From The Inquirer Vault – Editorial from July 27, 1963 by former Inquirer Editor Charles A. Black

An Editorial

Free, White And 36

U. S. Fifth District Congressman Charles L. Weltner was elected to Congress with very strong Negro support. He has greatly disappointed Negro voters by his opposition to most of the important parts of President Kennedy’s Civil Rights Bills. To add insult to injury, Mr. Weltner released his negative views on Civil Rights to the press shortly after the President made his historic Civil Rights speech, that was so heartwarming and encouraging to Negroes and other fair-minded Americans.

In a meeting of white and Negro leaders called last week by the Atlanta Committee for Cooperative Action, Mr. Weltner in his closing statement told a disappointed audience that he was white, had always been white and had never been discriminated against as negroes are. He said he was sorry but his position on civil rights was unchanged.

Dogs, But Not Negroes

Mr. Weltner says he is against the Public Accommodations Bill because he doesn’t think it will get results and will cause “tension.” Negroes have been under “tension” and without justice for more than 100 years. Mr. Weltner has offered no meaningful substitute.

President Kennedy has been bitterly attacked by Georgia’s Senator Russell. Weltner’s contribution on this issue amounts to insulting support of Russell and disregard for the President’s moral appeal and the Negroes who helped to send him to Washington.

Attorney General Robert Kennedy recently illustrated the disgrace of discrimination in public accommodations before a congressional committee. He cited the example of how in Danville, Virginia and Montgomery, Alabama, how the major hotels in these towns will refuse a Negro, regardless of his station in life, servicemen included, but they advertise that they will accept the “dogs” of their white guests. Mr. Weltner opposes the relief the President has suggested, and makes no suggestions himself.

Negro Leaders Beware

The Atlanta Inquirer is an independent newspaper, promoting justice and human dignity for all citizens. We hereby serve notice on all Negro leaders who try to skirt the Civil Rights issue in favor of party politics in an effort to cover up for any public office-holder regardless to his party. We intend to expose hypocrites, who would sell-out the race for party politics.

The 5th District congressman from Atlanta is in trouble with Atlanta Negroes. He must take immediate steps to justify future support or face the consequences.

Black, Charles A., editor. “Free, White and 36.” The Atlanta Inquirer [Atlanta], Volume 3, Number 50 ed., 27 July 1963, p. 1.

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Charles Longstreet Weltner was a jurist and politician from the State of Georgia. He was born in Atlanta on December 17, 1927 and died on August 31, 1992.

He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (Georgia’s 5th district) from January 3, 1963 to January 3, 1967. Now remembered as someone who helped to outlaw racial segregation, Weltner later acknowledged that the article written in The Atlanta Inquirer, published July 27, 1963, convinced him to vote FOR the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He was the only member of Georgia’s congressional delegation and the only Democrat from “the Deep South” to vote for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He also voted in favor of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Two terms later, activist Andrew Young became U. S. Congressman representing Georgia’s 5th District in 1972.

Weltner was Judge of the Fulton County Superior Court from 1976 to 1981, Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia from 1981 to 1992, and 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia from June 1992 to August 1992.

In 1973, Weltner ran for mayor of Atlanta but finished third behind incumbent Sam Massell and the eventual winner, then Vice Mayor Maynard Holbrook Jackson, who became Atlanta’s first Black mayor.

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Last updated on March 25, 2023