Confusing the Cause

Should civil rights groups tend merely to their own cause, or should they take stands on broader issues--such as U.S. foreign policy? There is growing disagreement about the answer to that question.

The Rev. Martin Luther King, for one, feels strongly that "the civil rights movement must not be afraid to address itself to the problem of war. For it is marvelous to talk about integration, but we've got to have a world in which to be integrated. It's marvelous to talk about drinking milk at an integrated lunch counter, but what will that milk mean if it has strontium 90 in it? I'm not going to sit silently by the wayside and see war being escalated in our world and never rise up to say a word about it. All I know is that the war in Viet Nam must be stopped. And I also know that there must be a negotiated settlement."

CORE'S James Farmer is just as explicit. Delivering the opening address at his organization's 21st national convention in Durham, N.C., recently, Farmer said: "It is impossible for the Government to maintain a decisive war against poverty and bigotry in the U.S. while it is pouring billions down the drain in war against people in Viet Nam. The billion dollars available to fight poverty is puny compared with the need and insignificant compared with the resources expended in wars."

Heeding Farmer's words, the convention passed a resolution that called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Viet Nam as well as the Dominican Republic. No sooner had the resolution been approved than Farmer was on his feet, pleading with the delegates to reconsider. CORE, he warned, ran the risk of losing support if it became involved in a peace movement. "Personally," he told the convention, "I am in complete agreement with the resolution. But I think we in CORE should make those decisions as individuals, not as an organization." The resolution was tabled.

N.A.A.C.P. Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins, just back from a national convention in Denver, appeared on television to put the question in another perspective. As far as the N.A.A.C.P. is concerned, he said, "we think we have enough Viet Nam in Alabama to occupy our attention. I do feel that when you mix the question of Viet Nam into the question of Mississippi and Alabama and getting the registration and vote and employment and all the things the American Negroes want in this country, you sort of confuse the issue." Later, Wilkins expanded on his theme: "I don't believe civil rights groups have enough information on Viet Nam, or on foreign policy, to make it their cause. I don't think you can run a country with 196 million Secretaries of State."

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