Edwin Washington Project

EWP 1 Editorial 1955001

Item

Title

EWP 1 Editorial 1955001

Place

Virginia

Identifier

1000410

Is Version Of

1000410_EWP_Editorial_1955001.jpg

Is Part Of

Uncategorized

Date Created

2024-01-07

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Jpeg Image

Number

1e683e21d60b00fcbdd096e06f1c83475e35656810ba2176b739295a965d7055

Source

/Volumes/T7 Shield/EWP/Elements/EWP_Files/Access Files/Upload temp/1000410_EWP_Editorial_1955001.jpg

Publisher

Digitized by Edwin Washington Project

Rights

Loudoun County Public Schools

Language

English

Replaces

/Volumes/T7 Shield/EWP/Elements/EWP_Files/source/Ingest One/1 Civil Rights/1_Citizen_Study_of_1948/1_Yr_1948_Citizens_Study/Defenders/EWP_Editorial_1955001.jpg

extracted text

1o EDITORIAL PAGE ™ cu s 105
The High Court's Second Mistake

A great deal has been written, over out the South. In Mississippi, Citizens
these past 16 months, about the massive Councils are providing a powerful coun-

error committ _ : ter-force against the well-disciplined
g ed by the buited Siats NAACP. In South Carolina, councils

Supreme Court in May of 1954. Inits phave come into being in most of the
two decisions of May 17, the court threw counties with heavy Negro population.
away the Tenth Amendment, rewrote the In Tennessee, the Federation for Consti-
Fourteenth Amendment, and usurped the tutional Government, sparked by Pro-
prerogatives of Congress in administra- fessor Donald Davidson, of Vanderbilt
tion of the District of Columbia, The University, is offering leadership of the
court abandoned the established prece- highest stature.
dents of 58 years, turned its back on The “year of grace” has proved to be
lawbocks, and went to a left-wing just that, though in not quite the way
Swedish sociologist for testimony to sup- the court envisioned. It has accorded
port its legislative enactment. The mag- the South an opportunity to pass new
nitude of this lawless decision is not yet 1aws, and to establish a new legal de-
fullygrasped. S , ~" fense against invasion of State and local
But relatively little has been said of responsibilities. More than this, the year
the court’s second mistake, which was has provided an opportunity for -

nistake i : > South to _learn a little something—
a mistake in tactics. When the court de though a liberal Washington press has

cided to i ; :
Mr. My?‘dglngfrfigi%ggn\;:se giggt}%of ?}?é struggled manfully to conceal the truth
South, it decided to delay the full impact —of what massive integration can meaq
of its opinion. First the court would in terms of educational levels and social
stab us in the back, a year later it would problems. The white parents of the
shoot us in the head.” It would be less District have had to learn this the hard
painful that way. The idea was that way—and they have fled into Arlington
over a period of 12 months, opposition by the thousands. This Fall, Washing-
! ton’s schools are 63 per cent colored—a



to integrated schools would calm down; to/4in o gain Of two full percentage -

we were to have a cooling off period; we . : : .
: ) points in a single year. White parents
would be soothed and lulled into an easy omaining in the District are grouping

compliance. h ] i er tichter residential
It is evident now that the court’s slick }ine;rsn.se e &
_strategy has misfir"ed. : Far frgm calm- We begin to take heart.

ing down, opposition is growing daily At the cost of God knows what blood-

more resolute, Far from cooling off, the shed and bitterness, the court might pos-

heat of resentment grows more intense. gjply have imposed its legislation upon
In September of 1954, the opponents of a stunned and leaderless South in the
integration could not possibly have Fall of 1954. The Fall of 1955 finds us
rallied 2,000 persons to a meeting in Nor- much better equipped to resist. We still
folk. Yet last Thursday night, far more have far too many separate organiza-
than 2,000 turned out to jam the Norfolk tions seeking the same aims; we still
Auditorium in a demonstration against lack leadership in too many places. But
mixed schools. This meeting was called day by day, the opposition to mixed
by the Defenders of State Sovereignty schools is growing stronger and more
and Individual Liberties, which now has effective.
30 organized chapters in Virginia and a We can say now to the NAACP that
membership of more than 5,000 persons. it will have to fight a hundred times
Within the next few weeks, other chap- harder for every inch of ground that it
ters will be established in Brunswick, gains; and we can say to the Supreme
Louisa and Culpeper. Court, with more than mere bravado, the
The same story is developing through- South has just begun to fight.

THE DEFENDERS OF STATE SOVEREIGNTY AND
INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES

1210 Travelers Building o Richmond, Virginia




Item sets

EWP 01 Civil Rights