African American History in New Mexico: Portraits from Five Hundred Years

13: How Albuquerque Got Its Civil Rights Ordinance

165 13 How Albuquerque Got Its Civil Rights Ordinance george long • • • On September 12, 1947, the editor of the University of New Mexico school paper, The New Mexico Lobo, employing a well-known journalistic ruse, sent a reporter along with a Negro student, George Long, to a cafe near the campus, Oklahoma Joe’s. When they were refused service, the Lobo had its story. The article appeared in the September 15 issue of the paper and was to lead eventually to the passage of the Albuquerque, New Mexico, antidiscrimination ordinance. Immediately following what was labeled “The George Long Incident ,” a sizable group of irate students on the campus demanded an immediate student council session, to be followed by a general student assembly. Convening on September 18, 1947, for a special session , the council denied requests for the general assembly because of the “unimportance” of the subject. The council did agree, however, to form a special investigating committee to look into the matter of discrimination against a fellow student. The investigating committee exacted a letter from Oklahoma Joe Fiensiler, stating that he was only following fraternity dictates in refusing service to Negroes. His place was a hangout for various campus fraternities. He continued this policy of discrimination until a voluntary student boycott was imposed upon his establishment. The boycott worked well for three days, at which time lack of student trade forced Oklahoma Joe to change his policy temporarily. 166 george long The stage was now set for the second step toward the antidiscrimination ordinance, although at this point all movements were campus activities, without an ordinance or any type of legislation against discrimination in mind. It will be shown from the activities of the university students and various Albuquerque organizations how an ordinance was finally passed. The voluntary student boycott worked so effectively that it was suggested that a boycott clause be inserted in the University of New Mexico Associated Students Constitution. This was the first legislation passed in Albuquerque affecting discrimination in public places, and had only limited force even in relation to the students. The proposed student boycott clause read, “If any student of the University is discriminated against in a business establishment on basis of race, color or creed, I will support a student boycott of that establishment. . . . The Judiciary Committee shall investigate all cases of discrimination in a business establishment against any student on the basis of race, creed or color and have the power to declare a student boycott.” On October 22, 1947, the boycott measure was carried by a three to one vote with approximately three-fourths of the total student body voting. The boycott clause was inserted in a revised University of New Mexico Associated Students Constitution and is still there at present. When on one occasion the Walgreens drugstore in downtown Albuquerque discriminated against a Negro student, a boycott was called against the store. After some discussion with the store’s manager and a directive from the home office, Walgreens reversed its discriminatory policy. In January 1948, while the Walgreens boycott was in effect, a student chapter of the NAACP was organized on the university campus. A Negro student named Herbert Wright was elected its first president . (Wright is now national youth director of the NAACP.) Wright was the first person to conceive of the idea of an ordinance instead of the boycott measure, which proved to be effective only in scattered instances. Wright’s idea was to secure a copy of an ordinance that was in effect at some other place at the time and to revise it to fit Albuquerque’s needs. The problem would then arise of getting such an ordinance passed by the Albuquerque City Commission. How Albuquerque Got Its Civil Rights Ordinance 167 In June 1948 Herbert Wright left the university and remained away until September 1949. The idea of any ordinance was forgotten by the students until Wright returned. While Wright was away, Hobart LaGrone, president of the local branch of the NAACP, had appeared before the city commission a number of times and requested that the commission pass some form of antidiscrimination ordinance. The commission always listened to LaGrone, showing some interest, but it never heeded his requests. In September 1949, upon his return, Wright secured a copy of the Portland, Oregon, ordinance. Along with George Long, who had then entered the law college at the university, he revised the ordinance to fit...