University of Virginia Library

The Court Says Now

In his autobiography, Malcolm X
castigated the white establishment and the
Supreme Court for copping out on school
desegregation with its "all deliberate speed"
proviso in the 1954 Brown vs. Board of
Education ruling. Under the pretense of being
deliberate, much of the South has avoided
school desegregation despite the Court ruling.
Yesterday the Court ruled that the time for
procrastinating is over - all deliberate speed
means right now.

Rejecting a Nixon Administration plea for
more time to remain segregated, the Court
laid down several precedents which ought to
be enough to knock down segregation once
and for all. It ruled that school districts must
integrate and then litigate. In other words,
Southern school systems will have to obtain
permission from the Courts to establish any
but an integrated system from now on. And it
said that the systems must integrate
immediately.

The speed with which the Supreme Court's
interpretation is carried into practice will
depend a great deal on the Nixon
administration's willingness to prosecute
districts which are slow to comply with the
new Court order, for if past performance is
any indicator, the Deep South will integrate
only if forced to do so. Since President Nixon
has characterized those who favor "instant
integration" as extremists, (along with those
effete war protesters) the chances of such
action are slim. It remains to be seen whether
the Attorney-General and the President will
honor their own campaign pledge to enforce
the laws vigorously if the laws are to be
enforced against the white Southerners whom
they hope to win over to the Republican
Party.

Nonetheless, the decision will be rightfully
regarded as a milestone in the fight to
integrate the nation's schools. That it had to
be made at all gives one cause to wonder. All
deliberate speed is one thing. Fifteen years is
quite another.