WALB (Television station : Albany, Ga.)

Description

In this WALB newsfilm clip from July 21, 1961, Albany, Georgia mayor Asa D. Kelley speaks at a press conference held in his office where he asserts that the city's intent in obtaining a temporary federal injunction prohibiting civil rights movement leaders from leading demonstrations is to provide law-abiding citizens with additional protection against racial conflicts. Kelley emphasizes that the federal marshals present in Albany are only there to serve the temporary injunction to those named in the suit; the marshals will not affect the city's ability to enforce its own laws or the laws of the state. He repeatedly stresses that the restraining order will provide equal protection to law-abiding citizens of all races. The city views the court order as "another weapon to use against outside agitators" and a way to fulfill their responsibility to protect citizens from mob violence and preserve peace; he cites a similar suit that took place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in which the city obtained a permanent injunction against the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to halt racial agitation. He says the African American leadership bears the burden of the injunction, and that they must decide if they will ignore a lawful order of the United States district court in the same way they have disdained Albany city ordinances. Kelley ends by reading from the injunction, which says that the local and national leaders of the Albany Movement "threaten to continue and intensify their acts of mass picketing, demonstration, parades, boycotts, and riotous...

Record Contributed By

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia