The Petal paper. [volume] (Petal, Miss.) 1953-19??, 1956-09-13

all the power, political educational economic and
Yields all the power; makes all the laws NUM-
cipal, state and federal, and administers all the
laws; writes all constitutions, municipal, state and
federal, and nerprets these constitutions; collects
and holds all the money municipal, state, and fed
eral and distributes all the money; determines all
lpoleies governmental, BUSINESS, political and
educational; when that group plans and places
heavy burdens, grievous to be borne, upon the
backs of the weak, that act is immoral. If the
strong group is Christian group or a follower
of Judaism both of which contend that God is Gre
ator, judge, impartial, just, universal, love and
that man created in Gods image the act is
against God and man = thus immoral. If the
strong group is atheistic, the act is against hui
mainly = still immoral.
No group is wise enough, good enough, strong
enough, to assume an omnipotent and omniscient
role; no group is good enough, wise enough to re-
strict the mind, circumscribe the SOUL and to
limit the physical movements of another group.
To do that is balasphemy 1t is usurpation of the
role of God
If the strong handicaps the weak the
grounds of or color it is all the more i'm
moral because penalize the group for cond-
tons over which it has control, for being what
nature natures God made it. And that is tanta-
mount to saying to God, 'You made mistake,
God, when you didn't make all races white" If
there were a law which said that illiterate
group had to be segregated, the segregated group
could go to school and become literate. If there
were law which said that all peoples with in
comes below $4,000 year had to be segerated the
people under $4,000 year could strive to rise "a
bove the $4,000 bracket If there were law which
said that men and women who did not battle had
to be segerated they could develop the habit of
daily baths and remove the stigma. If there were
a law which said that all groups had to be Cath
olics, the Jews and Protestants could do something
about joining the Catholic Church. But to segre-
gate because his skin is brown or black red
or yellow, is to segerate man for circumstances
over which he has no control And of all immoral
acts, this is the most immoral.
So the May II, 1854, Decision of the Supreme
Cuort and all the decisions against segeration
attempts the part of the judges involved to
abolish a great wrong which the strong has de-
liberately placed upon the backs of the weak 1t
is attempt the part of federal and state
judges to remove this stigma this wrong through
constitutional means, which is the democratic,
American way.
said a moment ago that if the strong delibe-
ratey picks out a weak racial group and places
upon it heavy burdens that act is immoral. Let
me try to analyze this burden, segeraton, which
has been imposed upon millions of Americans of
color There are at least three main reasons for
| legal segregation in the United States.
l. The first objective of segregation is to place
a legal badge of inferlority upon the segre-
gated, to brand him as unfit to move freely
| among human beings. This badge says the
segregated is mentally, morally and socia-
| lily unfit to move around as free man.
| 2. The second objective of segregation is to
set the segregated apart so that he can be
treated inferior: in the courts in rec
reation, in transportation, in politics. in
government, in employment in religion in
| education, in hotels, in motels restaurants
and in every other of American life.
| And all of this has been done without the
/ consent of the segregated.
| 3. The third objective of legazed segregation
! follows from the first two. 1t is designed to
make the segregated believe that he is in
| ferior, that he is nobody and to make him
accept willingly his inferior status in So
! ciety 1t is these conditions which the May
| IT, 1854, Decision of the Supreme Court
| and other federal decisions against segre-
i cations designed to correct - to re-
move this immoral stigma hiatt has been
/ placed upon Is million Negro Americans,
| and these are the reasons every thinking
! Negro wants the legal badge of segregation
removed that he might be able to walk
the earth with dignity, man, and not cringe
and kowtow as slave He believes that this is
/ his God given right on the earth
| Segregation is immoral because is has inflict-
ed a wound upon the soul of the segregated and
so restricted his mind that millions of Negroes now
alive will never be cured of the disease of in
ferioroty. Many of them have come to feel and
believe that they inferior that the cards are
so stacked against them that it is useless for them
| to strive for the highest and the best Segregate
race for ninety years, tell that race in books, in
law, in courts, in education, in church and school,
| in employment in transportation in hotels and
| is bound to leave its damaging mark upon the
souls and minds of the segregated It is these con-
ditions that the federal courts seek to change
Any country that restricts the full develop
ment of any segment Of society retards its own
growth and development The segregated pro-
duces less, and the minds of the strong group
are circumscribed because they are often afraid
to pursue the whole truth and they spend too
much time seeking ways and means of how to
keep the segregated group in tits place" Seq
regaton is immoral because it leads to injustice,