The NAACP Under Fire

Since the Supreme Court ruled in May, 1954, that segregated schooling violates the Fourteenth Amendment, the southern states have gone to astonishing lengths to combat this decision. An alarmingly large number of public officials seem determined to preserve a society of racial stratification and have even issued statements proclaiming their willingness to end public education if public schools must be integrated.

As a result of these policies, the NAACP has come under a rather intense legal fire in many of the southern states, which appear determined to hound and harass that organization out of existence. The NAACP has been a prime mover in bringing school segregation cases into the federal courts to get specific desegregation orders, and because of this legal activity against school districts which refuse to comply with the Supreme Court ruling, the association has been branded as subversive and dangerous.

In an attempt to hamstring the NAACP, states have passed a long series of laws which often require a considerable period of time to have repealed in the courts and which are designed specifically to hinder the NAACP. In 1956, Virginia passed laws requiring registration with a state agency of all persons promoting racial integration or legislation, and providing for an investigation of individuals or organizations contributing funds for litigation to which they are not a party. A $100,000 fine levied by an Alabama court against the Association for refusing to produce membership lists and financial records was taken for review by the Supreme Court in May of this year.

In Louisiana the Association was permanently enjoined from activities within the state when it could not produce membership lists back to 1924.

The facts of the situation seem fairly clear: the NAACP is not a subversive organization. It has long since taken the precaution of banning communists from membership and avoiding cooperation with communists. Its "subversion" consists of aid to citizens who wish to bring cases to court, a process which could undermine only those institutions whose existence is contrary to the guarantees of the constitution.

The essentially undemocratic tradition of racial inequality which has flourished in the South for centuries has apparently undermined and eliminated forces concerned with protecting the right of equal opportunity and freedom of association. The states' persecution of the NAACP shows that the spirit of segregation still dominates the South, which is determined to eliminate any organization which might serve to introduce the liberal, democratic tradition of essential equality.

The federal courts have demonstrated recently that they will act to protect the liberties of both individuals and organizations. Unfortunately, President Eisenhower has seemed unwilling to provide constructive leadership in this field, and there is little hope that he will discuss publically the issues involved in the NAACP battle.

The basic issues, however, must be emphasized and the rights of individuals and associations protected from the intense attacks being waged against them in the southern states. A strong voice is needed to dramatize the large issue: whether all citizens are equal before the law and whether the state will protect and not destroy the individual and group freedoms which are the virtues of a democratic state.