Violence is no stranger to Cairo , Ill., a decaying former riverboat port at the confluence of
the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Below the Mason-Dixon Line and closer
to Little Rock than Chicago in attitude as well as mileage, the capital
of the state's “Little Egypt” section is a thoroughly Southern town.
Its 4,000 white citizens are determined to maintain the local system of
apartheid over the town's 4,000 blacks that has persisted since before
the Civil War. White Cairoites responded with cross burnings and shotgun blasts when
blacks attempted to integrate local schools in 1952, clubbings when
they sought admittance to a community roller rink ten years later, and
firebombings when they demanded appointment of a black police official
in 1967. Last week violence erupted again in Cairo as blacks continued
to seek a fuller share in the life of their tiny community. Short-Lived Peace. Cairo's latest troubles began earlier this year when
the Rev. Gerald Montroy, a white Catholic priest, arrived in town from
East St. Louis and took up his duties in the heart of a black
neighborhood. He drew together the local N.A.A.C.P., a
cooperative association and a couple of street gangs, and with the Rev.
Charles Koen, a local black minister, formed the United Front. The new coalition charged intimidation of the black community by the
“White Hats,” a 600-member vigilante outfit formed and deputized during
the 1967 disturbances. It also presented city officials with a list of
seven demands, including appointment of a black police chief and
assistant fire chief and a near equal black-white ratio in all city
jobs. The demands and a boycott used to dramatize them touched off a
rash of snipings, which ended only after Illinois Governor Richard
Ogilvie sent in National Guardsmen to keep the peace. The peace was short-lived. A new wave of firebombings swept the town
early this summer, forcing the resignation of Police Chief Carl Clutts.
The new chief, William Petersen, made some progress toward cooling the
conflict when he took away the deputy status that had been granted the
White Hats. The group disbanded, but resurfaced almost immediately in a
new organization, the United Citizens for Community Action, whose
leader, Lumberman Robert Cunningham, is considered excessively racist
even by local white supremacists. Headed for Anarchy. Already high, tensions exploded when the City
Council forbade assemblies of more than two persons anywhere in town.
United Front lawyers went before a federal district court seeking an
injunction to strike down the ordinance, and scores of blacks gathered
at Montroy's church for a march on police headquarters. When
club-wielding state and local police drove them back into the all-Negro
Pyramid Courts housing project, weapons appeared in black and white
hands, and Cairo seemed headed for anarchy. In a futile effort to quiet matters, Chief Petersen and Mayor Lee
Stenzel resigned. Their action prompted Cunningham's group to cancel a
planned rally, but failed to prevent shooting. Automatic rifle fire
crackled through Pyramid Courts and two Negroes were slightly wounded.
