LLOYD A. BARBEE 110 East Wisconsin Avenue Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Milwaukee Office Address: Phone: 414-273-5755 Madison Office Address: Room 131 South State Capitol Phone: 608-266-3097 WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE ASSEMBLY CHAMBER MADISON 53702 REPRESENTATIVE Milwaukee County 6th District CHAIRMAN: Enrolled Bills MEMBER: Jt. Committee on Finance MEMORANDUM TO: Professor Arnold M. Maahs TOPIC: Speech Topic and Suggested Questions Wisconsin State University - Stevens Point DATE: October 27, 1971 and 2013 SPEECH TOPIC One Black Man in a White Legislature Minority Strategy in Majority Politics: Does the Minority Representative rigorously reflect his constituency with uncompromising bills that have no chance of passing or does he work with the majority for the passage of diluted, often meaningless bills? Suggested Questions for State Representative Lloyd A. Barbee (D-Milwaukee-6) 1. 2. You have introduced a bill that would permit abortion on demand and have said, in defending it, that a woman could abort the fetus up to the point of its birth. Do not both your position and its extremity indicate a brutal indifference to the rights of unborn children--a brutality particularly strange for a man concerned with the rights of black persons? You are author of a bill under which adultery, fornication, cohabitation, and homosexuality would no longer be crimes. How do you justify the morality of this bill? 3. Still another one of your bills would legalize prostitution. When we institutionalize such professions, what kind of an example is that for our children? 4. One of your bills would legalize polygamy, do children figure in this scheme? Again, where --- 2 5. 6. 7. Another bill would expunge the conviction records of men who have been in prison. Don't an employer and society have the right to know the identities of people who have once violated civilized standards? One more of your bills would abolish prisons. Where would you then put a man who, for the sake of argument, had murdered one of your relations or friends? Another measure you have introduced would make Wisconsin pay reparations for the exploitation of Blacks and Indians. Why should this be the burden of the state, not the Federal Government? And why not pay other minority groups for the hardships they have endured? 8. You have also introduced a bill that would abolish compulsory school attendance in Wisconsin. You do so on the grounds that the schools are racist. Why not keep them open 9. 10. 11. and improve them? How does closing schools help the ghetto children whose parents can't afford private schools? Another bill would permit the sale, use and possession of marijuana. Would you permit your son to smoke marijuana? What do you say to scientific studies which indicate the continued smoking of marijuana causes addiction and leads to hard drugs and that marijuana smoking damages the mind? One of your bills proposes a unicameral legislature, that is a legislature composed of one house, rather than two. Wouldn't this mean less representation, not more, for minority groups like Blacks? You have introduced an amendment to the Congressional and Legislature bills that would reapportion election districts. Your amendment seeks to provide more Black representatives in Congress and the State Legislature. Is more represen- tation the answer for ghetto blacks? Why not spend our time and money in helping the Blacks move from the mind- depressing, economically depressed city to smaller towns and suburbs where they can get better education, better housing, and--in the long run--better jobs? 12. Still another bill would add Afro-American history and American Indian history to required courses in our public schools. If these are justifiable courses, why not special courses on the history of Poland, Germany or Ireland? --- 3 garten through college. Apart from the question of how You also favor the concept of free education from kinder- this would be paid for, what do you think of a rival position, variations of which have been put forth by Yale University and the Governor of Ohio? That is, that students, instead of paying less or nothing, should pay more; that in doing so, they would be more serious and responsible as students. 14. Finally, you are considered a strong consumer protection legislator. Your proposed Assembly Bill 515 appears to be sidetracked, while the compromise bill, Assembly Bill 1057 is gaining favorable consideration in the Assembly. Why? 15. Mr. Barbee, you are regarded as a maverick--that is, you often go against the decisions of your party and the legislature. But are you a maverick in another, perhaps more difficult sense? Do you ever vote against what appears to be the best interests of your constituents for the best interests of the state? In other words, do you ever make the sacrifice that you often ask of the white majority in the legislature? --- ALYN W HESS LANDS LANDSCAPE 1746 N. Warren Street Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 271-0057 Llody A. Barbee 110 E. Wisconsin Ave. Milwaukee, Wisconsin June 4, 1971 ARCHITECT Honorable Mr. Barbee: Thank you so much for talking with me on the Gay Perspecti ve PM Radio Program. It will be aired at 11:00 Sunday, June 6th, on WZMF Menomenee Falls 98.3 on the F.M. stereo dial. Enclosed is a copy of a news release we made up from quotes taken from the tape. Also enclosed is a copy of the interview which you had with The Advocate newspaper of Las Angeles, Calif. Some of our people have already written down their comments on your bill and changes they would like to see made in it. However they want to listen to your views first to see if some of their objections are answered. So in a week or two you will be receiving comments on the bill.#600. The Gay Peoples Union of U.W.M. has tentatively set July 26th as the evening that Paul Goldman, author of Illinois' sex laws, will speak at the university. Perhaps you would like to come and hete his comments on your bill as I have sent him a copy and asked that in his talk he comment on it. I will let you know when that is all set. Will you please phone me or write me as far in advance as possible when the Judiciary Committee will hold public hearings on Bill #600. I enjoyed interviewing you and look forward to meeting you again. Sincerely yours, Alyn W. Her --- June 9, 1971 Mr. Alyn W. Hess Landscape Architect 1746 N. Warren Street Milwaukee, Wisconsin Dear Mr. Hess: 53202 This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated June 4. I will attempt to hear Mr. Goldman on the 26th of June. Please advise me of the room and time. The Editor of Advocate called me last week asking about the progress of Assembly Bill 600. He also asked about the radio program. I am sending him a copy of your release and if he wants more details I told him he can contact the station or your office. Yours very truly, LAB: pas Lloyd A. Barbee State Representative 98 --- A. PHILIP RANDOLPH 260 PARK AVENUE SOUTH NEW YORK, N. Y. 10010 August 28, 1970 Assemblyman Lloyd Barbee 110 East Wisconsin Ave. Milwaukee, Wisc. Dear Assemblyman Barbee: I am writing in the hope that you will join me in paying tribute to one of the outstanding leaders of the civil rights movement, Bayard Rustin. Bayard recently celebrated his sixtieth birthday a milestone in a career that has been entirely devoted to the struggle for social justice. Throughout his long career Bayard has combined the virtues of astute political analysis and vigorous social activism. He has been a forceful and uncompromising proponent of integration, non- violence and democratic social change. His advocacy of coalition politics has influenced our leading organizations and institutions, while his speeches and essays have had a tremendous impact upon the thinking of Americans of all ages. His words have not only guided the actions of others. They have been precepts which have shaped his own activist life -- he has been arrested 24 times in the non-violent struggle for civil rights. He has been a brilliant organizer as well. He assisted Dr. Martin Luther King during the Montgomery Bus Protest and drew up the plans for the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Most notably he was the organizer of the great 1963 March on Washington which brought 250,000 people to our nation's capital to demand justice for black Americans. He has fought consistently for the rights of all people. He defended the rights of Japanese-Americans during World War II, worked with Ghandi and Nehru during India's freedom struggle, and most recently organized support in the black community for the beleaguered State of Israel. I know that Bayard would be honored if you agreed to serve as a sponsor of a dinner in his honor on December 14, 1970 in New York City. Please return the enclosed card at your earliest convenience. Sincerely, A. Philip Randolph ---