The Petal paper. [volume] (Petal, Miss.) 1953-19??, 1956-12-27
From The Monitor =
The South Through Borrowed Eyes

OF one montgomery, Ala, organization speaks vol
umes In the midst of the bus boycott and on top
of the Juror over Autherine Lucy there and at
nearby Tuscaloosa, Montgomery financed for it's
YMCA the biggest expansion step in history a
new building to serve the Negro community.
What does the future hold? e'a
Any answer to such question must be pre-
missed on the observable facts that the white South
does not welcome the prospect of desegregation
and with near unanimity opposes interrogation.
CThere is difference)
That is not to deny that there is considerable
number of solid citizens who see the inconsistency
between law-compelled segeration and democratic
institutions and Christian ideals. They willing
to obey the law of the land. They are willing to
accept and to adjust, though reluctantly to this
great social change But, even were there no White
Citizens Councils, they would not work actively
to bring it about.
This is not to deny either that there are some
more, perhaps, than one might suspect =
Southerners who see as the basic issue whether
the dignity of the individual can continue to be
cancelled by the brand of race And they are will
ing to work with courage, conviction persistence
and realism no Northerner could match and
wisdom few Northerners have learned.
On the other side, it can be safely assumed that
the Negro South overwhelmingly welcomes legal
seek indignation. They glad the Supreme Court
has decreed they are no longer second class cti-
zens, that the Constitution does not mean laws
can set them aside because of race alone.
But the average Negro is an intensely gregar-
ous person with cultural heritage differing from
that of the whites in thousand subtle ways. He
is most comfortable among his own people =
just as white people are. He my friends believe,
is not likely to press for more association than he
now has with the white group except, where this
is incidental to the ordinary pursuits of life -
schooling making living, getting to the job, and
having a decent place to live. t~loeI
To be sure, there are Negroes and Negro lead
ers, whose aims go farther These are often the
well-educated and economically successful who
see that it not for the accident of biological
inheritance they themselves might be accepted
anywhere.
But they often make the mistake of claiming
for whole race as many whites would deny
to whole race something that should be- after
ALL matter Of individual qualifications and in
dividual choice.
There is enough of positive aspiration and of
determined resistance enough of latent opposition
and of apathetic support to dampen any hopes of
an early solution. On the other hand, there is e.
nough appreciation by whites of the Christian
values involved, enough Christian wisdom in Neg
70 leadership, and a large enough reservoir with
in both races of yearning for restoration OF har-
monious coexistence to make an ultimate solution
inevitable
How will it come about? Community by COM
munity, county by county, state by state - first
where old attitudes are less intrenched and the
"mass" of the problem least This will tend to
freeze resistance even harder for while. Then
the advance of a changing national climate will
thaw it.
How long will that take? Progress may be
visible faster than we think. But before new
accommodation between the races is reached in
every state, and in spirit as well as IN letter.
generation may have passed.