St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1959-02-13

to the fullest educational oppor-
tunity.
Segregated schools are in them
selves a symbol of inequality, for
apart from all other factors they
impose a psychic burden on the
children of that one segment of
the population that is shunted off
into separate institutions. Here
we must recognize that the ten
sions of this moment are mani
festations of progress.
If the Supreme Court decision
which struck down the pernicious
separate but equal" doctrine had
never been made, there would be
less overt difficulty in our society,
there would be no padlocked
schools or limitations of mob rule,
but the ignominy of legal segrega-
ton in the South and de facto seq
regated school districts in the
North would be preserved. There
can be no retreat from principle
even as we seek to lead men in
patience to understand not only
that the law must be obeyed but
that this particular law is just and
morally right.
Fundamental, too, is the right
to vote - indeed the key to pro-
gress toward full equality of citi-
zenship is unhindered exercise of
this right. The activity of the Fed
eral Civil Rights Commission has
unearthed evidence of discrimina-
ton so callous that men of good
will in the South as we'll as in the
North have been disturbed. Col
lege graduates, professional men
and women, voters who were quail
flied and registered in other states,
have been put to ridiculous literacy
tests and have been refused regis
tration on flimsy or capricious
grounds
The right to choose ones place
of residence is one especially prec-
ious to the Jew since he knew in
its classical origins the meaning
of ghetto" with all that it implies
of vulnerabihty, overcrowding, and
the sense of exclusion. Negro
ghettos blight our major cities and
are breeding grounds of social dis
ability.
We welcome the new evidence
which indicates an important
growth of tolerance in the white
population of both North and
South to interracial residential
proximity, and we view with SYM
pathy and approval the growth of
private industry ventures in open
occupancy housing. Only when Ne
gro and white children are able
to play together, to study together
and to grow up together as neigh
bors will the Negro make to Soc
iety the full contribution of which
he is capable.
Thankful that the United States
Supreme Court has given effective
legal dimensions to our funda-
mental American belief that all
men are created equal and en-
dowed by their Creator with I'M
alienable rights, we must provide
a climate of affirmation in which
America may move forward to a
full realization of the faith of our
founding fathers.
The courageous perseverance of
hosts of simple meu and women
seeking full citizenship for them
selves and their posterity demon
strates their conviction that the
crushing spiritual burden Of infer.
ior status is far more warping
and destructive than material ills,
and that more precious even than
jobs or homes or health-services,
and frequently more precious than
life itself, is the blessing of free
dom.
Slowly we labor toward it with
faith that we can-without VOL
ence or the disruption Of our Soc
iety-and without slackening or
retreat, build world in which the
image of God which every human
being blessedly possesses will be
everywhere nurtured, respected and
cherished.
We take heart from the bravery
and quiet dignity of Negro school
children and from the faith Of
plain farmers persisting in their