◆ SpookStack

i o™ - =e — “ a “a . -3- Thus, I am especially happy to be here tonight to participate in this observation, not only of what Lincoln did a bundred years ago, but of what we mist do today. We must make sure that the Negro citizens of all states can fully and freely exercise their franchise. This may take stremuous litigation and great energy on the part of many people. But it is worthwhile as we have found out in the past two years. Under existing law the Department of Justice haa filed 35 suits--25 of them in this Administration--to end discrimination against Regroes who seek to vote. oo — Some southern states use a literacy test to deny Negroes the right to register. As a result, barely literate whites, coached by the registrar, are allowed to register and vote. Meanwhile, Negroes--including scientists with national research grants or teachers with advanced degrees--are declared arbitrarily to be illiterate and thus denied the right to vote. The difficulty is that each one of these cases require extremely detailed preparation and many months to litigate. In Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, for example, the Department filed suits in July, 1961. Although 24,000 of 40,000 eligible whites were registered to vote, only 725 of the 16,000 eligible Negroes were registered. In the 21 months since we brought the suit, a special election for Congress has passed. A general election has passed. Still not even the date for trial has been set. But the results are worth the effort. Where the voting suits have been completed, Negroes have been registered in increasing numbers. In Bullock County, Alabama, 5 Negroes were registered last September. Now there are a thousand. In neighboring Macon County, 2,800 Negroes are registered today. Only a handful were allowed to register there in 1961. To speed up this process, the President has asked Congress to authorize that voting suits be given priority on the dockets and be expedited. We mist achieve equal education opportunities for all our children re- gardless of race. Segregated schools cause educational as well as psycho- logical difficulties and the resulting drain on our greatest resource.-the spirit and knowledge of our children--mist be eliminated. We may observe, with as much sadness as irony that outside of Africa, south of the Sahara where education is still a difficult challenge, the only places on earth known not to provide free public education are Communist . China, North Vietnam, Sarawak, Singapore, British Honduras--and Prince Edward County, Virginia. Bat ett tn th at Deiea Pim san dor -_ situation ae Tt on al +h md ne SUL WILLE Wie Situation rrince fawara Wouny Or U6 SULGL occurred last fall in the University of Mississippi may capture the head- lines, the far more important fact is that an increasing number of southern communities, local officials, and citizen groups are working effectively to desegregate their schools peacefully and without fanfare. Last year, for example, 60 southern school districts were desegregated without any diffi- culty whatsoever. 2 eRe. oe er Ps .