Another Civil Rights Martyr MRS. VIOLET Liuzzo, the Rev. James Reeb and Jonathan M. Daniels were murdered this year because they dared exercise their civil rights. Perry Smaw, an 89-y ear-old Negro farmer from Greensboro, Ala., also appears to have been a victim of the civil rights struggle although his fate has received little publicity. Perry Smaw was reportedly an outspoken opponent of civil rights demonstrations. One day last week he made critical remarks about picketing to a group of Negroes in downtown Greensboro. The next day he was found sprawled in the doorway of his farmhouse. His tongue had been cut out and he had been clubbed so hacd on the head with a skillet that the skillet broke. Greensboro authorities were quick to point out that Perry Smaw was killed by civil rights "agitators" who resented his criticism. Others might have argued that he was murdered by lunatic segregationists to bring discredit on the civil rights movement. Whatever the motives behind his death, Perry Smaw's name should be added to the roster of people who have dared exercise their civil rights at the cost of their lives.
