Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-02-06

study Of coverage of the Brook
Ign incidents in New York City
and nearby metropolitan area
newspapers.
Chronology Reviewed
These are the main incidents
which have contributed to max
ing the Brooklyn school trou-
bles q front-page story in many
parts Of the country:
January ga 13-year-old
white girl was raped in the
basement of the John Marshall
Junior High School in Brook
lyn during school hours. She
identified her assailant as q
Negro boy A l5-year-old Negro
has been held as q juvenile
delinquent in the case.
January 23-After school was
dismissed at John Marshall. a
Negro youth, not a student at
the school. got into a scufile
with a policeman stationed in
the schoolyard. At nearly the
same time. a school recreation
director was roughed up in the
school basement by two Negro
teen-agers, also not students at
| the school. All three bows were
arrested.
January 28-Two white girls
were accosted by five drunken
Negro youths near Brooklyn
subway entrance. When they
refused to give the youths
money, they were struck in the
back with a penknife. which
inflicted minor wounds. This
did not happen near a school.
January % AT anoth e r
Brooklyn school, several miles
from John Marshall. another
13-year-old girl was raped in
an outside cellar stairway dur
ing the evening. A teen-age
boy was arrested. Both she
and the boy were Negroes. The
school was being used at the
time for a recreational program
not connected with school ac-
tivities.
These incidents. put together,
drew top newspaper attention
for several other reasons. On
January 20. the respected prin-
cipal Of John Marshall, George
Goddard, committed suicide by
jumping of a roof.
Also. a Brooklyn grand jury,
which had been investigating
crime in the schools under
Kings County Judge Samuel
Leibowitz, seized on the Incl
dents to support its view that
policemen should be stationed
in all city schools.
superintendent of Schools
William Jansen decried this
suggestion. and much of the
newspaper coverage has CEN
tered on the acrimonious squab-
BILE that ensued between DR..
Jansen, Judge Leibowitz and
the grand jury foreman.
Newspaper Coverage
This is how New York news
papers have handled the racial
angles of the situation:
The Times - First got into
the story January %. with an
inside-the-paper story on the
grand jury, which mentioned
the rape two days before. No
racial identifications we're used.
Began intensive front page COW
erage Of the situation with Mr..
Goldfarb's suicide. Some stories
noted that the school is almost
equally divided between white
and Negro pupils" but no in
dividual racial identifications
were made in any Of the Incl
dents. Other stories surveyed
the wide, complex problem of
juvenile delinquency, mention
ing racial, cultural and eco
nomic tensions in many Stun
areas Of the city.
The Herald Tribune - The
front page story on the first
rape said the attacker was a
Negro boy. The girl, not iden-
titled racially. could be as
sumed to be white. Other
stories did not make individual
racial identifications. Published
a picture spread on student
reaction. which had photos Of
three Negro and three white
children. On January 26. a
survey Of the Marshall Schools
neighborhood described it as a
transitional" area and as a
"deteriorating neighborhood'
and said the students reflect
their neighborhood, com in 6
from every variety of social
and economic background
About half the pupils are Negro
and the school takes pride in
the interracial good will among
students and parents. A white
father is president Of the PTA,
a Negro mother is vice presi-
dent"
Mirror - Did not mention
race at all in its coverage, ex-
cept such references as among
, 1900 students Of mixed racial
background" No individual
racial identiflcations m a d e
Gave story top coverage.
News--Made no racial iden.
, tifications, either specific OF
general. at any time through