Tempest at Tuscaloosa

Few occurrences in the South since the Supreme Court's segregation decision have been more discouraging or more disgraceful than the riots over Miss Autherine Lucy's enrollment at the University of Alabama. What was at first trumpeted as an harmonious case study in "gradual integration" soon brought forth the most jarring blasts of racial intolerance heard in a long time. Riots, rotten eggs, smashed auto windows, milling students hurling rocks,--these do not make for a pretty picture of Alabama in 1956.

It is too late now, of course, to repaint the picture. The damage has been done--not only to the university, but to moderate Southerners who have argued persuasively against rushing immediate, full-scale integration. For after all, what could have been more gradual than to admit one carefully chosen student as a prelude to real integration? The initial conclusion certainly seems to be that integration--whether gradual or swift--necessarily must create violence and that the South is far from ready to accept, even grudgingly, limited desegregation.

Before dismissing gradual integration as a useless theory and calling for an all-or-nothing application of the Court's ruling, we in the North should take a closer look at the case of Miss Lucy. For there are significant details which point to a conclusion which is far different--that gradual integration, given adequate protection, a calm climate of opinion, and the strong support of the University student groups and administration, can succeed.

It is quite clear that the University lacked adequate police either to protect Miss Lucy or to deal with a mob. Responsible residents of Tuscaloosa declared last night that the campus police force numbers only ten or twelve, and that city officers did not intervene until the mob had actually begun to destroy property. And according to the Tuscaloosa News, the Alabama Highway Patrol, when it finally arrived, had instructions not to touch any student. Had the University forseen the need for police, and had the police been willing to take strong action to quell the riot, there would have been a good chance of preventing such blatant flauting of authority.

Strong police protection, however, is ineffective without a calm atmosphere, and in this respect the NAACP has not been exactly lily-white. For days before Miss Lucy's enrollment, sensational statements played her up as an heroic trail-blazer for The Cause of Integration. Undoubtedly, Miss Lucy is blazing a trail across the Cotton Belt; but unless the NAACP sought also to make her a martyr, it is hard to understand why that organization's publicity should lead so directly to the very tension that should be avoided. An occasional "no comment" might, in the long run, be more effective than emotional press releases.

Less publicity and more police, even together, would not have forced unwilling students to put out a welcome mat for Miss Lucy; only organized student action, beforehand, could have counterbalanced the firebrands that were certain to arise. While the Student Government Association had considered the effects of Miss Lucy's admission, it had completely overlooked the possibility of violence and what, if anything, could be done to prevent it. Certainly the subsequent condemnation of the riots by many student groups--including the men's and women's Student Governments, the students of the law school, a council of religious organizations--indicates that a large number of students was ready to accept Miss Lucy--if only as a necessary evil.

The many students who are now speaking out against mob rule may well bring about Miss Lucy's reinstatement after the storm has passed. But regardless of future actions, proponents of gradual integration should not be dismayed by the tempest at Tuscaloosa: the disgraceful treatment of Miss Lucy should serve as a lesson in the fine art of integration.