Up From Freedom

The cause of civil rights and racial equality in the United States advanced another short step Monday when the Supreme Court declared that Negroes are entitled to receive in state institutions the same type of educational training accorded to whites and to receive it just as quickly as any other group. The decision was based on the "equal protection" clause of the 14th Amendment.

Oklahoma provided the Court with the opportunity to hand down this ruling by denying a Negro girl admission to the University of Oklahoma Law School. The decision leaves the State of Oklahoma with the alternatives of admitting the student to the law school by the beginning of the next term, January 15, or of establishing separate and equal facilities for her by the same date. The emphasis of the Court's ruling centered on the time element. It removed the possibility that a state may recognize equal rights in theory, but delay interminably in providing proper facilities.

This latest decision is an extension of the verdict of "Missouri v. Holland," in which the Court ordered the State of Missouri to provide equal facilities but failed to mention the matter of time. Missouri, thereupon, provided a one room, one teacher law school for Negroes pending the time when it could construct more suitable accommodations.

Now the Court has closed this loophole. The whole story of the progress of racial equality seems to consist of a process of closing one loophole after another. New ways are constantly being found to circumvent the intent of the Constitutional guarantees of equality. For many years the Supreme Court, itself, was one of the chief sinners in this respect. It decided on somewhat dubious grounds that the 14th Amendment was meant to protect only those rights that stem from national citizenship, and that most basic civil rights are contingent upon state citizenship. The Court was disposed not to protect civil rights unless they were infringed upon by an official act of a state government--a rare occurrence.

The next development was that of substantive due process, by which the Court distorted the post-civil war amendments from a protection of Negro rights into a protection of corporations to conduct their business in any way they saw fit. However, for almost half a century the Court has been in the process of slowly altering its point of view. It struck down the "grandfather clause" of the Oklahoma constitution. It has made it exceedingly difficult for the Democratic party in the South to exclude Negroes from the party primaries except by threat or use of force. It has overruled convictions of both whites and Negroes which were secured without regard to due process of law.

Now in its latest and unanimous decision the Supreme Court has established racial equality on a somewhat firmer legal footing. The processes by which the Court operates are slow. There is still much to be done before the position of the Negro in America is one of which the nation can be proud. Many loopholes remain to be plugged, and new ones will be found. It is discouraging to consider how many years must pass before the people of the United States will recognize and set upon the simple principles of justice and equality about which they can speak so glibly. Yet this evolutionary process, while not so soul satisfying as more drastic, quicker methods, is the one which will eventually result in giving a new and better meaning to the basic principles which are embodied in the 14th amendment.