Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2—APRIL, 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Schools On Military Posts
To Be Federally Operated
(Continued from Page 1)
tinue to attend
segregated schools
in the off-base
communities. No
provision for es
tablishing on-base
high schools has
been made.
Celebrezze said
in some unusual
circumstances par
ents may want to
continue sending
their children to
off-base schools providing special pro
grams not available on base—for ex
ample, courses for mentally-retarded
children.
“The department cannot, of course,
control where an individual parent
residing on a military base may send
his children to school,” he said.
“But, subject to the limits of our
authority and the educational consid
erations in exceptional instances to
which I have referred, where we pro
vide nonsegregated on-base schools, no
payment of federal funds will be made
for segregated schools for on-base chil
dren who attend such schools.”
★ ★ ★
12 School Districts
Meet Military Rules
An HEW spokesman on April 3
identified 12 of the 15 school districts
which the department says have agreed
to provide nonsegregated schooling this
fall for children of personnel living on
military bases. The spokesman said
three additional school systems will be
named later when official confirmation
is received.
The 12 districts identified and the
military establishments they serve are:
Florida—Hillsborough County, Mac-
Dill Air Force Base; Okaloosa County,
Eglin Air Force Base; Santa Rose
County, Whiting Field Naval Air Sta
tion.
Tennessee—Shelby County, Memphis
Naval Air Station.
Texas—Abilene, Dyess Air Force
Base; Mineral Wells, Camp Wolters;
Colorado Consolidated School District
No. 36, Bergstrom Air Force Base;
Burkbumett, Sheppard Air Force Base;
Potter County Consolidated School
District No. 3, Amarillo Air Force
Base; Coinally Consolidated Independ
ent School District, Connally Air
Force Base.
Attorney General
Says Race Bias
Is Top Problem
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
told foreign students at Howard Uni
versity March 13 that racial discrimina
tion is America’s greatest internal prob
lem but that “we have made strong
advances” toward solving it.
Schools are being desegregated every
where, Kennedy said, “except in Ala
bama, which hasn’t moved at all yet.
But I expect that will change.”
“Mississippi was that way once,” the
attorney general added. “Well, Mr.
Meredith is going to their university
now. He’s having a difficult time, but
he’s going there.”
In a March 9 address to the Civil
Rights Committee of the New York
City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO,
Kennedy called for the help of organ
ized labor in eliminating segregation.
“There is no question that segrega
tion in the South is socially, politically
and morally wrong,” the attorney gen
eral declared. “But there is deep-seated
discrimination in the North also, and
it is just as wrong.
“Racial discrimination is a national,
not a regional problem, and it cannot
be solved simply by individual in
stances of federal action on behalf of
freedom riders or a single college stu
dent.”
The solution, Kennedy said, requires
“the hearts, the voices, the minds and
the muscle of individuals and organiza
tions all over the country, public and
private.”
★ ★ ★
The need for providing federal as
sistance to school districts in the process
of desegregating was stressed in an
address March 5 by Berl I. Bernhard,
staff director of the Civil Rights Com
mission.
Although there has been “very real
progress” in urban areas in the South,
he said, there has been almost no
desegregation in Southern rural areas.
Many school districts, he suggested, may
be ready to think seriously about tak
ing the first steps toward desegregation,
but “they don’t know how to go about
it, what approaches have worked, and
what the courts have held to be legiti
mate plans.”
Bernhard emphasized that “during
the period of transition, the quality
of education must be maintained. It
is important to keep the quality up
while complying with the law.”
President Defends
Bench Appointees
President Kennedy at a news con
ference defended his choice on federal
judges in the South.
A question about
the President’s
appointments was
asked after New
York Gov. Nelson
A. Rockefeller
charged that Ken
nedy had been
naming “segrega
tionist judges” to
fill vacancies in
the Southern
states. The same
charges has been
made from time to time by some civil
rights leaders. Kennedy replied:
“No, I think that some of the judges
may not have ruled as I would have
ruled in their cases. In those cases,
there is always a possibility for an
appeal.
“On the whole, I believe—and this
is not true just of this administration
but the previous administration—I
think the men that have been appointed
to judgeships in the South, sharing,
perhaps, as they do, the general outlook
of the South, have done a remarkable
job in fulfilling their oath of office.
“So I would not generalize. There
may be cases where this is not true,
and that is unfortunate, but I would
KENNEDY
Senators Ask 180-Day
Legislation to require all segregated
school districts to file a desegregation
plan within 180 days was introduced in
the Senate March 27 by a group of
liberal Republicans.
The school desegregation measure,
sponsored by Sen. Thomas Kuchel
(Calif.), was one of a series of civil
rights bills introduced by the GOP
group to cover the fields of voting,
employment, housing, public accom
modations and law enforcement.
Sponsors of the education bill, in
addition to Kuchel, are Republican
Sens. Jacob Javits (N.Y.), Clifford
P. Case (N.J.), Kenneth B. Keating
(N.Y.), Hugh Scott (Pa., J. Glenn Beall
(Md.), and Hiram L. Fong (Hawaii).
Javits, the principal spokesman for
the group, told the Senate that Presi
dent Kennedy’s own civil rights pro
posals, submitted to Congress late in
February, fall short of meeting the
Rights Commission.
“If the President will not assume the
leadership of getting through Congress
urgently needed civil rights measures,
we in Congress
must take the ini
tiative,” Javits de
clared.
He indicated
that the GOP lib
erals had failed to
get Democratic
liberals to co
sponsor their leg
islation, but ex
pected the Demo
crats to make
their own fight to
broaden the President’s civil rights
package when it comes up for con
sideration.
President Kennedy’s principal recom
mendation in the field of education
would provide financial and technical
assistance to school districts planning
to desegregate. Kennedy also would set
up an information clearing house on
D. C. Highlights
The Secretary of Health, Educa
tion and Welfare announced that
new on-base schools to be set up next
fall at Southern military installations
will be operated by the Defense De
partment, not by segregated local
school districts. Two more bases were
added to the list of installations
which will have nonsegregated
schools on base.
Liberal Republicans introduced
legislation in the Senate to require
all segregated school districts to file
desegregation plans within 180 days.
The bill also would give the attorney
general the authority to initiate in
junction suits in civil rights cases.
Attorney General Robert F. Ken
nedy said there have been “strong
advances” toward desegregation, and
that he is confident that Alabama will
have desegregated schools.
President Kennedy defended his
selection of new federal judges in
the South against charges that he
has named “segregationist judges.”
say that on the whole it has been an
extraordinary and very creditable rec
ord and I would say that of federal
judges generally that I have seen in
the last—certainly in the last 10 years.”
Institute Urges
State Initiative
A report urging governors and other
state officials to take the initiative in
eliminating segregation and racial dis
crimination was issued March 11 by
the Potomac Institute, a nonprofit civil
rights organization in Washington.
The report, written by John Silard,
a Washington attorney who specializes
in civil rights law, pointed to a number
of administrative programs already in
effect in some of the states in connec
tion with education, employment, hous
ing and public accommodations.
Entitled “State Executive Authority
to Promote Civil Rights,” the report
declared that the first requirement is
for “governors to speak out for the
concept of a desegregated society.”
In education, the report stated, “the
first obligation of state authorities is
to eradicate any remaining public
school segregation,” including de facto
segregation resulting from the concen
tration of minority groups in specific
residential districts.
State education authorities can en
courage local school boards to use such
techniques as free transfer plans, re
vised location and assignment policies,
and remedial programs for culturally
handicapped children, the report said.
Keating Blames Democrats
For D. C. School Problems
Sen. Kenneth B. Keating (R-N.Y.)
accused his Democratic colleagues in
Congress of being responsible for
“shameful” condi
tions in D.C. pub
lic schools.
In a March 6
speech to the
American Univer
sity Young Re
publican Club,
Keating cited low
expenditures for
education, poor
teachers standards
and old and over
crowded facilities
as examples of neglect.
“Is it possible that the committee of
Congress are not aware of these sta-
KEATING
DELAWARE
Hearing Slated On Plan
To Cut School Districts
DOVER
A n April hearing is scheduled
on a comprehensive school
consolidation bill that would re
duce Delaware school districts by
approximately one-third but omit
the three county Negro high
schools from the program.
A decision to hold a full hearing was
made by Rep. Carlton Blendt Jr., chair
man of the House Education Commit
tee of the General Assembly.
The Negro high schools excluded are
located at Middletown in New Castle
County, Dover in Kent County, and
Georgetown in Sussex County. In each
case the attendance boundary line is the
same as the county, superimposed over
many white districts.
At issue in the General Assembly is
a substitute to House Bill 20 which re
duces Delaware school districts from
87 to 30.
Preliminary Hearing
A preliminary hearing was held on
the bill March 28, when several persons
appeared to express doubts about the
decision to exclude the Negro schools
from the consolidation program.
HB 20, the school consolidation bill,
was introduced by Rep. James McGin
nis, Dover, who is serving his first term
in the legislature.
Rep. McGinnis said he submitted the
bill at the request of Dr. John G.
Parres, director of research and pub
lications for the State Department of
Congratulations
Denver Parker, first Negro to serve as
president of Sussex County Education
Association, is congratulated by Gov.
Elbert N. Carvel as he completes his
term.
tistics—or have they just chosen to
ignore them” he asked.
“If these conditions prevailed in other
American cities, parents and citizens
would rise up in protest, demand
needed improvements and throw out
of office those responsible for the situa
tion,” Keating said.
“The citizens of the District of Co
lumbia, however, have no control over
their congressional rulers. They must
suffer in silence or move to the
suburbs.”
Keating added:
“It has been publicly charged that
the House District Committee is treat
ing these children as pawns in a wicked
game designed to prove that desegrega
tion cannot succeed. I do not propose
to attribute motives to these men, but
there is no way for the party in power
to avoid responsibility for the results.”
School Plan Deadline
desegregation and eliminate the refer
ence to “separate but equal” facilities
from the century-old Morrill Land
Grant College Act.
The GOP group’s proposal would in
corporate all of these steps, but also
would:
• Require every school board which
has failed to achieve desegregation of
all public schools to adopt and file with
the Secretary of Health, Education and
Welfare within 180 days a desegrega
tion plan providing for at least first-step
compliance starting in the next shool
year.
• Authorize the attorney general to
institute a civil action for injunctive
relief against a school board which
violates the act, to protect all persons
involved in school desegregation and
to redress all deprivatons of constitu
tional rights.
• Apportion federal aid to education
in accordance with progress in desegre
gation, especially in the program of
aid to “federal impacted” areas serving
large numbers of military and govern
ment dependents.
During floor debate on the GOP civil
rights bills, Javits warned that the
Senate’s unlimited-debate rules will
continue to be a barrier to any civil
rights legislation until the Senate can
muster the two-thirds majority re
quired under its Rule 22 to break up
a filibuster.
Javits criticized the President for not
intervening at the start of this session
to help modify Rule 22. However, Sen.
Spessard L. Holland (D-Fla.) said it
would be “very wrong” for the Presi
dent to take a hand in an internal
Senate matter.
“If the President is really sincere
about his program,” replied Javits, “he
had better give some consideration to
changing Rule 22. It is the vote on
cloture (debate limitation) that counts.”
Delaware Highlights
A bill to reduce Delaware’s
school districts from 87 to 30, but
excluding Negro county schools, -will
be the subject of a public hearing
by the General Assembly in April.
Wilmington public schools would
have desegregated without the Su
preme Court decision in 1954, ac
cording to an official of the National
Conference of Christians and Jews.
Public Instruction.
Dr. Parres, in turn, said he was in
structed to introduce the bill by the
State Board of Education.
Community Action
Wilmington Cited
For Pre-1954 Move
On Desegregation
Public schools in Wilmington, the
largest single school system in Dela.
ware, probably would have desegre
gated without the 1954 Supreme Court
decision, according to Dr. James hi
Eagan of New Rochelle, N.Y., a na
tional vice-president of the Nation!
Conference of Christians and Jews.
Eagan revealed at an award dinner
in Wilmington that Wilmington was the
site of a pilot program on school de
segregation “long before” the 1954 de
cision but said he could not recall the
exact time the study was made.
The NCCJ officer said this study wa-
one of the reasons why desegregation
was accomplished so smoothly in the
city schools. Wilmington, he said, wae
one of 18 cities selected for the pilot
program.
Eagan also praised the Wilmington
pilot study of schools and changing
neighborhoods.
Mayor Honored
Eagan was in Wilmington as the
Delaware NCCJ chapter honored May;
or Otis H. Smith of Lewes who receive
the annual Brotherhood Award.
Smith, a trustee of the University of
Delaware, is a member of the Statt
Human Relations Commission and tw
Delaware Civil Rights Advisory Com
mittee.
What They Say
Voluntary Action
For Desegregation
Forecast In South
The South may voluntarily accept ^
cial desegregation, according to
Mordecai W. Johnson, president ew
tus of Howard University, Washing*"^
D.C.
Dr. Johnson, who in 1926 becami' .
university’s first Negro president,
the statement in an address to the c °l_
ssr*&
Church at Sha^
l6 I n f J
Dr. Johnson
Negro groups ”
shown no ^
I \ JBI for violence .
H cause they .
to attain V*
-■ I rights, .-by*
* " ing the Soujg
JOHNSON e r s theW Zfl-
consent to do away with the se
tionist ideas.”
Business men in the South, . ^iR
are daily demonstrating new
on the problem of nonsegregat
ities.
Law School Credited
0*
Dr. Johnson credited the 0 ft^
of Howard University with if
success in winning court
favor of desegregation.
The late Supreme Court ^
Louis D. Brandeis told him,
son said, to spare no effort m ” p
ening
the law school
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