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Page Two MARCH 8, 1947 The Hartford Chronicle HEAVEN MOVES TO CORNELL New York: Unless Dr. Shel don, brother of the late Mrs. Mary Sheldon Lyon can break her will in the courts of New York, it looks very much as though Father Divine, in spi rit at least will have a part of his "Heaven" at Cornell Uni versity. Ikseems as though Mrs. Lyon left $500,000 to Father Divine to carry on his spiritual pro gram. Part of this trust in cludes a dormitory at Cornell that was named after Mrs. Ly on's father. Dr. Sheldon is contesting the terms of the will on the grounds that his sister who was 85 year9 old at the time of her death, lacked testamentary capacity, and that the will was therefore secured through' fraud. CLEMENCY ASKED FOR VICTIM OF ARMY PLOT New York, N. Y. Pointing out that Maurice E. Goens was acting under orders .from a superior officer when he vio lated the 94 th Article of War as a nrivate in a Truck Com pany in Italy in 1945, the NAACP, on February 25th, petitioned the War Department a remission of his court-martial sentence of five years at hard labor. ' Court-martialled 'for alleged larceny of government proper ty and misappropriation of 3 government vehicles, Goens ap pears to have been the victim of a conspiracy of his superior officers to use government ve hicles from the company motor xpool in? order to obtain Army rations from a distant depot for the purpose of sale. Franklin H. Williams, assist ant special counsel, NAACP, emphasized, in his letter to the War Department, that Goens did not go along with these men in their unlawful project of acquiring rations, and had no connection with their crime, beyond issuing the dispatch tickets allowing them to use trucks from the motor pool ,over which he had responsibili ty. It was urged that though the order given to Goens was obviously illegal and one which he was under no obligation . to obey, even greater clemency ought to be given him since he was under an even greater risk should he have refused to obey his superior s orders. Asking that the confinement experienced by Goens to date constitute sufficient punishment mitted by him, the NAACP urged that the unexecuted por tion of his sentence be entirely remitted, and that he be given an opportunity to earn an hon orable discharge from the Army. ALL GEORGIA DIVIDES INTO TWO PARTS Atlanta There is a new or ganization in these parts these days that Is known as . the "Aroused Citizens of Georgia.' Originally they had registered themselves with the Secretary of State's office as the Demo cratic Party, Inc. The prime objective of this new development is to wrest the State government from the hands of Herman Talmadge and his machine, and to read out of the party all those folks who have helped and sustained him in his present efforts. It is the belief of many ob servers in this section that this is the beginning of t wo rival democratic parties in the State. And that if this kind of contest develops, in any general elec tion the registered Negro vot ers will form the balace of pow er. That of course provides that the election is conducted legally and all qualified voters are per mitted to vote, irrespective of color. When this movement ' was brought tao the attention of Herman Talmadge, his ' only comment was, "Let's not antici pate, what time the moon will rise April 25th." DIXIE TOO MICH FOR HIS NERVEES. Beaufort, S. CY Mr. John Chisolm a prominent, successful undertaker m this city went temporarily insane the other day in the Beaufort county jail. It is alleged that while he was on the rampage he ripped up a radiator, smashed several win dows, struck the sheriff with a bottle and injured two jani tors who attempted to subdue him. It all came out of the fact that several weeks ago a civil court rendered a judgment of $8,000 in a $10,000 suit against him. The suit was filed by a local white woman whom he is al leged to have hit with his car and injured a year ago. Friends and organizations are now in the process of investigat ing the circumstances that were responsible for his having been arrested within such a short period after the judgement had been rendered. Mr. Chisolm was taken to the state asylum at State Park, where authorities claim he is now recovering. FATHER DUNNE RECEIVES COMMITTEE APPOINTMENT Los Angeles, 3al. In recog nition of his efforts in behalf of minority groups, Rev. Geo H. Dunne, S. J., author and playwright, has been appointed a member of the Committee on Human Relations by the Los Angeles County Board of Su pervisors. Well known as a protagonist of interracial jus tice, Father Dunne is a pro fessor of political science at Loyola University. NAACP URGES GOV. DEWEY SUPPORT AUSTIN-MAHONEY BILL New York The Board of Di rectors of the National Associa tion for the Advancement of Colored People at its regular February meeting voted to sup port the Austin-Mahoney bill, now pending in the New York state legislature. In announc ing its support of the bill, the NAACP board issued the fol lowing resolution: "All doubt has been dispelled by the reports of the fact find ing committees about the extent of discrimination against Ne groes and all other minority groups in admission to educa tional institutions in this state. New York State has led the nation in adopting a bill insur ing equal opportunity to' secure employment without discrimi nation, but that act alone can not be effective if members of minority groups are not permit ted to fit themselves by educa tion for skilled job opportuni ties which' are . now open to them. Because the limitation upon the right of citizens of this state to obtain an educa tion results in a tragic loss to the state of the valued services which they might otherwise render, we urge Governor Dew ey and the New York State legislature immediately to pass the Austin-Mahoney bill to put an "end to the denial of educa tional opportunities to New York citizens because of racial or religious discrimination." Prospects for passage of the important bill to combat racial and religious discrimination in education seemed bright early this week until the surprise announcement on Thursday that the Roman Catholic Church was officially opposed to the measure. Supporters of the bill today began mobilizing their forces in a last ditch ef fort to secure its passage. Roy Wilkins, NAACP assistant sec retary, immediately wired Gov. Dewey, strongly urging pass age of the bill, which vitally affects the educational welfare of Negro residents of the state, and recommending that the governor direct a message to the legislature requesting its enactment. BILL TO OUTLAW RACE COVENANTS Albany New York Assem blyman, William T. Andrews, has just introduced a bill in the legislature that will outlaw restrictive covenants against ra cial groups. , The amendment provides that all covenants or restrictions in instruments affecting property are void if they "limit", re strain, prohibit' or otherwise provide against the sale, grant, gift, devise, transfer, assign ment, conveyance, ownership, Lease rental use or occupancy or real property to or by any person because of race, creed, color, national origin, or an- I cestry. FUNCTIONAL EQUALITY NEGROES DESIRE New York Attorney Pauli Murray, member of the staff of the Commission on Law and So cial action of the America Jew ish Congress, said in her Broth erhood speech before the Jamai ca, L. I.,. Y.W.C.A., "the term social equality is a misnomer. When used as an argument against equality of opportun ity, it is confined to its narrow est meaning personal and in timate associatoin. " " What the Negro or any oth er underprivileged minority wants is functional equality. There is no desire to force per sonal relationships or intimate associations. These delicate matters must be left to individ ual adjustments and cannot be the subject of social or legisla tive action. ' ' ' By functional equality is meant the, right to sit anywhere on a bus or other public convey ance without running the gauntlet from the collection box to the rear seat. It is the right to sit in a theatre without be ing sent to the gallery or to a ghettoized area marked off for "colored" patrons; it is the right to be served in a restaur ant, to belong to a labor organ ization or a professional asso ciation without differentiation from other members. "Segregation, no matter how "equal' the facilities may be, is exclusion. I, for one would be willing to accept the penalty of I exclusion from public places or community groups, if such pen alty rests upon impartial stand ards such as behavior, cleanli ness, individuals qualification, or personal restraint. ."To protect the institution of segregation, with its noncom itans of legal and social infer ior status, these racketeers for race hate, must block the anti lynching legislation, FEPC laws, civil rights laws, in short every piece of progressive so cial legislation, which will ben efit all the people without dis tinction. ' Att. Murray was the guest speaker of the National Coun cil of . . egro women and the Women's Division of the Am erican Jewish Congress. TEXANS CONDEMN SCHOOL SEGREGATION AT HUGE NAACP MEMBERSHIP RALLY Houston, Tex. Condemning separate schools and calling for the end of segregation in Texas public schools, the Houston NAACP branch's '"kick-off" meeting for its 1947 member ship campaign got off to a rous ing start, on February 23rd. The resolution, presented to a packed house, was greeted by enthusiastic cheers. The group also adopted resolutions calling for an anti-lynching bill and opposing both state and federal anti-labor legislation. F.EP.C. GROUP TO MEET On next Tuesday, Harch 11, at 2 :00 p. m. at the State Capi tol a group of individuals and organizations who are interest ed in seeing that Fair Employ ment Practice Legislation is enacted will meet to discuss ways and means of furthering the bill most favorable to the minority groups. Among those expected to appear are Alder man Fauliso, author of an F. E. P. C. bill for the City of Hart ford and State Senator Alfred Wechsler, who authorized a bill for the state. ' . " NON-SECTARIAN SCHOOLS CARRY ' RACIAL BIAS New York A survey that was recently made of 171 non sectarian schools and colleges with enrollments of more than 500 are still asking questions about race, religion and nation al origin in the questionnaires that all applicants for admis sion must fill out for accept ance. - - Some of the questionnaires carried questions that dealt with all nf the f ollowinsr : race. color, religion, church, descent, or ancestry, nationality, birth place, mother tongue, language spoken at home, mother's maid en, name and date of parents arrival in the United States. The study was conducted by Dr. David Petegorsky, execu tive director of the American Jewish Congress, who had the following to say about these findings: ' "This survey clearly shows the necessity for the immediate passage of state laws outlawing discrimination in education, such as the Austin-Mahoney bill in New York and the Reiffin bill in New Jersey." Thurgood Marshall,-' chief counsel. NAACP, described to group tne TM.aaiJ.t-cs intenxion to break down the wall of dis crimination facing Negroes at the University of Texas, and told of his part in the NAACP 'a battle to gain admittance in its law school for Heman -Marion .1 -fc T A A JT - 1 Sweatt, whose application for admission was refused on the basis of his color. The courts have ordered Texas to provide a "separate but equal" law school for Negroes or admit them to the University's exist ing facilities. The Houston branch, under the leadership of Mrs. Lulu B. White, State Conference Direc tor of Branches, and Rev. A. A. Lucas, president f the branch, presented NAACP life membership medals to four Texans: Dr. Thomas Fletcher, Arthur Mandell, Percy Fore man and Herman Wright. The three latter are white attorneys in Houston. Life members in the NAACP are those who have paid in $500.