They'll Cut Off Your Project: A Mingo County Chronicle

Chapter 11

11 As the May primary election drew close, the activities of the Fair Elections Committee picked up momentum . Hundreds of people were being challenged as illeligible voters, and there was talk throughout the county that the FBI was already investigating the complaints made by the fair elections workers. The candidates endorsed by the Political Action League were attending rallies every night. The rallies usually included some gospel singing followed by a talk by one or two of the candidates. In many instances, the rall ies reached the fervor of an old-time revival meeting. For the first time in years, there were candidates challenging the Noah Floyd machine. Two of the three COllnty commissioner positions werc to be filled, seats vital to the survival of any political machine because the commissioners control county expenditures. But, within the county, the most heated race concerned the Board of Education. T here were two seats to be filled, and six candidates were running, including two endorsed by the Political Action League and the Mingo County Education Commitlee, which was com- ' 49 posed primarily of poor parents who were interested in obtaining free hot lunches for their children. Rumors in political circles were that Noah was making an attempt to elect two of his men to the Board of Education. If this was true, it would have been the first time in a decade that he had openly challenged the Board of Education. 1£ successful , he would control all the elected offices in the county. On March ' 5, in the late afternoon, I received a telephone call from Gladoula White. The news she related was what we had feared and anticipated for a long time. "Huey, I have just learned through my source at the courthouse that a letter has been sent to the OEO by the County Court requesting that they become the sponsor of the community action agency." Her source was Mona Evans, a middle-aged woman who had been a fri end of Gladoula's down through the years and who worked for Tom Chafin. She had managed to retrieve a copy of the letter fTom the wastebasket. The foHowing morning, 1 called Bob Curry in an effort to learn whether he had received the letter. He indicated that the leuer would go to the regional director and he would never see a copy of it, and he suggested that we take any kind of action we felt necessary, adding that he would attempt to keep us informed if he learned any new information . The same evening, I called a special meeting of the community action group chairmen to talk above a course of action to prevent the take-over. Everyone was disturbed by the news and puzzled about what to do. Herbert Meade, sitting looking down at the Aoor, with his head supported by both hands, said, "I have been expecting this. It seems, as soon as we get rid of one obstacle, another one pops up. First it was Gerald Chafin, and now it's Noah Floyd." Everyone was looking to me for an answer. The only thing I could logically come up with was a protest demonstration in front of the courthouse. Yet, I was not sure how receptive the people would be to a demonstration. They had heard vaguely of riots and demonstrations in the cities, and most would probably associate a demonstration with a riot. Anyway, I cautiously approached them with the idea, and, when I had finished talking, Herb Meade rose from his chair and strongly supported my suggestion: "I believe Perry's right. It is our only way to fight back. I don't know if they will understand, but, just maybe, if we can get enough people out, it will make an impression on them. Besides, the primary election is JUSt around the corner, and maybe we can scare them into retracting their decision." The chairmen from the other groups all agreed. Oscar Dingess said, "I can get three hundred people out from Dingess. What we ought to do is go down and burn that damn courthouse to the ground." "That's exactly what we ought to do," chimed in Lewis White. "Why, them no good sons of bitches want everything they can get their hands on, and they don't want to give us poor people nary a thing." "They ain't nothing but a bunch of crooks; that's...