Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1960-01-16
State In -.

will fight any moderate attitudes.
AS he got ready for his four-year
term, Mr.. Barnett said that mis-
sissippi should set the pace in uni
flying other southern states to hold
the line against Indignation.
eve know we have many peo-
pie in the North who are in SYM
pathy with our situation" he said.
There are many others who are
waiting to rally to our cause, and
with effective leadership we can
postpone Indignation in Mississippi
until we can get the kind of SEN
timent up north that influences the
politicians. Then we can win the
victory"
Mr.. Barnett said that ever since
the 1854 school decisions by the
Supreme Court of the United
States he had been advocating
"that southern states must work
together to resist the efforts Of
the integrationists."
Mr.. Barnett succeeds Gov. J. p.
Coleman, who will move down the
corridor from the Governors Of
flee to the Mississippi House Of
Representatives. Under Missis-
sippi's Constitution, a governor
cannot succeed himself in two sue
cessive elective terms. Governor
Coleman was elected to the House
from his home district at Acker-
man. The gubernatorial candidate
he endorsed, 1t. Gov. Carroll Gar
tin, was defeated by Mr.. Barnett.
AS Mr.. Coleman leaves the ex-
ecutive office, he turns over to his
successor a situation that has ex-
listed for a long time-complete
separation of the races in the
states public schools, from the
first grade on through graduate
levels of the unsupported colleges
and universities.
When Mr.. Coleman took office
in January. 1866, he said in his
inaugural address:
81 have not the slightest fear
that four years hence when my
successor stands on this same spot
to assume his official oath, the
separation of the races in Missis-
sippi will be left intact and will
still be in full force and effect in
exactly the same manner and form
as we know it today"
He reminded the 1860 Legisla-
ture Of this promise and said he
had kept it, adding:
every schoolhouse is open. No
child is being kept out of school.
No suits have been filed, no build
ings have been dynamited, and
complete peace has prevailed"
Mr.. Barnett will have an al
most new legislature to work with.
Of the 40 senators, IS will be
newcomers. Of the 140 House
members, sc will be new.
Mr.. Barnett takes office in q
situation made tenser by direct
federal action in the lynching Of
Mack Charles Parker, a Negro
accused of raping a white woman.
Last April, mob took the Negro
from his Jail cell in Poplarville,
Miss. His body was found a few
days later just across the state line
in Louisiana, floating in the Pearl
River. After state and federal
agents completed their investiga-
ton, it was reported that the &C
tual killing itself occurred in Mis-
sissippi and did not violate any
federal laws.
The Federal Bureau Of Investi-
CATION had entered the case at the
request of Governor Coleman.
This invitation reacted bitterly
against Mr.. Coleman and contrib
uted to the defeat of the Coleman
candidate for Governor.
The FBI turned its report over
to Governor Coleman, who for
warded it to the district attorney
in Poplarville. When the Pearl
River County Grand Jury convened
at Poplarville to take up the case,
among other business, it refused
to study the FIJI report and did
not call on any of its agents to
testify.
The Department Of Justice has
stepped in and a federal grand
jury in Biloxi, Miss, is studying
the case to see if any federal con-
spiracy laws might have been in
volved. This would be the case
only if a county law-enforcement
officer conspired with other indi-
viduals to permit the forcible re-
moval Of the lynch victim from the
county Jail where he was being
held for trial.
In regard to the Negro question,
among a great many prominent
white, as we'll as Negro leaders
there is great concern in regard
to the new administration action
in the field of race relations.
Negro leaders particularly point
out in regard to school Indignation
especially with reference to the
schools below the graduate and
professional levels, that the main
reason for there having been no
Indignation suits filed in the state
is because Negroes generally are
not anxious to send their children
to schools with white children.
These Negro leaders point out that
there are a number Of other areas,
not necessarily involving racial in
tegration, where discrimination is
a cause Of far greater hardships.
These Negro leaders also are Of
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