Replies To 'The Failure of the Mississippi Project'

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The recent article entitled "The Failure of the Mississippi Project" should have been more appropriately entitled, "The Failure of Mississippi". It represented a neat sleight of hand, putting Mississippi on the defensive in lieu of their usual offensive position. I must confess that my vision was blurred as I read about the "misunderstood (and) unjustly accused" state of Mississippi. Have the overt acts of violence committed by the citizens of this state been completely eclipsed by the gross injustices that have been done to Mississippians? Does the fault lie in others who haven't taken the time to inform themselves of Mississippian definitions of morality and "codes of conduct?"

It was gratifying to learn that a majority of citizens in Mississippi condemn such actions as church bombings and lynchings. This, however, seems incongruous in light of the recent decision of Miss Esther Carter to set free the 21 alleged lynchers of three civil rights workers. According to the Justice Department, her ruling was reached without precedent in either British or American law. Such disregard for state decisions may have been rationalized in colonial America where limited precedents existed. However, precedents concerning procedure for admitting evidence are numerous today. Already there are misgivings about the judge who will convene the Grand Jury in this case. This is the same judge who threatened to jail acting attorney general Katzenbach for contempt. Judge Cox is the one who refered to a gathering of Negroes on "Freedom Day" as a "bunch of chimpanzees."

Mr. Rorer's desire to leave the solution of this far-reaching racial problem to mental deficients such as Judge Cox and the Mississippi policemen pictured in The CRIMSON some time ago would be tantamount to putting a lighted stick of dynamite into the hands of a child. I'm afraid that the beginnings of a solution must come from "outsiders", the proverbial "northern agitators." These may be the only people who really do understand the problem and who are therefore more well-equipped to deal with it.

That any worker in Mississippi over had the idea of "threatening" the white Mississippians to be cooperative is too ridiculous a statement to even consider. The whole project was centered around non-violence. The mass media transmitted this to the public, and elaborate screening processes were employed in the procurement of workers. How Mississippians, more especially an intelligent Harvard student, could be afraid of "aggressive managers" on the part of those workers is ond all levels of comprehension. These workers were dreadfully afraid of the local police. One worker who was in Minnesota for a few days said, "I was a paranoid, I started to flinch every time I saw a police car. I had to remind myself that I wasn't in Mississippi." The fear was in the hearts of the COFO workers, not the natives, not the guntoting "peace" officers typified by Sheriff Rainey and his deputy.

The cause and effect relationship seems to have been confused concerning the "shabby appearance of the workers." The COFO workers did wear blue-jeans and they did wear tennis shoes, in fact many needed hair-cuts and shaves. The cause for such appearances was due to the fact that a majority of these workers were living with Negro families who lacked proper plumbing facilities and hot water. The pride that was supposed to have been created in the Negroes by the outward appearance of the workers was created by their inner devotion to this cause. This devotion prevailing even though the workers had the continual prospect of losing their lives, which was so horrendously illustrated by the lynching of the three COFO workers.

The contributing factor to any failure which may have occured in the project was due to the fear which had been imbued in Mississippi Negroes. The fear they have is that of associating with the workers and of registering to vote because of the consequences that will be imposed upon them by the Mississippians. No blame, however can be placed on these people because large numbers did respond to the project by attending freedom schools and meetings which were always held under the shadow of a potential bombing. As one COFO worker said last week; "We can always get out of here. We are white. Worry about the Negroes, the Negroes in Mississippi. They are the heroes." Ronald Wilson