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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—June 8, 1955—PAGE 15 Mississippi JACKSON, Miss. T HE five Democratic candidates for the Mississippi nomination for governor in the Aug. 2 party primary are assuring voters that public school segregation will be continued during the new administration commencing next January, regardless of the de cree of the United States Supreme Court implementing its integration decision of May 17, 1954. Democratic nomination in this one-party state is equivalent to election. Segregation is one of the major campaign issues now being discussed and on which the candidates are in agreement. Its mention on the politi cal stump draws greater voter-re sponse than any other subject. The governorship candidates gen erally express the belief that an over whelming majority of Negroes will not push the issue, but will abide by the long-followed “way of life,” pro vided the educational opportunities of their race are equalized with those of the whites without further delay. They also outline legal steps they claim will forestall integration for the foreseeable future. The candidates point to a new Ne gro-white public school equalization program enacted by the legislature as the basis for working toward a form of voluntary segregation agreeable to both races. That approach is contrary to the position of the Misisssippi branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Mississippi Regional Council of Negro Leadership. NEGRO LEADERS DIVIDE A schism, however, has developed among the Negro leadership. Percy Greene, editor of the Jack- son Advocate, weekly Negro news paper, and also chairman of the Mis sissippi Association of Negro Demo crat Clubs, advocates a form of vol untary segregation, designed to “cre ate an atmosphere in which white and Negro citizens can work together in harmony and goodwill towards what ever is inevitable in the future history of Mississippi and the South.” Editor Greene said his proposal is based on a statement by U. S. Rep. C. C. Diggs, Jr., (D.-Mich.), before the April 29 meeting of the regional coun cil of the all-Negro town of Mound Bayou, Miss. Diggs is the son of a for- mer Mississippi Negro tenant farmer w Issaquena County. Editor Greene bases his suggestion on the statement of Rep. Diggs to the ■00 Negroes attending the council meeting: “We should preserve our race-consciousness and pride in our group achievement.” It is also tied in "nth Diggs’ statement that Negroes meet the asserted economic pressure o the Misisssippi Citizens Councils composed of “white males dedicated o preservation of segregation,” in this way: , must support our own first said Greene), even if it means a sacrifice until the water of democ- cys economic stream flows back ward for black and white alike. Call inconsistent with our dream of in- egration, call it segregation or dis- t mntion if you wish—but the al- rnative is to witness many of our Pctentiah” advances ~P resent and SE p Ks RESOLUTION SDnrJ t0r Greene wired Diggs o . or a resolution in Congress re srnzing voluntary segregation in c am,’ 6 . sa td, “to immediately relie anH l XlSting ten sion in Mississij and the South.” TVt n that ft, Mississi PPi editor suggest bor s f reso hition recite that “met toseti? Sny one mcial group livi havm„ er ,, m su ® c ient numbers a and ntt, heU " 0wn churches, scho< a srp=t 6r - h^titutions demonstral Amerip ri ? t and privilege und fies th p 311 democ racy, and exemp' the lav, ^^rnttee of equality und ihg f-tu made hy the nation’s foum all racp 6rS whic h brought people hi searpt ai ) d creeds to this count ^earch of freedom.” George w, 21 mem orial for Re gS Wesle y Lee, Negro Bapti minister of Belzoni and leader in the NAACP movement for qualifying Negroes as voters, Roy Wilkins of New York City, executive secretary of the NAACP, criticized Editor Greene’s proposal. The Belzoni memorial was to the Negro minister who was found dead in his automobile which had crash ed into a house. Bullet wounds re portedly were found in his body, and NAACP officials claim he was shot as a result of his civil rights activ ities. Law enforcement officials at Bel zoni, which is in Humphreys County where a strong White Citizens Coun cil exists, have been unable to de termine the cause of Rev. Lee’s death. The leader of the Citizens Council de nied that organization had anything to do with it. CRITICIZED BY CARTER A warning to Mississippi that “it’s two minutes to midnight” on the seg regation issue by Rep. Diggs was criticized editorially by Hodding Car ter, Pulitzer-prize winning editor of the Greenville Delta Democrat Times. Editor Carter said in a speech be fore the Mississippi Bankers Asso ciation convention at Biloxi that “in tegration will have to come on a very gradual basis.” Carter said there will be “only tok en integration in the South in the foreseeable future,” and that “it must come, particularly in heavy Ne gro areas, by degrees.” He said if the nation can adjust to living with the H-bomb, the South “certainly can adjust to the decision” by the United States Supreme Court banning pub lic school segregation. At its April meeting, the Missis sippi Regional Council of Negro Leadership, headed by Dr. T. R. M. Howard of Mound Bayou, charted a “determined course looking to attain ment of first class citizenship by Ne groes.” “We serve notice here and now that when the Supreme Court says how and when integration is to be gin, we plan to do that right here in Mississippi,” Dr. Howard said. WILL GO TO COURTS “Everything done by the state leg islature which conflicts with the con stitution of the United States will be carried into the federal courts until true justice and democracy reign,” he said. Dr. Howard said a fund of $100,000 is being raised to contest the state legislative enactments—the school equalization program and raising ed ucational qualifications of voters—as well as to prosecute cases where Ne groes assertedly have been brutally treated and forced out of business through “economic pressure.” The Negro physician criticized the White Citizens Councils, and asserted that “we are definitely whipping the economic freeze.” He said a fund be ing deposited in the Tri-State Bank at Memphis, officered by Negroes, for the purpose of making loans to Negroes feeling the asserted “eco nomic pressure” of the whites, has reached $250,000. Dr. Howard is a director of the bank. PREDICTS VICTORY Meanwhile, Attorney General J. P. Coleman of Mississippi has said that “Mississippi will win its fight against integration if the citizens stand fast and united.” Addressing the Legal Educational Advisory Committee head by Gov. Hugh White, the attorney general said: “We are in charge of the situation —it’s our tax money and they are our schools. If we let them know we are not going to take it, the Congress might be inclined to implement the desegregation decision with laws. “As it is,” Coleman told the group created by the legislature to devise ways and means of bypassing the in tegration decision, “all the Supreme Court can do is lay down a rule and then enforce it only when some vio lation comes before it. As for enforce ment, the Court has no way to enforce it otherwise.” “The decision will apply only to those cases in court, and will not affect Mississippi until we are brought into court because no blan ket order can be issued,” he said. Attorney General Coleman said the voter-ratified amendment to the State constitution giving the legisla ture standby authority to abolish public education if integration is at tempted, works two ways. “We can abolish districts under it and then reestablish them under a different setup under the amend ment,” he said. “We could keep the court busy for years in that way.” DELTA COUNCIL HEARD Also speaking out on the school issue was the Delta Council of white leaders in the 17 counties of that heavily-Negro populated section of Mississippi. It’s position was expressed in the following resolution adopted a# its May 10 annual meeting: “The membership of Delta Council believes that the decision by the U. S. Supreme Court, declaring it to be a violation of the Constitution of the U. S., for a state to require children of different races to attend separate schools, goes beyond the protection of equal rights contained in the four teenth amendment. This decision is, in effect, an attempt to change and regulate the social customs and tra ditions of a society built up over a period of more than 150 years. Such social customs and traditions cannot be changed by law. Furthermore, the matter of public education is the re sponsibility of local and state gov ernments uninterfered with by any court, department or authority of the federal government. “It should be recognized that mem bers of the Negro and white races have lived in peace and friendliness in this area for many years and have made rapid economic progress. There is more freedom of opportunity for Negroes in Mississippi than in most states of this nation. “We believe that the inevitable re sult of any action by the federal gov ernment to force integration in public schools would be unbearable friction between the races, resulting in dis cord among the citizens of this area. Advancements made by both races would be jeopardized. Forced inte gration would also result in the low ering of over-all educational stand ards in the South. “Southern states are making great progress in improving educational and economic opportunities for both races, and will continue to do so if such efforts and existing friendly re lations are uninterfered with by agi tators and by attempts to force in tegration through decrees of federal courts. “With complete good will toward our Negro friends and to other sec tions of the United States, we declare that in so doing we will serve the best interests of all the people of all the races in the U. S.” Virginia Continued From Page 14 opposition,” he declared. He warned the Negroes not to “go around acting as if you had won a great victory over the white people of the South. We have won a victory over evil in stitutions that have descended upon them.” Meeting in Charlottesville, dele gates to the annual council of the Episcopal diocese of Virginia ap proved a resolution stating that it is “the principle of Christian ethics for the people of the diocese that they make every effort ... to elimi nate all barriers preventing the free fellowship in the church’s life of people of different races.” The clergy delegates voted 59 to 24 for the reso lution and the lay members 54 to 48. A Fairfax County “workshop” on school segregation bogged down in confusion and broke up into two sec tions, one inside and one outside the school building in which the session started. About 150 persons attended the workshop, sponsored by the Fairfax County Federation of Parent-Teach er Associations. Persons opposing the workshop took the position that the affair was not a proper P-TA func tion, and they also charged that the entire session had been “loaded” in favor of integration. Those who op posed the workshop—or at least Texas AUSTIN, Texas TPHE first integration of Negroes in a public school in Texas was disclosed during May. Three Negro children enrolled earlier this year at Friona, a farm ing community in Northwest Texas. About 700 white students attend the same elementary school. Supt. Dalton Caffey said that two Negroes had been accepted by the school last fall, but had moved away. Three others then enrolled. The ac tion was supported by the local school board and no move was made by any citizen in the district to re quire court enforcement of Texas segregation laws. Some persons outside the district complained of the Friona board’s ac tion. A few complained to Gov. Allan Shivers, who relayed the messages to the Texas Education Agency. COMMISSIONER REPLIES Dr. J. W. Edgar, Commissioner of Education, replied to these objectors (none from Friona): “Texas school laws vest the au thority in each local school board for establishing operating policies in each local school district. On that basis, the local school district (board) has the right to interpret statutory and constitutional pro visions. Such interpretations are subject to review by a court of com petent jurisdiction. “Accordingly, the action by the board of school trustees at Friona can be properly placed before the court by proceedings instituted by a resi dent of the Friona district.” Texas Education Agency, enforc ing the state’s policy of segregation, previously had advised the Friona district against putting the Negro children in class with whites. Wheth er state aid, based on attendance, will be allowed on the Negroes is yet to be determined. DEPENDS ON COURT Deputy Commr. Bascom Hayes said the state agency had offered to pay half the salary of a Negro teach er for the three pupils at Friona. The Negroes taught there this year are the first to apply for an educa tion in the growing farming commu nity. “We could have spent about $10,- 000 and had a separate place for the Negroes,” Caffey said. “We thought if we had 12 to 20 Negroes, we might provide separate classrooms. But it would cost a lot of money. Under the present situation, we might have to discard segregation at any moment.” Caffey said there was some criti cism locally of the move when it first took place. “One father particularly, a man from Georgia, raised talk downtown but other citizens talked him out of doing anything about it,” the super intendent reported. “I think the com munity is sympathetic to what we are doing. The Negro children have been accepted by other children. They are very congenial. In fact, the white children seem rather proud of the Negroes. They are good stu dents.” The first Negroes enrolled at Fri ona were Jimmy and Robert Walker, brothers 8 and 10 years old. They came to Parmer county, Texas, from California. They withdrew from school in December. In January, Marvin Smith, 9, en tered the third grade, and his broth er, Donnie M. Smith, 11, the fifth grade. Mozelle Lemon, 10, became a fourth-grader. These three Negroes previously had attended segregated West Texas schools at Littlefield and Wilson, near Lubbock. Friona is 27 miles from Hereford, the closest Texas town with a Negro school. It is 32 miles from Clovis, N. M., where segregation was abol ished last year. Caffey commented that most Clovis Negroes prefer to attend a segregated school, although they can now go to an integrated school. “I think this is a problem that should be faced on the community level,” said Caffey. “Some of our neighbor schools in West Texas are faced with the same problem. It will be more difficult to solve where there are more Negroes.” Scholastic population in the Friona district has increased from 350 in 1947 to 900 in 1954-1955, the result of developing irrigated farming. New residents include a large number of Latin-American farm workers and a few Negroes. Some Texas colleges have admit ted Negroes with white students for several years. This includes several state-aid junior colleges. None is lo cated in the Eastern third of Texas where 90 per cent of the Negroes live, however. SEES DALLAS ACTION Meanwhile, the head of the Dallas school board predicted a beginning of desegregation there within a year. Dr. Edwin L. Rippy, president, said: “We shall face desegregation and we shall be obliged to evaluate methods of effecting it. I personally expect the best cooperation from our Negro friends.” At nearby Garland, an advocate of immediate integration ran a poor fourth among candidates for the school board. Russell Sanborn, who campaigned on an integration plat form, got 40 votes. The winner, in cumbent William J. Holt, Jr., re ceived 711. Two other candidates drew 299 and 183 votes respectively. In Elgin, Central Texas, the school board set up a 27-member citizens advisory committee, believed to be the first in Texas on the segregation problem. Leading citizens are serv ing on the committee, which will help the town decide how to meet prob lems arising from the U. S. Supreme Court decision. Pending the decree, Elgin’s school board withheld spending funds ear marked for expanding the Negro school. MINISTERS CRITICAL Two attacks on segregation came from Texas Negroes. Negro Methodist ministers in a conference at Dallas criticized segre gation in hotels, schools and in the Methodist Church itself. They called on hotels to accept Negro patrons. State officials were urged by resolu tion to bring the state’s school sys tem “into full harmony” with the U. S. Supreme Court decision. The third resolution expressed hope that the Methodist Church will start moving toward the end of seg regation. Two students from Texas Southern University at Houston returned home with complaints they were barred by color from taking full ac tivity in the American Law Students Association meeting at St. Peters burg, Fla. The Houston Informer quoted Stu dents Percy Robinson of Port Arthur and Nelson Wade of Houston as say ing they were barred from social events at the convention. many of them—were said to be mem bers of the Defenders of State Sov ereignty and Individual Liberties. HOLD OWN MEETINGS This group (opponents of the work shop) held a meeting in the school auditorium after the sponsors of the workshop and persons on their side had moved out into the yard to hold their program. The Albemarle Council of Parent- Teacher Associations was dissolved during May by decision of the group’s executive committee. The council had been under attack for several rea sons, one being its sponsorship of a series of radio discussions in which both white and Negro pupils ap peared. (Details of that controversy were given in Southern School News of Dec. 1, 1954.) Commenting on the dissolution of the council, Mrs. C. Mercer Garnett, Jr., president, said: “It was formed to benefit the public schools, but it could no longer seem to do them any good.”