The Megaphone (Georgetown, Tex.), Vol. 65, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, April 14, 1972 Page: 9 of 20
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THE MEGAPHONE
Friday, April 14, 1972
PAGE 9
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION EVIDENT IN CAIRO, ILL
MARSHALL, 111 (CPS)-A Sub-
committee of the U. S. Commission on
Civil Rights concluded a public hearing
March 25 in the racial1 y-divided and
economically-depressed city of Cairo, a
once-prosperous river port located on the
southernmost tip of Dlinois where the
Mississippi and Ohio Rivers converge.
Cairo erupted in violent racial conflict in
1967, and has since suffered a state of
limited guerrilla warfare.
The Subcommittee, headed by Com-
missioners Frankie M. Freeman, a St.
Louis attorney, and Maurice B. Mitchell,
Chancellor of the University of Denver,
probed administrative problems of local,
county, State and Federal officials in law-
enforcement, education, housing, public
health and employment. On the second day
of the 2 1/ 2 day hearing, Commissioner
Mitchell viewed conditions in Cairo as
“hopeless”. Most of the testimony sup-
ported that observation.
Reporting the findings of a 1970 survey of
law enforcement in Cairo, (pronounced
kay-row locally), Charles Vanderbosch,
investigator for the International
Association of Chiefs of Police, charged
that Cairo’s police department was
“barren of professionalism, suffered a
complete lack of discipline,” and “had
failed to gain the confidence of either white
or black citizens”. Vanderbosch’s study
discovered the department “did not even
keep records”. Vanderbosch reported he
later learned that Cairo police officials had
returned a $75,000 grant awarded by the
State of Illinois for the creation of a human
relations board on grounds that the
program was too “top-heavy” and
represented “outside control”. Four
blacks who had formerly served on the
Cairo police force testified the department
condoned and encouraged bigotry. The
present police chief was alleged to have
stated “I won’t take anything from no
nigger”. Robert Meeks testified he quit the
force after a complaint he had made about
a police broadcast which had included the
phrase “shoot the nigger in the back” was
ignored. Each of the ex-policemen charged
that Cairo police harrassed and brutalized
By F. L. Bernstein
the black community.
Cairo Police Chief William Bowers and
Police Commissioner James Dale claimed
the charges against the department were
exaggerated. Bowers stated he had “never
seen too much violence used to secure an
arrest”, and that the charges against his
force couldn’t be true because “the pen-
dulum had swung to the left” setting up too
many checks on police activity to allow the
alleged abuses Commissioner Dale stated
“there was no race problem in Cairo” but
Cairo did face “a criminal conspiracy”
hidden “under the guise of civil rights”.
Dale admitted there would be no human
relations board in Cairo as long as he was
in office. Neither official was willing to
claim ultimate responsibility for police
operations in Cairo.
Testimony concerning education
revealed that Camelot, an all-white
private school established in 1970 for
grades 1 through 12, had been granted a
tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue
Service, despite the fact that the school
cannot be accredited because of its ad-
missions policy. Asked to explain the IRS
decision, Regional Internal Revenue
Service Commissioner Edward Trainor
observed that “the racial question was
comparatively new” and that his office
had not investigated the private school
partly because a complaint had to be filed
by a Cairo citizen, offering “proof” of
segregation. When a copy of one complaint
on file was then shown to Trainor, he
denied ever having seen it.
The investigation of housing discovered
that only one of Cairo’s eight public
housing projects had been integrated.
Federal guidelines for desegregating
public housing were issued in 1966, but
according to James Johnson, Director of
the county housing authority since 1939,
“Cairo was so racially polarized,
desegregation couldn’t proceed.” Johnson
claimed he had discussed his problems
with Federal officials, but added, “I can’t
give you a name or a date, all the meetings
were informal.” Although Johnson
regularly submitted information to the
Federal government as required by law,
never, the Subcommittee found, had he
ever been questioned by Federal
authorities about that data, or his
“policy”.
The pattern of racial discrimination in
employment was no less blatant. Asked
why no blacks served in any “high-level”
capacity in the government of a city whose
population was 37% black, Cairo’s Mayor,
James Walder claimed there weren’t
many “qualified” blacks in his “limited
colored pool”. A "qualified” candidate,
the mayor suggested, was a “high-caliber
middle-class gentleman” Cairo, Walder
admitted, had “no long range plan”.
Asked if he thought Cairo could continue as
it was, Walder answered, “Don’t see why
not.”
The closing statement of the Sub-
committee differed sharply with Mayor
Walder’s prediction. Cairo, the statement
noted, had lost half its people in the last
few years. More than one third of the
present population receives public
assistance. The police department “seems
to have become an instrument of control in
the hands of one segment of the com-
munity.” Unemployment and un-
deremployment for both blacks and whites
is “crucial”, and one half of the city’s
population lives in substandard housing.
Yet the city and county officials have
continually refused state and Federal
funding because it cannot be “controlled”
locally.
The Federal Commission on Civil Rights
is itself powerless to initiate corrective
measures. The hearings held by the
Commission are designed to “gather in-
formation” which it then “communicates
to concerned Federal and State agencies.”
In view of the established complicity of
some State and Federal agents in the Cairo
situation, and the bureaucracy-inspired
indifference of others, the impact of the
Subcommittee’s hearing on that troubled
community is doubtful.
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Deferred Tuition Bill
Passes
By Vicki Zeldin
ALBANY, N Y (CPS)—A bill to allow
New York students to learn now and pay
later has been passed by the New York
State Senate and sent to the Assembly for
action.
Commonly referred to as deferred
tuition, the bill would, for the first time,,
make available low cost loans to students
whose family incomes exceed $15,000
Under the provisions of the plan,
sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Earl
Brydges (R-Niagara) and over 30 other
Senators, a student would not have to start
repaying the loan until one year after he
left school or three months after he
becomes regularly employed, whichever
comes first. Students whose family in-
comes are above $15,000 would only have
to pay the interest during this period.
The interest rate on the loans is fixed by
the federal government at 7%, and the bill
would allow the state to charge an ad-
ditional 1/ 2 of 1% in order to defray the
cost of borrowing. HE AC has never
charged an additional interest rate.
Currently a student and his parents whose
income exceeds $15,000 must obtain a bank
loan at 15% interest.
Any New York State student planning to
attend college or vocational school in any
state would be allowed to borrow money
which would be available from the New
York State Higher Education Assistance
Corporation (HEAC) or the New York
State Mortgage Agency (SNYMA). Out-of-
state students attending New York schools
can also apply for loans. The state
guarantees 20% of the loan and the federal
government guarantees the rest.
The measure would lower the age of
majority so that a student, regardless of
age, could take out a loan and would also
be responsible for its repayment. Nor-
mally a person under 21 must have his
parents sign for, as well as be responsible
for, a loan.
Last year an almost identical measure
was passed unanimously by both houses,
but was vetoed by the Governor. Ac-
cording to one of this year’s sponsors it
was vetoed because HEAC had some
objections to the original measure, but
these have now been worked out.
This is the first such deferred tuition
plan to be initiated by a state. Yale
University last fall began a deferred
tuition plan last fall and it is reportedly
highly successful.
IRS Denies School
Tax Exempt Status
BERKELEY, CALIF. (CPS)—The In-
ternal Revenue Service has denied the
Free University of Berkeley (FUB) tax
exempt status, contending FUB is “not
operated to conduct educational activities
or to advance education.”
In a Feb. 2 letter to the Free University
the IRS stated two criteria for their denial
of tax exempt status under the IRS Code.
The IRS denied FUB exempt status
under a provision which specifies that “the
organization does not approve any course
that is illegal or that advocates or endorses
the commission of illegal activities,” and
maintains that the organization must
viewpoints and facts in controversial
courses by monitoring such courses.”
They gave the Free University 30 days to
appeal before the ruling becomes final.
The public information officer of IRS’s
San Francisco District Office was unable
to give an example of an illegal Free
University course.
Bruce Provin, coordinator of the Free
University, said he thought the IRS letter
“was the usual incredible bureaucratic
double-speak.” He charged that the IRS
has neither defined what an illegal course
is nor stated that any Free University
course is in fact illegal.
In their appeal, dated Feb. 29, the
coordinators of the Free University ac-
cused the IRS of publishing contradictory
criteria, for denying tax exemption
They said, “For example, we are ‘too
free’ because we do not ban the teaching or
exposition of certain illegal” courses or
points of view, yet at the same time it
seems we are ‘not free enough’ because we
don’t insure that there is a full and fair
exposition of all viewpoints where con-
troversial courses are involved.”
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The Megaphone (Georgetown, Tex.), Vol. 65, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, April 14, 1972, newspaper, April 14, 1972; Georgetown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth634523/m1/9/?q=Lamar+University: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Southwestern University.