The evening after the first Freedom Day a white, who was drunk, walked into COFO headquarters with a pistol bulging in his pocket. He began a conversation with one of the workers in which he threatened his life--but he left when the worker calmly walked out of the room.
Some local Negroes have been intimidated for their support of the freedom movement. Several weeks ago, the principal of the Negro high school suspended 57 students for wearing freedom buttons to class. COFO workers who inquired were told that such pins were not educational and it was "against school policy" to allow students to wear such "controversial material." The students have filed suit against the superintendent, the principal, and the board of education, alleging that their rights under the First Amendment and the Civil Rights Act have been infringed.
On four occasions Ku Klux Klan members have driven by the Philadelphia office in pickup trucks, carrying rifles in their laps or in racks. COFO workers report that the Klansmen spin their tires, kicking up dust and dirt and forcing anyone in the road to leap aside for safety.
But COFO workers are not alone when the Klan rides by. A 65-year old widow, who lives across from the office, has appointed herself a one-woman protection squad for "my boys," as she calls the workers. When the Klansmen approach, she leaves her rocker on the porch, goes inside, loads her rifle and carries it back to her rocker. "Don't you hurt my boys," she warns the Klansmen.
Apathy and Fear
But the rifle-packing widow is an exception. Apathy and fear keep most Neshoba Negroes from such open militance. One girl told a COFO field secretary that she liked to sit in the segregated section of the local movie theater. Only about 30 of the 1500 Negroes in Philadelphia show up at "mass meetings." And when COFO workers attempted for the first time to distribute two and one-half tons of food and clothing sent from Cleveland, Ohio, they found few takers.
"There are a few brave souls and some who follow these brave souls, but many are scared," one Philadelphia civil rights worker said. "Lots of people don't even know what equal rights are. This is the worst I've seen of the effects which segregation has had on the minds of Negroes."
Despite such apathy, however, COFO workers report that the local Negro citizens are extremely excited about the five arrests of police officers and optimistic about their chances of conviction. Many of them do not exactly understand the charges against the five officers--they think the men have been charged with murder--but are simply elated over the fact that something has been done.
One Negro man told COFO workers, "I really think they'll be convicted." Then pausing he continued, "But if they're not, I'm leaving, 'cause things will be three times as bad around here.