◆ SpookStack

‘) (The above is based partly on Walker, Organizing for Nonviolent Direct Action.) Police policy varies rather widely from state to state, within states from city to city, and even within cities from time to time. It varies from states in which conferences of police officials hear represen~ tatives of civil rights and peace groups explain their policies, to states where there is no communication, much less understanding, between demonstrators and police officials. gaged in by units of the State and National Guard. Federal troops have been used in only a few cases, notably Little Rock and the University of Mississippi. Civil rights workers will want to remember that in the latter case Negro troops were systematically excluded from duty at the University, resulting in considerable unrest and, according to a confidential informant, a near mutiny at one point. As individuals, Federal troops generally will tend to be friendly to the civil rights movement partly because of the nature of their duty, partly because of their racial composition, and partly because they resent local hostility which is aimed at 80. them by segregationists. On the other hand, there is little reason to hope that the simple presence of Fed- eral troops will necessarily change the local situation; more likely the situation will only be "frozen" at its present point, and all demonstrations (including by civil rights groups) banned. Local resentment at Federal “occupation” may in fact be turned against local move- ments once Federal protection is removed. Alabama and Mississippi "Tough" policing of civil rights generally falls into two types: the "Alabama System" and the "Mis- sissippi System." The former involves the lack of police protection for legitimate demonstrations ~- it permits the formation of mobs, as in the case of the Freedom Riders in 1961. The latter system forbids the formation of mobs, and uses police authority to crush civil rights demonstrations. This has the advan- lave of being not only more efficient, but also proceeding under the protection of "law and order." While Northern police do not use the "Alabama System," it should not be thought that they never use the Mississippi System. There are at least two variations upon this system -- the straight-forward, “hard" line: disperse, or else. Period. The other variation appears seft on the sur- face and attempts to disarm, psychologicaliy, the leauership and rank-and-file by beieg puiite furst, and only later pulling off the scft gloves. For example the at ey ce eee ee