Evening star., 1961-04-28
Prince Edward Move

The bid by Attorney General Ken
nedy to intervene as a plaintiff in the
Prince Edward school case marks a sig
nificant break with the past. For it is
a Federal attempt to compel the opera
ton Of integrated schools, as distin-
guished from forbidding the operation
Of racially segregated schools. This
distinction has always been a narrow
one, and if Mr.. Kennedy prevails it
will be obliterated.
One point, at the outset, should be
made clear. The Attorney General says
Negro children in Virginia's Prince
Edward County "are unable to" go to
school. This is not entirely correct. The
State tuition grants, used by white chill
dren in the county'S private schools, are
equally available to colored children.
And proposal was made to set up
private schools for colored children, but
this was rejected by Prince Edward
Negro leaders. So the actual situation
in Prince Edward is that Negro children
are unable to attend public schools, since
these were closed when the courts said
they could not be operated on a segre-
gated basis.
A legal test of the tuition grants
and the tax rebates authorized in Prince
Edward has been pending for some time.
Their legality is at least doubtful since
they would appear to put the State and
county authorities in the business of
operating, or helping to operate, Segre-
gated private schools. A ruling that this
could not be done as long as colored
children were excluded on racial grounds
from the private schools would not have
been surprising.
Mr.. Kennedy'S effort, however, is
to force the reopening of public schools
on an integrated basis. And the prin-
cipal device by which he hopes to ac-
compliSh this is to have the courts forbid
the payment of any State school funds
to any county as long as Prince Edwards
public schools remain closed. This, if
ordered, might result in the abandon
ment Of public education in many rural
counties which depend heavily on State
financial aid. And it would severely
penalize other counties, such as Arling-
ton and Fairfax, which are complying
with the Supreme Court decision. To
say the least, it strikes us as being a
harsh and ill-advised approach.
There is one more point. A Kennedy
aide says that the petition was filed
after the Department of Justice had
contacted responsible State and local
officials" But he would not identify
them. Prince Edward authorities deny,
however, that they were contacted, and
Gov. Almond, already under Republican
attack, denies there was any consulta-
ton with him, direct or indirect. The
reason for the Governors reaction is
obvious. He led the successful fight in
Virginia against massive resistance"
with the result that the State Demo-
cratic organization was split more or
less down the middle. gubernatorial
election is coming up this summer, how
ever, and pro-Almond slate is in the
field The Attorney Generals action
may we'll bring about the defeat of the
pro-Almond ticket, which would be bad
news for the people in Virginia who
have been moving toward compliance
with rather than defiance of the Su-
preme Courts ruling.
Politics aside, however, it should be
remembered that this is a legal action.
1t will not be possible to assess its real
impact until the courts have finally
spoken, and that will take some time.