Thursday, September 6, 1956
page 10
Few Floridians of any race will disagree with Governor Collins' declaration that the lot of Negroes in the state must be improved, that "too many do not receive adequate medical care. Too many do not receive adequate educational opportunities."
Those of us who believe in the doctrine of "separate but equal" facilities and opportunities for Americans of different races must constantly remind ourselves that we never have provided really "equal" facilities for the Negroes in the South.
There has been some progress toward it. It has been accelerated greatly in some places in recent years, but in other areas and in some facilities we must candidly admit the separate facilities have fallen far short of equality. The white southerner needn't accept the entire blame for this because until 20 years ago the South still was pretty much a conquered province held in economic bondage by the North. The Negroes themselves haven't done all they could to elevate their positions.
But, the fact remains that while we plead for adherence to the "separate but equal" doctrine we do not always make a good faith effort toward compliance with it. Perhaps if we had made a determined effort to apply it when it was laid down 60 years ago we might not have had the trouble we now have.
And even now, when the Supreme Court of the United State seems inclined to set it aside in favor of a more extreme and dangerous doctrine every time an issue arises, we should not be deterred in our sincere effort to bring the facilities and opportunities of our Negro citizens up to full American standards.
The Negroes must have the white man's help; but the white man can't do it all for them. It will take working together toward a broad objective of genuine improvement, not just satisfaction of desire for equal or superior position.
When the Negroes have attained fully equal standards of education, health, morality and economic opportunity, they may decide that mere segregation isn't so bad – and the white people may decide it isn't necessary to retain it so completely.
True improvement of conditions should be the objective of both races. If we would focus our attention on that, we could work together instead of pulling apart.
