The Mercer Cluster. (Macon, Ga.) 1920-current, January 10, 1964, Image 2

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%\\t iHeror Cluster MERCER UNIVERSITY. MACON. GEORGIA Jarinary JO. 1904 ' Volume XL1V No, J1 Rob Hurt Editor Davis McAviey Maliasing Editor John Weatherly Executive Editor Bob Carter Business Manager Associate Editor ... Feature Editor Contributing' Kdifric* Circulation Manaser Katie Koollnef .....J , Bobby Douthit Bill Dayton, Sid Mores' .... Joyce .Davis News and Features: Joyce Davis, Ed Simmons, Anne Johnson, Ellen ■Janos, Mary Both. O'Qinnn, Diana Dentonr^Jwry Gresham. - •• Business Staff: Genie Asliurst, Lyn Ballard. Bette Goggarvs, Pam, No ton. Peggy O'llidloran.' Pam Grdhum, Julia Hickson. BOB HURT Pressure And Progress It's easyfor the average. Southerner to lore hit jjalWbiel* and his moderation when faced with a boycott, or any of the other aggressive tac- KATIE KOELLNER m ry'y AROUND CAMPUS The Registration process has hanged u lot in the past lew years: till he’ made. This week's poH hot many students think more could asked tile questions: "Did you think pro registration heljied make reg istration easier? Wli.it would you still like to change about registration? Mickey. McNair: "I think it made it a little easier. I think seniors "anil juniors and sophomores should have ^residence over freshmen at registration." CarwKn Arnold: "I know what I'd like to change ulnml registration The price of tuition. Lower!" Myrt Irby: "I think it hcl|>cd. very definitely. Getting ri<l of havi to get a post office box helped.” Haleight Namni: "Shoot. I reckon. It's'a whole lot better than it rised to lie,"———='—’ - ■——— - - - - - — ' Linda Smith; "I—think pro I'gislrati helps. ho IT prc-registcrcd tics Tmpular With integratidnisl groups. Because hi' is human, the Southerner does' notarne to.be pushed.-Nor ilocs he. enjoy hieing confronted with an issue* he would ratjier forget. But the .demonstrations will continue, simply liecause they work! Reaction.to a sit-in is usually fast.'often dramatic and sometimes even violent. All this adds up to headlines anil headlines mean pressure This kind of force more often than not " has- rest iked iri);&ms for desegregation. . An inn resting example of why street tactics are . more often ufa'd than mediation can be found in a series of demonstrations at restaurants'owned by '. Dohhs Houses. Inc. in Atlanta two weeks ago. The. demon.-(rations began on a rather quiet Saturday night - Police Sgt. Barry "F, Marlcr re- eeiveil a call <>ri his radio to-go toa Toddle House restaurant Tin I’eachtree St. A sit-in was-in prog ress and -the manager wanted the demonstrators arrested. . • When Sgt. Marlcr entered the restaurant. 17 wlijtc and Negro Student Nonviojent Coordinat ing ^Committee demonstrators filleil the counter stools in the small restaurant. The manager said he wanted them to leave, hut the students re fused. Sgt. Marlcr' approached the first demon strator "Are you familiar with Georgia's anti- . tresspass law." he askCd. The demonstrator said he was. "All tin/ man want’s is a cup of coffee, sergeant, why don't you leave him alone?" called a SN(X leader from the sidelines. "I'm talking to this gentleman rigid now. I'll talk to you in just a minute." Marlcr answered. 1 /The group, numbering 15 now, immedi joined iij a .chords of “We Are Not Afrai Your Paddy Wagons,", some keeing time rhythmically slapping the counter top with hands. Their eyes were more serious now, something- of the atmosphere of an enthusj football crow'd -remained. One by one (he SNCC youths were dr off to the wagons, most refusing to walk. Pt men. two to a.demonstrator,.hauled them hlack barred vehicles and slid them down . wagon s benches into the growing, pile of people. It was all over in lewr than an hour, the (wo packed paddy wagons rolled away Peachtree St., their occupants chanting frei songs and swaying the wagons from' aids side by bouncing themselves against their wal The demonstrations caused relatively littl* lice in Atlanta, but they did not fail. After ■ inure arrests in different Dobbs House local 'the restaurant management decided not to p cute. The restaurants' were closed to prevent ther demonstrations, but soon this economic sure was felt and they reopened on an intep basis. ' • . . ' \ Su'these, pressure .tactics worked. They left ter feelings, but they accomplished a ded goal. Could the same result have been achi -with mediation over a longer period of Probably, yes. But a demonstration is fast dramatic, though it can leave bitter rescntl that will cause resistance for years to come. Most all of the demonstrators were young Ne gro students. They'assumed an air of good-hu mored arrogance. They occasionally laughed. joked and heckled. A loud ami well-harmonized ^ version of "We Khali Overcome” reverberated in the little restaurant. ^ ' Sgt. Marler talked again to the demonstrator sitting in the first counter stool. “As long as this law is recognized as constitutional and a state law I ‘am bound to enforce it “ He lurried to store So why do the younger Negro organizal continue to demand demonstrations? Part ol answer demonstrations can be faster than me tion. hut also liecause' they can lie more pee ally satisfying. Demonstrations, ■ nonvie though they may be. are a physical way of “fi ing back" ami therefore, more personally rew frig than negotiation. When an individual beea emotionally involved in an issue, he can los< of what he is'really fighting for.' - The demonstrator's 'at the Toddle House ii telegraphed charges of police brutality to city ficials, -though observers generally' agreed their treatment was not severe. Moat of the d manager. "Du you want this man to leave your restaurant?" Sgt. Marler asked. The manager replied with .a loud and grim-toned "Yes.” “Will you leave this restaurant?" Marler asked the demonstrator. The Negro youth smiled thinly and said. "All I want is a cup of coffee.’’ niwtnifors refused to walk or cooperate with twice and still was not on tile professor's li-t. Also, il would lie .a good idea to have two lines to'pick-up the pre-registration cards." Brady: "Pre registration made it easier, hut 1 still didn't get the 'physics eoiirse I pre-registered for." Beth Hardaway : "They ought to he more l< nfent about course 1,‘hanges. because yott have -to pay $5 for just dropping a course, even , when you're not going to take another one." Otis Andrews: "I think it made it a. lot s|H-cdior." .. (’uqui Mendigutia: "The Freshmen pre-registered first, and it wasn't fair to the upperclassmen."' - Martha Sue Free:."I'd like to change the "French Situation". The Freshmen-were all pre-registered for French and the upperclassmen who ne. ded i* couldn't.ge( in." sr ixilicc orders after their arrest, not because thought this would discourage policemen, hut cause it would encourage brutality, and the more publicity, The Ni-gro wa|s escorted to a waiting police, wagon. The next stool was occupied by a young Negro girl. who. when asked the same questions, refused to leave tlie res.taurant ami had to he car ried out. her heels dragging across the floor.- When the thing was finished, the demons!ni sard they had won. But had they really? Be their accomplishment a new wali of distrust resentment had grown a little.- A few weeki talk, could probably- have won the' victory torn down the wall a few more inches. JOY COCHRJ !'-? GUEST COLUMN ,•"•3 i . (Editor's Note: Joy Cochran, n. writer for Wesleyan’s campus newspaper, the Town and Country, was invited to appear in this weeks Cluster-as a guest eoldmnist. Her article deals with the'Wesleyannes’ reaction to a pacifist- -group which recently passed through Macon on their way to Cuba.) Pushing Peace When the.Committee for. Nonviolent Action's .representative from their Quebec-to-Guantanamo mareft for- peace -contacted Wesleyan tfiere were mixed fclings of curiosity and interest. , • ‘ . Siime of us had .read about the reactions, from' the group while they were in' Athens: others of. us were interested in the nature of their cause; others had never-even heard.of a Pacifist, came- gapping to- glimpse Jhesc strange idealists from the North. ■ Tiie representative was informed that Wes- " h vannes would like to hear them, students |>erch- ed themsejves o’n tabletops and chair arms as they,- crowded .fiilo the student cenfer,. to listen, and three ‘young.women arrived to' relate their rnes sage. The initial impression was strong and amaz : ingly favorable. Their dedication, and intellectual .adeptness was overwhelming, and the discussion which -ensued; sparked much new thought within our- dormant Southern minds. The guests dis tributed their literature and were .invited unoffi cially to come back out and chat another evening. The group’had not yet walked officially, into •Martin', since they walk only a. few miles a day. basing themselves in’a convenient ltication rind driving back to the point where they left off the .previous clay: therefore, I believe the Wesleyan, students were arriong the first to become acquaint- ^ed-wilh’tlie wulkyrs after.they settled themselves in .Macon. . ' ’ . , . . . * The presence of these thought provoking young |M‘ople here, almost'jn our midst, with.their stim (dating. new way of looking at things*, elicited - further, curiosity among some. deeper interest anil concern'on the parts of others. , ■ Many students were, moved by a particularly alert, "attractive young girl named Kit 'Havice.- Kit was graduated from Stanford University and Mias, attended medical school for-a year or so., bin she hec'ame so strongly imbued with the de-' sire to express her convictions through actions that, she‘dropped out and joined the .CNVA march. - with her |>arepts' consent..';, , To a group of us chatting with her on campus one day. she said,,"I felt medicine was important, hut tjiis is so much moreso—mi much more vital and rewarding. Nope, don’t know if I'll ever go hack or not—probably he doing this sort of thing for the .rest of my life. I feel so strongly about it." The cause Mrss Havice meant is peace, the most vital one imaginable for a twentieth, century Cold War society A number of us were deeply moved. We don't'hear much about paficism in the South;'we ary a noble lot who seek 'militarily when frustrate/I, The. philosophy this ‘group brought some of us at Wesleyan to believe was theirs is a ixiwerful one, though: it is even worth •our .study ami.concentration within the proper lierspective. When , their civil liberties'were challenged in . .Mavrin: some of us .were ready to defend them be cause of oUr belief in the basic rights and privi- '" leges of all human beings. We admired these peo " . pic's -spunk and drive, and we ehvjed them .a little; hit for having what seemed to be courage to completely live for,a cause. Others.of us were less taken with the romanticism of their endea vor, could not come to sympathize, were hostile Or merely quiet. 7 ; Most of us were moved, in one direction or the other, by the presence anil actions' of. this group from the beginning -to the end-of their stay in Macon. . . ‘ . ’ • . " • Opinions change from time to time, and atti tudes blossom-as nevy sunlight brings them into' deeper, broader pers|)ective. The exhilaration of some frgsh rivet of thought is especially stimulat ing for any college campus; we should rue the day'when'it ceases to he. The CNVA 'group was a welcome stimulus for - a campus like Wesleyan; now has the time come to evaluate what they gave us, if indeed they did. and to decide what our ultimate' reaction should he to an example such, as theirs Paficism—yes, that's.worth thinking about, but what about these people? Are thev really, pacifists? A doctor in Mlanta who is a Quaker and active, in the. caiiipaig-n for nonviolent action called Some ntifflibers' of this group “malcontents”—persons who are satisfied with nothing, eternal trouble makers.' ,' . .. What are these individuals who could become so productive for-society with, their intelligence and ideals accomplishing by their deliberate defiance and |ioor publicity? Their best contribution to us as Southern students is a number of interesting principles and ideals for refinement. “Emotion re collected in tranquilify,'’ as Wordsworth said, “is certainly a better way to truth.” ;