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PAGE 16 —Dec. I, 1954 — SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS Text Of Talk At Forum For Further Reading (Here is the text of a talk given at the recent New York Herald Tribune torum by C. A. McKnight, executive director of the Southern Education Re porting Service.) • * * OU have heard Mr. Ashmore place in its regional and national con text the Supreme Court opinion in the school segregation cases. Mr. Mitchell has described the organiza tional resources within the southern region for meeting peacefully and democratically the problems posed by the Court ruling. Mr. Hammer talked about the expanding economic base for providing better educational facilities for all of the children in the South. I want to say a few words about the great reservoir of individ ual leadership in the South, and to stress the importance of providing those individuals with objective, trustworthy, factual information. But first, I must make this “De claration of Independence.” The cardinal rule of the Southern Educa tion Reporting Service, of which I am director, is its complete objectiv ity. The Reporting Service is not an advocate in the segregation-deseg regation issue. It is neither pro-seg regation nor anti-segregation. It ex presses no opinions of its own on any controversial phase of the issue. It is self evident, therefore, that my ap pearance on this forum in no way indicates agreement with any view points which may be advanced by other speakers. The story is told about a leading southern newspaper which queried its correspondents on May 18 asking for reaction in their communities to the Supreme Court opinion. One Deep-South correspondent replied in these words: “In the wake of the historic Supreme Court segregation opinion, the appeals for calmness in this community were beginning to border on the hysterical.” The story may be apocryphal, but it illustrates a point that should not be overlooked in thinking about the southern region, i.e., that the news papers of the region and many other responsible voices were in close har mony in urging calmness, patience, dignity, and the preservation of law and order in those first tumultous hours after the Court opinion was announced. The editorial pages of the southern region—and there are many truly distinguished ones—met the challenge — and the opportunity — of the May 17 decision in the finest tradition of responsible journalism— even those which were in strongest and most conscientious disagreement with the Court’s reasoning. I cannot say the same thing for the front pages of the newspapers within and without the region in the weeks that have followed. EDITOR’S VIEWPOINT As an editor, I have long been painfully aware of, and deeply con cerned over, some of the inherent de fects of high-speed, competitive American journalism. Newspapers are written and edited by human be ings and they partake of all the faults of human nature, not the least of which is the imperfect judgment of the reporter and the desk man. Moreover, news is gathered and processed at a fast speed—and haste sometimes gives rise to error, to wrong emphasis on facts, to over playing or underplaying a story in such a way as to mislead the reader. Beyond that, there is the eternal problem of space in this day of high- cost newsprint. Somehow the enorm ous volume of news must be com pressed and synthesized so that the reader who is in a hurry, and most people are in a hurry these days, can glean the important and pertinent facts. Newspaper reporters are train ed to this task, but they are human and, hence, prone to err. Finally, the American press all too often tends to single out the sensa tional and the controversial, to para mount the area of disagreement and either to ignore or to give but passing attention to the area of agreement, which is sometimes more significant. It is a journalistic truism that “The conflict is the news,” and that is simply an inversion of the old pro verb that “No news is good news.” And so it has happened that the news reporters, the competitive wire services and the managing editors of the nation have paid what I believe to be disproportionate attention to the areas of conflict, tension and dis agreement in the desegregation story, and not enough attention to the quiet, successful adjustments that many communities have already made. News is also change. And if the emphasis on pickets and student strikes in Milford, Baltimore and the District of Columbia may be looked upon as one side of the coin, the other side is the frequency of front page references to two relatively small, atypical communities in west ern Arkansas which accepted a hand ful of Negro students in white high schools in September without incid ent. If you read the front pages only, you get the impression that Arkansas has moved significantly toward de segregation—an impression that does not correspond to the facts. ORIGIN OF SERS The problem of reporting ade quately the big story growing out of the Supreme Court opinion had been anticipated by southern editors before May 17. In April, a group of them met in Washington with repre sentatives of the Fund for the Ad vancement of Education, which had financed the Ashmore Project. These editors, whose own personal convic- tious about the segregation issue covered a wide range, agreed on this premise: that in the event of a court opinion declaring segregation uncon stitutional, there would be a need for objective, accurate and authoritative facts on developments arising in the wake of Court action; that these facts should be made available to a wide audience of public officials, educators, newspapermen and interested lay citizens throughout the southern region; and that the facts should be presented in greater volume and finer detail than the average newspaper, with its general readership, could afford to print them. It was from this conference that the Southern Educa tion Reporting Service came into be ing—a service that is unusual, if not unique, in the history of American journalism. In May, a board of directors in cluding southern editors and educa tors was formed. In July, a grant of almost $100,000 was made to the Southern Education Reporting Service by the Fund for the Advancement of Education. By the first of August a central office in Nashville had been staffed, and top-flight newspapermen ap pointed throughout the region to serve as regular correspondents for the Reporting Service. By the time the first issue of Southern News School was dis tributed on September 3, requests for the publication numbered almost 10,- 000. By October 1, when the second issue was published, the mailing list was pushing 20,000. These requests have come from all of the 48 states and several foreign countries. A number of my friends have asked why I was willing to take a leave of absence from the relatively comfort able editorship of the Charlotte News to become director of a project that might become involved in controver sy, in spite of our best efforts to maintain complete objectivity. The answer is an easy one. First of all, I am an editorial writer by trade, and per se somewhat of a softhead. Secondly, I am a native South erner. I love the South, and I want to see the South adjust to this great new problem peacefully and without serious setbacks to public education. Thirdly, I have long been con vinced of the inherent collective wis dom of the American people. I am persuaded that the American people, or any part of them, can solve by democratic processes any problem they may face, provided they are given all the facts. I saw in the Re porting Service a unique opportunity to make those facts available to in terested persons throughout the region. I did not miscalculate the intensity of interest and the depth of concern among the thoughtful people in the southern region. The most reward ing part of my job so far has been reading the flood of letters and post cards that followed the establish ment of the Reporting Service and the distribution of the first issue. The letters have come from people who live in all sections of the region, and who work at many trades and pro fessions ... a mother of five in Flo rida ... a housewife in Etowah, Tennessee ... a member of the American Association of University Women in Birmingham ... the Albe marle League of Women voters in Virginia . . . the legislative chair man of a Texas Council for Parents . .. the chairman of a bi-racial study group in South Carolina ... an open forum church class in North Caro lina ... a high school English teach er in Kentucky ... a social science teacher in Mississippi ... a lawyer in Mobile . . . the president of an aircraft corporation in Maryland . . . a school superintendent in Louisi ana ... a legislator in Arkansas. The letters by now number in the thousands. They come from people on both sides of the controversy . . . the Virginia man who wrote that his “father fought in the Confederate army against the North and therefore I can never agree to the white and colored using the same school” . . . and the Birmingham minister who said “I sincerely hope that your paper will be a helpful instrument in the educational process that must come about in this transition period. . . .” They come from people like the Miami teacher who confessed that “being a native Georgian, I have a definite Southern viewpoint,” but “I might modify this viewpoint by a better knowledge of the facts.” For the most part, however, the letter writers have not put their thoughts on display. It is not clear whether they have convictions, or what those convictions may be. But what they do say over and over, in different language, is this: “Give us the facts, and we will work out this problem.” ‘INTERESTED CITIZENS’ An analysis of over 600 of the re quests from individuals who wanted to receive Southern School News shows that more than half of them came from people who described themselves as “just an interested citizen,” but who invariably showed an appreciation for a factual and objective account of what is happen ing in the South. These interested citizens most often were participat ing in local community groups— primarily civic and church groups. However, nearly one-fourth of them did not indicate any group affiliation but mentioned only their own deep concern and interest in the subject as a parent, a grandparent, or, again, just a citizen who wanted to know more about the subject. From these thousands of letters I have concluded that there is another tremendous resource in the South, the size and power of which have been greatly underestimated. I know of no better term for describing this resource than “latent leadership.” These people have been voiceless and faceless in the uncertain years of the past. They have listened with one ear to the voices of the white su premacists, and with the other ear to the appeals of the integrationists. Many of them are not yet irrevocably committed to either side of this great issue. But one thing they have in common—a great hunger for all the Ashmore, Harry S., The Negro and the Schools, Chapel Hill: Univer sity of North Carolina Press, 1954, p. 228. A clear and authoritative text, based on a study by a group of some forty-five sociologists, educa tors economists, and lawyers under the over-all direction of the author, sets forth the history of educational segregation, the course of recent litigation in this area; the efforts of the South to equalize educational facilities; and recent attempts at desegregation both in universities of the South and in public school systems in the non- South. This is an excellent book for those interested in the prob lems attending desegregation of schools. The emphasis is on statis tical analysis of schools and popula tion. The text of the decision has been incorporated in the newest edition. Clark, Kenneth B., “Desegregation: An Appraisal of the Evidence,” The Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 9, No. 4, May, 1953, pp. 1-76. A soicial scientist discusses deseg regation under the following head ings: (1) The Background; (2) The Question Posed and the Stra tegy of the Reply; (3) Findings; (4) Some Implications for a Theory of Social Change. Johnson, Guy B., “The Impending Crisis of the South,” New South, Vol. 8, No. 5, May, 1953, pp. 1-6. A summary of the factors which have led up to the present crisis in the South with a plea for wise and mature handling of the transi tion period. Leflar, Robert A., and Wylie H. Davis, “Segregation in the Public Schools, 1953” Harvard Law Review, Vol. LXVII, January, 1954, pp. 377-435. The authors, writing before the Supreme Court opinion, stated that the legal problems inherent in the elimination of racial segregation go far beyond the issues directly pre sented in the five cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. It was the authors opinion that whatever the court decided, new litigation would be initiated by each of the two opposing groups with the purpose of getting the court to take some position more in line with their own position. The authors of the study write: “Analy sis of the legal situation as it exists just prior to the Court’s decision factual information they can devour —information that is not only trust worthy and complete but also in balanced perspective. It is an axiom of the editorial writ ing profession that one should never underestimate the intelligence of the reader, nor overestimate his informa tion. The full meaning of that axiom has been firmly impressed upon me by these thousands of letters. With all due respect to the advocates and action groups on both sides of this issue, I venture the prediction that a new and highly effective leader ship in meeting what is perhaps the American Democracy’s greatest challenge will come from this legion of thoughtful, studious individuals from whom we are just now begin ning to hear. will have a special value, not only as a pictured moment in history but also as an aid to understanding the litigation that lies just ahead.” Lovejoy, Gordon W., “The Manifold South: Suggested Levels of Action for Practitioner Agencies,” (a memorandum to the Committee on Integration of Minority Groups in American Education of the Com mission on Educational Organiza tions of the National Conference of Christian and Jews) “Next Steps in Racial Desegregation in Education,” The Journal of Ne gro Education, The Yearbook Num ber, XXIII, Summer, 1954. This volume essays to determine how past experiences in the area of desegregation might be utilized to best advantage in making the transition from segregation to de segregation in education. This issue attempts to make a critical ap praisal of the present situation, to ascertain what lessons have been learned from recent experiences with desegregation, and to sug gest how these lessons may be utilized in future courses of action. “Segregation and the Catholic Schools: A study,” The Catholic Committee of the South (512 Ebe- nezer Avenue, Rock Hill, South Carolina) This study composed of the follow ing sections: Population and eco nomics; trends; reactions and re sistance; teaching of the church; objections; thoughts on education toward integration; and what we might do, is being distributed to the Ordinaries of the Dioceses of the Southeast to be used as a basis for desegregation of the Catholic schools. “Integration of Washington Schools,” American Friends Service Com mittee, Community Relations Pro gram, 104 C Street, N.E., Washing ton, D.C. A pamphlet devoted to a consider ation of the questions most often asked about the process of integra tion. School officials and citizens are thinking and asking about how the transition should be carried out. What steps should be taken? What can we anticipate and plan for? What are the problems? How can we do the best job? This pamphlet attempts an answer. Emory University Journal of Public Law, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 1954 spe cial issue: “Segregation in the Public Schools.” A series of articles, written by out standing authorities in the field, in which an approach to diagnosis and direction of the problem of segregation in the public schools is discussed against a background of the concept of equality in a demo cratic society; legal analysis of the Supreme Court opinion; some of the problems attending the im plementation of the opinion; and the impact of the opinion on south ern communities. “Let’s Talk It Over,” A Seminar Series on Integration, American Friends Service Committee, Wash ington, D.C. Sec. 34.66, P. L. & R. U. S. POSTAGE PAID Permit No. 548 Nashville, Tenn. University of Georgia Libraries Acquisitions Division Athens, Ga.