Rusk Says Colour Bar Harming U.S. Abroad

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30143, 29 May 1963, Page 15

Rusk Says Colour Bar Harming U.S. Abroad

N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, May 27.

The Secretary of State, Mr Dean Rusk, said today the United States was- running in the international race against the Communists “with one of our legs in a cast” because of racial discrimination at home, the Associated Press reported.

Mr Rusk told a conference on > foreign policy for non-Govern-mental organisations: “Our voice is muted, our friends are embarrassed, our enemies are gleeful because we have not really put our hands fully and effectively to this problem . . .”

Mir Rusk called for efforts to be made "at every level of our national life” to solve the problem of racial discrimination, which “does us deep injury abroad.” Mr Rusk said the problem of discrimination - was an issue “that deeply affects the conduct of our foreign relations. I believe that in general the free world is in a position to move forward with confidence if we do not let up and if we continue to support the great causes of freedom

"Bint in this country we are running this race with one of our legs in a cast,” Mr Rusk said.

Consideration of foreign policy was only the secondary reason why the problem should be tackled. The primary reason “is rooted- in our own commitments, the character of our society, the necessity to respect the dignity of our fellow citizens, and the kind of life we want to live. “But let's not underestimate the difficulties which this problem is causing for us in other parts of the world—and indeed in the conduct of our own foreign relations here in this national capital ..," Mr Rusk said.

“There are those who look to this country to carry the torch of freedom, of human rights, of human dignity, and who want nothing better than to have a strong leadership from the people of the United States in this direction because they would like to reject what is being offered by the other side and indeed they are rejecting it. “But our voice is muted our friends are embarrassed our enemies* are gleeful, be-

cause we have not really put our hands fully and effectively to this problem at every level of our national life beginning with tlft local community,” Mr Rusk said. Court Rulings The United States Supreme Court ruled today ’that the colour bar must end in parks, playgrounds and city recreational facilities in Memphis, Tennessee. It also warned segregated public schools that it would not tolerate any avoidable delay in their obeying a 1955 decree whicn ordered integration with “all deliberate speed.” The ruling was expected to have a wide effect throughout the Southern States, where the majority of these facilities are segregated. In its ruling the court upheld an appeal by 11 negroes who pleaded that the Supreme Court’s 1955 decision that schools should be desegregated “with all deliberate speed” did not apply to parks, playgrounds and other recreational facilities. The case had been rejected by a lower Federal Court. The Court’s ruling, read by Justice Arthur Goldberg, said the rights of Memphis, negroes to use all city parks

“are to be promptly vindicated.” Supreme Court rulings have divert application only to the case in question. However, negroes throughout the South may now appeal in Federal Courts for the desegregation of these facilities in their towns and cities by citing the new Supreme Court decision. The Court’s call for “prompt vindication” was expected to have a sharp impact on civil rights campaigns by negroes throughout the South. In another action the Supreme Court rejected a plea by the militant segregationist Governor of, Alabama (Mr George Wallace) that President Kennedy violated the Constitution by sending troops to his State. Governor Sought In Montgomery today. Federal marshals failed to find Mr Wallace to serve a summons on him to appear in Federal Court to show why he should not be enjoined from preventing negroes entering the University of Alabama. The Justice Department filed the action last week when Mr. Wallace said he would personally bar the university doors to two negroes

ordered admittance by a Federal Court ruling. Mr Wallace was in a hotel in Montgomery surrounded by State troopers. The marshals handed the summons to a negro maid at the Governor’s mansion, telling her to be sure it was handed to the Governor.