University of Virginia Library

I would like to comment on the
problems in Suffolk and Nansemond
County today. Rawles Jones
stated in The Cavalier Daily (Dec.
9) that Tom Gardner distorted the
facts concerning the situation there;
however, I regret that Jones has
distorted the facts.

Firstly, Ob issued an ultimatum
in mid-September requiring the
striking workers to return to work.
Naturally, it was not heeded, and
strike-breakers were hired to fill the
vacancies. On December 6, having
been practically broken, the
workers sent essentially a letter of
plea to the hospital's administrative
board requesting that their jobs be
returned. Presently, the hospital has
two alternatives: to fire the strikebreakers
and rehire the strikers, or
to retain the strikebreakers and also
rehire the strikers. Ob pushing
Suffolk's luck, refuses to do either
since the former would be disloyal
to the replacements, and the latter
would increase its budget.

I have sympathy for the hospital
because it is evident that the sick
must be cared for, but the majority
of my sympathy lies with the
strikers.

After the recent riots in Suffolk,
the whites promenaded on Main St.
displaying signs requesting the
black people to sit down and talk -
to restore peace. Violence was the
key. The people were enormously
interested, respect bloomed, and
fear clutched their weak hearts.
However, things eventually cooled
off, and Suffolk regained its lack of
sympathy for the strikers' cause.
There are the people of whom I
bitch; here lies the cause of
frustrations. It's quite disenchanting
to realize that people are
punished for trying to live a decent
life - for trying to exist. Where
hides those who preach brotherhood?

Secondly, Gardner's statement
that a person "owns a town" is
erroneous only in the respect that
instead of one person dictating over
Suffolk, the predominantly white
well-to-do dice. I also assert that
the Suffolkian attitudes are endemic
of any other one-horse town in
dear o Dixie.

Thirdly, I acknowledge that Mr.
Gardner may have exaggerated
somewhat in stating that the
Suffolk school system is "almost
totally segregated." Yet, Rawles
hallucinates in believing that it is
"totally integrated." The desegregation
of Nansemond County is
pathetic. Kennedy High is 100 per
cent black, and the few white
teachers there, who are supposedly
orientating the black students to
the white face, are only making
student attitudes worse. Forest
Glen and John Yeates, of whom we
dare not boast, are predominantly
white; however, no one speaks of
these problems or attempts to
alleviate them.

The same dilemma exists on the
college level also. When UVA rode
to Richmond to confer with Governor
Godwin concerning the present
paradox of the Virginia educational
system, qualitative education before
integration was the name of
the game. Now that HEW has
rapped, the Governor passes the
buck to Governor-elect Holton.
Gentlemen, the true name of the
game is Virginny ain't gonna do a
thing 'til Moses comes to the
rescue.