The “Freedom Riders”

Press, Volume C, Issue 29525, 29 May 1961, Page 10

The “Freedom Riders”

The disturbances in Montgomery, Alabama, are significant, chiefly, as an illustration of the difficulties in overcoming habits of thought in the South. They are not typical of bus travel in the Southern States, because in the last few years this has become quietly one of the most promising instruments of integration. Though bus station facilities are still strictly segregated (with most unequal treatment), black and white mingle freely on inter-State buses. The ugly element responsible for the violence at Montgomery is no doubt well aware of this, but has generally avoided trouble. Probably the reason'for the latest piece of savagery was the loss of face the hooligans thought they were suffering when the “free- “ dom riders ” demonstrated the constitutional right of negroes to use buses as freely as white people instead of being allowed to do so as a concession. It might be argued that the “ freedom riders ” would have done better to let sleeping dogs lie while integration on buses was becoming generally accepted. But that would overlook the fact that the concessions grudgingly accorded wellbehaved negroes would not have been made if it had not been for the militancy of some of their kinsmen, which exposes the archaic traditions of the South. The publicity the “free-

“dom riders” have secured will increase the pressure on the South to adopt a more sensible and humane attitude, though it would be idle to expect the customs of a century to be overturned by a stroke at Montgomery, any more than they were overturned at Little Rock or New Orleans. It has always been clear that the process of change would be protracted and painful, particularly since the negroes, through no fault of their own, are generally a backward section of the community. The situation is, of course, complicated by the devotion of Americans (of both North and South) to the principle that law enforcement is a local and not a national responsibility. When local authorities are unable or unwilling to perform their duty under the constitution the Federal government will properly move to restore order. Such intervention is, however, resented; and Montgomery, as a former Confederate capital, is an apt reminder that only 100 years ago States’ rights and not the “ peculiar “ institution ” oi slavery was the cause for which enlightened southerners fought. Americans, it may be hoped, have acquired more wisdom with the passing generations, though some show little sign of it The people of Alabama should reflect that the best way to avoid Federal interference is to give no warrant for it