Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 16, 1961, edition 1 / Page 2
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. Ijjfii au jniJiHyJ iiy 'ijr" n Tfe: DAILY TAR HEEL Page Two Thursday, 'uf 10 t 2 l L' -" 1 w atlp t&as Heel I 7 its sixty-eighth year of editorial freedom, unhampered by- restrictions from either the administration or the student' body The DaiIy Tar Heei. is the official student publication of the Publico I Hons Board of the University of North Carolina Richard- Overstteet? Chairman Alt f . I tt -x T T . m t m 1 u eaiiortais appearing in ihe i-aily iar ntfx rr jaw? personal expres- m 1 1 jowi o editor, unless otherwise credited; they are not necessarily represen ft tative of feeling on the staff, and all reprints or quotations' must specify thus. l February 16, 1961 Volume LXIX, Number 99 ,s.VsV,. The UNC Faculty Speaks Out While The Students Are Silent Today the faculty of the Univer sity of North Carolina takes its stand. In an advertisement printed on the fourth page of today's Daily Tar Heel, 350 professors, associate professors and instructors voiced their support of integration of the two local theatres. Rarely do men who are not as sociated by any band save a com mon employer join together with such force and accord. When they do, drama and effect is given to the issue that has driven them to this kind of action. These are men who have risen above the fear of job security to express their deeply held convic tions. They are men who have, in a firm, unequivocal manner, let their consciences hold sway. These are men who will not tolerate cus tom's standing in the way of jus tice, and who are willing to say so. The fact that, in mid-twentieth century America, men are often given or deprived of jobs because of what they think did not deter these men from speaking their minds, and this in itself is admir able, aside from the worth of their sentiments. The question might be asked, however, about the other side of the coin. Where are our brave, in trepid students, fighters for right and leaders in the battle for equal ity? It seems that they are hiding behind the rock of self-indulgence and fear, refusing to commit them selves lest they suffer reprisals. But what do students have to lose by speaking their minds? Are they afraid that the House Com mittee on Un-American Activities will nab them and prevent their receiving comfortable, secure jobs after they graduate? Are they afraid of being too outspoken, of being too bold in a nation that, of late, seems to pride itself in being as silent and uncourageous as pos sible? What has happened to youth? Has it become so concerned with its own well-being that it leaves social action to minority groups and its elders? Has it lost the cour age and daring that marked the 1920's and 1930's and the post-war period? Has the American univer sity become a refuge for narrow mindedness and complacency? We do not merely ask our fel low students to support the inte gration movement; we ask them more essentially to support any thing at all. We ask them to find the courage to have an opinion, whether it be segregationist or in tegrationist. We want students to care; we want them to care about the world they live in, because in another few years it will be their world and they are going to be respon sible for it. We want to see not only social action but also mental action; we want those minds to get out of, the complacent rut they're in now and start clicking again. We want to see University stu dents start assuming some of the burdens they are going to have to bear; the world has too much trouble and pain and conflict for Americans not to care about any thing except the old "number one. The time has come for action of every sort. Do we have so little spine that we will let our elders carry the whole load? Strange Animals On Campus Whoopee. It's election . time again. The dormitories, whcih usually are quiet and peaceful, disturbed only by an occasional water fight or assault and battery case, will suddenly be filled with a new kind of animal, one that is both fright ening and entertaining. This is the candidate. Having tucked his fraternity pin into his pocket, put on a dirty old Carolina windbreaker and mussed up his flannel trousers a little, he sets forth to be folksy and down-to- SJff 3atlg War Ceel JONATHAN YARD LEY Editor Wayne King, Mary Stzwaht Bakeb Associate Editors Margaret Ann Rhymes Managing Editor Edward Neal Rineh Assistant To The Editor Henby Mayer, Jim Clotfelter Npinx JZtllt.rtrm I Lloyd Little I Executive News Editor I Susaw Lewis Feature Editor I Frank Slusser. Sports Editor I Harry W. Lloyd Asst. Sports Editor I John Justice, Davis YotrNG I Contributing Editors I Tnvt Burnett Business Manager I Richard Weineh Advertising Manager i John Jester ; Circulation Manager I Charles Vhzdbee.. Subscription Manager I The Daily Tar Heel is published daily I except Monday, examination periods and vacations. It is entered as second- 1 class matter in the post office in Chapel I Hill, N. C. pursuant with the act of March 8. 1870. Subscription rates: $4 per semester, $7 per year. 1 The Daily Tar Heel is a subscriber to 2 the United Press International and t utilizes the services of the News Bu ll reau of the University of North Caro- lina. f Published by the Colonial Press, f Chapel Hill. N.-C. I i i il i 1 fj m m II 1 1 earth in the dormitories. He walks into the first room on the first floory hand stretched out in amiable greeting. "Hey there buddy-ro! Doirr a little bookwork, hufr? Wellr how's about a minute of your time? You see, I'm run ning for . . After five minutes of carefully planned baloney, he slips gaily out and heads for the next victim. Or there is another kind of can didate who may even be worse. It's dinnertime in the sorority house, and all the girls are munch ing away at their daily rations, when in he slinks. Carefully, mod estly, he bows his head, shuffles around while he is introduced, and then speaks: "Heh. Sorry to bust up your . . . uhhhh . . . meal, girls. Heh. Now I know you've been bored to . . . uhhhh . . . tears by all these can didates getting in between you and your ham but . . . well,, I'm a candidate for the office of . - And there is the organized. "Okay hoys, you got things all set up over in second Cobb? Great, Now Jerry, you hustle on over, to the" sorori ties and see if you can't line 'em up for the old boy. Hey Sam you manage to buy any votes over th Lower Quad? Great. Well, that's looking up boys. Big victory party soon." These are only a few of the ani mals recently escaped from the zoo. If you see one, catch it and stomp on it. Big Game Hunters will il II 5,:; id Past Tar Heel Writer Casts Serveral Pearls' Henry Mayer Injustice In Virginia Angers Students Man has often devised ironic and unusual means for com memorating anniversaries of one sort or another. But no celebra tion can match the symbolic way in which Lincoln's Birthday was marked in a small Virginia town. South Hill, Va., looks like any other ,, small town unfortunate enough, to be situated on a major highway. Diesel trucks rumble down its main street, contributing a permanent legacy of soot and noise to the community. Aging, non-descript store fronts characterize the business district, so the modern facade of a popular chain restaurant im mediately attracts- the traveler's eye. The local bus station is con nected to the restaurant and is operated by the- same people; tired and hungry travelers may disembark directly into the din ing room hungry white travel ers, that is. Negro passengers aren't al lowed to enter the waiting room or the ticket office either, but are herded instead into a grimy cubicle, sparsely furnished and poorly ventilated. A narrow slit in one corner provides the only link with the information desk and ticket office. On Sunday evening, February 12, a group of UNC students re turning from a Washington, D. C. seminar, stopped for dinner at this establishment. Shortly after their arrival, the proprietress asked a Negro sailor to leave the waiting room and "get back over there where you belong." The military man complied, but one of the students, a native ' North Carolinian, reminded the woman that she was "violating a federal law by segregating passengers engaged in inter-state travel." "Mind your own business, child," was the high-pitched, venomous reply, delivered through pursed lips. "We never served niggers in here and we never will!" After this brief exchange the group was eyed rather carefully throughout their meal, although no comments were made. While in the process of paying the bill, several of the students casually remarked to the woman that the segregation policies of the restaurant-bus station were illegal. "Not here, they're not. This is a private business and we can do what we please." "Where are we ma'am?" "South: Hill, Virginia," was the proud reply. . "Oh; I thought this was the United States of America, There are federal laws against these pTactiees," "We ask 'em to get out nicely; if they don't, then we call the police. TErey git 'em out," the manager spit back. "WelT, madam, we'll look for ward, to the day when you join the Union." The repartee obviously over, the five students walked out onto the bus platform and across to the dingy Negro quarters. An aged porter tried to shoo the boys out, since he believed they had wandered in by mistake. His eyes opened wide, however, when he was told of the exchange. "We .thank you for telling her how you feel; this stun sure ain't fair," was his soft-voiced re sponse. "I have to send my folks over to that cafe yonder," point ing to a small restaurant across a vacant lot, "and these rest rooms are plumb filthy He didn't have to add that bit of information;, the stench was indication enough for the quin tet. More Negroes crowded into the tiny room, eager to find out more about the incident. Several well-dressed high school youths seemed to be deeply encouraged by the action. "Something I can do. for you boys?" The manager's husband had poked his head through the narrow connecting apperture. "No thank you, sir, we're just socializing." The Negroes grinned hesitant ly, still unsure of the situation. Then general laughter broke out, and after some conversation the students departed, leaving puzzled looks and an excited babble of voices in both the paint-flecked Negro room and the more spacious (and cleaner) quarters next door. From the magazine rack in the waiting room, the bearded face of the 16th president, featured on the cover of a Sunday supple ment, stared out over the scene. The lips which once had formed the words "a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" were closed. But in a car speeding toward Chapel Hill, the lips of a new genera tion repeated the refrain: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." On February 7, 1961, Susan Lewis unfolded a rather amusing bit of prose called "Missing Smile" for the edification of the campus. Her idea was so novel that I take this opportunity to cast a few pearls of my own. Miss Lewis, as you will recall, generalized that the world may smile "because it is disillusion ed." It seems to me that the people of the world smile not so much because they're disillusion ed as because they're hypocrites. (Deceptive, insincere hypocrites.) And the "moral" people help to conceal this hypocracy by smil ing themselves, thus concealing their nefarious contemporaries. In the South, particularly, we (r include myself) smile broadly at all comers, vigorously assuring them of our good faith and pious ly inviting them to dinner with out one particle of sincerity or genuine honesty in our weevily little hearts. This is confusing to the midwesterner and deadening to the individual perpetrating the affront. I utilize the word af front advisedly, for it is an abom ination for Man to continually bow and scrape to those about whom he cares little or less than nothing. It would, I think, be better to strive for politeness without fawning, justice without grins, honesty without leers, truth sans display. The smile has degenerated to pointlessness in most cases. It means nothing and serves no more communicative function than the conventional doffing of the hat. Certainly we should not call this senseless leer a "badge of trust." This would involve prostitution of those great moral attributes, Truth and Trust. Re member Shakespeare's immortal lines: (Hamlet) "Oh villain, vil lain, smiling damned villain! My table, my tables-meet it is I set it down that one may smile, and smile and be a villain! At least I'm sure it may be so in Den mark." And it's just as sure it may be so in America. So let's not become starry-eyed about the virtues of innocent - seeming smiles. . I do not mean to intimate that Miss Lewis is incompetent in her views. She is obviously an ideal ist, as are most of us at Carolina. This is a good state of existence, for without idealism, progress dies. Apparently she is protesting against Man's inhumanity to Man. This is inevitable all who think must realize that Man is not reaching his moral potential. (It's laughable even so to imply.) So, too, is it inevitable that youth protest against this condition. However, the bare implication that something so superficial as a contortion of the lips will in stitute some form of improve ment in humanity is rather as- inine. Men are noted as rationalizers, or as "double thinkers," as Or well chooses to label his "1984" characters. They choose to place the blame for all troubles upon the shoulders of organizations, ra cial aggregations, ethnic groups, etc. Never is Man basically at fault". For Americans it is the Japs, the KKK, the NAACP who cause trouble. Never once do we read in our papers that an Ameri can is personally at fault in a major problem. He can't bear to face the fact that he is rotten, that he is capable of perpetrating the foul deeds which are his stock and trade. He must, per force, be drugged or bewitched by some evil outside force he is incapable of such pernicious conduct. The key words here are "out side force." As long as man in sists on blaming the weather, N. Khrushchev, A. Lincoln or Mrs. Roosevelt for his troubles, he'll never improve, morally or other wise. Man's problem lies in per sonal responsibility (among other things). He just won't accept it. Frank Lester, in his Broadway play of last year, "Green Wil low," says: "What a pleasure to know there's a Devil that Man kind's not really to blame. What a pleasure to know there's a Devil, or we'd simply all die of shame." This is . a fairly good commentary I think. Before Man can improve, each person must (tired old philoso phy) go within and take respon sibility for his faults. For every Man is an individual and when progress is made, individuals will make it. Declaring a world day of prayer, or donating money to Care, or encouraging everyone to smile is not going to change the basic character of Man. It js a personal problem and only personal effort will suffice. Now, I do not for a moment believe that this generation of vipers is going to change tomor row (or within the next 1000 years for that matter), to that state of perfection we'd all like to see. The best we can hopti tor ii some increase in the number of those people taking- responsi bility for their actions. Thus, in the final analysis, Miss Lewis and I are of the same camp, both looking for signs of improvement where there is little improve ment. Man is, and always has been part devil, part saint. Those who seek good in Man shall find it those who look for evil will find this too "and the measure thereof shall be full and run ning over," to misquote a Bible verse. I offer no miracle remedy for Man's problems neither do I accept a smile as the great and glowing panacea. P. W. Carlton Bill Hobbs Voiceless Students Impede Integration A thick, stifling fog of apathy is obscuring the light of any truth which may exist at this uni versity. Our students, almost to the man, refuse to articulate any beliefs they, may have about any thing other than the athletic prowess of Duke University. A bare handful of aware, in terested people have made any response to the picketing going on at the Carolina and Varsity theatres, although every member of this supposedly scholastic community is aware of the prob lem in our midst. It is discussed in philosophy classes, in psychology classes, in political' science classes, in any number of classes of every var iety. The question is explained, pictured, and commented on in the DTH almost every morning. There is no individual on this campus who is not aware of the presence of this challenging na tional problem in our community. And what do we do about it? "We do nothing. We follow our bland daily pattern without change. We sit. We drink our beer. We go to our classes; we do some homework; we have a bull session. There is nothing wrong with any of these, but they are inadequate and irrele vant to the great problem on our campus. This is supposedly an academic community, dedicated to the edu cation of the future members of American society. Its members are the leaders of the coming nation and the coming world. They are here to discover them selves, their fellows, and the world they inhabit. We future leaders, we stu dents, are starkly and bluntly confronted with a decision on the equality of man. We are asked whether or not we believe that the members of the Negro race are human beings with all the rights of other human beings in our society. This is not an in significant question with no fu ture ramifications. Its answer is difficult; its answer is vastly im portant. The way in which our genera tion of Americans answers this question will in large part de termine the character of the United States when it is in our hands. Our very existence will depend on the character of our nation; we absolutely cannot af ford to disregard this question. And yet we have disregarded it. We do nothing. A few picket ers express themselves. A few members of the DTH and a few other students express them selves in the columns of this paper. The others sit. We see the pickets; we read the paper; we grasp the problem; and WE DO NOT ACT. This may be our only opportunity to affect the resolu tion of this problem. We must take it. Editor Yardley has said that intolerance in Chapel Hill will be expressed if people continue to patronize the theatres. He is overly optimistic. Nothing will be expressed in Chapel Hill if peo ple continue to patronize these theatres. Wo go to the theatres not because we believe in in equality but because we believe in nothing. We cannot continue in our present apathetic stupor. We must make an intelligent decision and express it in mature action. If we do not, we are to be pitied for our supine stupidity. - The Daily Tar Heel soliciis and is happy to print any let ter to the editor written by a member of ihe University community, as long as it is within the accepted bounds of good taste. NO LETTERS WILL BE PRINTED IF THEY ARE OVER 300 WORDS LONG OR IF THEY ARE NOT TYPEWRITTEN O XI DOUBLE SPACED. We maL-3 this requirement purely for ihe sake of space and lira 2. m I m m Chapel Hill After Dark With Davis B. Young Thursday night's session of the State Senate in Raleigh was marked by more than a few laughs. At one point, a law maker arose to seek the floor. After being recognized, he said, "Mr. President, there are two distinguished former members of this body sitting over there. I would like to iequest that the privileges of the West Wing be extended to them." The presiding officer, Lt. Gov. H. Cloyd Philpott, announced he would be happy to extend the courtesies of the West Wing, East Wing, Men's Room and every thing else. One of the orders of business brought before the upper house was a resolution introduced in the House by "Rep. Hardy and 71 others" noting the passing of the late ' W. D. "Billy", Carmi chael.. With the possible excep tion of new legislators, all had known the former C. U. vice president well in past sessions as he plead the University's cause with such effectiveness. One of the most colorful as pects of any Senate session is the booming voice of Reading Clerk Eugene Simmons of Tar boro. As Simmons remarked Mon day, "they were kind enough to let me come back up for another session." A popular, former Carolina student, Sam Douglas is now on the payroll of the Senate as an assistant Sgt.-at-Arms. An ef fective member of the State Af fairs Committee when here, ho promises to continue pushing Ca rolina budgetary needs from his new vantage point. And tomorrow, an irate reader and ius. nasty letter.. ..
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 16, 1961, edition 1
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