Evening star., 1962-10-06
Blame for Riots

DIufIS III NIOIS
Now that lives have been
lost, other lives ruined, blood
spilled and the Nation suf-
fering from disaffection, dis
unity and bewilderment, we
find an old hothead and a
young hothead each blaming
the other side for what hap
pened in Mississippi, and
which can happen in other
parts of America also, in
cluding even Yankeeland.
The serious-minded people
caught in the middle, who
have been watching this sit
uation build up to it's logical
and predictable result, know
where the real blame lies.
We cannot blame the
NAACP for wanting to bet
ter the status of Negroes, but
we can blame them for push
ing too hard at the wrong
time. Have they forgotten
that America needs to be
united when we are all faced
with a two-front nuclear
holocaust in Europe and in
Cuba?
We cannot blame the Fed
eral Government for its ef-
forts to enforce what the
Supreme Court says is the
"law of the land" but we
can blame Federal politicians
for being so hungry for the
Negro vote in the big cities
of the Nation that they are
willing to jump through the.
hoop every time the NAACP
. cracks the whip. This may
be expedient politics but it
is manifestly unfair to the
unorganized white majority
who, after all, are entitled
to their share of civil rights
also. Would the powers-that-
be have risked all these dan
gers if James Meredith were
a mere white man?
But when it comes to find
ing where the real blame lies.
we have to go back to May
IT, 1854, when the left-wing-
dominated Supreme Court
rendered it's controversial
and trouble-making deseg-
regation decision, whic h
could not legally be based on
the Fourteenth Amendment
for the reason that the very
same Congress which wrote
the Fourteenth Amendment
also wrote the law establish
ing the separate school sys-
tenn for Negro children in
this District of Columbia.
r. A. Mullen.
H#
Senator Eastland must
know the guilt of being one
who has brought and fed this
hatred in Mississippi. Yes,
Senator, things should be
looked into in Mississippi.
Yes. there should be an inves-
tigation of what has hap
pened in your grand and
glorious State of Missis-
sippi. But it should not be
confined to the last day or
so, but rather it should cover
the last one hundred years
of your way Of life"
Charles F. Butler.
+ Il 4
Apropos former President
EisenhoWer's remarks in a
well-known periodical that
he was greatly disturbed by
the apparent thirst for more
and more power centered in
the Federal Government, it is
interesting to note the stand
of Patrick Henry in 1913
when he was a member of
the convention which ratified
for Virginia the Federal Con-
stitution. This instrument he
vigorously opposed on tn e
ground that it failed properly
to protect the rights Of States
and individuals against the
extreme - Capitalization of
power in the Federal Gov
ernment. Incidentally, he de-
clined the office of Chic f
Justice of the Supreme Court.
His belief always was that
encroachment by the Federal
Government was contrary to
the democratic way Of life.
Witness now the happen
ings in Mississippi where the
will of the vast majority of
citizens is superseded by the
pronouncement of a small
Federal group or court, the
members of which (past and
PRESENT. cannot even agree
among themselves. President
Eisenhower says: 1--WE are
losing sight of a fundamental
principle. basic to democracy
Power derives from and must
remain in the people. ]"
This is strikingly at odds
with opinions expressed in
his more recent utterings. re-
corded in all newspapers,
How politicians reverse them
selves!