The Press WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1963. Racial Integration In United States

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30073, 6 March 1963, Page 12

The Press WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1963. Racial Integration In United States

President Kennedy’s latest request to Congress for legislation against racism indicates his resolve to build upon recent successes in the campaign for toler* ance and equality. Had the last Congress -been more co-operative, the pace of the President’s civil rights programme would have been far swifter. Last October’s university riots in Mississippi are still fresh in the national memory; and the new Congress is likelier, therefore, to heed the President's appeal Basically, the United States maintains a very high regard for democracy. This automatically implies equal rights for all citizens, white or coloured, irrespective of creed, education, or occupation. Thus the ultimate ending of discrimination on racial grounds is assured; only the actual time remains in doubf. In a multitude of small ways—in churches, schools, labour unions, housing settlements—discrimination is being eroded. In most States voting rights are already guaranteed to all adult citizens. The movement of negroes from the Deep South to the north has helped to increase pressure upon the Federal Government for the breakdown of electoral barriers. Not only are negro rights being championed by enlightened European voters; but they are being asserted powerfully by the 19 million negroes themselves. James Meredith, the first negro student at ■ the University of Mississippi, is only one of many young negroes who daily bring before the American public the aspirations of their people. Every State of the Union—and this includes even Alabama—has now abandoned a perfectly segregationist policy in its universities. More than three-quarters of the members of the American Federation of Labour and the Congress of Industrial Organisations have pledged themselves to oppose racial discrimination in employment. Recently, too, negroes have been guaranteed equality of access to Feder-ally-aided housing projects. Undeterred by loss of favour in the Deep South, Mr Kennedy continues to attack the racial bastions; and the total of his sympathisers appears to be increasing. Racism in the United States has persisted so long

not only because of ingrained prejudice against the descendants of slaves; but because the American Federal Constitution has permitted it The underlying principle of any federalism is that authority is divided and that the citizen owes an equal obedience to both Federal and State authorities. The American States, as well as the Federal Government enjoy an absolute right to manage their own affairs within the spheres defined by, and under the overriding authority of, the Constitution. Thia results in such extraordinary situations as that at Little Rock in 1957,. when the local troops were at one moment keeping the high school closed en the orders of Governor Faubus, and at the next moment keeping it open on the orders of President Eisenhower. America’s racial problem has always been peculiarly that of the South. The 1865 amendment to the Constitution that abolished slavery did nothing to ensure for the negro any of the social and political rights that the white Southerners were most reluctant to grant him; and in 1877 the Federal Government tacitly accepted the failure of its efforts to cure the resultant difficulties. But especially after their sacrifices in the Second World War the negroes reacted strongly against relegation to second-class citizenship. Through such bodies as the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People they have pressed their demands by propaganda and by litigation. Victory for their cause seems certain, if only because it can be accomplished at the will of the entire American people rather than solely through the defeat of a 40-millior minority in the South Moreover, as the passions aroused by the Civil Wai and its bitter aftermath recede, Southern liberalism is growing, and there are better opportunities for cultivating comradeship between the races. Of all influences, however, probably the most important is the spiritual unity of coloured people throughout the length and breadth oi America. President Kennedy’s programme is intended ■ to expedite processes that, once begun cannot be withstood indefinitely.