Group pickets Inn
(Continued from page 1)
Photo by Rick Pendergrass
Trooper directs demonstrators
supposedly led to their resignation.
A telegraph sent to Robert L. Brock, president of Inn Operations, Inc., owner of the Lawrence Holiday Inn, contained five demands:
- The rehiring of Mrs. Hamilton and the other employs.
- Giving back pay to the women for the time they were not employed by the Holiday Inn.
- Human relations training for Inp Operations, Inc. employees
- A meeting between Brock and Simons at 10 a.m. today at the Wesley Foundation, 1314 Oread.
- The immediate dismissal of Anderson.
Won't meet demands
Brock said yesterday that he had no intention of meeting the demands, saying that the women had quit work because they objected to changes in work schedules, and that no racist attitudes were involved.
"I don't honor demands of that type." Brock said.
He added that he is "deeply confident that they (the demonstrators) don't know what they're talking about."
In response to the demand that he meet with the demonstrators at 10 a.m. today, Brock said he would be out of town on a planned business trip.
"I wouldn't go anyway," he said.
When Anderson was questioned about the situation last week, he said, "I have no
'We will be back'
Hoy Steele, Lawrence graduate student, and Thomas Rehorn, director of the Wesley Foundation discuss strategy at a demonstration and sit-in at the Holiday Inn.
comment to make on the problem, since I can see no problem.
"To my knowledge, nobody has been fired. Therefore, nobody has quit because of that," he said.
Comments unfortunate
Sergeant Harold R. Bennett of the Kansas Highway Patrol directs student demonstrators to stay clear of the public right of way on highway 59 across the street from the Lawrence Holiday Inn.
Tom Rehorn, University Christian Movement director, and an organizer of the demonstration, said yesterday that Brock's comments were unfortunate for several reasons.
"His comments confirm in the minds of many students that those in power do not take the students seriously." Rehorn said.
"Until Brock satisfies us there will be no quitting," Rehorn emphasized.
He said, "Most all of us here are white, and this is the way it should be. We have not asked the help of BSU. This is a white problem."
Simons explained the situation as he understood it, saying, "Last fall, the Holiday Inn got a new manager who made it quite clear to the black employees that he would not easily be able to work with 'colored people' since he had not done so before.
12 KANSAN Mar. 17 1969
"He demoted Della Hamilton from her supervisory position to maid. Mrs Hamilton refused to take the demotion and was fired.
"Technically, however, she quit because she refused to take the demotion," he said.
Mrs. Hamilton was unavailable for comment.
Simons said he talked to Anderson last Monday and presented the demands to him. Anderson refused to meet the demands, Simons said, which brought about the demonstration.
At the Saturday morning meeting, Rehorn explained, Simons outlined the procedure of the demonstration. Every possible seat in the restaurant was to be occupied by 11 a.m. The participants were directed not to order any food or drink, other than black coffee.
"We thought the coffee should be black as a symbolic gesture," he said, laughing.
He then instructed the participants not to leave the restaurant until 2:30 p.m.
Equivalent of boycott
Simons added that by staying through the busy lunch hour, without making any food orders, the demonstrators kept the restaurant from making any profit. He said this action was equivalent to a boycott.
The participants were instructed not to engage in violence of any kind. In case of arrest, they were told to go quietly.
The demonstrators began arriving at 10:00 a.m., and all
empty tables were filled by 10:15 a.m. By 10:30, all the tables were occupied by the demonstrators, and the pickets were established outside.
The picket signs carried such slogans as "Racism should not be 'Inn'" and "Boycott racist motel!"
Anderson entered the restaurant at 10:40 a.m. and announced nobody would be served. He then asked the demonstrators to leave. When they refused, he announced the restaurant was closed, and proceeded to lock the iron bars which serve as a door to the restaurant.
Anderson then turned to a Kansan reporter covering the demonstration, and pushed him out the door.
summoned police officers including Lawrence police and Kansas Highway Patrol officers.
Dead mouse
"The restaurant is closed, and I don't want you in here!" he exclaimed, grabbing for the reporter's notes.
When requests to be served were turned down, one student who had found a dead mouse in one corner of the restaurant, put it on a plate and began passing it around, which brought raucous laughter from the rest of the demonstrators and onlookers.
Grabs reporter's notes
Shortly after 11:00 a.m., a Lawrence police car arrived, and several detectives entered the lobby.
When the demonstrators discovered the waitresses were losing money from tips, Simons passed around a hat to take up a collection for them.
The police took photographs of the demonstrators.
14-205, criminal trespassing.
When he brought the hat to the gate, it was full of bills ranging from $1 to $10. Simons then presented the money to the waitresses who turned it down, saying they would rather it be donated to a worthy organization, such as the Salavation Army.
During the demonstration, the picketers outside passed out flyers explaining their actions, listing the charges they made against Anderson, the five demands they had sent to Brock and apologies to the people who came to eat lunch at the restaurant.
The demonstrators in the restaurant asked to be served, but were turned down by Anderson. By this time he had
At 1:00 p.m. the police entered the restaurant and announced that everyone was to leave by 1:20 p.m. or be arrested for violation of city ordinance
The demonstrators then left the building and moved across the street to a vacant lot, where they began picketing.
Objective accomplished
Simons said they left because they felt they had made their point and accomplished what they set out to do by closing the restaurant. He said they would wait in the lot for the restaurant to reopen, at which time, they would reoccupy the establishment.
Meanwhile, the police locked the doors to the main lobby of the motel.
When a Kansan photographer tried to enter, a Lawrence police officer produced a nightstick and ordered him to leave.
Shortly before 2:30 p.m., the demonstrators voted to disperse and meet again at 8 p.m. today at the Wesley Foundation to decide further strategy.
Simons said the group would repeat the sit-in again next Sunday, "if the situation is not resolved."
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