Events at Orangeburg, a Report Based on Study And

1.11..111,

REPORT RESUMES

ED 019 380 UD 006 149 EVENTS AT ORANGEBURG, A REPORTBASED ON STUDY AND INTERVIEWS IN ORANGEBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA,IN THE AFTERMATH OF TRAGEDY. BY- WATTERS, PAT ROUGEAU, WELDON SOUTHERN REGIONAL COUNCIL, ATLANTA,GA. PUB DATE 25 FEB 68 EDRS PRICE MF80.25 HC -$1.92 46P.

DESCRIPTORS- *CONFLICT, *RACIALDISCRIMINATION, *NEGRO STUDENTS, *COLLEGE STUDENTS, *SOUTHERNCOMMUNITY, RACIAL SEGREGATION, FREEDOM ORGANIZATIONS,RACE RELATIONS, EDUCATIONAL QUALITY, STATE SCHOOLS,STATE AID, STATE OFFICIALS, STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS,.POLICE ACTION, LAW ENFORCEMENT, INTERVIEWS, DEMONSTRATIONS(CIVIL), BLACK POWER, ORANGEBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA

THIS REPORT ON THE RACIAL CONFLICTIN ORANGEBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA, ATTEMPTS TO PRESENTA *CAREFUL AND IMPARTIAL* ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION, MASED ONINTERVIEWS WITH STUDENTS AND FACULTY, NEWSMEN, TOWNSPEOPLE,AND OFFICIALS. THE VIOLENCE IN THIS SMALL NEGROCOLLEGE TOWN BROKE OUT OVERTLY OVER THE ISSUE OF A SEGREGATEDBOWLING ALLEY BUT IN FACT, WAS DEEPLY ROOTED IN ALL THE FACETS OFSOUTHERN RACIAL DISCRIMINATION. THE REPORT PRESENTSA CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS BEGINNING WITH THE EFFORTS OFA GROUP OF NEGRO STUDENTS TO VISIT THE BOWLING ALLEY ANDTHE RESPONSE BY LOCAL AND STATE POLICE, AND CONTINUES WITH ADAY-BY -DAY DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILD -UP OF TENSION UNTIL THECULMINATING TRAGEDY OF THE DEATH OF THREE STUDENTS. THEINVOLVEMENT OF CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS, STATE BODIES, THE U.S.JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, AND THE STATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THEU.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL .RIGHTS ARE DESCRIBED. ALSO DISCUSSEDARE THE MAJOR ISSUES AT THE CORE OF THE EVENTS- -THE EDUCATIONAL QUALITY OF STATE - SUPPORTED NEGRO COLLEGES,THE PAST AND PRESENT STATUS OF RACE RELATIONS IN THE TOWN,AND THE EXTENT AND MEANING OF THE INFLUENCE OF BLACK POWER. THEBROADER NATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF POLICE ACTION, LAWENFORCEMENT, BLACK POWER, AND STUDENT REVOLT ARE OUTLINEDIN RELATION TO THE PROTOTYPAL SITUATION IN ORANGEBURG. THIS DOCUMENTIS ALSO AVAILABLE FOR 30 CENTS FROM THE SOUTHERNREGIONAL COUNCIL, 5 FORSYTH STREET, N.W., ATLANTA 3,GEORGIA. (NH)

. KernAtiir., A report based on study and interviews in Orangeburg, South Carolina, in the aftermath of tragedy

4,, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION

THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE (;)(;0'( I PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS

STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICEOF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY.

EVENTS AT ORANGEBURG A report based on study and interviews in Orangeburg, South Carolina, in the aftermath of tragedy

by Pat Watters and Weldon Rougeau

February 25, 1968

Price .30 each jr

EVFNTS AT ORANGEBURG INTRODUCTION

The events of the tragic week ofFebruary 5-10, 1968,

in the small (population, 13,852)Negro college city of Orangeburg, South Carolina, tella story in microcosm of

years of racial struggle in the southernpattern in that one locale, centering overtlyon segregation of a bowling

alley, but involving deeper downsuch public problemsas

poverty, racial animosity, discrimination,and educational

deprivation. The events also would at leastsuggest the implications of forces in motionnot just in Orangeburg but

across America in 1967-68, including blackpower and white over-reaction to its emotionalmood, the tendency to violence

by Negroes dismayed by the failureof nonviolent and other

peaceful protest against socialinjustice and inequity still

enduring, the national tendencynearing public policyto a

fear of riots amountingto phobia and aresponse to Negro

wrest with massive police and militaryforce. The events also point to theemergence, in the South at least, of the

Negro college with its legacy ofdiscrimination, educational 5 deprivation, and lack of academicfreedom as a setting for

the meeting of these dangerousand explosive tendencies.

In Orangeburg, the resultwas tragedy -- the death of

three students and wounding of28 others, the death ofwhat- ever true and whatever falsewas contained in a South Carolina

,,raalarallaatuA image of nonviolent settlement of ancient racial animosities, and the death of one knows not what amount more of hope in the hearts of white and Negro Americans alike for the achievement of racial justice and peace.

The following report, based on interviews with students and faculty of South Carolina State College and Claflin

College, with newsmen, and with townspeople and officials, and based on press and other data about Orangebt'g past and present, is submitted in the hope that a careful and impartial reading of the surface facts and underlying complexities in this one specific situation might provide insights into preventing its tragic pattern being repeated in a coming spring and summer of unprecedented national racial tension.

ii. EVENTS AT ORANGEBURG: I. MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

0n Monday night, February 5, a group of Negro students from South Carolina State College and Claflin College in

Orangeburg visited the All-Star Bowling Lanes, the only bowling alley in town, in a shopping center just east of thedowntown business section, and about three blocks from th two campuses. (South Carolina State, the only state- supported predominantly Negro college in the state with 1,854

tudents, and Claflin College, also predominantly Negro, a private, church-related institution with 818 students, are located side by side on Watson Street.)

In the background of the visit to the bowling alley was Negro resentment of its segregated status, the resentment dating back at least to 1963 and 1964 when massive demonstrations protested and the Civil Rights Law ended for the most part segregation of public accommodations in the city.

Negotiations since then on the local level (and efforts to involve the national government) to desegregate the bowling alley had all failed.The students seeking service that

Monday night included some members and/or followers of a small State College organization called the Black Awareness

Coordinating Committee, variously described as black power oriented or devoted to black culture. Harry L. Floyd, proprietor of the bowling alley, refused service to the

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Negroes and asked them to leave. He had contended thatthe

bowling alleywasa privateclub and that lanesevery night were contracted for by members ofbowling leagues.

When the students refusedto leave, accordingto the local newspaper, theTimes and Democrat, hewent out to

obtain warrants for theirarrest on trespassingcharges.

While he wasgone, Orangeburg Chief of PoliceRoger E. Poston

cleared the bowling alleyof all persons and closedit for the night. On Tuesday morning,Mr. Floyd protested this action to the City Counciland asked for city police

protection and arrestsof Negroes shouldthey return Tuesday

night, saying alsohe had conferred withstate police officials.

Chief Postonwas quoted as telling Mr. Floydanent Monday night, "Iam not going to askmy men to violate the law in interfering with thosewho are not breakingthe law by being in your place." The Times and Democratcarried no story in its Tuesday edition about the Monday nightconfrontation at the bowling alley, but later in theweek began referringto rock-throwing by studentsthat night. Persons interviewedon campus and off, however,were adamant: no rock-throwing occurred Monday night.

On Tuesday night,February 6, local policewere present when a group ofstudents appeared againat the bowling alley seeking service. It was not clear whetherstate policewere on hand at this time, about 7 p. The door of thebowling alley was locked to the students. When Chief of PolicePoston arrived on the scene, the door was opened tohim, andsome 25 3

students rushed thedoor, gainingentrance. They were asked to leave; some did. Fifteen who refusedwere arrested on trespassing charges,and taken to jail.

Word of the arrestsquickly spreadacross the two campuses and by 7:45 p. m., a crowd of approximately300

students gathered inthe shopping centerparking lot. By this time, state police, members ofthe State HighwayPatrol, and the State LawEnforcement Division (SLED),along with city police and,either thenor subsequently, sheriff's

deputies,were on hand. The students apparentlyhad no organized proteststrategy; theywere, as one faculty member who was there described it,an unstructuredgroup milling around. A mark of their emotionaldistance from theextreme alienation and cynicismof northern ghettoswas the fact that

they were singingfreedom songs, reminiscentof the naive spirit of the early1960's Negromovement in the South.

Alarmed at the potentialdanger of theirpresence in

the parking lot, cityofficials, includingthe chief of police, decided to releasethe fifteen Negroeswho had been arrested

on the promise that theywould urge thestudents in the parking lot togo back to the campus. They arrived at theparking lot to big cheers, and kept theirpart of the bargainbut saying, with their urgings togo home that night, thatthey had made no promises about the followingnight. According to sympathetic witnesses,at this point studentswere in a jovial mood, a sense of victoryin the air, andwere slowly dispersing. j But at this moment also, forreasons not clear,a city fire

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engine pulled intothe parking lot, and becauseperhaps of a memory which would date back tograde schoolfor most of the students of the use of firehoses by the cityof Orangeburg on nonviolent sit-indemonstrators in1960, there wasa return of anger, and a return by mostof the crowd to the parking lot, tosurround the fireengine. Still, at this point, there hadbeen no violence. The truck was ordered out of the lot, butthe students,newly agitated, moved now to the bowling alley,swarming about itsglass front. Police from 15or 20 cars in theparking lot closed in behindthem. Someone kicked ina glass panel ofthe bowling alleydoor. Police seizeda student presumedto have done the kicking, grabbing and jerkinghim roughly. The other students pressed close,refusing to cleara path for police with the arrested student. Police shoutedat them; they shouted back, such violenceof languagecommon in 1968 to both races, previously onlyto the whites. Police pushed at the crowd and then, city andstate police alike,they began beating back the crowdwith billy clubs. The crowd broke, students, shouting of policebrutality, fleeing. More than one witness told ofa young woman heldby one policeman, hit with a billy club bya second, also ofa young woman begging notto be hit again, even as a policemanswung his club. The brief meleesent eight studentsand one policeman to the hospital. Four of the studentswere kept overnight for observation of head lacerations. Only theone student was arrested. From responsiblereports, studentsdid not 5

fight back. The local radio stationalleged a student had

attacked police witha lead pipe; Chief of PolicePoston later was quotedas saying a youngwoman had squirted hair spray atone policeman.

The students from bothcolleges poured backonto

the State Collegecampus. In this retreat, students--

availing themselvesof an ample supply ofbricks froma partially demolishedbuilding-- broke windows in white

businesses along theway. The Times and Democratlisted

four businesses reportingsuch damage, includingan automo- bile agency where itsaid carswere damaged also.

M. Maceo Nance,Jr., acting presidentof State College

was quoted in the ColumbiaState as saying thenext day to

a city official: "I do not condonedestruction of property, but for the record, ithappened after theyoung ladies were hit."When the studentsgot back to thecampuses (some

time after 9p. m.), an impromptumass meeting began inone of the college buildings. Among speakerswas Cleveland

Sellers, a 23-year-oldnative of nearby Denmark,South

Carolina, former leaderof southern nonviolentdemonstrations and voter registration efforts of the StudentNonviolent Coordinating Committee,Apparently stilla part of the dwindled SNCC organizationbut also apparentlyacting on his own, Mr. Sellers had moved intoa house across the street from the twocampuses in the fall of 1967,some said on the presumption (later provedwrong) that his wifewould enroll

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at South Carolina State. Frequently oncampus, Mr. Sellers

had been an advisorto, if not instrumentalin, organization of the BACC. A soft-spokenman, he said at themass meeting jK he could not tellstudents what to do, butwould offer

suggestions if requested. Other speakers, includingRobert

Scott, president of theState student body, andGeorge Campbell, president ofthe State CollegeNAACP branch,

strongly asserted theneed for a furtharshow of student

indignation, buteventually urged waitinguntil morning

when a permit fora protest march might be obtainedfrom the city. Asked for his suggestions,Mr. Sellers urged

students togo back out that night and blockwith their bodies key intersectionsin the city, witha demand that

Chamber of Commerceofficials come immediatelyto confer

about the bowling alley. This essentiallynonviolent mode of action was, according to all witnesses,the extent of

recommendation from Mr.Sellers, whowas later to be lambasted in the South Carolinapress and by thegovernor as the prime fomenter ofblack power violence inthe situation.

Students at themass meeting meanwhile notimpractically asked what strategythey might followto keep from getting

beaten by police again. Finally, the planto seek a city

permit to march thenext day was adopted,and two Negro

attorneys advised the studentson their legal rights ofprotest. The students agreedto meet at nine o'clockthe next morning.

The attempt to obtainthe permit to marchbegan at

about eleven Tuesdaynight, resumed at aboutseven Wednesday 7

morning, finally succeededabout 8:30. A meetingwas held with themayor, the chief of police, and CityManager

Robert T. Stevenson, whowere urged to allow the marcheven

if it meant seeking federaltroops to keep order. They

countered with a proposalthat the mayor and citymanager and heads of the Chamber ofCommerce and Merchants' Association

appear before the students andattempt to answer grievances. This unprecedentedgesture was accepted.

The effect of theappearance on students was described

as devastating. One who was there said itreflected glaring-

ly both the inappropriatenessof the white dignitaries'approach

to the serious mood of thestudents, and the students'dis-

trust of the dignitaries. When the mayor tried tosay with

southern effusiveness thathe was glad to be there,he was

hooted. When he said the city believedin good race relations,

he was hootedeven louder. An assertion by the citymanager that the city had not madea lot of progress in race rela-

tions, but had madesome, met the same response. Only the

Chamber president seemedto impress the students. He agreed

to read at the next meetingof his organizationa list of

grievances the students haddrawn up hastily the nightbefore. State College PresidentNance, sharply critical in

remarks during the day ofpolice treatment of studentsTuesday

night, urgeda boycott of merchants rather thanfurther direct k action. Similar recommendationswere made by the administra-

tion at Claflin. Students met through the day,trying to decide what to do. ef-,, ,,[02

The list of student grievancesasked (1) closing of

the All-Star Bowling Lanes anda change of its policy of

segregation before reopening; (2)investigation of police

brutality . . . ("The action taken by theSLED officers was uncalled for, especially the beatingof the young

ladies."); (3) "immediatesuspension pending investigation

of the officer who fireda shot unnecessarily into the

State College campus"; (4) establishmentby the mayor ofa biracial Orangeburg HumanRelations Committee, with the

recommendation that each communityselect its ownrepresen- tatives; (5) that theOrangeburg Medical Associationmake a public statement of intentto serve all personson an equal basis regardless ofrace, religion, or creed;(6) a fair employment commission; (7)a "change rin / the dogmatic attitude of the office personnelat the Health Department and the segregated practicesused there"; (8) "extensionof the city limits of Orangeburgso as to benefit more thanone segment of the community;" (9)that officials "giveconstruc- tive leadership towardencouraging the OrangeburgRegional Hospital to accept the Medicareprogram"; (10) the "elimination of discrimination inpublic services, especiallyin doctors' offices"; (11) integrationof drive-in theaters;

(12) that officials "fulfillall stipulations of the1964 Civil Rights Act by leadingthe communityso that it will serve all the people."

It was not until Friday that theTimes and Democrat reported City Council reactionto the grievances, thestory 9

on the front page beneath photographsof students slain by

police gunfire. The City Council'sanswers, drawn up at a

meeting Thursday afternoonbefore the shooting,were essentially negative, saying eitherthat the city had no

authority to do whatwas requested, as with closing the bowling alley,or that present arrangementswere adequate to needs, as with fair employment,or that the council saw no legitimate cause of complaint,as with the allegations of police brutality.

If in its essence the list of grievancesmight be interpreted as an eloquent pleaby the students to the city for law and order, specificallyadherence to the 1964 Civil

Rights Law and the federalconstitution, the events of

Wednesday evening (February 7)indicated the degree to which the situation had deterioratedduring that day of meetings and indecision, frustration andanger. On Wednesday evening, students from both campuses, mainlymales, rampaged for several hours, shouting and movingin large crowds, and

(the extent of their violence)throwing rocks at automobiles with white passengers passing thecampuses. A 19-year-old

State College student, mild and middle-class,evoked the mood of the eveninga few days later in telling how he had attended a meeting "over their whippingour girls" ("We said no young man could standto see ladies beat. There were on hand a group of fellows who had one thing in mind:

'Get Charlie,'") and of how, later,on the yard of the campus, he encountered a mob on themove. "What's up?" he asked.

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"We're going to getCharlie," they answered.

"So, I pickedup a brick and went withthem." Campus police and later state policemoved quicklyto avert cars with whitepassengers from streets leadingby

the campuses. But cars were hit and therampage went on

for a matter ofhours. Two other instances ofviolence

occurred. Three male studentsfrom Claflinwere wounded by buckshot fired from a dwelling justoff the StateCollege campus. There were apparentlyno arrests in connection with the shooting. The white residents claimedthey were defending theirproperty; the studentsdenied trespassing.

Word of the shootings,with presumably theusual exaggeration in suchan atmosphere, fed the moodof anger and hysteria. So did word of the second incident, theappearance on the State Collegecampus rather amazingly ofa car containing whites. A student describedthe apparition: "Nobody in the car hollered 'Soul' so we began to holler'Honkey.'" At one point, the driver,ducking down, racedthe car toward a crowd of students. The car was hit bya number of rocks and bricks, and damaged considerably. "We stoned it,"the student said. "How theyever got out of thatwas just luck." Two shotswere fired from the car while it wason the campus;a student witness said this was after thestoning. The car was stopped by state police abouta mile after it leftthe campus, with no accountingin the localpress of the disposi- tion of thecase.

At one point, the studentson that rambunctiousWednesday

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evening were throwing rocksat cars on Watson Street. Some

stood in the yard of the StateCollege campus where the

next night, Thursday, theygathered again ina similar mood.

Meanwhile, units of the NationalGuard, alerted by Governor

Robert E. McNair after Tuesdaynight's melee, moved into

active duty Wednesday night,,guarding the shoppingcenter, and state police in largernumbers than the previous night

were strongly in evidence. The stage was set for Orangeburg's

lethal confrontation of studentprotest turned torampage with the full force of SouthCarolina's measures of riot control.

EVENTS AT ORANGEBURG: II. THURSDAY NIGHT

On Thursday, February 8, therewas a crucial meeting

of the students who had met withthe mayor on the previous

day. Everyone was dissatisfied with theoutcome of that

meeting. Many were disappointed witha memo from Dr. Nance requesting that students remainon campus, for many still wanted to march. Almost everyone felt somethingshould be done in protest of police actionTuesday night.

At this meeting on Thursday,there occurred a split between the Black AwarenessCoordinating Committee (BACC) and other elements of thestudent leadership. BACC members learned that an agreement to refrainfrom marching had been reached without consulting them. They felt betrayed and

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voiced their disapproval of thischange in plans. More- over, BACC members feltthat the studentsin the NAACP chapter and the other student leadershad compromisedtheir original position.

BACC members reportedlyasked participantswhat was to be done in lightof the "betrayal."A high-ranking member of the administration said,"Do whatyou want to do," and the meeting broke up withno one having decidedon a course of action. Most students returnedto their dormi- tories. Between 75 and 130male students milledaround the edge of the campus facing WatsonStreet and Highway601. They were frustrated and withoutleadership. They wanted to dosomething.

Someone suggestedbuilding a bonfireon Watson Street, the street that borders thecampus area near Highway601. Everyone agreed. It was cold. The firewas started and students gatheredmaterials froma dilapidated house adjacent to the campus. The flames lickedstraightup at the sky. There was no perceivable wind. The firegrew in intensity.

According toone observer, about 50highway patrolmen along with 45 guardsmen and a number of citypolicewere present. The patrolmenalong with a fewpolicemenwere closest to thestudents and the bonfire,while the guardsmen were in the background withtheir rifles atport arms.

Another observer (acoed from SouthCarolina State) 13

told of seeing an undetermined number ofstudents gathered

on the embankment aboveWatson Streetas highway patrolmen, city police, and guardsmen drew closerto the bonfirearea. Everythingwas quiet in thearea except for the students'

sporadic shouts of,"Hey honkey! Hey honkey, herewe are. Hey honkey, come on and get us!"The "popping" soundsthe coed had heard coming from the Claflin Collegearea had

stopped almosta half hour earlier. (Another student

interviewed saidthese may have beenshots froma .22 cali-

ber weapon thatone of the studentswas firing in an attempt to break a street light.) Cars and trucks passedon High- way 601 and in some of these, the occupantsbrandished rifles and shotguns and looked toward theState campusarea. There was a tenseness, a foreboding, that madeone of the coed's friends say, "Something's gonna happen tonight. Look how all thosemen ithe police forces 7are down there /near the Highway 601 and Russell Streetintersection 7% Something's gonna happen tonight, child!"

The bonfire, which hadbeen fed by the additionof

bannisters, shutters,sticks, grass, anda "Yield" sign, began losing its intensity. Then a fire truckappeared,

accompanied byan ambulance. The students lookedat the police, the fire, and the fire truckand shouted,"Floyd's a bastard! Honkies, get him! Hey, honkey, herewe are. Go get Floyd!"From all accounts, thepolice said nothing and firemen hadstill not attemptedto extinguish the waning fire.

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There issome question about whetherMolotov cocktails were thrown. One reporter on the scene,Warren Koon,of the CharlestonEvening Post, stated that thestudents threw some into thestreet. There isno account ofany officer's being hit bya Molotov cocktail. Some studentsin the crowd contendthat only torches madeof sticks andsheets from theirdormitoryrooms were thrown. One eyewitnesstold of a torchor something resemblinga flaming rollof toilet tissue on a stick thrownnear the house adjacent to thecampus. It quickly diedout.

At this point,firemen began putting outthe dying bon- f ire. A fireman reportedly yelledthat theywere being shot at from thecampus. Warren Koondescribed thescene: A line of patrolmen trotted,in orderlyranks, to the bank in front of thecampus [the bank referred to is a part of thecampus 7, to protect the firemen. They hadrifles, pistols, and shotgunsat portarms. Suddenly theline of patrolmen beganshooting over the bank toward the mob. It was a crack- ling gunfire, almostas if an orderhad been given for all patrolmento shootat once. Persons who were injuredor who wereon the scene essentially agreedwith Koon's account of whathappenedup to the timeof the shooting. There isone exception: Many said a whistlewas blown prior to the shootingand just before the gunfireceased. The state government maintainsthat no orderto fire was given. According toGovernor Robert McNair, theofficers 11111,57711

began shooting only after studentsfired upon them. But no one has been ableto find anyweapons that the students

might have used. No one, includingnewsmen on the scene, saw any students with guns. And studentssaid theyheard no shots immediately preceding thegunfire of thepatrolmen. Another account ofwhat precipitatedthe gunfire is that Officer D. J. Shealy was felledby a missilethrown by one of the students. Shealy apparentlyshouted, "I'm hit," or someone else shouted, "He's shot," and theofficers, thinking Shealy had been shot, beganfiring withouteither warning the students or verifying Shealy's injury. One report had it that Shealy was in an open space betweenthe delapidated house on Watson Street and the thicketwhich separatesthe State campus from private residences in thearea. If this was the case, it raisedthe question of whywas Shealy that near the crowdof students.

Three students (SamuelHammond, 18, ofFort Lauderdale, Florida; Henry Smith,18, of Marion,South Carolina, and

Delano Middleton,18, a high schoolstudent of Orangeburg)

were killed and at least 28others were injuredduring the short, intensive burst of gunfire. One of the injuredwas Cleveland Sellers. As an indication ofthe mood ofextreme distrust in theNegro community,some of the most responsible adult Negro leaders were in the aftermath of theshootings giving seriousconsideration toa theory that a deliberate effort was made toshoot Mr. Sellers. They cited as circumstantial evidencesimilarities in size,clothing,or hair style to those characteristicof Mr. Sellersamong the 16

three fatalities. Mr. Selles was arrested and charged

with arson (a capitaoffense), breakingand entering, larceny, and assault and battery,and placed under$50,000 bond, ater reduced to $20,000.

In the air of shock andtension andon- running^ anger

after the shooting,a report circulated thatstudents had

been armed with riflestaken from the ROTCarmory. Later, both sides generallyagreed that rifles hadbeen taken after

the shooting and thenreturned without beingfired. College

officials said therewere ten.22 calibre rifles inthe armory, one inoperable.

Police and studentaccounts of the shootingand the moments leading up to it were at variance. The policever-

sion was that theyopened fire in self-defenseagainst gunfire,

fire bombs and hurledmissiles. The student versionwas that

without warning shotswere fired into a defenseless,unarmed crowd, and that persons in the yard were hit whilerunning or hugging the ground forprotection. Questions of fact and of national significance beyond Orangeburgwere raised. In the aftermath, there were to be calls for furtherinvestigation and clarification.

EVENTS ATORANGEBURG: III. IN THE AFTERMATH

The Friday, February9, frontpage of the Times and

Democrat of Orangeburg describedthe events ofThursday night

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with the banner headline: "All Hell BreaksLoose--

Three Killed,Many Wounded In CollegeNightmare," and with a sub-head: "Officers Blast RiotingNegroes."The

Associated Pressstory of that day said inmorning papers that Negroes "openedfire" on the statepolice, and in

afternoonpapers that the three Negrostudents were killed in a "brief exchange of gunfire withpolice."

Later, an AP photographerwhose eyewitnessaccount of the shootings was featured in the storieswas quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying hehad been misquotedon

Negroes' having openedfire on state police. NBC reports from thescene on national televisionthat Friday forth-

rightly stated thatmost eyewitnesses agreedthe Negro students had not opened fireon or exchanged gunfirewith the state police.

During the day Friday,Governor McNair expressedwhat came to be a sort of official version ofthe shooting and the justification thereof. According to AP,"Governor McNair, calling it 'one of the saddest days inthe history ofSouth Carolina,' said thedeaths and injuriescame only after a long period of sniper fire from thecampus 'and not untilan officer had been felled during hisefforts to proteetlife and property.' The governor said,'Although the patrolman's injury was caused bysome type of thrown missile,there was reason to believe at thatinstant that he hadbeen shot.

The other patrolmen,with instructionsto protect themselves and others, respondedwith gunfire.'"

1,7,4 i,e 18

The same story alsoquoted thegovernor as saying: "It has become apparent that the incidentlast nightwas sparked by black power advocates who representedonly a small minority ofthe total student bodiesat the schools."

The story continued: "The governor saidthe trouble had been caused byCleveland Sellers, 23years old, state

24 coordinator for theStudent NonviolentCoordinating Committee." In an interview inthe New York Timesa week later, the governor was still making thesecharges, and his official representativein Orangeburg,Henry Lake, was

still maintainingthat students firingon state police

precipitated the killings. Mr. Lake was quotedin the Los Angeles Timesas sayJAg: "A fire truckmoved in to

douse that fire andanother one the studentsstarted near

a warehouse across thestreet. Policemen moved into protect the firemen. Some shotswere fired from thecampus, I don't know whetherfor harassmentor what because the fire truck was not hit. Then studentscame off the campus

throwing rocks, pipes,sticks, and bannisters. One thrown

by Sellers . . . hit Officer Shealyin the mouth. Some shots were fired about the same timeand anyone seeingit would assume Shealyhad been shot. Then a Molotov cocktail was thrown by a dwelling and that just sparkedit." (This, Mr. Lake said, was based on police accounts. Student witnesses repeatedly asserted that students hadnot fired at thestate police and that it was not Mr. Sellers who hitShealy.) All concerned agreed thatthe National Guardhad not fired.

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The South Carolinapress and apparently its white

public for themost part seemed toaccept the official

3 interpretation andjustification of eventsat Orangeburg.

The nationalpress did little to lookbehind it, with the

+1 already noted exceptionof NBC's initialcoverage, and of such reportsas that of Jack Nelson inthe Los Angeles Times and Jack Bass in the CharlotteObserver. Mr. Nelson, in a story February 18, reported that"at least 16 of 28"

wounded students andat least one of thedead "were struck

from the rear," andquoted on-the-scenenewsmen as saying that the state police "panicked" when theymistakenly thought one of their number had beenshot.

Mr. Bass, inan interpretative storyon February 15, seemed to raise a key issue of the policesituation. "It was perhaps the first realtest of thenew riot control

strategy devised sincethe burning ofsome U. S. cities

last summer," hewrote. "Theconsequences for South Carolina were tragic. If underreaction bycivil authorities

may encourage rioters,events at Orangeburgindicate that 5 overreactionmay escalate a legitimateprotest into a riot." With the initialimpressionawry of exactly what

transpired and withthe official stanceof white South Carolina, all the way up to the governor's office,adamantly supporting the statepolice, itwas not surprising that national reaction was, if not indifferent, muted. There was

no general public outcry fora fuller investigationof the

specific incident,or the national implications. Such vcw.o---x,v:,.eMr

demands came either fromall-Negroor biracial civil

rights organizations.These included theOrangeburg, South Carolina NAACP who sent telegramsto the WhiteHouse and Justice Departmentasking that NationalGuard troops be sent in "fromneutral areas outsideof South Carolina."

The Justice Departmentdeclined comment; theWhite House

said it had notreceived the telegram. Later, 800 Orangeburg

Negroes called for removalof the South CarolinaNational Guard, a measure of theirdistrust of thisarm of white power. Roy Wilkins, executivedirector of the NAACP,sent

a telegram to Governor McNairasking for a "promptand

thorough investigation"of the shootingsand disciplining

of those responsible. SNCC proposed toprotest the

"Orangeburg massacre"to the United Nations,and various

SNCC leaders spoke ofeye for an eyerevenge. The South Carolina Councilon Human Relations,a biracial organization

of 1,350 members(affiliated with theSouthern Regional

Council) called fora Justice Departmentinvestigation, and urged an official state biracial commission,saying emphasis should be placedon righting thewrongs that cause racial unrest rather than on "the state government'scapacity for

fi violence."

Investigations were underway in Orangeburgimmediately after the shootingsby the state police,the United States

Justice Department,and the South CarolinaAdvisory Committee to the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights. There were indications that thelatter might subsequentlyhold a public

:r, 21

hearing. The Justice Departmentprobe, according to

press reports, included examinationof whether there had

been violation of thecivil rights of theslain students.

In the meantime, the JusticeDepartment initiated two suits in Orangeburg,one calling for the desegregation

QI of the All-Star TriangleBowl, Inc., the otherseeking

desegregation of theOrangeburg Regional Hospital,actions which at least raisedthe question of whythey came so

late-- both in the life of the 1964 CivilRights Act and in the day of Negrohope in Orangeburg.

On Saturday, Governor McNairhad underemergency powers declared a nighttime curfewin Orangeburg which

remained in effect formore than a week. State troopers,

which at their peaknumbered 200, and theSouth Carolina

National Guardsmen, whoat their peak numbered600, were

still on thescene more than a week later. Students from

the two campuseswere dismissed Saturday afterthe shoot-

ings, and the collegeswere closed for the followingtwo weeks. Ku Klux Klansmen who hadplanned to holda rally in Orangeburgon the Sunday after the shootingswere dissuaded. A full page John BirchSociety advertisement

addressed "To theNegroes of America," advisingthem that the civil rights movementwas Communist led, appeared in

the Times and Democraton that Sunday. The Monday paper

described "Race RelationsSunday" sermons by localministers, deploring the violence, urginglove. Twenty ministers had

on Friday signed a statement endorsinga biracial committee

74,,rt)3 ,14,4 22

and urging restraint of passions.

Under the leadership of theNAACP, a boycott by

Negroes of all white businesseswas announced on the Sunday

following the shooting. It was accompanied byan extensive

list of demands, includingmost of those previously madeby

the students, calling for: restitution by the stateto the

families of the slain andwounded students; suspensionof

law enforcement officers"responsible for the policebrutality";

inclusion of an equitablenumber of Negroes in alllevels of

law enforcement, city,county, and state; establishmentof a police-community relationsforce; desegregation and fair

employment at the bowling alley;investigation of alleged

discriminatory practices withinthe Orangeburg penalsystem,

and employment of Negroesin it; investigationof local radio

station WDIX for possibleviolation of FCC regulationsin attacks

on Negro leaders; establishment ofa food stamp program;pay-

ment of national minimumwage levels to Negro domestic andother workers; establishment of jobtrainingprograms; adoption of

Medicare at the OrangeburgRegional Hospital; creationof

public housing andpassage of fair housing laws;appointment

of additional Negro registrars;annexation of largeareas of Negro residences where citizenshave already petitioned for same; integration ofthe county draft board;elimination of dual public schoolsystems and full and complete

integration of schools, faculty,and students;acceptance of public school compulsoryattendance laws in thecounty; placing of Negroeson school boards; "positive andconcrete .

steps to change thestatus of South CarolinaState College from a state-supported institution of higherlearning

designed to educateNegro youth toa regular branch of

the UniversitySystem, serving thewhole community"; a biracial community relations task forcewith immediate goals of establishing a fair employment commission,investigation of complaintsabout discriminationin medical services, specifically in hospital wards,physicians' offices and public health centers; evaluation ofcoverage of the

Negro community innews media, and integrationof drive-in theaters.

The combination ofthe boycott, thoughnot well organized at its outset, and the curfewhurt business, local merchants were quickto acknowledge. Of the complaints, the one regarding status of State Colletscame closest, from all indications, to representing thestrongest discontent of students, the real issue for whichthe bowling alleywas a surface outlet for outrage. And the recommendationfor a biracial community relations commissionhad already been acted on. The mayor and citycouncil (which hadseemed to reject the notion only the day before,though saying it

fY would welcome furthersuggestions) beganFriday the formation of such a group, reportedlyon strong direction ofGovernor McNair. Almost immediately,the organizationaleffort became embroiled in factionaldisputeamong Negro leaders, white officials having designateda Negro minister whoformerly headed the NAACPto name Negro members,and the current

N. o et , 24

officials of the NAACPinsisting that theyshould have this prerogative.

Of these matters in the aftermath oftragedy, three-- the issue of qualityeducation, the record ofOrangeburg in race relations past and present, andthe question of

the extent and meaningof blackpower influence on the

two collegecampuses -- seemed at thecenter of the events

at Orangeburg andtheir significance forthe South and the nation.

EVENTS ATORANGEBURG: IV. THE SCHOOL ISSUE

7! Clearly the most pressingissue in the mindsof the

students at South CarolinaState Collegewas not black power,

but the qualityof education theywere receiving there.

Students at StateCollege, like studentsat other black colleges in theSouth, had begun tosee the disparity

between their schooland its whitecounterparts, Clemson,

and the Universityof South Carolina.A corollary of this

recognition had beena campus revolt in the springof 1967.

At that time, thefailure of State Collegeto renew

the contracts ofthree white instructors,among other things, . had led toa "98 per cent effective"boycott of classes

and the subsequentgranting ofnumerous concessions by the

administration. Among some of theseconcessionswere

the abolition ofcertain Sunday dressregulations,a halt in compulsory vesper attendance, and thepromise that the 25

students wouldreceive more and bettereducational facilities and a permanent presidentto replacethe retired Dr.B. C. Turner. The studentsleft school last spring thinking thatwhen theyreturned in the fall theywould at least have apermanent president who could pleadtheir case for more funds from the1968 General Assembly.

Instead, the studentswere greeted byan acting president, Dr. Maceo Nance, whodid indeedsubmit a budget callingfor more funds to makeneeded improve- ments in the physical andacademic plantsat State College. Dr. Nance submitted, inaddition toan early request of $3.3 million,a $5.5 millionbudget to the General Assembly. The latteramount was tocover costs for maintenance and permanentimprovements.The $3.3 millionwas appropriated but only about$300,000 of the $5.5 million hadbeen grantedwhen the school was closedon Friday, February 9. Many studentswere angered by this action of theGeneral Assemblyand felt that it amounted toa total disregardfor the amount requestedby Dr.Nance. The budget breakdown forstate-supportedschools from 1967through 1969was: No,

1967-1968 1968-1969 ApPropriation Rectuest

University of S. C. $10,702,813 $16,518,250

The Citadel 2,604,735 3,193,114

Clemson University 7,320,534 9,793,500 (Education & General)

Winthrop College 3,125,809 3,809,582

State Medical College 8,930,318 13,603,006

State College of S.C. 2,588,690 3,298,414

These figures indicatethat white or predominantlywhite schools in SouthCarolina received $32,684,209in 1967-68 as compared to $2,588,690 for the only state-supportedNegro college. These figures, and thedifferences includedtherein, said many students, constitute the majorproblem: inferior education.

Students cited otherdisparities betweenthe two sys-

tems of higher education. For instance, Clemson'slibrary is worthmore than two-thirds of theentire plant at South Carolina State. And the University ofSouth Carolina isnow building a stadium inColumbia that is worthmore than the entire plant at SouthCarolina State College.

At the time the bowlingalley emergedas a target of . .

nonviolent direct action,the students stillrankled over

not having thepermanent president they hadbeen promised and

over the cutbacks in the budgetaryrequests of Dr.Nance.

Harry Floyd's bowling alleywas a symbol of segregationand the educational strangulationthe students experiencedas a result 27

of it. So, the bowlingalley becamea catalyst for

ignitinga revolt that was to involvethe entire black A I population of Orangeburg.The students merelyreacted to this overt symbolby waginga campaign of moral

rectification againstit.

And so news of thekillings in Orangeburgcited the

bowling alleyas the apparent cause oftroubles there. a But as one ranking member of the StateCollege administration

said, "The simpleproblem at South CarolinaState College is money and the students' recognitionthat theyare not getting the type ofeducation that whitekids get at

Clemson and theUniversity of SouthCarolina."

EVENTS ATORANGEBUR G:

BLACK POWER a

The Black AwarenessCoordinating Committee(BACC) on the South CarolinaState Collegecampus is a black power oriented student organization. First organized inthe spring of 1967, thegroup was describedas starting out as nothing more than a kind of "studygroup." BACC was organized

according to the rulesgoverning formationof student

organizations at StateCollege and remaineda legitimate

organ of the student community. In the words ofa ranking member of the administration,"My positionas a member of

the administration didnot allow me to discouragethe formation of the BlackAwareness group. They had as much right

to organize asanyone else."Approximately 35persons rC)

4 a a 28

joined initially.

BACC members provoked discussionsofcontemporary social movementsand personalities involved inthem. They also invited speakers likeGeorge Ware ofSNCC and Julian Bond of theGeorgia House of Representatives. An instructor at neighboringClaflin College felt that BACCserveda very useful andconstructive purpose on the collegecampus. But its appealwas ostensibly not verygreat; membership fell to around12 or 13 persons. BACC was smalland its ideologywas not overly attractiveto the largelyrural- oriented studentbody. Up to andincluding thetragedy of February8, BACC 's membership madeno appreciablegains. Indicationswere that Mr. Sellers, thoughpopular with BACC,had littleinfluence on the campuses. He wasa frequent visitor to the StateCollegecampus, but from what was saidof him, Cleveland Sellerswas not one who possessed charismatic authorityon the campus. Students interviewed, from the conservativesto the radicals, said hewas respected for his ideas,but did nothave a following. Students were emphatic insaying Mr.Sellers was not responsible for studentactionson the night of February 8. And each said the confrontationat the bowling alley would have come without blackpower. Such opinionneeded to be weighed inassessingstate- ments linkingblack power with the violence.The Orangeburg Times andDemocrat's editor, Dean B.Livingston,stated that "Floydand black power were ona collisioncourse"; L..

7,1::.;r;:..0.;4,:r."..:`,..

perhaps it was merely that Floyd andblack Orangeburg

were on a collision course. Similarly, the "strength"

that State College trustee WallaceC. Bethea was "shocked"

by in Orangeburgwas rather than black power asan ideology espoused by "15or 20" followers, the kind of

unyielding unity of black peoplethat white Orangeburg had seen before-- in 1955, 1960, and 1963.

Black power was not the issue inOrangeburg.

EVENTS AT ORANGEBURG: VI. RACE RELATIONS BACKGROUND

The two sets of Negro demandson the city of Orange- burg were a profile of perceived failurein most of the nation's objectives inrace relations and against poverty.

The statistical profile of Orangeburgand Orangeburg County in rawestcensus data indicated the extent of needfor success rather than, failure of nationalobjectives in this one rather typicalsouthern locale. County population by outdated but indicative1960 census figureswas 68,559, with 41,221or 60.1 per cent Negro, and 13,852

(5,516 or 39.7per cent Negro) in the city of Orangeburg.

(The disparity in proportionof Negroes in the city isone result of a city limits whichNegroes termed gerrymandered, running through whatseems a continuous urban area, the outside mostly Negro, the insidemostly white.) Between 1950 and 1960, for whatever itsays of past race relations 30

and opportunity,despite a gain in overallpopulation, the countysaw a total of 15,429 citizensmove away, all but 1,668 ofthem Negro. Median family income, accordingto the 1960census, was $2,603 in the county, $4,617 inthe city. For Negroes the figures were $1,461 and$2,075. Median school years completed,according to1960 census data, inthe county was 8.2 years, inthe city, 11.1 years. But forNegroes (and this in a collegecommunity), the medianswere 5.7 in the county, 6.5 inthe city. Orangeburg is in rich farmcountry, isa trading center, and hasfour sizeable manufacturingplantsamong industries. The amount of desegregationas required inthe various aspectsof community life by the1964 CivilRights Law was in 1968in the southern patternof tokenism;this included sixNegro officers on the policeforce. Negro leadt.rs termeda War on Poverty Community ActionProgram less thanfully effective. Voter registrationin thecounty prior to the1968 re-registration was 48.8 per centof potentialNegroes, 99.0 per cent of potentialwhites. A perhaps unusual degreeof right winginfluence has been atwork in thecity and county forsome time. Be- sides theKlan, local residents saidthere existsa Wallace- for-President headquarters,a strong Citizens'Council organization,strong John Birch Societyorganizations,a Carl McIntire organization, andthe homebase ofa state association ofprivate schools. 31

Desegregation disputesof sizeable dimensionsbegan

as early as 1955 when 57Negroes petitioned forpublic

school integration. A white Citizens'Council was formed and began a campaign of economic intimidationagainst the 57, soon reducingtheir number toa hard core of 26 who

would not budge. Negro leaders counteredwith a boycott of white merchants involved in the economicintimidation. A fund of $50,000 was raised around thecountry to provide

small loans to victimsof the Citizens'Council intimidation. By the spring of 1956,both sideswere willing to compromise

on the economic impasse,but therewas small success with

integration. Indeed, the city-- which until then even

as in 1968 after thecampus slayings held inits

white public opiniona belief that race relationswere excellent -- suffered a setback in theserelations typified in a refusal during1955 of whiteministers to meet with Negro ministers merely to discuss theproblems. In 1960, Orangeburgwas among the first southern

cities to experiencesit-in demonstrationsby Negro college studentsseeking serviceat lunch counters.

Official white resistancewas notably fierce; police used fire hosesand tear gas againstthe demonstrators, arrested some 338 students, and incarceratedthem inan outdoor compound.

In 1963, massivemarches by much of theadult and student Negropopulation protestingsegregated public facilities again resultedin numerousarrests, rough 32

police tactics,and little desegregationuntil the 1964 CivilRights Law got merchants"off thehook," as one citizen putit. A full-page story in theNational Observer, ofDecember 23,1963, by George McMillanincluded a quotation withobvious portent for 1968 froma young man who was thena student at South Carolina StateCollege: "Sometimes I thinkthe only places where anythinghas been accomplished iswhere therehas been some rioting . . . Then I thoughthow would you feel if somebodygot killed, maybe somebody'sdaughter. But I'llsay this: The white man has forced hisreligion on the Negro, thereligion that has taughtthe Negro to turn theother cheek. Now the Negro has onlyone cheek left. He doesn't haveanother one to turn."

The bowling alley inOrangeburg slippedby efforts to securecompliance with the 1964 CivilRights Law.As one leader explained it, those whohad marchedwere mainly people who couldn't afford to bowl. It was decidedto leave the problemup to bowling enthusiastsamong the Negro population whohad to drive the 50 milesto Columbiafor their sport. Complaints aboutthe bowlingalley to the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights whichwere forwardedto the Justice Department date backto 1965, andvarious unsuccessful local efforts-- including pleasby other white merchants -- were made to persuadethe ownerto change hispolicy.

Establishment of a biracial committeewas urged in 33

A various quartersduring the 1963 impasse(which also

includedan economic boycott by Negroes),but met with

no success. A white citizen whowas involved in an effort to establish one then told of almost solidpublic opinion against it. By contrast, he said,when news of the 1968attempt to formone was made known, congratula-

tory calls came fromall over town. "Before," he said,

"you could walk thestreets up and down andnot find two

to support you."An unofficial committeewith three white members anda representativegroup of Negro leaders met

from October, 1966,to January, 1967, andthen just gave

up out of failure to attractother white members,and adamant refusal of the mayor to grant it officialstatus. Even in the aftermathof the events of theweek of February

5-10, Mayor Pendarvis,admitting therewere problems,

was saying, "I would putour race relationsup against

any in the world fora town this size and proportionof races." Governor McNair, generallyconsidered a racial

moderate and supportedheavily by Negrovotes, included in most of hisstatements about theevents at Orangeburg

praise for the state'sgood race relations,and lament

over Orangeburg's being thefirst notable outbreakof racial violence inrecent South Carolina history. Behind such statements laya disparity in what white andwhat

Negro citizens perceivedas good race relations. This was expressed by an OrangeburgNegro leader who recalled the official attitudewhen Clemson Universitywas desegregated. 34

"They said they didn'twant that Negro student,but if

they had to take him,they would do itwithout violence.

Not being wanted-- that hurts worse thanany violence."

Whatever hopethere was ofa real turn in Orangeburg race relations in the aftermathof the campus t

slayings centeredon whether the biracial committeewould effectively representNegro interests, andwhether

the city would honestlydeal with problems. At the outset, there were no provisions for studentmembership, let alone representationof the black consciousness

element.A measure of hope mightbe seen in the

enthusiasm ofsome white citizens at leastfor a new try. But the gap,as in so much of the South,seemed frighteningly wide betweenwhat whites conceived

of as "being good"to the Negroes, and whatNegroes,

in expectation offull citizenshipand dignity oftreat- ment, were demanding. And patience andfaith of Negroes was sorely strained. The studentrampage, the withdrawal

aspects of the scant blackconsciousness movementon the campus,were only the most raw ofmanifestations of this general despairamong all classes of Negroes.

A student leadermay have expressed the moodthat would continue to influence thefuture in Orangeburg,the

South, and the nation whenhe said slowly, "I don't believe in violence. But I don't blame Negroes for becoming involved in extremism,since there is extremism on the other side."

,eO7,.nnA .1101:ir

35 EVENTSAT ORANGEBURG:VII. REFLECTIONSANDCONCLUSIONS

Investigationsthat were underwayby federaland state authoritieswould,one assumed, eventuallyresolve conflicts in interpretationand fact about theevents at Orangeburg. It was of nationalimportancethat full findings of suchinvestigations mightsomehow bemade public. A thorough hearing bythe state AdvisoryCommittee to the UnitedStates Commission on Civil Rightsseemed eminentlydesirable. For the events atOrangeburg had significancefor all Americans,Negroesacross the land alreadywary and bitter and fearfulandangry by varying degrees, whitesalarmedover black power and riots. Some of the significanceis suggestedin the followingpoints: 1. Police Action. Some assessment needsto be made of whether thekilling and wounding ofstudents by gunfire might have beenaverted. Why were not lesslethal methods of riot controlsuch astear gas or MACE (astronger irritant) employed? Whywere there not warnings byshots overhead or by bullhorn? If, as officialversionsseem to have it,officerswere under campus sniperfire fora period ofhours andwere in a state oftension wherea hurled missile made themthink they were beingattacked by gunfire, why hadnot membersof the administrationbeen asked toclear the campus and breakup crowds? Beyond theseimmediate questions,broaderones emerge. In South Carolina,public policy not unlikethat being 36

enunciated by most other Americanstates and indeedby the federal government hadbeen stated byGovernor McNair (among southerngovernors a generallyprogressive and moderate chief of state)on June 15, 1967. In an address to the South Carolina LawOfficers Association, e: he said:

Today we are faced with the so-calledadvocates of nonviolence wholeave a trail ofviolence jouremphasis 7' whereverthey go. Throughout our nation thereare groups and increasing numbers of individualswho would takethe law into their own hands but should itcome rto SouthCarolina 7% letme assure you that the full weightand authority ofthe state is behind youas keepers of thepeace and enforcers of the law.

Such "get-tough"policies, whereverput into effect,

carry into highly volatilesituationsnew elements of danger.

Order must be maintained,but the duty ofsociety and of police is that it be so witha minimum of force. At least suggested in Orangeburg and evident in othersituations that have arisen in the South and in otherparts of the nationis the frighteningspectacle ofan over-escalation of police

and military force (thequestion has been raisedof whether Pn alerting of the NationalGuard on Tuesday nightwas necessary), a pouring of large numbers ofheavily armedmen into tense situations, increasingthe emotionalism ofrace in-

volved, increasinga dependence on force tosuppress people

rather than honestly deal withthe social problemsat the fi

source of their disorderor violence, and a conditioning

of the Americanpublic already faralong to an acceptance

of violence anddeath in the resolutionof problems.

In the South, wherestate police have recordsof violence against Negroesthrough history, andwhere in the recent

past such police havebeen instruments ofsegregationist policy, there isconsiderable cause forconcern and caution regarding "get-tough" policies. This is aconcern for riot control;a breakdown in respect andtrust for law

enforcement officers isat a crisis pointamong Negroes

and protesting whitesin the South andnation.

2. Law Enforcement. Order must be maintained;law must be enforced. In the South, a terribletradition of

defiance of federallaw regardingdesegregation, centering

at the top of stategovernments and permeatingmuch of white

society, has onlyrecently somewhat abated. In Orangeburg, Negroes on Tuesday nightwere confronted by the spectacle

of policemen seemingto guard an establishmentwhose

.;? adherence to the 1964Civil Rights Lawwas at best question- able. Allegations of otherviolations of this lawwithin the city and county were parts of Negro grievancelists, and of the two federal court suits filed afterthe shootings. Failure of the federalgovernment across theSouth to enforce

civil rights laws,laggardness in filing thenecessary suits has been an increasingcause of Negro anger. And failure

of the povertyprogram to reach the rootcauses of an even more explosive anger extends across the nation. Rioting and 38

black racismare not rationalresponses to these failures,

but the nationmust correct the failuresif it is to expect rationality fromcitizens.

3. Black Power. It is possible tosuggest that the

events at Orangeburg, withtheir fatalconsequence, con-

verted more Negroes inthat city andacross the nation to

the kind of violentanger that white hysteriaover black

power envisions than ClevelandSellers or all theadvocates of blackpower might ever achieve. The findings of this

report were that fewstudents on the twocampuses were

attracted to theblack-consciousness movementthere. The findings of thisreport were also thatprotest over the

bowling alley began intraditional nonviolentfashion.

Indeed the events inOrangeburg contain in microcosmthe history of this decade incivil rights:A nonviolent

protest was met with policeresistance and ensuingviolence, all of the violenceto persons by police. The response to this was violenceagainst property anda state of near-riot

by Negroes which inturn prompted heavier violencefrom

police. It seems worth notingthat the record ofviolent resistance to Negro rightsin the South spawnedthe black power movement and turned thevery organizations and

1.1 individuals who didmost during direct actiondays to main- tain nonviolence among volatile crowds of untrainedstudent demonstrators intoagencies and people whosecurrent

enunciated beliefsencourage violence. Meanwhile hysteria

over black power,a failure of white Americato see its

Pik

li Y.

positive valuesand an inclinationto over-reactto its negative ones, was evidentin the events ofOrangeburg, from thereadiness ofwhites up to the highestlevels of government tobelieve the worst aboutintentions ofthe protestingstudents, tothe possible lessening ofeffective- ness of adultNegro leadership, a standing-offattitude, out of fear of beingtarnished with the blackpower brush. In suchhysteria,the real causes of conflict,the real issues ofdiscontentare lost.

4.. Student Revolt. A distinction needs to bemade between campus protest,campus rioting, and urbanghetto rioting, if only in thesuperficial sense thatstudentsare able to enunciatetheir grievances better formiddle-classwhite understandingthanpoor and hopeless ghetto dwellers. The findings ofthis report are that studentsin Orangeburg were actingon a legitimate grievanceagainst thebowling alley, were enunciatingother legitimate grievances ofthe larger Negropopulation (later amplified bythe adultsof the NAACP),and, mostof all, were expressingtheir resentment of palpablyinequitable educationalopportunity. Such inequity beginsin mostsouthern locales inpredominantly Negro kindergartensandcomes to its sad climax inmany of the predominantlyNegro colleges. Such failureto provide equal educationis not restricted tothe South. But it is notablethat themost of the violenceapproachingriot proportions thathas occurred in theSouth (andthis has not beena great deal) has occurredat colleges-- in

ev! 40

Jackson, Mississippi;Nashville, Tennessee;Houston, Texas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Alcorn,Mississippi.

Demonstrations protestingthe shooting inOrangeburg spread across southern campuses; rock-throwingand window- smashing eruptedat one-- in Durham, North Carolina.

The nation would beas tragically deceivedas in ghetto rioting if it viewed Negro student protestonly asa police problem in riot control. However unruly inthe past or in what seems likely a continuation of them,these protests go to the center of the nation'sracial problem-- deprivation of opportunity. They also suggesta hope not always evident in the equally eloquent anguishexpressed in ghetto riots; the studentsare demanding equaloppor- tunity to participate in the Americansystem. The presidents of the five colleges that compose AtlantaUniversity,among the most prestigious Negro institutions ofhigher learning in the nation, addressed themselvesto another aspectof the campus situation in the aftermathof Orangeburg. In an open letter to PresidentJohnson, they declared:

The invasion ofcollege campuses byvarious police powers inthe United Statesis a trend which canno longer be continuedwithout public protest byresponsible educatorsand other persons interestedin preservingthe freedom of institutionsof higher learning in our country.

Here in Americawe seem to have adopteda "get tough" nationalpolicy basedon the use 41

of armored andarmed police andguardsmen in killingAmerican citizensat the slightest provocation.

The frustrationsof our societywhich stem from the perplexitiesof our presentinvolvement in Vietnamcoupled with thecomplexities involved in solvingthe dual problemsof race and ghetto haveled many officialsto believe thata resort to naked policepower and brutality isthe properavenue for handling major socialproblems.

That was theavenue taken by NaziGermany and other policepower states. This has not been theway of modern America.

A few days after the tragic eventsof Thursday night at Orangeburg, Dr. Benjamin F.Payton, who is fromOrangeburc the president of BenedictCollege in Columbia,a private Negro institution, happened to be thefirst Negroever to address a white civic club in Columbia. During thecourse of his remarks to the KiwanisClub there, hesaid: "Was it necessary that three peoplebe killedbecause one hundred of them threw bricks?I have difficultyconceiving in my imaginationof the highway patrolmen firingpoint-blank at students at the rpredominantlywhite7University of South Carolina andClemson on doingthe same thing." At a small church on the outskirts oftown, plowed fields alongsideit and across the highway,funeral services were held for Delano Middleton. There wasno official representation fromwhite Orangeburg. As his family (his 42

mother a maid at State Collegewhere he hadhoped to be a student)and a large crowd ofNegro citizensof all ages wept (his father cryingout, "Henever bothered

nobody . . . ."), the funeral's ritualof death'smeaning and thespecial ache of death ofthe youngbrought the sober andsomber realityof the events atOrangeburg home. Americasomehow neededto find the way to nurturethe hope of allits youth, not killingnor allowinghope to die.

* * * * ** * * * * ** * * * *