The Crusader. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1963-????, July 12, 1963, Image 2

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EDITORIALS The President Has The Power- Use It Now! JULY 12, IMS Our whole country—our democracy and our position a« u bastion of freedom—is jeopardized by the failure of the President of the United States to do his full duty in enforcing the Constituion. We of the Crusaders Freedom Now Movement are con cerned with the maintenance of the Constitution and with the democracy it guarantees. We know that what is at stake is not only the welfare of the Negro People, but also the future of us all. The right to demonstrate and to speak out against injustice is essential to our liberty. The present tensions here in Savannah and throughout the South and the rest of the nation result in large part from Unconstitutional interference by local authorities with he demonstrators and from the suppression of the right to dissent. It is •ear to us that these rights are as crucial to the success -»f labor unions. The President has begun to assume a position of strong moral leadership in the freedom struggle. It is good that he has asked Congress for more legislation, but it is our belief that he has powers NOW which he has so failed to use. I have taken the liberty to submit to the President, legislation. It reads as follows: 1. Prosecute police brutality under the civil rights statutes. 2. Create a special police force in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department which should not. as is too often F. B. I. practice, subordinate individuals rights to local prejudice. 3. Use Federal troops wherever necessary to protect individual rights. I. Direct the Attorney-General and the FBI to en force criminal laws to cease harassing individuals and organizations engaged in political dissent. 5. Break down the harriers which now prevent Ne- groes from voting. 6. Appoint judges and civil servants whose com mitment to the 14th ad 15th Amendment of the Constitu tion is clear in word and deed. 7. Remove all obstacles which prevent Negroes from choosing freely their place of residence. 8. Eliminate all racial discrimination in employment. • 0. Order the Office of Education to prepare a State-by-State report showing the areas in which segrega tion in public schools persists, with plans for its elimination. 10. Ban segregation in all parts of the Armed Ser vices, including the National Guard, and in Federally aid ed Health Services. Many white persons have asked us to stop the dem onstrations. We have complied with them three times. Now they have begun to fight the battles in the local Courts. But the only way to stop us is to remove the Compliments of FRIEND Segregation Hurts CRUSADERS evils which the demonstrations expose. Until our freedom is achieved the demonstrations will not stop: nor will debate be silenced. The evil residue of slavery has lived too long in America. A Mother’s View This movement that we are now engaged in has no respet for age or so-called position in life. A Negro is a Negro whether he is one minute old or two hundred years old ; therefore, he should he willing and ready to do whatever is necessary to see that he is treated as a full- fledged ciizen. I intend for my children to do every thing they can to help secure their freedom so that they will know within themselves that they are free. Going to jail and participating in the demonstrations have given my family a security that could only be reached from within. We feel free, we act as free beings, we are free. No one can realize the terrific strain that we, as a family, have endured and are still enduring. My chil- dred are youngsters denied the compensations of their father’s presence. My children are being denied most of the pleasures of everyday life because their parents are away from them. My children are not invited to many social functions because their parents do not “belong” to the society that send out the invitaions. All of hese things leave an impression and upon the minds of our little ones, hut we had to make the choice of giving them meaning less pleasures or providing them with something with wFich <hev can <rovnvn their entire lives—“a way of life,” i a “path of freedom.” —Mrs. Jaunita Williams