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NAACP Denies Split On Civil Rights Front

NAACP Denies Split On Civil Rights Front image
Parent Issue
Day
9
Month
September
Year
1963
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Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
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NAACP Denies Split on Civil Rights Front

The local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has become an official co-sponsor of City Hall picketing in support of a “strong” fair housing law to counter any "notion” that there is a split between it and the other sponsoring group, the Ann Arbor Fair Housing Association.

A statement from the NAACP today said that three months ago the unit officially endorsed the picketing organized by AAFHA, an affiliate of the Congress on Racial Equality. The NAACP statement added that “some of our members participated regularly in each weekly picket.

“Both organizations were satisfied with this arrangement until about two weeks ago when NAACP did not join the sit-in demonstrations in the city council chamber and some interpreted this as a split between the two organizations,” the statement added.

Official NAACP co-sponsorship of the picketing was announced Saturday in an AAFHA release. The 15th consecutive picketing demonstration is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. today.

The NAACP statement urged picketing participants "to bring a flashlight as a symbol of hope that the council will be moved to act positively and pass a strong and effective fail-housing ordinance that will bring about a better and and brighter city.”

Meanwhile, the demonstrations here were a factor that led to plans for a conference of mayors later this month in Lansing on the civil rights topic.

A discussion of the subject in a closed meeting of mayors during the Michigan Municipal League convention, which ended yesterday on Mackinac Island, was begun with a description of the local demonstrations by Mayor Cecil O'Creal. The last of two sit-in demonstrations resulted in the arrests of 12 demonstrators.

Creal was described as “pretty sick about what was happening in Ann Arbor.”

The session to organize the mayor's conference was called by Lansing’s mayor, Willard Bowerman.

“It’s about time we faced up to something that has been swept under the rug too long,” Bowerman said.

“Whether we like it or not, the problem will strike all communities—and soon.” said Mayor George R. Poulos of Flint.

Several mayors of Detroit suburbs spoke cautiously about civil rights, Poulos said.

Both he and Bowerman criticized handling of the civil rights problem by the Michigan Municipal League. "The league has failed to live up to its responsibilities,” Bowerman said.