Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1961-10-04
Answers Lawrence

Answers Lawrence
The article. "Desegregation
and Politics." by David Law
renee. deals with unexplained
paradoxes in the news these
days.
There are also paradoxes
OF yesterdays news, unex-
planned and unforgettable.
They raise unanswered uues-
tons which are related to
those posed by Mr.. Lawrence.
A casual reflection upon them
may be helpful in our desire
to answer his question, why
was 1t necessary to organize
Freedom Rides to protest
against racial discrimination
in the South 2" We might
well ask ourselves-was the
Freedom Ride made necessary
because of our apparently in
different attitude toward our
Negro citizenry? Or, would we
be pestered and embarrassed
by Communist propaganda
today if the Constitutional
Convention Of 1776 had not
compromised the political
rights of the Negro by re-
ducing his individual status
to three-fifths of the person
in providing for apportion-
ment of representatives and
direct taxes? mong the
members of the Constitu-
tional Convention were out
standing and distinguished
Americans who had partici-
pated in signing the Ameri-
can Declaration of Independ-
ence. which states, among
other things. I'VE hold these
truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal
and are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalien-
able rights, among these are
life. liberty and the pur-
suit of happiness" We find
ourselves greatly concerned
as to why the Constitutional
Convention and the ratifying
States did not Immediately
abolish slavery, but contin-
ued the importation of slaves
until the year 1903. We might
have been spared the dread
full holocaust of 1876 if
slavery had been abolished in
1908 rather than in 1864.
Ask ourselves why was 1t
necessary for Gen. Sherman
to make "the devastating
Freedom Ride through the
South in 1854" or was it
necessary for so many people
of our fair land of the South
to resist the ride" of the Ne
gro to freedom proclaimed by
President Lincoln in the
Emancipation Proclamation,
to free the slaves and pre-
serve the United States?
Chief Justice fancy in the
bred Scott decision, after ex-
aiming the statutes and or
dinances of the slave-holding
States as we'll as of the other
States, concluded that Ne
groes have no rights which
the white man is bound to
respect" This was the psy-
chology that not too many
years ago inspired lynch
mobs, disfranchised the Ne
gro, burned and drove him
from his home, held him in
economic peonage and tried
to relegate him to perpetual
second-class citizenship.
These questions are related
to the questions asked by Mr..
Lawrence. They demonstrate
a belief and attitude which
too many people have mani
tested by ignoring and defy
ing the law of the land. They
have made their own state
and local laws" to segregate
and deprive the Negro of his
right to equal protection as
American citizens. These peo-
pie are the ones who have
for years taken the law in
their own hands. They have,
with the indulgence and tacit
consent of our Government,
distorted the American i'm
age. OF the decisions of the
Supreme Court, they accept
what they like and disobey
what they dislike. 1t is they,
or perhaps all of us, who have
made necessary the current
Freedom Rides" 1t is Amer
ica's desultory and vacillat-
ing attitude toward segrega-
ton and the racial injustices
which has made the Negroes
road to freedom" so difficult
and weary.
George A. Parker.