June 18, 1962
Albany Negroes will protest alleged police brutality and discrimination against Arbor Hill and South End residents at a mass "prayer protest" session on the steps of Cily Hall at 3 p.m. tomorrow.
Petitions protesting alleged police brutality in Albany and calling for better police training programs, meanwhile, began circulating today among Albany’s 11,000 Negroes.
Nearly 400 persons attending a rally in Mt. Calvary Baptist Church last night voted approval of plans for the prayer protest and the petition. Negro clergymen also pledged their support and will urge their congregations at morning service tomarrow to turn out for the City Hall demonstration.
About 350 names were signed to the protest petitions last night, according to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Last night’s rally was held under the sponsorship of the Albany NAACP chapter to support Samuel Clark, 39, a former Albany resident who says he was beaten about the eyes and head by two or three "young" police officers on Memorial Day.
Another outcome of last night’s rally was the formation of a nine member citizens committee to work with other groups seeking better community relations in Albany. Dr. Erich Nussbaum of the Committee on Community Relations and James Lockhart were named cochairmen of the citizens committee.
"Unjust" Arrest Charged
Mr. Clark’s Albany relatives, who attended last night’s session, also charge the Conn.
postal clerk was "unjustly" arrested and charged with disorderly conduct while unloading his car, double-parked in front of his mother’s home, 111 Jefferson Street. The alleged beating occurred after the arrest.
A public inquiry into Mr. Clark’s arrest and injuries will resume at 10 a.m. Monday in Police Commisioner James Kirwin’s office.
The petitions circulating among the city’s 11,000 Negroes call for a "full-scale investigation of police practices in the City of Albany" by the Albany county district attorney’s office.
Condemned in Petition
The petitions condemn:
Some 20 speakers including clergymen and other Negro leaders spoke at last night’s rally. Speaker after speaker condemned the "manner in which we are treated in Albany." as one speaker put it. The speakers also criticized what they called "this failure of police and city officials to suspend the policemen allegedly connected with Mr. Clark’s case even though incidents of far lesser gravity have led to immediate suspension of policemen in the past."
"I believe the people of this community believe Samuel Clark and the experiences he’s had are similar to the ones we’ve had," said attorney Emil Drysdale.
Mr. Clark’s mother, Mrs. Lena Clark, who convened the rally with an opening prayer, wept as she told the gathering: "Pray for my boy. He’s not being treated right. They beat my boy."
Harold Walker, an Arbor Hill civic leader, said city officials last year rushed to suspend
Officers who tried to better the police department by forming a Police Benevolent Association. "I know a policeman who put his job on the line. But he was fired on a trumped-up charge," he said.
Other speakers included John Haith, Seventh Ward Republican leader, the Rev. Louis Brewer of Union Baptist Church and Arthur J. Harvey, co-chairman of the NAACP chapter’s legal redress committee.