Evening star., 1962-10-07
A REPORT FROM OXFORD, MISS.
: BY GERRY OLEARY, Jr.
Star Staff Writer


OXFORD, Miss. This is q
town where pint-sized school
boys patrols solemnly salute pass
ing groups of the same United
States soldiers who were being
stoned and cursed here less than
a week ago.
1t is a town that is proud Of
the bronze plaque on stone
monument in the central square
on which the names of its dead
of World War II are listed. The
names Of So white war dead are
segregated from those Of seven
Negroes. The names Of the white
heroes are in parallel columns
under the inscription:
"They held not theirs, but all
mems liberty this far from home,
to this last sacrifice"
Beneath are seven names under
the heading:
"Of the Negro race"
Segregotionists TO Core
The seat Of LAFAYETTE County
Gas the Oxonians pronounce IT'D
is inhabited by 5,431 people, all
of whom are suffering from q
form of mass schizophrenia IN
volving their relationship as Mis-
sissippians towards the United
States.
1t is not integration that has
divided them within themselves.
The citizens Of oxford are segre-
gationists to the core and this
varies only in degrees Of intensity.
There are men considered to be
conservatives in the North who
would be regarded as flaming
liberals in oxford.
The people Of oxford, confused
and somewhat Shell-shocked have
had their personalities and loyal
ties split violently by the two
riots at the University Of MisSis-
sippi campus and in the center
of their lovely town and years
may pass before they recover.
Two men, as different as night
from day. are the focal point Of
fear, tension and horror that pre-
vail in oxford. Those men are
Mississippi's inflexible Gov. Ross
Barnett, who does not live here,
and 29-year-old Negro student
James Meredith, who Is living
here because of the presence Of
$4,000 American combat troops.
Like MortioI Low
Two men were shot to death
on the Ole Miss campus, rs others
were injured and oxford, to all
intents and purposes, has been
under martial law since Mr.. Mere
dith's enrolment triggered the
rioting and bloodshed last Sun
day.
Until the mob attacked the
force Of 375 marshals, sent here
to protect the Negro veteran, with
gunfire, bottles and brickbats,
Gov. Barnett was q hero. He was a
messianic personality to Oxford,
to Mississippi and to much Of the
South.
Today, Gov. Barnett clearly has
lost stature here. The people are
beginning to suspect that their
champion mishandled the Mere
dith situation badly and many Of
them are bitter that he Withdrew
his State highway patrolmen and
left them to the fury Of what they
say was a mob of outsiders.
For all that, Mr.. Meredith is
hated here to a depth that is
impossible for a stranger to con-
ceive. Both on the campus and
in the town. students and towns
folk say, "that niger won't last
five minutes If those marshals
leave him"
One student, when asked how
he felt about Mr.. Meredith's en-
rollment and the military in Ok
ford, replied: IT was here when
that niger came and I'll be here
when he's gone"
Motives Of Mississippi
About 10 per cent Of the Ole
Miss students are native Missis-
sippians. Most of the others, &C
cording to Provost Charles P.
Hayood, are from western Ten
nessee and eastern Arkansas. But
there are students here from all
over the Nation and about 70
from foreign lands.
The most incongruous sight on