K.C. RESIDENTS
Appalled at a poll
By Swaebon Conateh Empty homes and polite refusals met the efforts of the 22 students and religious advisors who attempted an opinion sampling of fair housing and racial attitudes in the Kansas City community this weekend.
"We signed 150 names," Robert J. Smith, West Plains, Mo., senior, said of the Saturday group of 18 that left from Canterbury House on Louisiana Street.
"It was not a very good response," he said. "We each visited 50-80 homes. For 18 people, that is over 1000 homes. So the result amounts to about 10 per cent favorable response."
ANOTHER GROUP, four KU coeds, left Sunday to work in a suburb. They had even less success.
"I stopped at 50 homes," Sheryl Dorman, Lucas senior, said. "None signed, and one nearly slammed the door in my face. She was really mad and she wanted to know who started it all; she thought it was pretty bad. She said, 'You mean a Nigger would move in by us?'" Miss Dorman said.
The other three girls in her group collected about 11 signatures among them.
"Nobody was home in many of the places we stopped at," John Caldwell, Dallas, Tex., sophomore, said. "They probably were away at work."
THE KU GROUP did not start working until 2 p.m. and most stopped at 5 p.m.
"Some refused to answer the door," Smith said. "I know they were home, for I could hear some noises inside. Maybe they thought I was some kind of welfare worker since this was a poor area of
the city and I believe I was too dressy with a suit and tie. I would have done better in jeans," he said.
Tom Moore, KU-Y adviser, said that one elderly lady who signed his card lives in a penthouse.
"She said she lives on $50 a month; and there are some people in the neighborhood without employment. I believe a few are illiterate. One asked me to fill the form and sign for her. She couldn't write," Moore said.
Kathleen Schommer, volunteer worker for the Catholic Church, said that while the number of signatures was low because not everybody was at home, some didn't understand the questions or feared social reprisals.
"SOME SAID they were not against Negroes, but that they won't go on record for it. There was one who said, I really can't sign this, I work for the city." Some thought that the neighborhood was already integrated," Schommer said.
Smith thought that a series of advertisements the John Birch Society and other right wing groups placed in the Kansas City Star caused some of the confusion.
"The Birchers made them believe that we are out to destroy property. That is a complete misinterpretation of what we want. That is what we are actually trying to fight. Values would not go down on property if people stop picking up and leaving just because a Negro moves into the neighborhood." Smith said.
Smith thought the campaign succeeded in "pricking the conscience of the community. I am sure it is being discussed at the family level. The mere fact of a
dialogue in the community, even if it is opposing, good in itself."
There will be another attempt at sampling the opinion of the Kansas City community on fair housing next weekend.
Daily Kansan Tuesday, March 15, 1966
Youngblood new president of student labor group
5
The Student Labor Organization (SLO) began a general reorganization at a meeting last night in the Kansas Union after being in operation for five weeks.
Members elected new officers and discussed plans for publicity, organization and research to be carried out by the vice-presidents.
The new officers are Mike Youngblood, Prairie Village sophomore, president; Mike Jen-
nison, Wiesbaden, Germany,
sophomore, first vice-president;
Dick Ladesich, Merriam junior,
vice-president; Carlotta Nelson,
Lawrence junior, and Carl Bangs,
Prairie Village junior, secretary
and treasurer.
Over 1,000 students have signed SLO petitions asking the Kansas Board of Regents to allocate funds providing a minimum wage of $1.25 for students employed by the University, Bangs said.
See The GENTRY'S at a Red Dog Inn Special Attraction tomorrow night! You've seen the Gentry's everywhere . . . Hullabaloo, Shindig, Where The Action Is, etc. The English Sound plus the Memphis Sound equals The Gentry's.
RED DOG INN
7th & MASS.