OUSTER OF ADAM CLAYTON POWELL ANGERS BLACK AMERICANS
The new Congress which opened in Washington January 10 provided fresh evidence: the very first day on how well the two-party system serves the interests of the American capitalist system. Lacking any other means of registering dissatisfaction with the ruling party and. its war in Vietnam, voters in many areas turned to the Republicans in the elections last November. With strengthened forces, the. Republicans resumed their old game of setting up‘a coalition with the Southern Democrats to run Congress.
Their first action was to strike down Adam Clayton Powell, the Negro who has represented Harlem'for 22. years in the House of Representatives and who, through the operation of the unofficial seniority system in Congress, had become chairman of the House Education and: Labor Committee, a-prominent. congressional position and one that carries substantial: control of jobs, financial outlays and other "patronage."
On January 9 the Democrats met. in caucus to decide on nominations. It was this body that decided to remove Powell as chairman of the Education and Labor Committee and to nominate in his place the white liberal ‘Democrat Carl D. Perkins of Kentucky. The ~ following day the House voted 364 to 64 for a motion barring him from taking his seat in the new Congress while a committee conducts a five-week "investigation" of his qualifications. ;
The excuse used for this action was his alleged use of congressional funds for personal travels. How flimsy the pretext was can be judged from the fact that this is a common practice among congressmen. Other irregularities have been charged against him such as failure to pay sufficient atterition to his legislative duties and _ Seeking to. get around a court judgment:.in a defamation suit.
. The truth is that Powell, if anything, stands on a somewhat higher level than most congressmen. His. remissnéess in office is around average. His real "crime" is that he is not white.
A ruthless campaign has been waged against him for a numbér. of ‘years in the press and other media, full advantage being taken of his faults and foibles and especially the $164,000 lawsuit against him which has. taken dramatic turns as the lawyers sought to trap him when he visited. his district’ and his church’ in Harlem.
Those who did the knife job on him in- Congress had two aims. One was to get their hands on the patronage that went with the chairmanship of the powerful committee he headed. The other was to strike a blow at "black power" aspirations by removing a leading representative of the Negro community from such a prominent position in Congress. In the calculation:of the leaders of the two-party system, the biow struck at: Adam Clayton Powell is a slap in the face to all the black voters.
Actually Powell has not been an.advocate of "black power" although he has made a few equivocal statements in this direction. His career has been in the Democratic machine -- and even-against the wishes of some of the New York political bosses: who would’ have preferred. someone less inclined to cut his own swath. Various efforts have been made to defeat him'in Harlem. but- each time’ Powell has managed to survive due to his. popularity among the masses.
The liberals of the Democratic party played the most reacherous role in the move against Powell. This’ is affirmed by the country's leading liberal Democratic newspaper , the New York Post. "The liberals got him, of course; they exist for the dirty jobs," wrote Murray Kempton in the January 11 igsue.
The reaction in Harlem and other black ghettos was an angry one. The January 12 New York Times quoted David Henderson, an 18-year-old bank teller as saying:
"When you're black you stand out. They unseated Adam to show black people that they're not as big as they think they are. I hope we put him back where he belongs -by rebellion, strength. I'm all for violence, any shape any form if this is what it takes to get. him back:" | :
The same paper also quoted Mrs. Iucille.Lanclos, a 70-year-old woman: "You got to stick with him through the thick and thin. All they want us to be is porters and scrubwomen. He's a black.man so they don't want him to have power.
"Why do they hate the black man so? We put him there -- why do they have to take him away? I don't believe in violence but J believe you reap what you sow -- that's what the Bible says, so I'm praying."
NEW YEAR'S