The Press MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1970. Integration At Last?

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32395, 7 September 1970, Page 12

The Press MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1970. Integration At Last?

It is too soon to say that the fight for “ desegregated ” education in the United States is being won; but there is evidence to suggest that opposition to it is declining in vigour and vehemence. The original desegregation order was issued by the Supreme Court in 1954, and a subsequent order required its implementation “ with all deliberate speed ”. The term presumably took account of the need to overcome resistance; and events, particularly in the South, showed clearly that resistance would die hard. Now even those areas in the South where segregation was most firmly rooted appear to accept the inevitability of change. Last month, at the commencement of a programme designed to end the dual education system within the year, the expected opposition was strangely muted. State administrators such as Governor Wallace and Governor Faubus, bitterest opponents of desegregation in the past, were silent.

The Administration might well be wondering whether this is the proverbial calm before the storm. In all, 543 schools in 11 states will have to make the change before this month is out; and the Administration, has said that continued discrimination against Negro pupils in schools nominally desegregated will be dealt with firmly. Clearly the potentialities for conflict and dispute are formidable. In parts of Mississippi it has been the practice to put black children into separate classes under black teachers. They were even summoned by a separate bell. This, the Government has said, must cease. Discrimination through bus transport is also being looked at closely. In some southern districts the bus routes have been designed to keep schools either all black or all white. Little or no trouble is expected in the northern states, where social and residential patterns have largely determined school rolls. On the whole, there are encouraging signs to suggest that school segregation in the United States is coming to an end. The next two or three weeks should show to what extent it is being succeeded by a spirit of tolerance.