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Stall-In
This is the campaign BK CORE is most remembered for. The Stall-In reverberated throughout the city and nation. It marked a major turning point for CORE as a national organization and is seen as one of those transitional points that signaled 'the beginning of the end'.
Purnell suggests that BK CORE's Stall-In campaign partially came about as a result of the chapter being 'frustrated by the ineffectiveness of gradualist protest techniques to effect meaningful change' and being 'forced to compromise on its demands with each campaign'.6
The campaign itself was a continuation of CORE's campaign against the construction industry in NYC. It focused on the 1964 World's Fair which was according to Purnell, '...one of NYC's largest public works projects in the 20th Century'. A billion dollar project, the World's Fair included practically no Blacks or Latinos in its construction despite the fair's theme of international cooperation. BK CORE's plan was to have cars stall by running out of gas on the streets and highways, hopefully creating a huge traffic jam and thereby bringing an enormous amount of media and political attention.
Demanding 'integrated quality education to be provided for all' and an end to 'police brutality' and 'slum housing', Brooklyn CORE argued the action would raise the awareness of the entire city and country in terms of how racial discrimination so drastically affected Blacks and Puerto Ricans in NYC. Purnell credits the initiators of the campaign as the new chairman Isaih Brunson, Goldwag and Frances Crayton, the vice chairman.
Purnell also notes the chapter consciously chose to not follow the CORE Rules of Action as it traditionally would have. CORE chapters were required to first investigate, then negotiate, and if all else failed then go to direct action. BK CORE's decision to go straight to direct action spoke to the growing impatience throughout the movement that societal change was not happening quick enough. It also led the campaign to be framed by its critics as in itself an act of violence which Purnell argues allowed Brooklyn CORE to be further demonized.
Among the biggest critics of the Stall-In were moderate national civil rights leaders such as those from the NAACP and Urban League, as well as the leaders from the national CORE office. James Farmer went so far as to suspend BK CORE. BK CORE continued with its plans, receiving direct support from both New York and Bronx CORE, the other 'ghetto chapters'.
A split occurred in CORE nationally as CORE, suggested by Norm Hill, announced it would have a counter protest inside the World's Fair on the opening day. While most chapters supported national CORE, many others continued to support BK CORE, upset over the fact that the national office would go so far as to suspend the rebel chapter. The Stall-In also got support from the more militant end of the movement including John Lewis of SNCC and Malcolm X.
Both plans attracted political attention as high as the White House and generated enormous publicity with headlines that stated '...CORE's Fair Tie-up Can Paralyze the City'. While approximately three hundred people were arrested at the fair including Farmer, Bayard Rustin and other CORE members from all over the country, the Stall-In was widely considered a failure. Why? Because there really was no Stall-In. Many of the people who promised to participate did not. The weather was chilly and drizzly. NYPD had mobilized all its forces to be able to remove any and all road obstacles quickly and efficiently. There was a subway action at a station in Jackson Heights, Queens as part of the Stall-In that resulted in twenty three arrests. The proposed actions out on the street, however, never came off.
CORE's actions, however, clearly did have an effect on the attendance of opening day. Out of the 250,000 guests who were expected, only 50,000 showed. Even Robert Moses, the architect responsible for building the World's Fair, admitted the atmosphere created by the Stall-In as well as the weather was responsible for the low numbers.
Purnell remarks how the tactic marked an absolute increase in the militancy of the movement. The consequences of the Stall-In and the demonstrations, however, such as the amount of negative publicity CORE received, were so great that a downward spiral started for CORE that it never recovered from. This was seen in the obvious long term drop in both fund raising and membership as Whites began to withdraw support.
While most of the CORE members arrested at the fair had to serve two-three days in detention, Arnie Goldwag, who was already on parole for his other arrests from the Downstate Medical demonstrations, was found guilty and sentenced to a year in Riker's Island. Like Bronx CORE chairman Herb Callendar, Goldwag was also sent to Bellevue Hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
Isaih Brunson left the chapter soon after. Purnell and others have suggested he was emotionally affected by the perceived failure of the campaign. Many in BK CORE, however, saw the Stall-In as a success in that it achieved its goal of generating publicity and drawing attention to the issues. Over the years, other CORE chapters and former BK CORE leaders used the Stall-In tactic with success. Syracuse CORE used the Stall-In among other CORE tactics in its successful employment campaign against the Niagra-Mohawk Power Plant on upstate New York. According to Purnell, St. Louis CORE also used the tactic successfully that same year. The tactic also continued to be used by other BK CORE chairman into the 1970's and 1980's long after they had left CORE.