The Charlotte News

Monday, September 9, 1957

THREE EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from North Little Rock, Ark., just across the Arkansas River from Little Rock, that about ten white students had thrown six black students down the school steps this date as they sought entry to the high school, the first actual violence in the Arkansas school integration crisis. The white students met the black students at the top of the steps leading to the school and grabbed them, hustled and shoved them down the steps and across the campus almost to the street before police finally intervened to break up the trouble. None of the black students were injured. No National Guardsmen were on duty at the school, but six police officers were, as the school had opened this date for the fall term. The North Little Rock School Board had previously ordered integration on a limited basis and then postponed it after the National Guard had been ordered by Governor Orval Faubus to prevent black students from entry to Central High School in Little Rock the prior week. The North Little Rock police immediately sought reinforcements from State police, but did not request help from the National Guard. On a second attempt, the black students successfully entered when the school superintendent, F. B. Wright, walked from the school and gestured to them to follow him inside, accomplished with reinforcements from the police.

In Little Rock, all was quiet at Central High School during the morning while National Guardsmen continued their vigil at the school, with a crowd of spectators gathering, as in previous days, but without incident, as no black students sought to enter the school this date.

Governor Faubus, meanwhile, stated this date that if the Federal Government were to intervene, the state would lose their "last right of local self-government." "If blood is then shed, my conscience will be clear, but I will weep for my people," he said in a speech prepared for television broadcast. He insisted that, given an opportunity, they could accomplish "an orderly and non-violent integration of our public schools in this state." He accused the Federal judge overseeing the matter, who had issued an order for integration to proceed immediately on two occasions the prior week, of appearing "high-handed and arbitrary". He also criticized Little Rock Mayor Woodrow Mann, who had become his chief antagonist, contending that the basis for sending in the Guard had been a "hoax", the Governor calling him a "discredited, repudiated city official" who would leave office soon. The Mayor the previous night said that sending in the Guard was an act of rebellion by the Governor and repeated that the action was based on a manufactured emergency with political overtones. The Federal judge, the Governor said, had arrived only recently from Fargo, N.D., and had conducted three hearings on the matter totaling an hour and 24 minutes, which the Governor said involved the "peace and good order of the community" and "the lives and property of its citizens". He contrasted that short amount of time with U.S. District Court Judge Harold Medina in New York, who, he said, had taken 18 months to try "a bunch of Communists".

In Newport, R. I., the President, still on vacation, instructed the Justice Department to keep him apprised immediately this date of any developments in Little Rock. Attorney General Herbert Brownell had advised the President the previous day by telephone that an FBI report on the facts of the matter would likely be filed with the U.S. District Court in Little Rock this date.

The President signed into law this date the 1957 Civil Rights Act, protecting voting rights with potential court injunctions and contempt for violation, entitling accused contemnors to a jury trial when the sentence would exceed 45 days in jail or $300 in fines, with a maximum sentence of six months and a $1,000 fine, otherwise being left to the discretion of the trial judge as to whether or not the defendant was granted a jury trial. The bill also established a six-member civil rights commission to be appointed by the President for studying civil rights for two years, and a separate assistant attorney general to head the civil rights division of the Justice Department for enforcement. The act also repealed 42 USC 1993, which had permitted the President to deploy armed forces to aid in execution of civil process regarding civil rights or to prevent violation and aid in enforcement of same. It was the first Federal civil rights legislation in 80 years. The President issued no statement with the bill.

In New York, former President Truman, visiting for a week, said to reporters the previous day that he approved of the action by the District Court judge in Little Rock in refusing to delay integration of the high school, saying that he followed the law and the Constitution, that it was a matter of the Bill of Rights.

In Chicago, former Democratic presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956, Adlai Stevenson, said the previous day in a nationally televised interview on "Face the Nation" on CBS, that he was distressed and surprised at his friend, Governor Faubus, regarding his action in preventing the integration of the high school, that the Governor had supplied "grist for the Communist propaganda mill" by the action.

In Branchville, S.C., the local school board stated that all 100 school boards in the state should congratulate Governor Faubus for preserving peace and order with the Guard.

In Birmingham, Ala., the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, one of a group of black parents who had sought to enroll their children in white schools earlier, had been beaten at around 10:30 a.m. this date as he sought to enroll several black students at all-white Phillips High School. He then made his way back to his car and drove away. Three white men were arrested by police, with their names not immediately available. The applications for admission to the school had not been acted on by the school board.

Also in Birmingham, investigating officers said that the sex mutilation of a 33-year old black man the previous week had been done to prove a Klansman "worthy of becoming Assistant Exalted Cyclops". Five white men had been charged with mayhem in the attack, and a sixth man was being sought. The man had been picked up by chance by the six men, as they wanted "just any Negro man" after a meeting of an unchartered Klan group. One of the men arrested, according to officers, was slated to become the Assistant Exalted Cyclops, in most Klan organizations, the chief executive of the unit. He had declined to make a statement to law enforcement and was being held on a $5,000 bond. Two of the other men arrested said that the man slated to become the head Kuku had performed the castration "to prove himself" by order of the Cyclops. The officers said that the castration was designed to send a message to the Reverend Shuttlesworth as to what would happen to a black man sending his child to a white school. The victim, who was unmarried and had no children, had been kidnaped by the Klansmen as he walked along a road with a black woman. He remained in serious condition in the Veterans Hospital.

There are times when it seems too bad that corporal punishment in kind is deemed cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. But then, again, in Birmingham, in the 1950's and into the 1960's, maybe it wasn't, as news of the ratification of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution appeared slow to reach down there in some places.

In Dallas, Tex., a U.S. District Court judge said this date that he would sign an order prepared by attorneys representing black parents to end segregation in the Dallas public schools after the Christmas holidays. The judge refused to accept an alternative order submitted by the attorney for the Dallas Independent School District because it did not specify a date for ending desegregation.

In Nashville, police escorted black pupils through lines of threatening whites at Glenn Grammar School in the northeastern part of the city this date as City schools opened with white and black first-graders attending the same schools for the first time in any Southern city. White parents had withdrawn about 20 of their children from the school in protest. The white people present at the school, with pro-segregationists maintaining picket lines in front of the school, sought to block the entry by the black students and their parents. The white parents surrounded the police standing guard at the school and there was a heated exchange of words. Angry shouts from a crowd of about 200 whites erupted as police escorted the students into the school, with the whites saying such things as, "You're putting out the red carpet for them," and "You are backing the colored and not taking up for the whites." The situation finally quieted when the police chief stepped in and took charge. There were occasional disturbances, albeit minor, at the other four schools being integrated in the first grade. School officials expressed determination to effect peacefully the first small step toward integration in the City schools. About 110 police officers backed the action.

In Charlotte, all was quiet in the schools this date. The 15-year old black female student who had been the subject of verbal and some physical abuse the prior week as she enrolled at Harding High School, and then remained at home the last two days of the week with a sore throat, reported again this date with little attention paid to her. A few students refused to make way for her as she approached but offered little comment. She walked into the building accompanied by a family friend and reported directly to her algebra class—a terrible thing to inflict on her so soon, just for enrolling in school. Why not geometry? A male student who had enrolled at Central High School also attended class without attracting much attention. His younger sister attended Piedmont Elementary School and another student attended Alexander Graham Junior High without incident. (Query whether the bell rings any differently at Alexander Graham.) Schools opened without adult hecklers outside, but one man associated with the Charlotte White Citizens Council had parked near Harding but did not leave his car. Football was the primary topic of conversation at the two high schools.

In Havana, the Government of El Presidente Fulgencio Batista began loyalty checks to weed out suspected rebel elements, following the previous week's rebellion at the Naval base in Cienfuegos, led by Fidel Castro.

The editorial page is here.

A piece on the page by George Melloan from the Wall Street Journal on automobile repairs and maintenance might be worthwhile, even if dated somewhat. Some of the related shady practices by dealers and independent shops might still be practiced in some places, especially "telescoping" of charges for repairs based on stated manual time for repairs in duplicate. We learned a long time ago, however, that the most reliable repair person is oneself, once you learn the rudiments. At that point, you also become aware that those expensive tuneups actually take only about an hour or less of one's time typically and a pittance out of pocket in parts, even less time and expense in the post-points age. Have some waterless hand cleaner on hand and you are all set. If nothing else, anyone can learn how to change oil, an oil filter and sparkplugs, being careful not to strip the threads by manually starting each plug before tightening with a torque wrench to the specified torque. And be sure to let the engine cool down before working around the manifold.

Only once in the last 50 years have we had to rely on a mechanic, that one time, over 40 years ago, being when we were stranded in a little Colorado town, where we almost were charged by Vince for two electronic control units after the mechanic burned out the first one. Vince called the sheriff when we balked at paying for more than one of them at $115 each, but the sheriff agreed with us and Vince had to eat his extra control unit. It helps also to understand something about the law of contracts.

An influential incident toward that end may have been the time in high school when we had our car returned after an engine overhaul, and about four miles on, the right front wheel broke completely off the center of the rim, just after clearing a busy intersection, and then about three months later, the other wheel did the same on the way to school one morning, fortunately just a block from the school and not on the freeway which we had taken to get there. Next time, try not to drop the engine on the frame when re-installing it.

The piece's anecdotes about customers dissatisfied with "lemons" is really more, we trow, about being dissatisfied with incompetent mechanics who lunch on lemons and do not understand the concept behind lemonade. ¡Viva la revoluciòn!

As we have fallen behind, full notes on the pages will be sporadic until we catch up.