Struggle for Integration Must Continue, King Says

Speaking last night before the Harvard Law School Forum, the Rev. Martin Luther King declared "we have come a long long way in the fight for integration, but we have a long, long way to go. If democracy is to live, segregation must die."

Discussing "The Future of Integration," King stated that the progress of integation has been considerable, especially since World War II. The average wage earnings of the negro worker are far greater than they were ten years ago, and the illeteracy rate has dropped tremendously, he said. Lynchings have virtually ceased, and the crippling poll tax has decreased. "The walls of segregation," King added, "are gradually crumbling."

"But we have a long way to go," he warned, "before racial segregation is entirely wiped out." Discrimination in industry is still serious, and the obvious problems of segregation in schools and public buildings continue to plague the Negro, he said. "The clock of destiny is ticking out and we must solve our problems before it is too late."

King proposed the following steps to solve these problems:

* The federal government must use additional power in its executive and legislative capacities, and must destroy the illusions that "time will solve our worries," and that "further legislation will prove hopeless;"

* The Negro himself must play a greater role of leadership in his fight for equality, a fight which must be characterized by non-violence. "Non-violent action gives a moral value to resistance." If necessary, the negro should be prepared to die, but should be prepared to "die quietly."

King concluded that "by taking these steps we will be able to bring not only a desegregated society, but an integrated society--neither black supremacy nor white."