African-Americans Look for 
Better Lives and Race Relations 

RICK YENCER / Muncie Star Press (Indiana) 1aug03

MUNCIE - Ruth Butts was among African-Americans who returned to Muncie after the retirement.

"People have stood back and they have not addressed the issues," said Butts, who participated in Saturday's demonstration to rename Broadway after Martin Luther King Jr.

Butts's mother, Rosie McCoy, was widely respected president of the Muncie chapter of the NAACP during the 1960s and 1970s during the national civil rights movement and local racial conflict.

"She stood for equal rights and good jobs for people," said Butts, about her mother who died in 1980. "I don't think Muncie has changed. It has gotten worse."

After living in Columbus, Ohio for 40 years, Butts returned to Muncie and built a new home in Whiteley. She does not see much change in Muncie since the 1950s and 1960, given that whites and blacks generally live in separate neighborhoods.

"Jobs are better than they were years ago," Butts said. "The quality of living is not."

Hurley Goodall, a retired firefighter and former state lawmaker, could recall only one other time like the demonstration on Saturday.

That was when the late George Wallace, former Alabama governor, came to Ball State University in 1964 and protesters surrounded the building where he spoke.

Gregory Williams grew up in Muncie and wrote the book, Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black.

"Every place I have been, there has been a fitting tribute and memorial to Martin Luther King Jr.," said Williams, president of City College of New York. "I cannot understand after 35 years why there is not a fitting memorial in my hometown."

James Burgess, president of the Madison County NAACP, said that community underwent "social engineering" over 20 years ago to improve relations and bring black and white communities together.

Anderson has a King memorial and other facilities named after the civil rights leader. And Mayor Mark Lawler recently renamed Pendleton Avenue as MLK Jr. Boulevard, giving businesses and other property owners more than a year to change their addresses.

Contact news reporter Rick Yencer at 213-5833.

source: http://www.thestarpress.com/articles/6/003800-1896-004.html 11aug03