About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1963)
PAGE 10—MAY, 19&3—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS MISSISSIPPI Committee (Continued From Page 9) committees of Congress will make a full investigation.” U. S. Rep. Thomas Abemethy of Mississippi, asserted that “one might expect such ruthlessness in Russia or Cuba, but never in the United States.” Mississippi U. S. Rep. Arthur Win stead said “if this shocking conduct by these officials, which is supported by affidavits, is made fully known by all news media, then the American people will well understand the resentment of the people of Mississippi.” And U. S. Rep. John Bell Williams, also of Mississippi, asserted that “Rob ert Kennedy and his agents stand ac cused of the most flagrant violation of the civil rights of American citizens which have ever occurred in the his tory of this nation. If these men, who beat the defenseless young and the de fenseless lame in such a barbarous fashion, are heroes, may God have mercy on their souls.” Legal Action Hearings Delayed On 3 Federal Suits For Desegregation Hearings in three federal suits for desegregation of public schools in Mis sissippi have been delayed until some time in May by District Judge S. C. Mize. At Jackson, April 5, Judge Mize de layed until about May 8 a decision on separate motions to dismiss suits for desegregation of the public schools in the city of Jackson and in Leake County (Carthage), where Gov. Ross Barnett was born, to give attorneys time to file briefs. The postpone ments were or dered after attor neys for the city of Jackson charged that parents of the Negro children filing the litigation had not exhausted administrative remedies available to them. They said the parents had not applied for transfers under the individual pupil assignment plan in effect since 1954. They also asserted that three of the children had never attended public schools. Robert Cannada, attorney for the Jackson school board, told the court the city had eliminated separate white and Negro school districting in 1954 and began assigning students to a school “on an individual basis.” He said any student could petition for transfer, but that none of those in the suit had done so. Transfer Plea ‘Futile’ However, Negro attorney Jack Young, representing the children, said it would have been “futile” for a Negro student to request transfer to a white school because state law requires that schools be segregated. Attorney Young said the court “should merely determine that the city was operating a segregated school sys tem and put a stop to it.” It was stated in the preliminary hearing on city of Jackson motions to dismiss the suit that the children of Medgar Evers, field representative of the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People, plain tiffs in the suit, attend private and not public schools. Thomas Watkins, special attorney for the city of Jackson, contended that the United States Supreme Court’s 1954 desegregation decision “did not prevent authorities from permitting, authorizing or encouraging school seg regation.” He said “it does not require integration nor does it prohibit volun tary segregation.” “If the court should order desegre gation, it would be telling the city it must mix white and Negro children, regardless of the individual desires of the people,” Watkins said. One Plaintiff Removed In addition to gaining a delay in the Leake County case, attorneys for the school board were successful in having the name of one of the plaintiffs re moved on grounds she had not author ized use of her name. The affidavit of Ruthie Nell McBeth, mother of Gween- nell McBeth, minor, also denied an allegation in the suit that her home had been shot into after the suit had been filed. Charges, Lawsuits Mark Month Mrs. McBeth admitted she signed a petition last February to desegregate the Leake County schools, but con tended it was “a threat in an attempt to have the Harmony Attendance Cen ter re-established.” The original petition was filed after the Negro attendance center was con solidated with a school in another part of the county. The school board has taken no action on that petition from which many names were withdrawn on request of the Negro principal. R. Jess Brown, Negro attorney in the Leake County suit, was questioned by the court relative to use of the woman’s name. Neither attorney for the desegrega tion petitioners challenged postpone ment of the cases. They agreed not to push immediate desegregattion through temporary injunctions pending a deci sion on the motions to dismiss the two suits. ‘Impacted Area’ Districts The other desegregation suit, filed by the federal Justice Department, in volves the Gulfport and Biloxi sep arate school districts on the Gulf Coast in the “impacted area” where children of military personnel and federal workers are involved. Judge Mize signed an order severing the suit filed Jan. 18 as a joint issue. The action against the Biloxi district will be continued under the original claim number, and the Gulfport suit will be re-numbered in sequence on the civil docket. The suit alleges that there are 3,600 children of service personnel attend ing Biloxi schools and 2,000 in the Gulfport schools of which 250 at Biloxi and 130 at Gulfport are Negroes. Meanwhile, Judge Mize set May 6 for a hearing on a motion by trustees of the Gulfport district to dismiss the suit. Three points were set out in the motion filed by Owen T. Palmer Jr., school board attorney. They are: “That the court is vested with no By ERWIN KNOLL WASHINGTON espite the government’s rul ing that segregated schools are “unsuitable” for children liv ing on federal installations, sev eral thousand of these children will continue to attend segregated off-base schools after this fall’s deadline. The Department of Health, Educa tion and Welfare has persuaded 15 school districts in four states, serving some 12,000 children living on military posts, to desegregate in September. Desegregated government schools be ing built on eight installations will accommodate another 4,000 students, and 8,000 more could be affected by Justice Department desegregation suits now pending in five districts. But these 24,000 children who may attend desegregated schools as a result of voluntary compliance or federal ac tion constitute only a fraction of the 70,000 school-age children living on 360 federal installations in 17 Southern and border states. Some of the others, however, already are attending on- base schools or desegregated schools in nearby communities. Major obstacles to full implementa tion of the government’s year-old “suitability ruling” are: • Continuing negotiations with some school districts which have not yet in dicated willingness to desegregate, but where the negotiations “have not yet reached the point where a decision to build on-base schools would be justi fied,” according to U.S. Commissioner of Education Francis Keppel. “Pressing forward on these negotia tions is certainly our number-one item of business,” Keppel told a House edu cation subcommittee on April 2. • Difficulties involved in establishing on-base government high schools. All of the desegregated schools being built on the installations so far would pro vide only elementary instruction. • Educational objections to building on-base schools at installations with small numbers of pupils. Such schools jurisdiction of the parties or subject matter as set out in the complaint. “That the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. “That the United States of America has no standing as plaintiff in this court for the reason that the USA does not have the requisite interest in the subject matter as alleged in said com plaint to maintain such action.” The Justice Department filed the suit on behalf of dependents of military and civilian personnel of the United States who attend school in the Biloxi and Gulfport districts. It points to the federal funds granted for operation of the schools. Arguments Delayed On Barnett, Johnson The U.S. Supreme Court has delayed until October arguments on a point of law as to whether Gov. Ross Barnett and Lt. Gov. Paul B. Johnson are en titled to a trial by jury for defying two federal court mandates for admis sion of Negro James Meredith in the University of Mississippi. Both Mississippi officials physically and personally blocked Meredith’s en trance to the campus prior to his en rollment Oct. 1. The point at issue has been sub mitted to the Supreme Court by the U.S. Fifth Court of Appeals which split four-to-four on the issue. The ninth judge was ill and did not sit in the case. Gov. Barnett and Lt. Gov. Johnson have demanded a trial by jury in the criminal contempt charges filed against them by the Justice Department on behalf of the Court of Appeals. Chief Judge Elbert Tuttle wrote an opinion, with Judges Richard Rives, John R. Brown and Minor Wisdom concurring, expressing the view that the question should be answered in the negative. In separate opinions, Judges Ben F. Cameron, Warren Jones, Wal- would, of necessity, be one- or two- room operations and would be “aca demically inadequate,” according to officials of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. About 7,000 of the 70,000 school-age children who could have been affected by the “suitability ruling” live on 284 small installations where no attempt is being made to build biracial on-base schools. Of the remaining 76 large govern ment installations, 13 have no Negro children in residence, and three already provide on-base instruction for all resident Negro children. Another 23 installations are in communities where some off-base desegregation has taken place. The remaining 37 larger bases have an on-base school-age population of about 44,000—12,000 of whom already are attending desegregated on-base schools. Of the remaining 32,000, some 8,000 are so far not accounted for by the government’s steps to obtain vol untary desegregation, build on-base schools or file desegregation suits. “You may be assured,” Keppel told the House subcommittee, “that with the best thinking and greatest resource fulness at our command we intend to press forward toward full implemen tation of the policy.” Approach Criticized Several members of the subcommit tee expressed criticism of the govern ment’s approach to the problem of segregated schools for military de pendents. Chairman John H. Dent (D-Pa.) cited the $4 million cost of building on-base schools at eight installations and asked if the Administration had considered moving some installations to nonsegregated communities. Reps, N. G. Snyder (R-Ky.) and Donald C. Bruce (R-Ind.) said if there is a federal obligation to provide bi racial schooling, Congress should enact legislation barring ‘impacted areas” aid to segregated school districts. A bill to accomplish this has been introduced by Rep. Charles Joelson (D-N.J.). Keppel indicated that it was the Ad ministration’s position that such legis- ter Gewin and Griffin B. Bell expressed the view that the question should be answered in the affirmative. Absent was Judge J. G. Hutcheson. In The Colleges Meredith Seeks Summer Quarters James H. Meredith has applied for quarters for married students for the summer term at the University of Mis- sippi, according to reports published on April 18. The reports said that the 29-year-old Negro, whose enrollment touched off rioting at the university last September, paid a $25 deposit and requested living quarters in the veterans village unit on the Ole Miss campus. Meredith’s wife has been attending Jackson State College for Negroes. They have a three-year-old son. ★ ★ ★ A small bomb exploded outside a men’s dormitory at the University of Mississippi on the night of April 30, but there were no injuries A window in a vacant room and another in a room occupied by the dormitory manager, who was out of the room at the time, were broken by the blast. Campus police launched an investigation. A bomb scare on April 18 caused officials to clear an Ole Miss library where James H. Meredith was study ing. Officials said an anonymous telephone caller reported a bomb had been placed in the library. A search uncovered no bomb and some 150 students were al lowed to go back into the building about 45 minutes later. lation should be held up until the five pending desegregation suits are settled by the courts. The suits are pending against Prince George County, Va. (Fort Lee); Madi son County, Ala. (Redstone Arsenal); Mobile County, Ala. (Brookley Air Force Base); Harrison County, Miss. (Keesler Air Force Base), and Bossier Parish, La. (Barksdale Air Force Base). Off-Base Dependents Rep. Edith Green (D-Ore.) com plained that the construction of non segregated schools for children living on federal installations would be of no help to military dependents living off- base who must still attend segregated schools. The Administration has taken the position that the law permits it to make a determination of “suitability” only in the case of schools serving children who live on federal property. The eight installations where ele mentary schools are to be constructed by this fall are Fort McClellan, Fort Rucker and. Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama; Fort Stewart and Robins Air Force Base in Georgia; Fort Jack- son and Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in South Carolina, and England Air Force Base in Louisiana. A dozen of the 15 school districts which have agreed to desegregate next fall have been publicly identified. They are: Florida—Hillsborough County (Mac- Dill Air Force Base); Okaloosa Coun ty (Elgin Air Force Base); Santa Rosa 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); Connally Consolidated Independent School District (Connally Air Force Base). Virginia—York County (Langley Air Force Base); City of Hampton (Fort Monroe). D. C. Highlights The Civil Rights Commission asked President Kennedy to study the possibility of withholding fed eral funds from Mississippi. The President rejected the idea, but it found favor in some quarters on Capitol Hill, and led to a resurgence of interest in the “Powell amend ment.” The District Board of Education, after heated debate, rejected School Supt. Carl F. Hansen’s proposal that it lift the ban on corporal punish ment in the schools. The Supreme Court announced that it will hear arguments next fall on the question of a jury trial in the contempt case against Mississippi Gov. Ross R. Barnett and Lt. Gov. Paul B. Johnson. (See Mississippi report.) The Justice Department denied charges by a Mississippi legislative committee that U.S. marshals brutal ly mistreated prisoners during last fall’s desegregation crisis at the University of Mississippi. (See Mis sissippi report.) (Continued From Page 1) to withhold funds from segregated pro grams. Celebrezze said he did not be lieve he had the authority to do so, except in the case of schooling provided for children living on federal installa tions and possibly in the rural libraries assistance program, where the question is now under study. Says Ban Would Block Passage “Would you object to a provision in the education bill forbidding funds to states where racial discrimination ex ists?” Prouty asked. “If such a provision goes in the edu cation bill, we will get no bill,” Cele brezze answered. He said the question should properly be left to the enact ment of separate civil rights legislation. In an April 27 interview with United Press International, Congressman Pow ell indicated that he was cancelling his “truce” with the administration because it was “slowing up” the civil rights field. When he became chairman of the Education and Labor Committee in 1961, Powell announced that he would refrain from supporting anti-discrim ination amendments while the Admin istration moved vigorously on the civil rights front. He told UPI that he no longer felt bound by that pledge. Board Votes Down Proposal To Allow Corporal Punishment By 5-to-4 vote, the District of Col umbia Board of Education on April 1 rejected School Supt. Carl F. Hansens proposal to end the ban on corpor punishment in Washington public schools. , Hansen had advanced the corpor punishment proposal as part of a point program to tighten discipline i® the schools following racial disorde at a high school championship footb n game in the D.C. Stadium last Thanks giving Day. a The board gave tentative appro to another key Hansen proposal — change in dismissal policies to P rov ' for indefinite suspension of unruly stu dents under 16. The corporal punishment proposal' which had been a matter of communi controversy and Congressional conce was rejected after a heated debate the school board during which asked to have some remarks by M°^ decai Johnson, former president Howard University, struck from record. At the end of a 30-minute s P ee ?” s0 n. posing corporal punishment, one of four Negro members on ^ nine-member board, charged ^ . Hansen had been “out of touch ^ school disciplinary problems before^ Thanksgiving Day disturbance, was “an administrative failure of a s ous kind,” Johnson said. He charged that the superintena tried to cover this “failure” by a m ment to violence” . . . ‘ ‘whippy 1 ® children.” When Johnson finished, sen told the board: _u e s “When a board member a 1 ^ charges of incompetence against ^ superintendent ... it seems to m ^ automatic sequel that a motion s ^ be placed before the board asking 0 t his (the superintendent’s) dismiss ^ the remark should be expunged the record.” Some Pupils on U. S. Bases To Stay in Uniracial Schools
