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University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, Nov. 6, 1963
Lakin, U.S.A.
The majority of page-one readers across the U.S. can better inform an inquisitive outsider about goings-on in such racially red-hot cities as Little Rock and Birmingham than could the citizens of either. One could easily assume that civil rights issues apply only to larger cities. What about Lakin?
Its story is typical of many towns in America today.
(Editor's Note: There is a town named Lakin in southwest Kansas, but the Lakin used here is fictional.)
Lakin is a small town in a Midwestern state. It has a population of 3,500 people, good kind people, and, as the natives say, a few old sore-heads. The young people go to school, football games, and to the drive-in to neck. The townspeople argue politics, gossip about each other, set illegal trot lines, and generally behave as people do everywhere.
LAKIN IS A town typical of thousands of other American towns. Children are born, grow up, love and leave, sometimes to return and start the cycle over anew. The mayor may get arrested for drunken driving, or the star basketball player kicked off the squad for smoking. But that's about all. It's a pretty peaceful town.
Or rather, it was. All that is changed now. Lakin is a battleground. Friends have parted, businesses have collapsed, the church is strained. Even a little blood has been shed.
What has caused this rift down the center of Lakin? Why are friends in arms against one another? The answer can be found in one word: race.
NO ONE KNOWS exactly why there were no Negroes in Lakin. It had just always been that way. There was never any violence, as far back as memories and records stretched. There had just never been any colored people.
So, into this peaceful town move the elements which are to act as catalysts in the coming explosion. The catalyst is in the form of a seismographic crew from a major oil company.
The crew consists of 20 families, living in
trailers. Some of the townspeople grumble about "cheap migrant workers," but assume that they will be moving on in a few weeks. Some senior citizens voice a few angry words about the two Negro families in the crew, but, on the whole, the town chooses to ignore the oilmen.
IGNORE THEM, until, one morning, they discover the trailers permanently mounted on foundations. The oil field is profitable, the crew is staying.
The townspeople immediately recognize the situation—Little Rock and Birmingham have come to Lakin! The city dads and politicians know what to do—they've read the papers.
The Negro families are snubbed. Not-so-gentle hints about leaving are dropped. The rumor is spread about "runnin' out them damn niggers—look at all the trouble they're causin'." The feelings are not confined to local lineage, the word has spread and sympathizers come from everywhere, eager to help.
THE REST of the story is easy to tell. Relations worsen. People talk, then argue, and finally fight over the question of the Negroes. Townpeople join either the newcomers in the defense of the Negroes, or join in the fight against them. There is no neutral position.
The result of the split? Bad feelings between friends. Segregation and boycotts of businesses. A schism in the school system that has tied up several school improvements. A feeling in the town that no one is to be trusted. The peaceful village is gone. Instead there is a festering hotbed of resentment, hatred, and fear.
Thus can a small town be corrupted. One cannot blame the Negro. He did nothing to deserve the treatment he got. One cannot blame the crewmen and the townspeople who defended the Negroes. The blame cannot even be placed upon the objectors. They only reacted in the way they had been taught to react to "niggers."
But who are the teachers? I do not know. But that the answer must be found, and found soon, is painfully apparent.
— Ron Morgan
Dailij Mänsan
111 Flint Hall
University of Kansas student newspaper
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NEWS DEPARTMENT
Mike Miller ... Managing Editor
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Blaine King ... Editorial Editor
A peace is of the nature of a conquest; for then both parties are nobly subdued, and neither party loser.—Shakespeare
Worth Repeating
Persecution is not wrong because it is cruel, but cruel because it is wrong.—Whately
The People Say...
Color Me Impressed
It is astonishing how well men wear when they think of no one but themselves.—Bulwer
Last Saturday, at the Kansas-K-State football game, I saw some KU students actually standing up and cheering for the football team. Color me impressed!
Editor:
With a little more spirit generated from the student body to the football team and coaches, I may even use some of my postseason bowl game cravons.
Color me outspoken,
Jim Moyer
Hamlin freshman
I could do a lot more coloring in my coloring book. I could color Jack Mitchell worried. I could color a few football players varying shades a charley horses and sprained ankles. I could color the KU cheerleaders and the Jaya-hawker sharp. If the spirit of KU Student Body picks up for the next three conference games, I may use up all my impressive crayons.
I hope so!
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Against Iowa State, I could have remained seated during the entire game and not once would I have had my view of the game blocked by students in front of me, standing and cheering for their football team. Color this various shades of indifference!
I think that this must have been a new idea that some students suddenly thought up. These students probably thought that if they cheer for their team that the team might catch some of the spirit and fight with even more "vigah." Color this idea excellent!
Amplification
Editor:
After observing the crowd's reaction to the amplifying system donated by the senior class for use by the cheerleaders at football games, it seems to me that an overwhelming majority favors its discontinuance.
During the Oklahoma State game the crowd retaliated against the distraction by devising counteryells of its own, all intended to discourage the further use of the microphone or, at least, to urge its being kept at less than a cannon roar. Perhaps the crowning cheer of disapproval was led by the senior who asked:
"Do we love our senior gift?"
The crowd's instant response:
"H-- NO!"
At the Kansas State game, crowd strategy was essentially to boycott the device, although the cheerleader who used it again caught some verbal pepper.
Bob Brooks...Business Manager
captive football fans, plugging their eardrums while trying to watch movement on the field.
Earlier in the semester certain cheerleaders protested that all they really needed to raise the KU rooting section to the proper heights of enthusiasm was a loud-speaker system. They now have that system. The result; the voice of one cheerleader echoing methodically through the east stadium and 25,000
Is the KU cheering section a group of passive lookers-on when the Jayhawks do something exciting? Perhaps so when the "excitement" consists of raising the score on Kansas State from 28 to 0 to 34 to 0. Most spectators do have some sense of fair play. But—beat Missouri or Nebraska 13 to 12. No need then for artificial noise-makers!
The fact of the matter is that college students are graduated from the rote-response of a high school pep club, trained to emit squeals of delight at every home-team snap of the ball. Most want to enjoy the game and applaud when play on the field and other various circumstances merit it.
What to do if the vote is for rejection. Contact the Kansas City Chiefs. We've already peddled them a scoreboard.
A democratic solution to the problem would be to conduct a university-wide referendum on whether or not the mechanical speakers should be retained. At least allow all the seniors, whose gift it ostensibly was, to vote.
William B. Fenton
Greenleaf graduate student
William B. Fenton
Editor:
In the October 31st edition of the UDK, a certain Templin sympathizer made several condemning remarks about the Hashinger-JRP Talkathon. Nearly all of his ideas were, needless to say, completely exaggerated. His version of an editorial was praised by few (if any) of the residents of Hashinger and JRP.
Another important fact which he accidentally (?) overlooked dealt with the Lewis-Templin Talkathon of 1961, in which mighty Templin set an unsurpassable record. Because of this amazing feat, they pictured themselves as celebrities.
Templin's attempt to end the Talkathon was ridiculous, and because this foolish attempt proved unsuccessful, there appeared sore losers like journalist King.
The only one of Mr. King's ideas with which I whole-heartedly agree is this: that the efforts of the "agent" to stop the Talkathon in his underhanded manner was a waste of time, because it did more harm than good to the once-respected Templin.
As far as the importance of a Talkkathon is concerned, it is looked upon as a student activity in which competition, to a certain extent, is enjoyed.
So, Mr. King, you had better take a closer look at your publicized views on the heroic actions of that Templin Martyr.
Ray C. Betz
342 Joseph R. Pearson
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