St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1962-10-26
Almost About
Every thing
BY PERCY VILLA

TOday's timely guest column
Is written by nationally known
Bob Considine. Bob Is one Of our
greatest in the newspaper pro-
fessiOn. Read it.-P.V.
BY BOB CONSDINE
1t was difficult, during a recent
assignment, to write about Whitley
Ford's courage" under fire, Will
lie Mays brave" try for a liner
that went over his head, and the
''valor" under fire of such rockies
as Tom fresh and Chuck Hitler.
The words choked in this type
writer, and not because we ques-
toned the intrepid qualities of the
ballplayers mentioned. What clog
ged matters was the image and
memory Of a bloke named James
Meredith, a student at the Univer-
sity of Mississippi. The Giants
were never worse than 9-to-5.
Meredith is a 5000 to 1 shot.
He must pitch every day, bat
every inning, try to sleep every
night, try to swallow that food
with a rock coming through the
cafeteria window. The first of all
those southern gentlemen who had
the character to say hello" to the
nations loneliest human being got
punched in the nose later on by a
group of fellow students. The only
other Ole Miss student who has
spoken to him, as a human being,
probably has a similar beating
coming.
The faculty Of the ia year-old
institution has set a record for
sheer gutlessness that the Amer
lean Academic community will
have trouble living down over the
next century. How these men of
learning, of gracious understand
ing of the humanities, of the civ
ilized goth century can ever again
hold their heads high - having
failed to lift a finger or even
murmur to help an oppressed stu
dent - remains a sorry puzzle.
If Floyd Patterson had one tenth
of one per cent of Meredith's quail
ity he'd still be heavyweight cham
pion of the world. If the American
Bar Association had a modicum
of his class, it would have made an
infinitely better case in behalf Of
the observance of the decision of
courts from the highest down.
Meredith is not an easy fellow
to know. Or pin down. The army
that temporarily at least has saved
his life was flabbergasted to learn
about his indignant blast against
its own segregationist practices.
The confusion of the first army
reaction sounded a great deal like
the state departments double-talk
in the immediate wake of the Sow
let shoot-down of Francis Gary
Powers while spying over Sverd-
lovsk. The army expected no state
ment from Meredith, except per-
haps one of humble thanks for
services rendered.
Smile, Niger" the students
taunt Meredith as he gets into the
us. Marshals' cars to be driven
from his last class to the dormi-
tory cell where he reposes. 1t is
a reference to the unending pic
ture-tating which probably will be
an additional haunt for him
throughout his stay at the univ
ersity.
Like all the other taunts it is
never singly thrown. The Ole Miss
DOyS WIN al % ~ Jhl6 " bhANO NACAS-
dith out of school are inclined to
depend upon numbers to generate
personal bravery, sorry spectacle
when one considers the incredible
individual courage Of some Of their
ancestors in all wars America has
fought for the freedom of man and
the spread Of democracy.
The question has been raised in
the north and the south that Mere
dith is some sort of Communist
plant inserted into a sensitive
situation to aggravate it further
and bring us closer to that day Of
revolt. ,.....s.
The mans own answer to that,
as a native Mississippian who plans
to remain one is that he is not as
much interested in indignation Of
the Mississippi school system as