Thursday, July 1, 1963
THE TAR HEEL
Page 7
Time Of Change For Negroes, Whites
outh is Scene
(ED. NOTE During a re
cent visit to the South, Uni
ted Press International edi
tor Roger Tatarian compar
ed notes with L'PI corres
pondents and editors and
others on the status of the
civil rights movement. This
is a summation of the infor
mation he gleaned.)
Academic Freedom:
A String Attached
(ED. NOTE Yardley, a
former Daily Tar Heel editor,-
is now an editorial
' writer, for the Greensboro
- Daily News.)
By-JONATHAN YARDLEY
" Greensboro Daily News
The Charlotte News kissed
off the 1965 General Assembly
with a three-part editorial se
ries by Bob Smith, associate
editor, entitled "What's Wrong
at UNC?" Smith, who went
to Raleigh to talk with some
of the legislators about the
University of North Carolina's
fall from grace, returned to
paint a picture of legislative
petulance, suspicion and anti
intellectualism. Not that Smith intended it
to be that way. Perhaps be
cause so many editorials and
news analyses have questioned
the legislators' common sense
and devotion to the Univer
sity, Smith gave them every
benefit of the doubt: "The
men I talked with are neither
benighted nor superstitious.
I am persuaded that each one
of them has the best interest
of the university at heart."
To be sure, some be quotes
notably House Speaker Pat
Taylor indicated a sure
sense of the basic issues di-
. viding the Legislature and the
university; too often, however,
the legislators only displayed
singular misunderstanding of
what a university is.
Just An Excuse?
One legislator said: "It's
amazing to me that anyone in
America could make an anti
speaker ban speech without
prefacing it by saying that
they oppose communism." An
other: "The feeling is that this
academic freedom thing is
being used as an excuse for
not saying where the univer
sity stands." And this from
the Lieutenant Governor: "If
the trustees of the university
and the various colleges would
Issue a statement which would
say 'We .are opposed to com
munism and to the commun-
1st philosophy, and in the light
of our opposition we will set
tip rules and, regulations for
dealing with this problem if
permitted to do so by the Gen
eral Assembly the General
Assembly might be more fav
orably disposed to grant them
this authority."
In other words, the Univer
sity can have all the academic
freedom it wants if. The
bargain has a string attached.
Academic freedom for the
university and all the smaller
state - supported colleges
hinges on their willingness to
subscribe to anti-communism.
Communists will be welcome
to speak at Chapel Hill and
Greenville so long as college
authorities inform them that,
in fact, they and their views
are not in the least welcome
or appreciated.
"Poor Discipline"
Smith gets to the heart of
the matter: "The educators
have directed -aLUtheir cansBcJttics.,'..
By ROBERT TATARIAN
LPI Editor
ATLANTA There are two
revolutions under way in the
American South today.
One is the Negro's battle for
civil rights. This is the open
revolution that has reached
from Selma, Ala., to the halls
of Congress.
cern to the freedom to teach.
The legislators have looked to
the substance of that teaching.
Rightly or wrongly, they have
been disturbed by examples
of what they consider poor
discipline, irresponsibili
ty, and lack of commitment to
national ideals. They want to
know where the University
stands on these points."
If the legislators really had
looked at "the substance of
that teaching," there would
not likely be much to worry
about. It would be hearten
ing to find legislators sitting
in on UNC classes to get a
first-hand impression of the
quality of teaching there to
see, perhaps, whether profes
sors were presenting balanced
accounts of Reconstruction or
;Thomas Wolfe's place in Amer
ican literature. But that, of
course, is not what the Legis
lature means by "substance."
It wants to know: Is commun
ism being preached at Chapel
Hill? Is free love being ad
vocated to sophomores at
UNC-G? Is nonviolent resist
ance espoused at Raleigh?
No Strange Ideas
In short, the Legislature
wants to know whether polit
ical beliefs contrary to those
prevalent in the Statehouse
are winning free expression
at state-supported colleges
and universities. It wants to
censor the instructor in order
to "protect" the student. It
wants to safeguard the young
and (for the sake of political
discourse) "innocent" from
strange ideas by denying them
the right to hear, discuss and
ponder them.
The brunt of Smith's excel
lent series is that the Legis
lature expects the University
specifically, Chapel Hill, for
that is the target of its lance
to bend to its will. As seen
from the Statehouse, this is
not a two-way proposition.
There is only the slightest
indication that legislators rec
ognize that they fail to under
stand the University's prob
lems; mostly, they moan about
the inability of the. University
to understand the legislative
process (a heart-rending cry
that surely must puzzle his
tory and political science
teachers).
A Real Danger .
The University is directing
all its concern to the freedom
to teach for a painfully simple
reason: That freedom is in
danger. Over and over, in
statements from Raleigh and
the hustings, legislators un
derscore the danger. They are
hell-bent to exercise total con
trol over the university, con
trol that, if established, will
cost the University its accredi
tation and, ultimately, its good
name.
But in politics lasting insti
tutions rate second to passing
furors. The men who were in
Raleigh in 1965 want to re
turn in 1967, and if the state's
colleges and universities suf
fer as a result, well, that's
For Two Revolutions
The other is a white revolu
tion. You have to look harder
for it. But it is there and it
is just as significant as the
other one.
This is the revolution of
men adjusting themselves and
changing old concepts and old
customs that have gone un
challenged for generations. It
is a revolution of white men
calling a Negro "mister" in
stead of "boy" or of a White
child sticking a tentative toe
in a pool where the young
. Negro is already swimming.
It is a revolution that de
velops around family dinner
tables or between neighbors
and communities as they
weigh each new thing they are
asked to do: To share schools,
churches, motels, hotels, jobs
and the ballot box with Ne
groes to share them equally
with no strings attached.
It is as difficult for the
southern white to accept these
changes as it is for the Negro
to be satisfied with the pace
of his struggle to close the
enormous gulf between him
self and the white man.
The southern white is not
accepting these changes easily
or happily. At best it is with
resignation. More often it is
with bitterness.
But he has started to accept
them, and the American South
in this summer of 1965 is not
quite the same place it was
even a year ago. In some re
spects it is dramatically dif
ferent from the South of five
or 10 years ago.
The acceptance of change
has been greatest among
whites in the bigger cities.
Some rural areas remain un
touched and unchanged in
open defiance of new federal
civil rights laws. And there -are
still occasional white
juries that invoke a strange
double standard in murder
trials.
Heroes To A Few
The red necks who burn
crosses by night or fire rifles
at passing cars still exist. They
have not lit their last cross
nor fired their last furtive
shot. But they are heroes to
fewer and fewer besides them
selves. A large layer of the white
South probably a majority
regards them with the same
contempt as does the north
erner. The southern apostles of vi
olence have, unwittingly, giv
en a push to the acceptance
of change by many whites
who may share their feelings
about Negroes but not about
violence.
The law - respecting and
church-going whites in com
munities scarred by beatings,
shootings and bombings have
become disturbed and angry
to find themselves identified
in the outside world with the
perpetrators. This has un
questionably helped many to
surrender more rapidly to
change.
Other powerful but unseen
factors are at work. Integra
tion could not have proceeded
even as far as it has if the
movement had not coincided
with a period of great pros
perity. Had joblessness among
whites been widespread, com
petition from Negroes could
only have led to greater strife.
Law Still Respected
The businessman's desire to
prosper . ... that is, the
profit motive has been a fac
tor of overwhelming import
ance. Negro organizations rec
ognized this in the beginning
with their strikes, sit-ins, boy
cotts and demonstrations. In
many a southern community
caught in this turmoil, it has
often been the business lead
erskey segments of the so-'
called power structure who
have been the catalysts in
breaking deadlock and intro
ducing change.
But with or without eco
nomic motive the average
southerner has an innate re
spect for law and order that
is providing the Negro with
another ally in his fight for
civil rights. This feeling for
the law is widespread even
among southern whites who
prefer segregation as a way
of life and make no secret of
it.
It is typified by a business
man in an Alabama town of
35,000 who also makes no se
cret of the fact that he is no
hero and prefers anonymity.
His place of business- was
bombed once because his ad
vocacy of law and order put
him on the Negro's side.-
"Look," he will tell, you,
"I'm not for integration. - I
don't like the Civil Rights
Act, and I hate a lot of things
the Supreme Court is doing.
But I am for law and order.
Without that we'd be in real
trouble. So if it is the law
of the land that the Negroes
have these rights, then I am
for upholding the law."
That this feeling is wide
spread in the South is shown
by the degree of compliance
with the Public Accommoda
tions Section (Title 2) of the
1964 Civil Rights Act in its
first year of operation.
The headlines have gone
mostly to the Lester Maddox
es who have defiantly closed
turned them into private clubs
rather than serve Negroes..
The Change Comes
But literally hundreds of
hotels, motels and restaurants
that were closed to Negroes
last year are open to them
this year. This is particularly
true of the bigger establish
bama and Mississippi as well
as elsewhere.
STUDENT
Students Accept Title
Of 'Protest GeneraiioiV
By BEV
First it was the "lost generation" then the "beat genera
tion": College students today have been called members of the
"protest generation." A sampling of opinion from University,
students indicates that they are willing to accept this title.
Luke Blanchard, medicine, Ahoskie
. "Yes, I accept it with pride. I think this may be the first
time students have been an important force. It is shaping the
modern social evolutions that we have today somewhat -as a
group, a unity."
Ed Causey, sociology, senior, Lakeview '
' "I guess I'll have to accept it because I am a part of it,
and if the whole is called that, then, a part must be also."
Norwood Pratt, RTVMP, senior, Chapel Hill
"Yes, there is a sense in which our's is a protest genera
tion, but that's not the final phrase with which to name it. I
hope, at least, that we will earn the title of the free generation.
We have freedoms, economic and social, that no other genera
tion has enjoyed before us. I hope that we will find the
character and the vision to achieve and make use of the
intellectual freedom and political responsibility these make
possible."
Rose Thompson, languages, sophomore, Bethesda, Md.
"Yes, I accept the title of the protest generation. I believe
that almost every college student, if he thinks at all, is caught
up in the tide of the many current crisis in the world today.
We are forced actually to take a stand on various current
issues, such as the racial issue, the Viet Nam situation, the
Dominican crisis, etc. The fact that this cliche protest genera
tion is being hurled at college students indicates that the world
is focusing their attention and hopes on the future generation."
Joel Adams, music, junior, Chapel Hill
"If this generation can be called a protest generation,
then all the other generations before us can also be called
protest generations. There have been things all along that
i people have protested. I think that if this name is tagged to
our generation, it's because the protests are more open. Com
munications have made these protests spread more rapidly,
and in doing that more people hear about them and see them.
. Maybe- that "is why -people- think -this is a' protest generation.'
There are defiant holdouts,
too particularly in rural
areas, and civil rights organi
zations are trying to pick them
off one by one in the courts.
Another major provision of
the Civil Rights Act, the Equal
Employment Section (Title 7)
goes into effect July 2. It
will afford the southern Ne
gro great hope of job oppor
tunities; how effective it will
be in actually getting him jobs
remains to be seen. . . '
Seminars have been held
throughout theSouth on the
meaning and application of
the new law. In Montgomery,
Ala., the home of Gov. George
Wallace, the Alabama Journal
has been running a series of
articles on the law and its
provisions. - ' .
- "It's likely," the opening
article, said, , "that "half the
people of Montgomery think
' the Civil Rights Act is an un
just law.
"From past performance,
the city as a whole will obey
it anyway."
Glimpses of much that has
changed in the South, and
much that has not, can be
seen in any city.
In Biloxi, Miss., a business
man is advertising for boys
from 15 to 13 to do summer
work. His ad stipulates "white,
please."
In Atlanta, which many
deep southerners relegate to
the North, white and Negro
women lunch , at adjoining
tables in the city's most fash
ionable department stores.
Four years .ago( when the
stores decided on integration
many white women turned in
their credit cards: and vowed
never to return. They have.
But "white only" signs have
. not ; disappeared completely
even in Atlanta. And neither
has the Ku Klux Klan.
OPINION
COLEMAN