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University Daily Kansan
Thursday, Nov. 21, 1963
Let Truth Out
Fear of the McCarthy-type witch-hunter is apparently not yet gone from the KU campus.
A KU professor was called recently and asked if an interpretative feature could be written on his research work in an area of social science still surrounded by the taboos of the extremely narrow-minded.
THE PROFESSOR declined. He did not want his work publicized until it was completed. He feared his research funds might be cut off by pressure from what he termed "the lunatic fringe" and "the radical right," which have in the past endangered academic freedom.
Instead of allowing his work to be presented for the scrutiny of the general public—and the witch-hunters—he chose to duck the situation.
After all, why should he martyr himself by risking his valuable research project?
Why?
THE VERY PEOPLE whom the professor
fears feed on hush-hush attitudes-attitudes which are, in fact, similar to that of the professor. The witch-hunters feed on misunderstanding and half-truths. They feed on the suspicions of constituents who only half comprehend the point of controversy and allow their emotions to replace their lack of facts.
The demagogue's pedestal is not knowledge that socially touchy subjects are being studied, but the lack of knowledge which originally fosters the taboos.
KOWTOWING TO the threat posed by the demagogue is—in the long run—the easiest way to lose the right to pursue the truth.
John Milton might well have been speaking for those who today fear for their academic freedom when he wrote:
"Let truth and falsehood grapple; who ever knew truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter." — Tom Coffman
It Was Turbulent in 1963
Many ideas have been formulated on the problem of segregation. They have been expressed many times and in many different ways. Indeed, some writers and speakers argue that no such problem exists; that segregation becomes an issue only when outside groups or organizations manufacture it.
Nevertheless, discrimination and its far-reaching effects are a serious problem. Reviews, analyses, criticisms and writings on racial problems would fill volumes of hard-cover books. And the viewpoints expressed therein would be manifold.
It is conceivable that one could be weary of hearing about segregation-desegregation, pro and con. Everybody has his own ideas about the subject. Good or bad, one's own opinions are usually thought to be the best. To yield either way from one's bulwark is considered fickle. Besides any rational thinker can usually justify his own stand on racial policy.
SO I WOULD suggest that you file this article somewhere for safekeeping. Considering the above reasons, this article probably won't do you much good. You are too close to it. It will probably do your children more good, or better still, your children's children. They will be educated people. Their education will have taught them to ask questions. And, conceivably, they may inquire about the age of what historians are starting to call that of "The New Negro."
Your children will want to know how it felt to live in 1963. They will want to know how it felt to be discriminated against. They will have untold questions about so-called minority groups. From such a point of view, then, this may help you to explain what it meant to be alive in the 1960's.
Explain that the new Negro was not new at all; that he was merely taking positive steps to lay claim on what an unjust world had deprived him of equality and democracy. Say that the United States witnessed the rise of man who refused to be held any longer at a low social and economic plane of life.
It was an age of educated, energetic, young people who simply could not be as passive as were their forefathers.
Because he began to stand up for his constitutional rights, the Negro was termed the New Negro. Critics of the day said the movement came too soon. But it
is ironic to condemn one for rebelling against injustice, even if it exists for one day.
BUT JUST FOR the record, this day came roughly 100 years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Yet, after a century of evasion and delay segregation still existed. De facto segregation existed in every area possible. Moreover, the Negro was enslaved in his mind. He was, in some cases, actually legislated against. The proclamation had not gone far enough.
But in 1954, legislation was hit with legislation. The Eisenhower era is credited with the now famous school edict which declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. That decision was later obscured by legislation of May 31, 1955, which was to appeal its cause to reasonable men in the South. But reasonable men were hard to find in the South.
SO IF YOU had been living in 1957, you would have looked with a grim silence as President Eisenhower was forced to integrate Little Rock Central High School with federalized troops. A stubborn state caused blood-shed there, but it was nothing compared to what was to happen when President Kennedy later took similar steps at Ole Miss University.
After Little Rock came the successful boycott of Montgomery, Ala., city buses. The boycott was led by the outspoken, dynamic Negro leader, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
King advocated what later became an effective weapon—racial demonstrations. They at least served to wake the world up to a sorry state of affairs. The classic example of the demonstration was the March on Washington in late August 1963, in which many sympathizers joined. King was an advocate of non-violence at all times.
Still, the Negro occupied a low position in society. The 1954 decision was good, but it was not enforced. It had served little purpose except to bring a new hope. Segregation was far from dead. Voting rights were tampered with. Education, including teacher's salaries, was still a major issue. Public accommodations, real estate, and even churches were segregated.
IN 1963 you heard of such organizations as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Congress of Racial Equality
(CORE), and the Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee, and even the White Citizens Council—though the latter can hardly be mentioned in the same breath.
You read about children being arrested and prayer meetings on the streets. You heard the name of Roy Wilkins, field secretary for the NAACP. Know, too, that the Negro was calloused to hatred and bitterness.
Be sure to say that the Negro had to come to the aid of himself. Tell how Negroes in the South allowed themselves to be jailed, clubbed, bitten by police dogs and sprayed by powerful water hoses; they were no longer afraid.
NEVER FORGET the martyrs of 1963. Barely had an angry Mississippi forgotted the Emmett Till murder than Mississippi NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers was killed by a sniper. And several small girls were to die from a bombing at an Alabama church.
MORE THAN LAWS, realist author James Baldwin aided the cause. His writings appealed to the intellectuals for understanding. Many disliked him because his truths struck home and could not be ignored.
Over the protests of Gov. Ross Barnett, President Kennedy moved on Ole Miss University in 1963. Kennedy's action came as a by-product of Eisenhower's edict. At Ole Miss, one man died and scores of civilians and federally-sent troops were injured in protecting one James Meredith.
For some it was a prosperous age. Baseball slugger Willie Mays demanded $110,000 a year, while basketball player Wilt Chamberlin was paid $65,000 a season.
That's how it was in 1963—turbulent. Better than the 1860's when New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley wrote his editorial "Prayer of Twenty Millions," but still far from settled. Should you ever have occasion to discuss racial conditions of 1963, then, remember a proud, progressive Negro, a man pledged to resist injustice. Say it was a day when dreams began to become reality. Consider it a start in the enacting of heretofore untested laws.
The new economic level helped many persons finish school and to rise above past conditions and try to forget by-gone days.
Willis Henson
"Just A Few More, To Make Sure You Don't Get Carried Away"
viewpoint
Students Don't Care About Dismal Picture
It is only a small part of his career, a career which will end this spring after 39 years at KU.
After all, E. C. Buehler, professor of speech and drama, is the author or co-author of 22 books on subjects from government ownership of railroads to speech.
BUT STILL, the fact that there is declining interest in what he calls "my baby," the Campus Speaking Problems contest, must bother him.
Prof. Buehler initiated the contest, which has been held annually since he came to KU in 1925. The purpose of the contest is to give students an opportunity to speak on subjects applicable to KU student life.
Yet the number of students who compete in the contest has become smaller and smaller over the years.
And so it seems KU students have turned thumbs down on valuable extracurricular activity.
IN ITS PLACE, the students of 1963-64 stuff chicken wire for homecoming decorations, leap about the stage in Rock Chalk Revue and haggle over the same trite subjects in student government.
What's the matter with the KU student? Is he apathetic? Or is he just too lazy? Or is the problem indicative of deeper dissatisfactions?
Where are student enthusiasm, individualism and initiative?
What about the homecoming theme, "To the Stars through Difficulty," a translation of the Kansas motto? The students were conned into being a public relations group for the administration. For the first time, the Jayhawk laid his boxing gloves aside and clasped the hand of the K-State Wildcat, all to the tune of platitudes about the University, its progress and its policies.
WHAT ABOUT the platforms of the two campus political parties, Vox Populi and University Party? Overall, their recommended policies and programs resembled those of the last 30 years.
What about the frequent bribes of night watchmen to open doors to professors' offices so that students may obtain copies of examinations?
What about attendance at campus lectures, theatrical performances and other programs? For a student body of 11,000, the attendance is miserably low.
WHAT ABOUT the several new cubicle desks in the undergraduate part of Watson Library? Already pen and pencil marks have marred them.
What about the two nearly nude students who were seen emerging from bushes behind Dyche Hall?
What about student dress? What does it take to get a KU man into a suit and tie? What does it take to get a woman student into heels and something besides a color-coordinated skirt and sweater?
WHAT ABOUT the student who wrote a book review before the English Proficiency examination and then rewrote it to conform with one of the test questions?
What about the student who drowns a professor with insincere interest in the professor's subject only to get a good grade?
A dismal picture? Yes. But nobody cares.
Trudy Meserve
DailyTiansan
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