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Image provided by: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ
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THE NEGRO PRESS CREDO The Negro Press believes that Ameri ca can best lead the world away from racial and national antagonisms when it accords to every man, regardless of race, color or creed, his human and legal rights. Hating no man, fearing no man, the Negro Press strives to help every man in the firm belief that all are hurt long as anyone is held back. Vol. XVIII —No. 37 ARIZONA MAN ALMOST LYNCHED b r o t li c r h o .1 fi brotherhood fil B brotherhood j||fl brotherhood brotherhood brotherhood brotherhood brotherhood iffl H£B|j brothe'rhood * •»... brotherhood /V . <B|||jJH brotherhood brotherhood brotherhoo d Bfcbh>. _ . . . • . « i. ■ a. xi xi x .ill 808 HOPE, AMBASSADOR of fun for America is serious about this: “Broth erhood Believe it! Live it! Support it!” Hope is serving this year as national chairman, Brotherhood Week, Feb. 19-26, which is sponsored by the National Con ference of Christians & Jews. The poster ANYTOWN YOUTH PANEL—Appearing on Channel 5, Sunday, February 19 in Arizona Round Table pro gram is a youth panel representing ANYTOWN. Mak ing points are (1 to r): Eugene Grigsby, David Baird, and Pat Kurts. (SUN Photo—Alan Anderson) ~AK!ZONA journal breaks soil FOR NEW PUBLISHING PLANT Approval of plans for the near 2-acre publishing pla:nt of the ARIZONA DAILY JOURNAL was given today by Phoenix city building inspec tion supervisor Leroy Denison. Ground breaking will take place on Sunday, March 5 at 3 PIVT at the building site, 28th Street and E. Washington, ac cording to Bill Chamberlain, secretary of Arizona Newspa * pers, Inc,, publishing corpora tion. From plans by Phoenix ar chitect Max Kaufman, the new plant will be the largest pub lishing establishment in the state. Windowless and air con ditioned, the structure will be of steel and concrete and will r utzpA strf he holds is identical to those that will be mounted on nearly 3,000 linen supply delivery trucks throughout the country in a public service program coordinated by the Linen Supply Association of America. cost an estimated $645,000. Construction will be complet ed in approximately four months, Chamberlain says. Press erection will be started within a month to six weeks after ground breaking and will be completed by the time the building is turned over to the publishers. In addition to the press, al ready warehoused here, type setting equipment has been purchased and delivered to Phoenix. State and local officials have been invited to attend the ground breaking, features of which will be a “name” cele brity appearance, refreshments and entertainment. HARRY GOLDEN IN PHOENIX One of America’s most be loved writers, Harry Golden, author of such best sellers as ONLY IN AMERICA, FOR 2c PLAIN and ENJOY, ENJOY will deliver a guest lecture in Phoenix, Saturday night, Feb ruary 25. Sponsored by the Greater Phoenix Council for Civic Un ity, the lecture will be held in North High Auditorium at 8 P M. Tickets—s 2 and $3 —are available and may be obtained at the following locations: The Corner Book Shop, 10 W. sth Avenue, Scottsdale; The Dol phin Bookshop, Uptown Plaza; The Green Feather Bookshop, Park Central; Martindale’s Book Store, 20 E. Adams; The Memorial Union Ticket Office, Arizona State University, Tem pe, and Temple Beth Israel, 3300 N. 10th Ave. TICKETS WILL ALSO BE SOLD AT THE DOOR IF THERE ARE ANY AVAILABLE AT THE TIME. As readers of Harry Golden’s books and subscribers to his famous newspaper, THE CAR OLINA ISRAELITE already know, an evening with Harry Golden is guaranteed to be provocative, wonderfully am using and not soon forgotten. This wil be an evening that few will want to miss. WANTED Negro hoy to learn printing business as appren tice. Willing to learn and work hard. Job from 9 am-4 pm. Call Arizona Sun, BR 6- 6302. Phoenix, Arizona, Thursday, February 23, 1961 FIELD WORKER FREED BROWNSVILLE, Tenn. NAACP Attorneys Robert L. Carter and H. T. Lockard made history here last week when they won dismissal of a breach of peace citation again st an NAACP field secretary on duty in the Haywood and Fayette County area. Messrs. Carter and Lockard were the first Negro attorneys to argue a case in the Tural court house. Circuit court Judge John F. Kizer threw out the breach of peace citation against Phillip H. Savage on grounds that there was insufficient evi dence. One white witness testified that he filed a complaint of breach of the peace because Savage was questioning Ne groes, lined up to register, in the court house hallway. The witness said he was playing checkers in a special checkers-room maintained in the court house for citizens of Brownsville. He said Savage’s questions disturbed his trend of thought, thereby giving him trouble in his checker game. Enraged, he called the law. Mr. Lockard, in cross exam ination, asked the witness if Negroes were allowed to play checkers in the court house’s checkers-room. The answer was “no.” Savage was arrested and held overnight January 26 and fined SSO the following day and accused of interferring with voter registration, and disturbing the peace. Reddy’s Corner Robbed of Cash An unidentified man walked into Reddy’s Comer early Wednesday and asked for a bottle of whisky. When An nie Mae Ward, 1846 E. Bu chanan told him the cost of the whiskey he pulled a gun on her and demanded all the money in the cash register. He got away with approximately $l5O. Brotherhood In Action Endorsed NEW YORK The NAACP church department’s campaign to enlist religious groups in the fight against job bias was en dorsed this week by a number of prominent church leaders. According to the Rev. E. J. Odom, NAACP church secre tary, the project, entitled “Brotherhood in Action,” will involve “inter-racial and in terfaith teams of churchmen in an offensive against current practices in the hiring and up grading of Negro personnel.” Clergymen endorsing the campaign include Dr. Gardner C. Taylor, president of New York City’s Protestant Council. “The NAACP,” he said, “is giving dramatic, indispensable leadership in actualizing the Christian doctrine of brother hood. This effort merits our total support.” Dr. Taylor was joined in his endorsement of the project by Bishop George W. Baber, of the AME Church’s First Epis copal District. Bishop Baber declared: “Churchmen throughout the country should rally to this N AACP effort to improve job opportunity....” Also commenting were Bish op Stephen Gill Spottswood, of the AME Zion Church’s Fourth Episcopal District and vice-chairman of the NAACP Board of Directors; Dr. Ben jamin E. Mays, president of Morehouse College and mem ber of the NAACP Board of Directors. Also Rev. John LaFarge, as sociate editor of AMERICA and chaplain, Catholic Inter racial Council of New York; and Bishop W. J. Walls, of the First Episcopal District, AME Zion Church and a member of the NAACP Board of Direc tors. (Editor’s note: This is the third part of a series about Garsie Williams, a local man who : jgßl works and sleeps among us. This series is <x ‘’l^Bl^Bk^l written in hope that some of the readers will .*>*. *»***„ help save Williams from extradition, by writ- > * **»*\ **^B ing to: Governor Paul Fannin. Capitol Build- ; *£♦,' %\\ ***** -V ing, Phoenix, Arizona, in his behalf.) «,£»'-' ***** ** ** r^k.'frnß l* '* »<>* **\ ♦ ’», “We find Garsie Williams £ iv^ ;: ,'4 guilty of first degree murder ~ * JB and recommend a life sen- i* tence,” the foreman of the jury jf says, addressing the court | and Garsie sits stunned, his I ‘"MT SkM feelings mixed —for if he had \ JIM won his freedom, he would % JM have been hanging from the • . i Garsie’s plea is not guilty and self-defense. He faced a jury of twelve men —all white —all farmers, but one—a con struction worker. His lawyers had spent eight hours qualify ing the jurors (two wore hours than it took the entire trial). His attorneys disqualified five men but when it became ap parent that this disqualifying would be an endless job, they accepted the rest of the jurors. Most of the jurors were taken off because they were in favor of capital punishment. Then, the witnesses started testifying. There was Les Dickenson’s brother -in - law who was not only a bootleg ger but also an ex-convict. He swore it was cold-blooded murder. Lillie Mae testified —she said that Garsie hit her for no good reason then shot her white boyfriend. Other witnesses testified, were cross examined and then came the time for defense witnesses to testify and no witnesses showed up. The night before, L. L. Franklin, a colored witness, was forced by the white com munity through threats and vi olence not to testify. The man he worked for was a close friend of Les Dickenson. Franklin conveniently vanish ed before the trial. The eve of the trial, two carloads of armed men stopped in front of H. J. Moore’s house Read about “THE TWO ESCAPES” & “THE PRISON” and how Garsie Williams was caught! Also, read • about “THE EXTRADITION” IN NEXT WEEK’S ARIZONA SUN (SUN Phot.-Al.tt An.eiton FIRST PLACE Award - i v (!? W\IWI H j? ~ i Miss Cynthia Bell (left) I ■ 1 'O' IWI 11 VO A vO-t- $ receives the first place j ; LI | J award in speech con- ( J / test. Presenting the a- if / ' / ward is Miss Hazel w If / Hicks, public speaking i / f instructor at South Mt. if High School. Partici- O-' j pating in the contest were 400 students from y’f 26 high schools in Ari- ' zona, California, Color ado and Nevada. Vv&W' HELP GARSIE WILLIAMS—Write to your Governor! and threatened him with their guns and beat on him... He left town and wasn’t available for the trial. The same night, Ches sie Yourgie was sitting in his home when bullets whizzed past him—men in cars shot at his house as a warning not to testify. Almost every witness had left town or wouldn’t testify because they were afraid for their lives. Varsie Dixon, his cousin, was the only one—he had been held for four months in jail as a material witness. Soon it was Garsie’s time to testify. Just before the trial the Sheriff had warned Wil liams, “Don’t tell the story like it heppened—tell it like the people want it to be told.” Now, Garsie Williams, sweat pouring down his forehead, scared, and being cursed at by an unruly courtroom, starts to tell his side of the story. “Liar, killer, nigger...etc,” fills the courtroom. The jury doesn’t even pay attention. They look at their shoes, un concernedly scratch their arms and legs and talk to one anoth er or just sit staring off into space. In a little while the jury de liberates, the courtroom waits tensely—the first time it had been so quiet—you could hear a pin drop. And then the jur ors took their seats and the foreman stood up ... and read the verdict. This momentous crisis in the life of or ganized mankind may be likened to the culminating stage in the political evolution of the great American Republic the stage which marked the emergence of a unified community of federated states. ILLUSTRATING to A! Thomas, Editor of ARI ZONA SUN, how the courtroom looked when he was tried for mur der is Garsie Williams, (right) a Phoenix shoe shiner who would have been lynched had he won the case. NAACP SIT-INNERS FINED OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.- Eight NAACP members were fined in court here this week for participating in demonstra tions against Jim Crow eating facilities. Four of the demon strators were white. Included was Mrs. Clara Lu per, advisor to the local NAA CP youth council, which has staged continuous lunch count er sit-ins and other direct ac tion tactics since 1958. NAACP Branch President E. Melvin Porter, an attorney, announced that the fines will be appealed. Ten Cents