Search For Successor To Dr King

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31661, 23 April 1968, Page 13

Search For Successor To Dr King

(From

FRANK OLIVER,

N.Z.P.A.

special correspondent)

WASHINGTON,

Millions of Negroes in the United States are now engaged in the search for a new moderate leader to replace Dr Martin Luther King.

Last summer when city riots were at their height the influence of Dr King and his moderate followers appeared whittled away to almost nothing. The civil rights movement on the Negro side was in the hands of extremists and “black power” threatened to become the religion of the blacks.

The riots passed and the influence and prestige of Dr King and his followers revived remarkably. The voice of moderation again made itself heard through the land. But there were differences even in the movement headed by Dr King. Some of his followers thought his movement should become rather more militant without '.losing its adherence to non-violence. At the time of his death ,Dr King was engaged in the search for a new and constructive role for himself and his followers to play. Desegregation was, legally speaking, accomplished and was getting nearer to accomplished fact. lienee his attention concentrated on economic progress. This was in tune with the beliefs of not only many Negroes but many thinking whites—that more jobs and better pay would do more good for under-privileged Negroes at this stage than any amount of legally proclaimed desegregation of schools, restaurants and transportation. HELP SOUGHT For help, Dr King turnedto prominent Negroes with more economic information than he possessed, notably A. Philip Randolph, head of the Union of Sleeping Car Porters and one of the most respected union men in the country, and to Bayard Rustin, long recognised as one of the best brains in the Negro movement for civil rights. They produced and Dr King backed a plan concerned with guaranteed employment and minimum incomes for the poor, both of which called for vastly increased Federal expenditure. This was their version of the so-called negative income tax plan which, incidentally, has been gaining support among economists since it was first publicly proclaimed by the economic adviser of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election year. Dr King’s first essay in his new plan was in Memphis where he went to use his influence to settle a garbage men's strike, which had been in progress many weeks. It was there while on that business that he was assassinated.

Thus the Negro movement for civil rights is back where it was last summer after the city riots, an amorphous mass with lots of section leaders and no one outstanding leader.

At this point there are six main leaders of the Negro community and a fairly varied lot they are. OLD FRIEND

Dr King’s successor in the Southern Christian Leader-

ship Conference is his old and valued friend, the Rev. Ralph Abarnathy, now aged 42, who has the task before him of rallying the Southern Christian leadership to his banner and then trying to extend his influence to hundreds of thousands of Negroes outside it as did Dr King. It has been suggested that he may adopt a more militant position than that of Dr King and move forward to a programme of jobs, housing and education for the poor of his race.

One of the most influential Negroes in public life today is Mr Roy Wilkins, who has for years been the executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. This is the biggest Negro organisation in the country, with approximately half a million members, which gives Mr Wilkins the right to speak influentially on almost any subject affecting the Negro. He is a distinct moderate and his main interest has been in helping to secure the legal enactments, the civil rights bills that have passed through Congress. He is a sincere believer in interracial co-operation and he holds the respect of many whites as well as masses of Negroes. But he is now in his late 60s and it is alleged against him that he is completely out of touch with the young Negroes. Bayard Rustin, in the Wilkins age group, is the thinker in the Negro movement He is not the speaker to fire a mass meeting but could be influential as an assisting intellect behind any emerging leader who would listen to him.

Whitney Young, in his middle 40s, stands firmly for

moderation and firmly against anger and violence. He has always been for co-operation between the races. He runs the Urban League, an organisation endeavouring to improve urban affairs for the benefit of Negroes and whites. It does not engage in political activity. CREATED SLOGAN

Stokeley Carmichael, still in his 20s, created the slogan “black power” and is believed by some to be the one hero of the militant young Negroes. Whitney Young doubts this. He told an audience recently that Carmichael had behind him about 50 Negroes and 5000 reporters and argued that if the news media ceased giving him so much publicity in the ptess, on radio and particularly on TV he would, so to say, be small potatoes. But he does have the ability to sway crowds.

The sixth is Floyd McKissick, 46, national director of the Congress of Racial Equality. He is a militant but not of the Carmichael stripe. He has a following among young Negroes but has been fairly conciliatory towards the white community. He is said to be searching for something that will transform “black power” from a slogan and philosophy into operational programmes. The general belief is that from this group will come the leadership of the Negro movement as it enters its next phase.