CAR Condemns Firebombings At NAACP, Reverend's Home

The Committee Against Racism (CAR) has denounced recent Boston firebombings as attempts "to intimidate black parents and their allies from continuing the struggle for desegregation in Boston," in a letter circulating through the Harvard community.

The open letter, which is co-sponsored by a group of black Divinity School students, refers to last week's firebombings of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Boston office and the home of Reverend James Coleman of Concord Baptist Church in Roxbury.

The letter is intended to draw attention to this "self-evidently deplorable action," Theda R. Skocpol, assistant professor of Sociology, said yesterday.

'Lives at Stake'

"Our lives are at stake," Reverend Coleman said yesterday. "Those who are not concerned with what happened yesterday may be those whose lives are threatened tomorrow," he added.

"A diverse group of people are joining quickly on this issue," Neal L. Koblitz '69, assistant professor of Mathematics, a CAR member and signer of the letter, said yesterday.

The letter's sponsors plan to hold a meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 17 to allow Reverend Coleman an opportunity to speak to the Harvard community and discuss some possible response to the firebombings.

Nancy Scollard, a fifth-year graduate student in Religion and interim chair-person for the CAR, said yesterday if the group does not receive permission to use a University building the meeting will take place in a church.

The CAR has not received status as an official University organization.

Among the 40 signers of the letter are Reverend Peter J. Gomes, minister of Memorial Church, and Rabbi Ben-Zion Gold, director of Hillel.