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6 Little Children Shall Lead Them It could have been a scene from a different time, a different country. Racists lashing out blindly against ideas they feared, solely on the basis of physical attributes they had been programmed to hate. The scene reminded me of Pathe newsreels from the 1930s depicting the racial hatred taking place in Germany. It was ironic to see the same intense bigotry that the United States had fought against during World War II being repeated in our own country. Holstead “Hoss” Manucy, president of the Ancient City Gun Club, was the organizing force behind the local segregationists. A semiliterate farmer and moonshiner, he became the main spokesman for the segregationists and for the Klan.“If them niggers march, we’re gonna march,” he told a national audience from his platform in the city’s central park. I shall never forget the contrast between Manucy’s hate-filled cohorts and the first SCLC demonstration I witnessed. That scene of peaceful protesters will be etched in my memory forever. It literally made the hair on the back of my neck rise and sent chills down the length of my spine. The demonstrators, with small children in the lead, some holding hands, slowly emerged from the shadows of the night, marching silently two abreast in perfect step. As they made their way out of the darkness, flanked by heavily armed and helmeted policemen, they moved in a slow, steady march toward the muffled sounds of screaming Klansmen. Their eyes opened wide, darting to and fro, were filled with fear. From the distant park the faint sounds of the white mob rose and fell in cadence with Little Children Shall Lead Them / 111 the soft sounds of marching feet, giving grounds for the fear I saw in the children’s eyes. But on they came. They reminded me of a stream of bombers headed into a maelstrom of flak, a scene I had observed many times during the war. I marched with them that night, in the rear, surrounded by a number of law enforcement officers. I elected not to wear a helmet, as a gesture of respect to the marchers’ bravery. That night I realized I would have to send Mary and the children home. This was no place for a vacation. I drove my family back to Daytona Beach on the following morning, June 13, and did not attend the hearings in Jacksonville. Judge Simpson denied the state’s motion to limit night marches, as I expected he would.1 It looked as though I was going to be occupied for a long time in St. Augustine , perhaps for the rest of the summer. The ruling allowed King to continue staging marches at night through the very heart of old St. Augustine despite the danger; however, it also allowed the Klan to march at night into the black section of St. Augustine . Judge Simpson, in remarks made shortly after issuing his order, took direct aim at law enforcement:“I suggest real enforcement would arrest these hoodlums everybody seems afraid of and would stop any violence .”2 His comments touched the heart of the legal issue. If local law enforcement was incapable of maintaining the peace and arresting those in St. Augustine who created the violence, Judge Simpson would be forced to intervene. But the complex issue of how to deal with the Klan’s hitand -run tactics, carried out at night as they slipped quickly back into cover of darkness, was not an issue that he addressed. He did not seem to realize the problem that his order created for law enforcement. We would hear more of this later when Governor Bryant was cited for contempt for suspending night marches contrary to Judge Simpson’s order. I would also find myself at the center of this controversy. But up to this point, the demonstrations had been noisy but relatively peaceful, although surrounded by hate; except for isolated incidents by the Klan, no one had been seriously injured. Because of the covert tactics the Klan employed, law enforcement was hard pressed to deal with the situation, especially when violence occurred in isolated areas of the county. It was impossible for police to be at every 112 / Dan R.Warren location where violence might occur. Judge Simpson was obviously out of touch with the realities of the situation in St. Augustine. We simply did not have enough law enforcement officers to keep the peace in the city,especially at...

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