Whites Still Complacent

There is nothing to indicate that the events of March 28 have given Memphis decision-makers or the white population generally any second thoughts about the strike or race relations in their city. Mayor Loeb maintained his previous stand that the strike was illegal and the city would not agree to a dues check-off. The City Council had a series of three closed-door meetings but remained deadlocked. The president of the Chamber of Commerce said 'they would not have had the trouble if Negro ministers had tended to their ministering, according to the New York Times. He said many Negroes will not work, and that "you can't . . . make the kind of citizens out of them you'd like." A bank officer was sure everything would be just fine. Many leaders were pleased with the way in which police handled the situation.

One of Memphis' outstanding industrialists and a wealthy Memphis financier, in a joint interview the day after the riot, said they knew of no move among business leaders to change the mayor's mind. In fact, they expressed their own satisfaction at the stand he had taken. They had their own domino theory about being firm on the sanitation strike. "If we don't take a stand here, what next?" the industrialist asked. He feared police and firemen's unions. The industrialist's full and complete explanation of the mayor's rigid opposition to a dues check-off was simply that he knew most of the workers would drop out of the union if the union had to collect dues directly.

These two men were convinced, moreover, that the rank-and-file Negroes did not support the strike or civil rights protests. The industrialist had had someone in his office call around to see how many of his Negro employees had not reported for work on Thursday. Of about 150, none were absent, he said. All of the trouble, he concluded, was the work of the union organizers.

A young white man-in-the-street commented, "It's ridiculous. These folks have no right to strike. They are city employees. It's just like military service."

A woman behind a counter said, "One of the labor leaders says to me, 'Loeb's crumbling.' Well, shoot, with the niggers and hoodlums and troublemakers -- all the pressure he's been under for the past six weeks -- the Rock of Gibraltar would crumble! But Loeb ain't crumbling. He'll never give in."