Atlanta Daily World

The Challenge And An Opportunity

In this new transition well on in the state's educational progression, surely there is none so naive as to not envision a new opportunity and a challenge as well for the whole commonwealth.

We suddenly came upon the desegregation of the University of Georgia, 175-year-old state university facility through whose doors Negro Americans were barred until that fated January 10, 1961, when two youths of our race became the pioneers in this new move toward a full emancipation of Georgia's principal educational facility.

Now that the cracking of the thick ice to this franchise is a reality, there is not only an opportunity for the whole state but to all concerned.

Let it be said that while there might have been cross burning, a bit of heckling, and other minor demonstrations by some white students, on the whole the scene was not the ugliest seen in this desegregation crisis.

It was normal to be expected that the transition would not be without some reaction as a result of seeds sown by politicians; it was felt also that there was a strain of sanity and sound reasoning coupled with the spirit of good relations which would come in to save the prestige of the state when this crucial hour arrived. This has happened.

In the first place, the state comes into the heritage of a golden opportunity of eligibility and deserving it finds itself en the road to what caused millions of our population to shake the dust from their feet and seek havens in the East, the North, the Northwest and the far West. Thousands left their farms, their churches, their tenant homes to seek better employment, voting privileges, better schools for their children.

Georgia in the first blight lost one congressional seat, only to be followed by still another, while Negroes insisted on re- maining in the state because of their holdings and otherwise desires to stay it out in the hope of better opportunities.

In the second place, our civic and political organizations are thus: in the maelstrom of an unprecedented challenge. There is the crying need for those all-out active organizations with which we have worked so long in implementing the mea- sures through which we sought a more tolerable environment. These organizations owe a service to the people whose sponsors they be, and for whose franchise they stand.

Thirdly, Miss Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes can do much for their state and the overall transition in the manner in which they wear the livery of pioneers in this Deep South institution.

These students are not only to make academic history, they are to make clear the path for those who are to follow in their footsteps in a more tolerable atmosphere. They will be observed with the strictest scrutiny and upon their shoulders rests a bur- den which should be carried creditably and above all, above reproach.

Fourthly, let it be said that the legal machinery in courts were marked with due swiftness and caution, to con- to such a creditable ending, are in for commendation. In that it took up the challenge at hand with so much intelligence, forth- rightness and that gallantry which will all down time be re- ferred to when valor, learning and courage are thought.

The cordiality exhibited by those students at the University leads us to believe they are also aware of the challenge which would place the university environment in a wholesome atmosphere.

Long have we waited and fervently have we prayed to see this roadblock swept from the reach of politicians, candidates for office who knew better, but plied the trade for what it was worth in the area of the unsuspecting, the exploitable pawns that helped to drag down the state's average in usefulness, prestige and the affording of a more wholesome and healthful atmosphere for the inspiration of all youth.