Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-01-06
Virginia. S Gray Plan


No recent public issue has been more
recommendations of the Gray Commits
sion, on which Virginians will vote next
Monday.
Most of this debate, at least in North
ern Virginia, has been conducted on
high plane While the issue itself rests
on prejudice, there has been a minimum
of resort to bigoted exploitation of infiam-
matory racial antagoniSm. There seems
to be general recognition by both sides
that Virginia is dealing with a condi-
ton, not theory, and the best elements
in the controversy are divided mainly on
the feasibility and the wisdom of pro-
cedureS recommended to deal with that
condition. This open and frank discus
sion Of perplexing issue, conducted in
the best traditions of popular govern
ment, has been good thing; certainly
far better thing than sullen defiance or
open revolt against what the Supreme
Court has defined as the law of the land.
Few debates on public issue, how
ever, have been marked by more con-
fusing paradoxeS. For example:
Distinguished opponents of the Gray
program proclaim their own opposition
to enforced indignation. Yet the Gray
program is ostenSibly designed to prevent
enforced Indignation.
. Supporters of the Gray program
safeguard Of Virginia's public school sys-
TEN. But Save Our Schools" is the
slogan Of organized groups theoretically
opposing that program.
Among the most effective opponents
of the Gray program are those who be-
lieve that legislative authorization of
pupil assignment plan is the wisest
method Of preventing involuntary inte-
grafton and permitting voluntary inte-
grafton. Yet legislatively authorized
pupil assignment is the number one ex-
pedient favored in the Gray program.
. Amendment of the State constitu-
ton to legalize tuition payments to non
sectarian private school pupils is the
central target of those who oppose the
Gray plan and support the pupil assign
ment device. Those who placed the pupil
assignment plan in the Gray program
contend the tuition scheme, however, is
merely a supplementary weapon in the
hands of the Legislature in case the as
signment plan fails, probability of failure
being greater without it than with it.
How can such confusing proposals as
those embodied in the Gray report, SUBJ
ject to such conflicting interpretations
as to their effect, raising so many valid
questions as to their legality, their mo-
rality, their workability, have won almost
unanimous backing in Virginia's Legis-
lature-95 out of 100 members of the
House of Delegates, SO out of 40 members
of the Senate? How can they have
drawn support from so many dis
tinguished Virginians of unchallenged
integrity, whose standing commands re-
spect in matters affecting education and
statecraft?
The only reasonable answer is that
such supporters regard the Gray recon-
mendations as a rear-guard action;
tactic of delay, designed to furnish more
time for adjustment to profound
change in customs and in thought, pro-
duced by an equally profound change in
the Supreme Courts previous interpre-
tations of the Constitution There may
be other alternatives available to the
Legislature to accomplish such adjust
ment, and they may yet be tried. There
were two alternatives, however which
assumed most tangible form. One was
defiance of the court. The other was
enforced compliance with it's decree.
The first would place Virginia in pos
ture repugnant to its responsible leader
ship. The other, in the opinion of those
chosen to study it, invited a condition
approaching anarchy, with indefinitely
prolonged shutdowns of many public
schools.
Standing alone and viewed in the
abstract, it is difficult to believe that the
Gray recommendations, If given effect
will not prove injurious to Virginia's pub
lie school system. They must be ap-
praised, however, not in the abstract but
In relation to the circumstances which
produced them. So appraised, their sole
merit, in our opinion lies in their pro-
visions of more time for experimental
search for the least harmful path to
eventual compliance with established
public policy.
That policy outlaws enforcement by
government of racial segregation, and
the inequalities of citizenship and OPP
portunity which flow from it, 1t is a
policy which is right, and which in the