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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JULY, 1961—PAGE 9 Louisiana ALABAMA k Hi 1 hs ird on ge its on ri al ig id A al 1 0 1 1 (Continued From Page 8) jj e p. Wellborn Jack of Caddo Parish, 0 f the most vociferous segrega- ^jjsts continuing to speak up after Lfive special sessions and the fiscal 'ion of the legislature, said all-white jjools as well as desegregated schools ;, oll ld be affected if their attendance ^pped to below 75 per cent of the ^vious year. pg June came to a close, Davis de- ^ with unusually pointed language jpt there are plans to call the legisla- jue back into session anytime soon. ' Repeatedly, reports circulated in Ba ns Rouge that another special session jould be called, probably to initiate a -institutional convention dealing with ^iiool finances and segregation. The governor said previously he has jo new plans to fight public school Aggregation next fall. Community Action pTA Council Lauds Open-School Policy; Private Plan Pushed The New Orleans Council of Parent- Teacher Associations endorsed the Or leans Parish school board’s efforts to keep public schools open while a pri vate citizens group pushed plans for a downtown private school operated un der the state’s grant-in-aid program. PTA support for the school board came in the form of a resolution en dorsing the school board’s actions to maintain public education. The private school plan is that of the Ninth Ward Private School Association, which paid $62,000 for a site and an nounced a new school would be under construction in July. The association is supported primar- ily by parents who pushed the boycott of McDonogh No. 19 and William Frantz schools after they were desegre gated in November. Funds for con struction of the schools are being raised by private subscription. The purchase of the land came after some 50 parents and children, organ ized by leaders of the Ninth Ward group, picketed William Frantz school twice in June to illustrate that the protests to desegregation continue. Placards carried by pickets com plained that white children of Frantz bad been dispossessed when a Negro child was assigned there and that their rights were trampled by the federal government. ★ ★ ★ At Baton Rouge, the East Baton Ibouge Parish Citizens and Parents Council was organized to unify efforts I lor segregated schools. C. A. Stockstill, chairman, said rep resentatives of 12 schools began the or- I ganization in the hope of forming pri- | v ate school co-operatives in the event °f desegregation. East Baton Rouge ^rash’s school board has received an | all deliberate speed” order but no date "as been set. ★ ★ ★ Another group, the First Educational , or Poration, was formed at New Or- e ans and announced it had entered l °* 0 contract for purchase of land for faction of a private, nonsectarian, "''Profit school for boys and girls ° m grades one through eight. -^lil c ellaneous ^AACP Criticizes Mayor Morrison’s ^AS Appointment y*bayor Chep Morrison’s appointment .ambassador to the Organization of v , erican States was criticized by the o°nal Association for the Advance- of Colored People, which said the jj yor had a poor record in race rela- T matters. criticism was leveled two days r ®®°wis° n named a Negro ^ti Rev. A. L. Davis Jr., as race u°ns officer for the city. The Citi- tw Council criticized Davis’ appoint- saying Morrison had picked a p r , known to have participated in n, sts against hiring practices in New ,Ss. f,f 0 , "ymlman Victor H. Schiro Jr., , le council selection to fill Mor- Fear* S 'Expired term of less than one W _said the appointment of Davis campaign commitment made by ■j?* 8011 - The job pays $350 a month. t*tl 6 6 c *ty has had no one with the °f race relations director before. Patterson Says ‘Rides’ Hurt Race Relations MONTGOMERY, Ala. ov. John Patterson told the National Conference of Gov ernors that “freedom rides” into the state, and the resulting vio lence, damaged race relations in the state. While denouncing violence, Patter son laid the blame on the riders them selves and on the federal government’s intervention and, he charged, prior en couragement. He charged Attorney General Robert Kennedy with “dem onstrating a schoolboy’s innocence.” Pickets protesting racial discrimina tion greeted Patterson in San Francisco and on his arrival for the conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. He concluded his lengthy statement to the assembled governors with the observation: “Like Hawaiians, the residents of Alabama are basically friendly and good natured. If left alone and not pushed, I believe they will resolve the dilem mas of our times. They will be solved by men, not laws. I have confidence in Alabama and faith in the South. De spite our critics and enemies, we are forging ahead to brighter tomorrows.” Many observers agreed that the statement was more restrained than Patterson had made to date on the overall race problem. It was a hard-hit ting speech, they said, but also hopeful. Denounced Marshals Patterson denounced the sending of marshals into the state as a flagrant violation of the Constitution and one which should concern other states as well since it symbolized a trend in which the states “will shortly be re duced to the status of mere ‘counties’ in a federal system.” He said the effect of the “race-bait ing excursions” of the “freedom riders,” whom he accused of seeking violence, has been to set back “race relations in general.” This is certainly true in Ala bama, he said “and from my mail and telephone calls, I believe it to be the public opinion in many other states as well.” “I have no quarrel with anyone try ing to better his station in life,” Patter son said. “However I have serious doubt that these groups from outside the South planned their trips solely to pro mote the legal or moral cause of the Negro. . . . They went on a dare; they announced they were coming; they an ticipated trouble; and they envisioned the glory that be theirs in the head lines. Some of them were professional agitators with long records of leading other protest demonstrations. . . . They created distrust and dissension. They sought to pit race against race, section against section. They played into the hands of Moscow by creating an ideal situation for communist exploitation. They nettled deep-seated emotions and feelings of the Southern people, and they brought on shameful violence in my state.” As a direct consequence, Patterson said, relations between Alabama and the federal government have almost reached an “impasse.” Negro Progress The governor ticked off the story of Negro progress in the state—Negro capital is building a new shopping cen ter near Tuskegee Institute; successful Negro insurance companies and other businesses are prospering in the state; Alabama Negroes have become lawyers, bankers, doctors, dentists; many Negro families in the state live in split-level homes with two cars and hire their own domestic servants; and, not least, Negro teachers in the state public schools draw higher average salaries than white teachers. “Like many other areas,” Patterson conceded, “we have problems peculiar Redmond and Judge Wright Receive College Awards Dr. James F. Redmond and U. S. District Judge J. Skelly Wright, both central figures in the school desegrega tion battle of New Orleans during the past school year, received college hon ors in June. Dr. Redmond, who resigned as public school superintendent June 30, was presented an award by St. Mary’s Do minican College given annually to an individual or foundation for distin guished service to education, commun ity and religion. Judge Wright was presented an hon orary doctor of laws degree from Yale University for “performing the most difficult of all tasks a judge must per form ... to school the people in law when this requires a change in their prevailing customs.” # # # Alabama Highlights Gov. John Patterson told the Na tional Conference of Governors, meeting in Hawaii, that “freedom rides” and the resulting violence se verely damaged all race relations in the state. Patterson also charged that Jus tice Department support of the rid ers had brought federal-state rela tions almost to an “impasse.” Accus ing Attorney General Robert Kenne dy of “demonstrating a schoolboy’s innocence” in race relations, Patter son called for a “return to reason on the part of the federal government.” His address, while characteristi cally hard-hitting, was regarded by many in the state as perhaps the most restrained, in many respects, that the governor has made on ra cial matters. If left alone and not pushed, Patterson said, Alabama will “resolve the dilemmas of our times.” U.S. District Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. of Montgomery found June 2 that leaders of the “freedom riders” share responsibility for the violence that erupted in Alabama in May. The Montgomery judge issued a temporary restraining order, later dissolved on a technicality, against CORE, other desegregation groups and a number of individuals, includ ing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The May bloodshed continued to dominate the climate of racial opin ion in Alabama—private as well as official. Auburn University authori ties acted to prevent future deseg regation support by the student newspaper, which had endorsed edi torially the “freedom rides.” to our section. Our people are striving to overcome these problems, seeking solutions in harmony, in sympathetic understanding and in our own fashion.” Patterson insisted the state did its duty in protecting the “freedom rid ers”: that a state investigator riding on the bus burned near Anniston perhaps saved many fives; that an armed escort was provided for a later bus coming to Montgomery, with air cover; that state officers responded within seconds after a call for help by Montgomery police May 20 when the arrival of the bus was greeted with violence; that the state director of public safety personally res cued several from the mob. While noting that Montgomery po lice, along with “freedom rider” spon sors, had been enjoined by a federal judge (See “Legal Action”), Patterson said, “I do not believe anyone can truthfully claim that the state govern ment was derelict in its obligation to enforce the laws of our state. . . . Had we known that a riot was to break out at the Montgomery bus station, we would have taken action to prevent it. I think the Montgomery city police would have, too. Hindsight, of course, is always better than foresight.” Demands From Washington Patterson said that during the rides there were demands from Washington to escort buses and guarantee protec tion. While this was done within the limits of what he said were his respon sibilities, the governor said he could not guarantee there would not be a fight “when they are seeking one,” any more than Attorney General Kennedy “can guarantee that another young mother is not going to be savagely at tacked this week in the District of Co lumbia.” He was repeatedly critical of Attor ney General Kennedy’s role: “The handling of delicate state-federal mat ters by long-distance telephone in the middle of the night in an air of tension and hysteria is . . . not the proper way to conduct business between two gov ernments.” Patterson accused U.S. marshals, dis patched to Montgomery after the May 20 bus station violence, of escorting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from the air port as if he were the president coming to town. When marshals stood guard outside the church the night of May 21, Patter son said, their presence attracted crowds. “As it developed, the marshals were totally unable to cope with an inflammatory situation they helped to create . . .” When the situation got out of hand, Patterson said, he called out the Na tional Guard, and “the marshals were withdrawn that same night to the se curity of Maxwell Air Force Base and never again put to duty on the streets of Montgomery.” The governor called for a “return to reason on the part of the federal gov ernment in the field of race relations.” Although the people of Alabama are “firmly opposed to social integration,” Patterson said, this alone did not ac count for the violence: “The citizens were aroused ... by the fact that groups were coming into our state from other areas to purposely defy our laws and shatter our traditions. It was a cal culated scheme to incite our people to physical fury, and unfortunately it worked.” Discrimination doesn’t exist solely in the South, Patterson said, with the ob servation that there have been recent “waves of racial unrest” in California, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Illinois and New York. “The customs of generations are not changed in a single year or perhaps in decades,” Patterson continued. “The only real solution comes with time, and the process of change cannot be rushed.” Noting that one newspaper had won dered editorially whether the marshal invasion might forecast a forthcoming federal showdown over desegregation in the South, Patterson said: “I say not, and I hope not. I must admit, however, that the U.S. attorney general is demonstrating a schoolboy’s innocence in his actions in this field in recent months.” Out of it all, he said, “my deepest concern, in retrospect, is the growing encroachment of the federal govern ment. Every time it gains, the states lose." Legal Action U. S. District Judge Enjoins Both Sides In ‘Freedom Rides’ U.S. District Judge Frank M. John son of Montgomery enjoined desegrega tion groups and their leaders in a June 2 finding on responsibility for the vio lence greeting “freedom riders” in the state during May. After a four-day hearing in Mont gomery, Johnson issued a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc.; Alabama Knights, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc.; Alvin Horn and Rob ert Shelton, rival Klan leaders; Thur- mon E. Ouzts and Claude V. Henley, both of whom were arrested for their part in the May 20 violence at the Montgomery bus terminal; Montgomery Police Commissioner L. B. Sullivan; Montgomery Police Chief Goodwin J. Ruppenthal and their officers, agents, employes and all persons acting in con cert with them. Johnson directed the Klan groups and individuals to desist interfering with in terstate travel and the police to pro vide protection for travelers—protec tion Johnson found had been withheld May 20. Over the protests of the Justice De partment, Johnson also issued a tem porary restraining order “to prevent immediate and irreparable injury to the free flow of interstate commerce within this state” against: the Congress of Racial Equality; the Southern Chris tian Leadership Conference; Ralph D. Abernathy, Montgomery Negro leader, individually as an officer of CORE and SCLC; the Montgomery County Jail ‘Oh, My Goodness, I Hope There’s No Violence!’ Daniel, Knoxville Journal Council (formed in jail by Abernathy and others while they were there); the Nashville Student Non-Violent Move ment; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in dividually and as president of SCLC; Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, individually and as executive secretary of SCLC; the Rev. F. L. Shuttlesworth of Birm ingham and the Rev. Solomon S. Seay Sr. of Montgomery, individually and as officers in one or more of the above organizations; and all others acting as their agents, members or employes or acting in concert with them. Johnson’s June 2 order, as it affected the desegregation groups and individ uals, concluded: “Those who sponsor, finance and en courage groups to come into this area with the knowledge that such publi cized trips will foment violence in and around the bus terminals and bus fa cilities are just as effective in causing an obstruction to the movement of bona fide interstate bus passengers as those named in the government’s complaint . . The court recognizes that this sponsorship, even though it is agitation (See ALABAMA, Page 13) Kennedy Calls For Strong Law Backing WASHINGTON iting “tragic events” in Ala bama, Attorney General Rob ert F. Kennedy called for tough- minded law enforcement on both the local and federal levels. “We cannot ex pect that our problems and dif ficulties in con nection with civil rights in the South will be solved without discord and dis agreement,” Ken- nedy told the graduating class of the FBI acad emy June 7. “But we do have a right to expect that local law en forcement officers will do their jobs at all times, that they will preserve law and order.” The attorney general expressed the hope that “the lessons of Alabama will be learned and learned well.” “I hope,” he said, “that out of the tragic events in Alabama there will not again arise in this country of ours a time when local law enforcement offi cers will not do their duty to preserve law and order no matter how unpleas ant the job.” At Editors’ Conference Commenting on the Justice Depart ment’s civil rights role, Kennedy said at a conference of United Press Inter national editors and publishers the same day: “Our basic position is that we intend to meet our responsibilities. We intend to perform the duties which we have sworn to undertake—to enforce the law, in every field of the law and in every region of the country. “Basically, we believe that we must make progress in this nation toward the goal guaranteed by the Constitution that no one is denied opportunity or discriminated against because of race, creed or color.” At a June 14 news conference in New York City, the attorney general said he did not believe continued “free dom rides” into the heart of the South make “a great deal of sense” in ad vancing the cause of desegregation. Kennedy said he would like to see desegregation “settled in the courts, not in the streets,” though he stressed that he thought “freedom riders” had “a le gal right to make these trips.” ‘Non-Intervention’ Policy On June 15, Kennedy told the an nual meeting of the National Associa tion of Attorneys General that his de partment follows a policy of non-inter vention in civil rights disputes until it has consulted with officials of the states involved to “determine if the problem can be resolved amicably.” The Attorney General said it is his duty to enforce such Supreme Court rulings as those barring school segrega tion, and added: “The Federal Govern ment is not trying to thrust anything down anybody’s throat, but we have responsibilities and obligations.” # # # KENNEDY