Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-02-04
OF Dubious Wisdom

OF Dubious Wisdom
There are nine members of our Board of
Education. At it's most recent meeting, one Of
those nine proposed two resolutions saying In
effect that the Board of Education cannot
reconcile inequalities between the white and
colored divisions of the public schools and that
the Superintendent of Schools should say so
publicly There was no second to either resolu-
ton, which meant that eight out Of nine
members disapproved of them.
The proposer of the resolutions was Mrs.
Margaret ]. Butcher of the Howard University
faculty. Two of the eight other members Of
the board-Colonel West A. Hamilton and
Wesley S. WILLIAMSBURG colored. Because they
did not support Mrs. Butchers motions and had
disagreed with her on other points leading up
to the resolutions, the president of the local
branch of the National Association for the Ad-
vancement of Colored People, the local Negro
press and some others have raised the race issue
and accused Colonel Hamilton and Mi Williams,
in effect, of traitorous deSertion Of those whom
they represent, with the suggestion that they
resign.
Colonel Hamilton and Mr.. Williams believe,
with Mrs Butcher and others, that segregation
in the public schools should end In their own
way and by their own methods they have been
working to that end. Mrs Butcher, however a
newcomer to the board, has interpreted her
appointment to the board as giving her an
opportunity and forum in which to wage an
aggressive campaign of propaganda against
segregation in the schools. Her resolutions
were parts of her effort to show that Unequal
tiles do exist and that they are the result Of
segregation. A news story on Page AS of
today's Star traces development of the contro-
versy within the Board of Education.
Two Federal courts in the District Of
Columbia have found no legal basis to support
claims of inequality that in substance are COM
parable with those made by Mrs Butcher.
These are controlling decisions as to the mean
ing of the law in the District of Columbia.
Neither the Superintendent of Schools nor the
Board of Education has the authority to end
segregation in the schools. The conditions of
which Mrs. Butcher complains are for the most
part outgrowthS of sudden shifts of population,
reflected by an increase since 1945 of 512 per
cent in the colored schools and a decline of 95
per cent in the white The superintendent and
the board have been concerned with that condi-
ton and have been treating it continuously for
the past several years by all means available to
them. The outcome of cases now pending In the
Supreme Court may decide, before the year is
out validity of the separate but-equal principle
of segregation followed in the Washington
schools.
Mrs. Butchers right to the choice of
methods for exploiting her cause is not ques-
toned But the wisdom Of pressure campaign
directed against two of eight members of the
board, who choose to stand on their own con-
victions as to the choice of methods, is highly
questionable The extraordinary attack on
Colonel Hamilton and Mr.. williams is in funda-
mental contradiction of principle on which
there should be no division, especially among
Negroes. For these two men are being isolated
and vindictively criticized because of their &C
tons as Negroes, rather than for their actions
as citizens. The leader of one of the dis
tinguished Negro organizations in Washington
places himself in singular position indeed by
lending his influence to what appears to be the
theory that Negro citizens should abandon, on
racial grounds, the right to decide question
according to their judgment of what best serves
the public interest, or, in this case, the public
schools.
It is unnecessary to defend Colonel Ham-
ton or Mr.. Williams, for they are fully capable
of taking care of themselves. But it is time to
call attention to the sinister implications of
the noisy clamor that is being raised against
them for having voted according to what they
believe is right.