supported by the D.C. Democratic Central Committee, Mr. Hechinger denounced us as being as "incendiary" as the Black United Front. The Sunday Star in its letters column of July 28, 1968, performed a great public service in printing three letters on the Black United Front and the control of the police, which it is demanding. One of the letters pointed out that the policy of the control of the police was first unveiled on October 22, 1967, by the Communist Party, U.S.A., in a position paper which declared: We believe that under all circumstances black people not only have the right but the responsibility to defend their persons, their homes and their community. And in line with this position we support the view that black people police their own community . . . There can be no question of the right of black people in the United States to use violence to achieve change. The letter in the Star went on to say: It is not surprising to find this line being echoed by the BUF, which has Stokeley Carmichael as one of it's leading members, or by Arthur Waskow, who only last year attracted attention for his role in the ill-fated National Conference for New Politics convention in Chicago. That meeting was so dominated by the Communists and Black Power Extremists that its more naive and innocent participants were nauseated. The D. C. Democratic Central Committee is zeroing in on Chief of Police, John B. Layton, and has called for his dismissal, as the first step in carrying out the policy announced by the Communist Party last October. We are very grateful indeed that the Senate of the United States, in adopting on Tuesday of this week, July 30, 1968, the $548.2 million District Budget for the current fiscal year, gave its support to the report of the Senate Appropriations Committee which raised questions about the constitutionally of a citizen "take-over" of the police department. The Senate report noted that the Constitution gives Congress "exclusive jurisdiction over the district" and that the Congress has conferred is powers over the police on the Mayor. The Senate report said these powers cannot legally be delegated to "private groups or individuals." Ît added that it "would view with much concern any action on the part of any governmental officer or an employee encouraging or assisting any such group or person" to obtain control. The Subcommittee will certainly want to give all the support it can to this view which has been so ably expressed in so timely a fashion by the Senate of the United States. We wish to commend all those individuals and groups who have rallied to the support of Police Chief John B. Layton. Among these are D. C. Republican National Committeeman Carl L. Shipley who attacked as "reverse racism and demagoguery" the demand that Chief Layton be dismissed which was voiced by Bruce Terris, "is a violation of the Federal Civil Rights Laws." Shipley pointed out that the demand for Chief Layton's dismissal disregards questions of merit and competence. Shipley added "it is regrettable that the Democratic chairman would exploit racial tensions and appeal to any of our citizens on the basis of race at a time when our business community is suffering serious losses as a result of the April riots and the Resurrection City episode in June." We agree with Mr. Shipley and we feel confident that the fine citizens of the District of Columbia, who elected the members of the D. C. Democratic Central Committee on May 7, this year, did not vote for then, and do not favor now, the calculated, cruel and heartless attacks on the police and on Chief Layton which have their origin in the policy formulated and announced by the Communist party in its position paper of October 22, 1967. I would like to include as part of my remarks a column by Drew Pearson published in the Washingtor Post, July 31, 1968, entitled "FBI Prepares Report on Black Militants" because of the light it sheds on the black militant movement in the United States today. We thank you for your consideration you have shown us this morning and we want you to know that we deeply appreciate the sympathetic understanding and support which the members of this committee and of the Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike have always given the Metropolitan Police Department of this great city. I would like to include, as part of my remarks, with your approval. Mr. Chairman, an article from today's Washington Post (August 1), reporting that President Johnson regards Police Chief John B. Layton, "very highly" and sees "no justification for the removal of Chief Layton." I would also like to include the tough statement by former Vice President Nixon to the Republican Platform Committee in Miami on crime. Mr. Nixon said "it is too late for more commissions to study violence; it is time for government to stop it. We cannot accept a wave of crime as the wave of the future." Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. DowDY. The articles you mentioned will be made a part of the record. (The articles referred to follow :) [From the Washington Post, July 31, 1968] FBI PREPARES REPORT ON BLACK MILITANTS (The Washington Merry-Go-Round, by Drew Pearson) The FBI has prepared a report on the underground black nationalist movement in the United States that may explain the sudden outbreak of violence in Cleveland. Under a Negro mayor, Carl Stokes, the city has been making great progress toward racial understanding. A handful of black nationalists began shooting police there last week who were merely towing away a parked car. The report may also explain some of the moves by black militants in Washington. Finally, it gives a key to the tremendous upsurge in the popularity of George Wallace, who represents a latent American fascism whose answer to Negro violence is white violence. What the FBI has found in Washington is that black militants have worked out a plan to take over the Nation's Capital. The militants argue that Negroes are now in the majority and that given home rule they can take over the city. At present, Washington is governed by a Negro mayor, Walter Washington, an able executive, who is supported by a city council, with five Negro and four white members. Mayor Washington is considered much too moderate by the black militants. They have worked out the following strategy, neighborhood by neighborhood. First, they will try to persuade the moderates to become militant, and if they fail, then bury them with frustration and harassment. When the moderates hold meetings, the strategy is to break up the meetings or to be so unreasonable that the moderates will have to dissociate themselves from the meetings. This was the explanation of the recent meeting to discuss neighborhood control of police, in an African Methodist Episcopal church where the black militants demanded that all whites leave. The whites present had been strong supporters of Negro progress. When they left, some moderate Negroes walked out with them. Stokely Carmichael sat quietly in a back row of the meeting. He had been one of the architects of the new strategy. Another was Chuck Stone, former assistant to Rep. Adam Clayton Powell. Both militant and moderate Negroes are burnt up over the double standard of ethical conduct in Congress, whereby Powell, a Negro, was expelled while no action is taken against white Congressmen who misbehave. This has caused far more resentment in the black world that Congressional leaders realize and appears to moderates to be a legitimate case against Congress. Carmichael has been laying low following his subversive statements in foreign countries. He has been careful not to say anything publicly which would cause his arrest. His operations, however, have been very carefully followed by the Justice Department, including some of his talks with the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who finally persuaded Carmichael to stay out of the Poor People's march. The Rev. Ralph David Abernathy seems more susceptible to Carmichael's persuasion than was Dr. King. Shortly before the start of the Poor People's march, Mr. Abernathy told the New York Times: "I love Stokely. He's a wonderful guy. I may disagree with individuals like him on strategy, but not on goals. All I know is that we will remain nonviolent." Carmichael's real goal, however, is the overthrow of the United States government. He spelled this out last Aug. 18 in Hanoi at an Afro-American rally attended largely by North Vietnamese. "We are not reformists," he said. "We do not seek to reform. We do not wish to be part of the U.S. government, of its system. We are revolutionaries. We seek to change the imperialist system of the United States. We will be satisfied with nothing less. "We are comrades," he told the North Vietnamese, "because we seek to redeem humanity, because we seek to stop the greatest destroyer of humanity-the United States. When we succeed, and we will succeed, our blood, our lives would have been a little price to pay." Probably Carmichael did not know that his words were picked up by powerful U.S. monitors. What he does know, however, is that his words in Hanoi cannot be used to prosecute him in the United States because the Justice Department can get no witnesses from Communist countries. Back in the United States, Stokely is being very careful not to repeat these remarks. Hon. JOHN L. MCMILLAN, Chairman, House District Committee, Washington, D.C. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DEAR SIR: We wish to bring to your attention our stand on the Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy and the Black United Front. Enclosed please find our statement regarding this issue and our telegram which we sent to President Johnson. It is our fervent hope that your committee will not ignore this pressing issue. Sincerely, (Mrs.) JOAN ABBOTT, President, District of Columbia Police Wives' Association, Inc. D.C. POLICE WIVES' STATEMENT JULY 5, 1968, CONCERNING THE BLACK UNITED FRONT RESOLUTION The Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy has chosen to align himself with the Black United Front, a group which openly condones and urges abolition and death to law enforcement and our husbands. We can not see how this city Councilman can remain in his post of government and continue to be part of an organization that so flagrantly repudiates the laws he himself is sworn to uphold. We call upon Rev. Fauntroy to dissolve his association with the Black United Front or resign his post on the D.C. Council and cower with those who would have anarchy. With the onset of lawlessness, there too is the decline of a safe and orderly society. 98-228-68- -3 TELEGRAMS SENT TO PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON JULY 9, 1968, ASKING REMOVAL OF THE REV. WALTER E. FAUNTROY FROM THE D.C. CITY COUNCIL The Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy has chosen to continue his association with the Black United Front which outragiously condoned the public murder and shooting of two disarmed policemen attempting to perform their duty. He can not remain in his post of government under which our husbands work yet continue to be part of the Black United Front. He can not serve two masters or travel two roads simultaneously, but has stated his intention of doing so. We are therefore compelled to ask for his expedient removal from the City Council, This statement was released July 15, 1968, by Police Wives United criticizing local news media for their irresponsible and biased reporting in any matter regarding the Metropolitan Police. For further information you may call: Mrs. Evelyn Brennan, 572—4799. Mrs. Patricia Buckley, 262-1595. Mrs. Rosemary Gaine, 577-5918. In regard to the resolution passed last week by the Black United Front. Let us set some of the records straight of the inconsistencies of their resolution and also errors in newspaper accounts. Pvt. Stephen A. Williams had on the evening of Monday, July 1, 1968, made a police department offense report of a robbery which had taken place in which the complaining witness, who was a Negro, had reported that he had been hit over the head with a pistol and $30 of his money taken. At this time, this complainant gave the information to Pvt. Williams that the subject who had robbed him was known to this complainant as Johnny. Around 24 hours later Pvt. Williams, in the company of Pvt. Matteson, were called to the 1300 block of Columbia Road by this Negro complainant who pointed out to them John White as the man who had robbed and pistol whipped him the previous night. The rest is known to history that when Pvt. Williams attempted to arrest subject White for the alleged robbery (which is a felony), they were jumped. Pvt. Williams was murdered and Pvt. Matteson critically wounded. Isn't it hypocritical that this so called Negro leadership, including the Democratic National Committeeman from Washington, D.C., an inconsistency with the demands of the past that Negros weren't getting a fair shake from white policemen. Here was a Negro man who had been robbed-struck with a gun-calling for assistance from HIS police department-and when this assistance arrived to aid him-and took the proper action--they met with death and injury. These same leaders who cried that police treat Negros as second class citi. zens-now turn around and call this murder justified. They use their basis for justification that police have been killing Negros in the ghettos unjustifiably. Yet they come forth with no example of where a policeman has ever killed a Negro unjustifiably in this city. They try to use as an example the case of the injured, Officer Matteson, who a year ago shot and killed a Negro while defending himself. However, they gloss over this case very quickly because in examination of the facts of that case show that Matteson used every means possible to apprehend the subject before using his revolver as a last resort to defend himself against possible death or serious injury. The key witness in that case was the deceased Negro's brother, who testified that his brother went at Matteson with a knife-stating he was going to kill Matteson-and that Matteson had even begged the subject to drop the knife-and that Matteson fired only to protect himself. We are sure that most Negros were appalled by the cruel, rude and selfish resolution passed by this Black United Front. This type leadership, who would have been the first to criticize Pvts. Williams and Matteson for NOT taking action, now state that the death and injury are justified. It seems apparent that no matter what action a white policeman takes, that this Black United Front would find grounds to criticize. The Reverend Fauntroy states he doesn't agree with the resolution, but that he is going to remain a member of the organization, so that he may influence its membership. If this is an example of his influence, either he is over-estimating himself or the fact is that he has no influence at all! Much has been made that white policemen in Chicago and Detroit have been members of the Klu Klux Klan. However, it should be noted that when this affiliation became known, these men were asked to resign or were suspended. This black Klu Klux Klan that has now been formed will no more help the Negro than the white Klu Klux Klan helped the white race. POLICE WIVES UNITED. Mr. DowDY. I might say this, last year this Committee reported the anti-crime bill (P.L. 90-226, approved Dec. 27, 1967) which was passed by the House, and subsequently it became law. In that bill, we, this Committee and the House, approved a provision which fixed and made mandatory, additional sentence for crimes committed with a gun. For several years, the Senate wouldn't go along with it and it was opposed by the Justice Department. That is the only reason the mandatory feature was not put in the law as you mentioned earlier, which we have now put into the gun bill (P.L. 90-351, approved June 19, 1968) the Poff-Casey amendment. But I did want you to know that this committee has held that view all the time, that I have had it all the time, and when the opportunity has presented itself, I have always urged the fixing of a minimum sentence by law. We several times reported bills fixing the minimum sentences, which passed the House, but always over the opposition of the Justice Department. You mentioned the City Council's gun law, the gun ordinance. I have this opinion about these proposals for gun registration, of course it will not stop crime. But the people of the United States, not only the District of Columbia, are disturbed about the crime and riots and looting going on in the country and are very open about their opposition to that sort of thing; I think these gun laws are proposed as a smoke screen to get the people's minds off crime and so on and to get them to talking about guns and forget about the real problem. You know if you can get people off something that is bothering them and get them on to something that is really immaterial it will be good politics to divert their thoughts by promoting this anti-gun measure and try to persuade people that passing a gun law will stop crime. I don't think it will go, because the idea is ridiculous. The American people are not that gullible. Mr. Machen? Mr. MACHEN. I would just like to compliment Mrs. Abbott on a very thoughtful, fair statement, and I am satisfied that it is the voice of the police because it takes the wife to do the talking before a Committee. Mrs. ABBOTT. I am sure it is true. Mr. MACHEN. And the difficult position that you all have in backing up your husbands in their chosen field of endeavor makes it rather rough, but I think that the overwhelming majority of the citizens of the District of Columbia are behind just what you have stated, a fair and impartial and effective enforcement of the law against any perpetrator of a crime. I think we get that message loud and clear, and if we do things will start changing. Mrs. ABBOTT. I sure hope so. Mr. MACHEN. I think we hear too much about this community relationship and perhaps I might add, to me I think one of the most ef fective programs we have had in the District for many years has been the Police Boys Club and I think they still continue to carry on very effectively with community relations with Boy's Clubs activities, do they not, Mrs. Abbott? Mrs. ABBOTT. Yes, they do, but then there is a problem there, too, Congressman. Most of the men are working six days a week because of the crime problem. In addition to that they are attending American University classes maybe two, three nights a week; they are at |