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PAGE 8—June 8, 1955—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Court Order Gets Varied Reaction From Region’s Newspapers
New Orleans
Times-Pieayune
The U.S. Supreme Court’s execu
tion order on school non-discrimina
tion is pretty much what the South
ern attorney generals sought. That
means time to construct new build
ings, redistrict where necessary and
introduce any programs not in con
flict with the segregation decision of
last year.
It should not be supposed in ad
vance that the district courts have
any predilection for meddling in the
administrative affairs of the schools
beyond what is necessary to imple
ment the principle of the Supreme
Court findings. There is no question
of “integration,” it seems to us. The
Court uses “racial non-discrimina
tion.” There is a lot of difference be
tween compulsory integration and ra
cial non-discrimination in developing
a school system....
Delta Democrat-Times
... To say that something will
never happen is to take too much for
granted. But we are sure that vol
untary adjustments, geographical
separateness and an equitable school
improvement program will long post
pone any basic integration in most
of the deep South’s public schools.
We believe that such delay in these
areas is the best for all concerned,
providing the school systems are
made equal during the long interim.
The southern and border states are
going at different speeds and with
different purposes in regard to inte
gration. There is no Solid South in
the wake of the decision. .. .
The original decision and the order
on Tuesday which seeks to imple
ment it are part of the law of the land.
They will still be a part of it when
our children and our children’s chil
dren are old men and women. It is
doubtful whether by that time our
heirs are going to be very disturbed
or that they will have reason to be.
Ours is the difficult and long period
of transition. We say again, as we’ve
said before, let’s keep our shirts on.
Raleigh New s anti Observer
. . . The decree is in the nature
of a further commutation of the sen
tence which to so many southerners
the decision seemed to be. Time and
procedures are specifically provided
by the Court for further work and
thinking and planning by the states
and schools concerned. In effect, the
Court has proposed that the South
utilize this time not to plan devices in
evasion but to determine whether it
can solve the problem in good faith.
More time is given. It may not seem
enough. It is still much to be hoped
that that time can be filled with wis
dom, not crowded with the furies.
Winston-Salem Journal
The Court has given North Carolina
and the other segregation states the
time they sought to work out com
pliance with its decision in the light
of local conditions. With the empha
sis thus placed upon local solutions,
it is incumbent upon each affected
state and community to begin to
make its plans for the future.
Rocky Mount (N.C.)
Evening Telegram
Above all let us not lose sight of
the real objective in this crisis: the
duty of the state is to educate its
youngsters. If this duty cannot be
reconciled to federal law in a man
ner acceptable to a majority of cit
izens then somehow practical and
workable alternatives must be de
vised. It will be preferable if our
school system can be maintained. But
it will be of no account and no avail
if the state of North Carolina con
tinues to pour millions into its pub
lic schools if those schools are vol
untarily abandoned by everyone who
can afford to do so and left as insti
tutions for the poor. Let us make the
most of the time left us before the
inevitable is unwisely forced. Let us
all try to think straight and apply
cool, sane judgments. Let us be pa
tient, avoiding emotional appeals to
prejudice and passion. Let both races
not forget the Golden Rule.
Time
"" W< Si^M
Knox in The Nashville Banner
Charlotte Observer
The final ruling issue is as mod
erate as the South could have rea
sonably expected. Its effect, we sus
pect, will be varied. Some Southern
communities will accept it in logical
grace and oegin to work out an ac
ceptable formula for the gradual
abandonment of the old order. In
others, it will touch off an era of liti
gation that could delay the advent of
integrated classes for at least a gen
eration, and probably will.
Tampa Tribune
The Court’s wisdom, we think, will
dissipate the thunderhead of turmoil
and violence which had been gather
ing in Southern skies since the court
held school segregation unconstitu
tional a year ago. The Court sensibly
acknowledged that a “variety of ob
stacles” may have to be eliminated in
the transition from segregated to non-
segregated schools.
Arkansas Democrat
The South thus has been given a
chance to proceed in its own way
toward the resolution of this difficult
social problem within the limits im
posed by the new interpretation of
the Fourteenth Amendment. The ef
fect of the decrees will be to guaran
tee any community against precipi
tate action which might do great
harm to the public school system.
Yet the South must recognize that
the Court has forged a powerful new
legal weapon for Negro citizens in
search of equality of educational op
portunity.
Arkansas Gazette
Common sense has won a victory
over idealistic psychology. It is a
victory for orderly change paced to
local conditions.
The high court showed profound
wisdom in not setting a definite time
limit for combining school systems.
It directed integration as soon as
practical.
That won’t be any time soon in
many counties of the South. The pub
lic in general simply isn’t ready for
that monumental change. Our social
order, though, is evolving toward it.
Wilmington (Del.)
Journal Every-Evening
The Court’s new order bears none
of the earmarks of a peremptory
show of force upon the American
people of South or North. Its language
is nonetheless clear and positive....
The courts of the South and the
Border South (including Delaware
and Maryland) have no option but
to comply. Thus the courts of this
state will be immediately conscious
of a new responsibility—the duty to
interpret the words “prompt and rea
sonable start” for the guidance of lo
cal school boards and the State Board
of Education. The various boards, in
turn, are on notice they will have to
show they are guiding their schools
and the people of their districts, in
good faith, toward eventual integra
tion.
But in placing the burden of com
pliance upon the local boards, under
the scrutiny of the courts, the Su
preme Court shows it does not regard
time schedules as of the first impor
tance. In its unequivocal guarantee of
the rights of a racial minority under
the Constitution, it recognizes deep-
seated regional feelings and differing
local conditions. The court believes
—and so do we—that the changes can
and must be brought about in a man
ner fitting a government of, by, and
for the people.
Louisville Courier-Journal
The U.S. Supreme Court’s order
ending racial segregation in the pub
lic schools will please neither those
who demand immediate integration
nor those who oppose integration for
ever. ...
The Supreme Court has no means
to enforce its orders except through
the federal court system. This it pro
poses to do. There are in the neigh
borhood of 30,000 separate school dis
tricts in the Southern States most
firmly dedicated to continued segre
gation. Conceivably—though admit
tedly not practically—each of these
districts could be made the origin of
a separate test case in a gigantic de
laying action.
Any such delay will be the product
of passion rather than wisdom. The
subterfuge of pretending the public
school systems are now private would
certainly be held unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court has sensibly un
dertaken to set no deadline, but has
left with the federal district courts
the determination whether “action of
school authorities constitutes good
faith implementation of the covering
constitutional principles.”
These principles are perfectly clear.
A citizen is a citizen whether rich or
poor, black or white. He deserves the
same protection under the law as his
fellow; his children deserve the same
education in the same tax supported
school system as the children of his
neighbors....
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Regrettable as was the decision of
a year ago outlawing all segregation
in the public schools, it is only fair
to say that yesterday’s decision . . .
is something to be thankful for.
The nation’s highest tribunal ob
viously became convinced that the
opposition to integration is such as
to require time for adjustments to
be made. It saw that in such areas
as Tidewater and Southside Virginia,
where the Negroes outnumber the
whites, and in many other similar
areas of the South, any effort to
force mixed schools now could only
bring trouble. . . .
It is not yet clear whether the de
cision rendered yesterday by the Su
preme Court constitutes “class ac
tion.” If it does, it applies to public
schools everywhere, and not just to
the five districts involved. If it is not
“class action”—and it does not ap
pear to be—hundreds of suits can be
filed by school authorities in districts
wishing to resist the court. This latter
alternative, if realized, would bear
out the prediction of the late Justice
Robert Jackson, who foresaw “dec
ades” of litigation ahead. . . .
One-third of the counties of Vir
ginia have fewer than 10 per cent
Negro school population, and a good
many of these have hardly any Ne
groes at all. Their problem is mani
festly far less complicated than that
which presents itself in Tidewater
and Southside counties with school
populations anywhere from 60 to 80
per cent colored.
These latter counties will need
plenty of time in which to make ad
justments. In fact, the present state
of public opinion in many of those
counties is such as to make one won
der just what adjustments can be
made which will satisfy the court and
also be acceptable to the whites liv
ing there....
Atlanta Constitution
The ruling ... is much more mild
and less specific in tone than had
been anticipated.
Actually, the Court merely reaf
firmed its basic statement of princi
ples. ...
In urging “practical flexibility,” the
Court gave the nation a phrase that
probably will become as famous as
“separate but equal.” “Practical flex
ibility” certainly must mean that the
question of discrimination varies
from one community to another and
that there can be no rule-of-thumb
enforcement. Within Georgia itself,
Atlanta and Fulton County may find
one solution, Savannah and Chatham
another and Bainbridge and Decatur
County, a third.
The decision is no call to arms for
demagogues and race baiters. It must
be a bitter blow to those who were
ready to ride to glory on a hate plat
form. It will be received with relief
by the reasonable majority of both
races.
Atlanta Journal
Time has been granted. Local con
cept and practice have been recog
nized. The people could expect no
more from the Court.
Now it remains for the people to
begin the long, trying and laborious
task of solving the complex situation
which, at present, seems so baffling.
A lawful and equitable solution
may seem almost impossible. But
men have solved such problems be
fore; and men of purpose, ideals, and
faith will solve this problem.
How it is to be settled, certainly
cannot be answered immediately. But
the South has time. The South has
local responsibility. With these, the
South can achieve a solution both
lawful in the eyes of the courts and
satisfying to the people of the South.
Macon News
(The decision) if reasonably in
terpreted by the various federal dis
trict courts, will allow those states
where the idea of integration is more
acceptable to proceed in conformity
with the wishes of their people. But
in other states where plans to mix
the races in the public schools are
firmly opposed, the district courts will
have wide latitude to permit a delay
in integration until and if the day
comes when public opinion coincided
with constitutional interpretation.
Augusta Chronicle
A distinct triumph for the southern
viewpoint . . . (The court’s order to
end segregation as soon as feasible
could) in some localities mean to
morrow. In others, it could mean that
segregation in the classroom could
continue for years, or for decades,
or even forever.
Washington Evening Star
To the extent that its real mean
ing can be evaluated at this time, the
Supreme Court’s second opinion in
the public school cases is a cautious
and moderate step toward the ulti-
mate goal of full integration.
Of course, surface appearances may
be deceptive. The opinion invests the
Federal district judges with very
broad discretion, and some or all of
these may proceed to a more drastic
course of action than seems indicated
by the high court’s language. As to
this, there is nothing to do but await
developments ,..
. . . the fair inference would seem
to be that the court has cleared the
way for integration at an early date
in those areas in which public opinion
is prepared to accept abandonment
of segregated schools. There remains
the question of what will happen in
other areas in which, according to
local spokesmen, public opinion will
not accept desegregation. The opinion
permits time for a modification of
this attitude. But if there is no ade
quate modification, punitive measures
almost certainly will follow. And at
that stage, segregation or the public
school system itself will have to give
way.
Washington Post
Having enunciated a year ago the
fundamental principle that “racial
discrimination in public education is
unconstitutional,” the Supreme Court
has now dealt with the practical
problem of “the manner in which re
lief is to be accorded.” Its decision
seems to us a common sense one. It
will anger those who refuse to recog
nize racial equality either as a fact
of life or as an imperative of democ- .
racy; and it will disappoint those who
wish that integration could be accom
plished overnight by edict. But it will
enable state governments and boards
of education and school superintend
ents to meet the complex problems
involved in merging dual school sys
tems and to move with orderly prog
ress toward eliminating all racial dis
crimination from public education.
The Supreme Court chose a flexible
rather than a doctrinaire approach to
the problem. It chose in large part,
indeed, the approach recommended
to it by the Solicitor General—re
manding the several cases to the
Federal District Courts for decrees
which will take into account local
conditions, revision of local laws and
regulations, problems arising out of
available physical facilities and other
such circumstances which may vary
greatly from place to place. It seems
to us that this flexibility was wise
and that it is better calculated to
hasten integration than any peremp
torily fixed schedule of compliance.
The trouble with a fixed schedule is
that it must be in the nature of a
lowest common denominator—fixed,
that is, in accordance with the con
ditions of the locality where integra
tion will be slowest; and it operates,
therefore, to retard integration in lo
calities where it can move much
more rapidly. The approach chosen
by the Supreme Court allows, and
invites, every locality to bring itself
into conformity with constitutional
requirement as speedily as pos*
sible . . .
Jackson (Miss.) Daily News
Just as expected, the United States
Supreme Court has “passed the buck
to the lower courts for enforcement
of its infamous segregation decision.
In fact, there was little else the
court of last resort could do. The ad
ministration of justice is presumed to
move through regular channels.
The court tells the federal tri
bunals in the various states to re
quire school boards to “make ®
prompt and reasonable start toward
full compliance.”
It won’t happen in Mississippi-
We are very slow starters,
and
this one time we won’t start at an-
Any attempt toward a start in this
state is going to meet with stem re
sistance right at the beginning.
Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette
The Supreme Court’s order calling
for a “prompt and reasonable star
toward enforcement of its d ecis *° e
outlawing racial segregation in
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