Lenoir Chambers

“ Of course law is a hard problem in enforcement and requires the most serious consideration when it runs counter to the deep wishes of majorities of people in a broad region of the country—and of Virginia.
No one with knowledge of Southern life thinks there is anything easy about dealing with the situations that confront us all.
But the mark of Virginia's political shame is that in this confusion it found no better method than abandoning public education entirely rather than follow the courts' directions about admitting a few Negro children into all-white schools. ”

“ It is certain to encounter perplexities not easy to resolve. It may discover demagogues entranced with the thought of exploiting honest doubts and uncertainties as well as old prejudices. It needs sensible cooperation from its Negro citizenship. It needs every ounce of good will it can find from any source.
But the old years of impracticality, unconstitutionalism, and futility are on the way out. If Virginia can produce more willingness to face the facts and fresh qualities of initiation and leadership in dealing with them, the year the state opened the schools can lead to a New Year of hope. ”

“ The most powerful influence in this development was not the state's political leadership. It was the combination of federal and state courts. Even when the decisions of both on January 19 wrote down the end of massive resistance as a viable policy, the immediate reaction of political leadership was cries of bitterness and anguish, and almost of defiance. The Norfolk City Council attempted a cut-off of all schools above the sixth grade until the courts set it straight—as the courts continued to do for the state and other localities throughout the year. ”

“ More intelligent handling of problems of great difficulty will continue and increase only if commonsense and courage continue to direct the course of both political leadership and public opinion. The struggles for reasonable solutions are not over. ”

“ The loss in business, in commerce, in industry—in a state which just begins to realize that it has lagged in new efforts in these respects—is too costly even in prospect and in early results. It would be disastrous in the long run. ”

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