The Reformer, August 17, 1967

              IHt REFr: v

130 South V^atnut Street
South Send, Indiana 46625
Phone 288-2513

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA

HiST. & TRAVEL

REFORMER

15c

Vol. 1 No. 2

YOUR VIEWS MAKE OUR.NEWS

August 17, 1967

HEARING CONCLUDED
WILL MAYOR ACT ?

LEADERS ISSUE THIRTEEN
RACE PRIORITIES



Mayor Lloyd Allen of South Bend

After ten days of hear-
ing testimony concerning
the incidents of July 25,
26, and 27, the South
Bend Board of Public
Safety will be in a stand-
by position awaiting the
transcript covering all
the testimony presented
by witnesses present at
the LaSalle Park inci-
dent and during the
Washington Walnut dis-
turbance.

The transcripts will
be available sometime
next week for Board Re-
view. The Board will
then study the volumi-
nous testimony and will
report their findings to
Mayor Lloyd Allen. It
seems inevitable that
action will be long de-
layed. A considerable
delay in hearing the
primary evidence re-
sulted from the great
amount of time devoted
to a meeting which was
held early in July.

There was apparently a
determined effort to
establish that this meet-
ing was a contributing
factor to the disturban-
ces and incidents that
marked the last week in
July. The board was
charged with learning
the causes of the trou -
ble as well as investi-
gating police action
during the disturbances.

To the Negro youth
and the adults who were
present at the LaSalle
Park Center the empha-
sis on the July 5 meet-
ing was a delaying tac-
tic of the investigating
board.

The primary issue is
and will continue to be
the actions of the police
in attempting to control
the crowd in and around
the LaSalle Neighbor-
hood Center following a
meeting of the youth
with members of the

Cont. to pg. 8

Negro and civil rights
leaders presented thir-
teen priorities to lessen
racial tensions in South
Bend to a mass meeting
of over one hundred peo-
ple on Friday night.

The meeting, attended
mostly by Negroes was
held at the New Hope
Baptist Church at 313
East Ohio Street.

The event was con-
sidered by some leaders
as a milestone in the
struggle for full equality
for Negroes of South
Bend. The attendance
of Negroes was one of
the largest ever reached
for such a meeting.

There was a show of
unity rarely achieved in
the past. Youth leaders
Fermon A. Thomas, Jr.,
Willie Middlebrook, and
Ben Johnson shared the
platform and podium with
long time civil rights
and Negro leaders Jesse
L. Dickenson and Rev.
Lawrence Crockett.

Mr. Dickenson is exec-
utive secretary of the
South Bend Housing
Authority and Rev.
Crockett is president
of the South Bend
chapter of the NAACP.

Towards the end of
the meeting, Mr. Val-
jean Dickenson, former
director of South Bend's
ACTION, Inc. called on
people to volunteer to
work. He said new lea-
ders and faces were
needed to supplement
the efforts of the exis-
ting leadership. The
moderator of the meet-
ing, Mr. David Sims,
circulated a list for
volunteers, and numer-

ous people signed.

Mr. Sims opened the
meeting by calling for
unity and solidarity. He
said the adults should
support the needs of the
young people.

Fermon Thomas, one
of the leaders of Negro

Youth Government, was
the first youth to speak.
Thomas, on leave from
the Army, was wearing
his uniform. He pointed
out that Negroes are
not for "black power",
"we just want to be
treated like human be-
ings." He called for
support of organizations
like the Urban League
and the NAACP.

In reference to vio-
lence, Thomas said,
"We don't want to riot,
but we've tried every
legal means. If there's
a riot it won't be our
fault. It lays in the lap
of the council and the
people downtown."

Thomas called there-
cent hearings by the
Board of Public Safety
a "whitewash." He
said, "take heed, we
are no fools."

Middlebrook dramati-
cally expressed Negro
unity in South Bend by
holding up four fingers
representing four major
Negro neighborhoods in
South Bend. He then
clenched these fingers
into a fist and held his
arm high as a symbol of
unity and strength. He
said, "If we must make
demands downtown, we
must go as a united
front. Nobody is going
to give us anything."
He expressed surprise

that some Negroes had
not yet realized this.

Johnson compared the
conditions of Negroes
in America today to
that of the American
colonists before the Re-
volutionary War. He
asked Negroes to "stop
bickering" among them-
selves.

Mr. Jesse Dickenson
said it is the job of

every Negro to influence
persons in power. While
he readily accepted the
right of Negro youth to
make demands, he re-
turned that rights come
with responsibility in
the American way.

Rev. Crockett com-
pared treatment of white
youths to that of Negro
youths by the judicial
system. Negro youths in

Cont. to pg. 8

PRIORITY LIST TO LESSEN
RACIAL TENSION

1.	Suspension of the police officer in charge of the
detail last Wednesday night at LaSalle Park Cen-
ter. Suspension of the officers or officer who fired
into the building.

2.	Calling for a study and a new organizational
structure of the entire police department.

3.	On-going human relations orientation for all
police officers.

Lights in needed areas of the city used for rec-
reational purposes and for proper street lighting.

5.	Declaration from the School Board concerning
defacto school segregation.

6.	All of the community resources active in bring-
ing about new employment opportunities.

7.	We request a fair housing ordinance to be passed
by South Bend Common Council in addition to up-
grading current housing.

8.	More training in the areas of vocational educa
tion and this is to be over and beyond MDTA pro-
grams.

9.	Total involvement of labor unions and the inclu-
sion of all minority youngsters in apprenticeship
programs.

10.	All poverty programs be removed from the edu
cational structure until such time the School Board
declares a non-descriminatory statement.

11.	That there be a concerted effort to give human
relations education program to the total community
by community sources in addition to the Human Re-
lations Commission.

12.	That dialogue be established with the County
Department of Public Welfare to iron out problems
in the areas of welfare.

13.	That immediate steps are taken to create a
Youth Commission which would work in all the
areas concerning youth.