vere men and women, and a host of other titles tbtally unrelated to their real purposes and ac tions. They are active in both parties. Surprisingly enough, although a minority in this country, they are vocal and have influence far beyond their numbers. Only the other day one of our most respected pollsters reported that although the majority of the GOP delegates were for Goldwater for President, the rank and file GOP members were 2 to 1 in favor of Governor Scranton of Pen nsylvania. How could this be? Here again the answer is simple. The extremists favor Goldwat er because he tolerates their presence even if he., personally cannot be considered in their camp.’ Scranton, on the other hand, has denounced them frequently. The extremists have successfully in filtrated the leadership of many State GOP groups. Their predominance on the Republican platform committee is a typical example. Let me not be misunderstood. I am not trying to be pro-Scranton, Alas, facts are facts. The Civil Rights plank of the GOP platform is one example. It does not call for enforcement of the Civil Rights Law, but makes vague am biguous references to equal rights for all. The platform is not a Republican platform,, It is a Goldwater platform—at least it is not an Eisen hower, Scranton, Rockefellow or Lodge platform. It is a strictly ultra-conservative program not representative of the National Republican Party. It should come as no surprise that the Liberal and Moderate Republicans will campaign on it. After all party unity is paramount even above principles and issues. This isn’t just a Republican trait, the Democrats are no better. , The Extremists are obviously banking on the white backlash in various parts of the country to get over their point of view. Actually, I think they are just using Goldwater and that they would dump him as soon as it is convenient. The same is true among the Democrats. Those Extremists who are using Governor Wallace find him a useful vehicle to stir up racial strife. However, once he has served his purpose he too can be sacrificed while the Extremists attempt control. *Qf course, the Moderates in both parties have only themselves to blame. They are the same peo ple who are Moderates in the neighborhoods and in the Community. They don't want to fight the Ex tremists because somebody might get hurt, and they don’t want it to be them or their families. Alas, lt is because the Moderates have sat on the fence that there are people hurt. The frequent murders of negroes In Mississippi (and the disappearance of three Civil Rights Work ers) would not have occured had the Moderates spoken. The murder of a Negro educator passing through Georgia on his way to Washington, D.C., would not have occured had the Moderates spoken out. The bombings of churches and the killing of children could not have happened in Birmingham, Alabama, had the Moderates ccommitted, them selves to Involvement in the cause of justice. It is true that the Moderates are still alive but what of their consciences? REAPINGS AT RANDOM