SEGREGATION IN U.S.

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27634, 15 April 1955, Page 13

SEGREGATION IN U.S.

Threat To Close Public Schools (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, April 13. The Assistant Attorney-General of North Carolina (Mr I. B. Lake) told the Supreme Court today that his State might abolish State-operated public schools, if the Court ordered an abrupt end to segregation of white and coloured children in United States classrooms. He told the Court that the chance of mixing the races in schools in Nortn Carolina in the near future was “extremely remote.’’ That was his reply to Mr Justice Hcrlan, who asked whether North Carolina was going to try to comply with the Court’s ruling that segregation was unconstitutional.

Yesterday, spokesmen for South Carolina and Virginia said the people of their States would not obey the Court’s anti-segregation order. The Court is at present holding hearings on when and how to carry out the order. Mr Lake said there were “alternatives” that could be used as standards for admission to public schools, such as sex, educational attainment and health. “The State has the right to choose its alternative,” he said. Urging the Court to grant “ample time to make adjustments,” while putting its decree into effect, he said that North Carolina needed this time to provide for an adequate and constitutional school system in view of the Court’s ruling, or a substitute for its public school system.