I hope the letter from jail to James on police brutality has arrived and been duplicated and mailed out to the list I left with him. We were bailed out Thursday after 10 days at the Fair Grounds compound when it became apparent that the injunction against Jackson's law requiring "parade permits" will be delayed in the courts. The lawyers appear confident that the law, as it is applied here, will be declared unconstitutional when it reaches a higher court.

I am presently at Mt. Beulah, headquarters of the Delta Ministry of the National Council of Churches, in Edwards Miss. (I may be here until Tuesday.) It is a very pleasant place, although we had some excitement yesterday. A drunk southern white fired four shots at one of the buildings. He was arrested soon afterwards, and the FBI men, etc., spent several hours out here investigating.

I may be in Greenwood Miss. this summer, but I have no permanent address yet. Emergency communication would probably reach me (eventually) if addressed

c/o Thelma Hill
507½ Farish St.
Jackson, Miss.

When I returned to Mt. Beulah after being released from jail I found that much of my baggage had been stolen, including my transister radio, 3 pairs of pants, shirts, underclothes, etc. The old brown leather bag, which I'd locked, had been ripped open, & the small black leather zipper bag was gone. Others lost even more, I guess. They told us to store our baggage in an office, then neglected to lock the room, another example of the great disorganization of the Miss. Freedom Democratic Party. I'm glad I didn't bring much of value down here.

My position in the first demonstration was basically one of support for the local people in their right to demonstrate if they wanted to. I accompanied a canvaser in Greenwood seeking support for the demonstrations & several other things, and I drove a load of people into Jackson from Greenwood and Canton. (While in Greenwood, two other volunteers and I had the enjoyable experience of staying in the home of Mrs. Johnson, her 11 children & mother. The family is unusually active in civil rights. Serveral of her children have been to jail for demonstrating, etc., and at least one daughter was beaten in jail by the police.) Even by the time of the rally before the first march, I had not decided whether to join myself, but when a group of picketers of local Mississippians was set up, it made it seem more appropirate for me to join the local people who were going to walk to the capitol (along the sidewalks, without [disrupting] traffic). I'm glad I joined in because of the very valuable experience going to jail in Mississippi proved to be. I guess the intimidation by police brutality is something that has to be seen to be really believed. But there have been various shortcomings in the way MFDP has handled the demonstrations and I am not convinced that I can support the further demonstrations they are calling for next week. It might be better to let the cases arising from the 1st week's demonstrations go through the courts first. Also, the proportion of local support seems to have been declining and I don't wish to participate in a march here where outsiders form a majority. It remains to be seen whether I can remain a FDP volunteer without supporting the demonstrations planned.