ustxtxb_obs_1971_07_16_50_00014-00000_000.pdf

Boys Stater replies Many integrationists who are now giving in to the separatist appeal have previously assumed that physical proximity alone does lead to “social proximity.” Social psychologists have known for many years, however, that this is not true. Gordon Allport, in his important book, The Nature of Prejudice, specified four conditions which facilitated integration: The students must enjoy roughly equal status. They must be led to pursue similar goals. The sharing of common interests and a common humanity must be emphasized. Their interracial contact must be sanctioned by institutional supports, such as law, custom and local atmosphere. Creating these conditions simultaneously is no easy task. It would be foolish to think otherwise. Even so, creating a climate in which integration will work is easier than starting all over by resegregating. We have a significant number of blacks and whites together in the classroom now. This is a good start. Bussing will be required on a fairly extensive scale to maintain and increase this tentative step towards racial balance. We must accept it and when necessary encourage it in our own home towns, even though it may involve some personal inconvenience. After all, as the Supreme Court pointed out in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg case, 39% of all public school children in America are bussed to school now. They could have added that another 26% use some form of public transportation to get to school. And they should have emphasized that although bussing has been on the increase ever since World War II, only 3% is for the purpose of maintaining racial balance. To sum up, it would be disastrous at this juncture to give up the goal of school integration and admit defeat. For, like it or not, it would be the “separate but equal” interpretation of the Sam Ervins, the John Connallys, the Lester Maddoxes and the George Wallaces which would prevail in that event not the interpretation of the black nationalists. School integration has been at the heart of our attempted second Reconstruction. Its dismantling, with the white bigots ascendant, would pose problems for Southern blacks every bit as serious as those brought on the failure of the first Reconstruction almost a hundred years ago. Are the doubtful benefits of resegregation worth this risk? In Vietnam, we sow the wind. When comes the whirlwind after? Corpus Christi 14 I wish to comment on the article “A Prisoner of Boys State?” which appeared in the July 2 issue of the Observer. First I suppose I should qualify myself as one as able to judge Boys State as Keith Deen, the subject of the article. I was one of the delegates to Boys State from Austin High School and was elected president pro-tem of the Senate during the Boys State program. During the first day or two of the program I was struck by the avalanche of tradition which the American Legion has instilled, some of it rather meaningless, such as the T-shirts, the song and the pre-dawn calisthenics. I was deeply angered when the athletic instructor, Mr. Hanna, forced the 14 boys to cut their hair and sideburns. My roommate was the one of the 14 who was given reprieve as he was packing to go home. A day later, Keith Deen began circulating his editorial condemning the hair incident and I was in complete agreement. The first most of the delegates heard of the Legion’s treatment of Deen was in the papers. I do not wish to comment on Deen’s story. Keith proclaims its truth and the Legion calls it an exaggeration. I do wish to comment on the program as a whole. I resent being classified as a participant in a so-called “orgy of platitudes and self-congratulations.” The article pictured the majority of the delegates as super-patriots blindly accepting whatever the dictates of the Legion happen to be. Nothing could be more wrong. The platforms of each party in the program contained progressive ideas dealing with marijuana laws, abortion, taxing methods and foreign policy. The ideas were intelligent, well-placed and in many instances, in conflict with the philosophies of the American Legion. So much for the participants in the program. Consider next the American Legion. Although, at times, I disagree with the Legion’s policies and ideas I respect them for Boys State alone. Each year for the past several decades the Legion has expended tens of thousands of dollars so that young men throughout Texas may have the chance to learn of the workings of state and local government. They expect nothing material in return for their time, money and effort. They instruct in the use of the tools of government so that the IDialogue Legionnaire, whip in hand and the rather one-sided description of the Boys State program. I believe it to be an injustice to condemn the entire program on the demerits of one incident which drew on the worst of the Legion and Mr. Deen to produce a rather disappointing, un-representative incident, one which though, should not be overlooked, should also not be overplayed or emphasized. I was proud to have been a part of Boys State simply because, on the whole, it was indeed worthwhile. I would sincerely hope that the Observer, as a journal of free voices, would extend to me the privilege curtailed by the, legion for Mr. Deen, and publish these comments. Thank you. Parker C. Folse III, 1610 Virginia Ave., Austin, Tex. The differences The revelations in the publication of some of the information contained in a secret Pentagon study on the origins of the Vietnam War, in which it is spelled out rather specifically that 70% of the president’s purpose in prosecuting the war was his concern that the U.S. Army might suffer some type of defeat and thereby be embarrassed, prompted us to conduct a study of our own. The objective of our study was to attempt to discover any significant differences between the most recent ex-president, who preserved the Army’s image by putting the Vietnam Wk in gear, and the current president who is carrying on the battle. After extensive research and intensive study, we have discovered the significant differences between Lyndon Baines Johnson and Richard Milhous Nixon, which we would like to share with you. Lyndon Baines Johnson used to be Baines Johnson is from Texas. A by-product of our research and study has been the development of several suggestions. The first suggestion concerns a possible further study on the subject of the Vietnam War. This study, by the way, quite possibly could be of interest to and El ideas of the young, no matter what they are, can become tangible through the governmental process. In an age of what many young people consider to be adult apathy, the Boys State program certainly D. W. Robinson deserves a large degree of distinction. For this reason I am disappointed at the The Texas Observer Observer’s cartoon of the Nazi-style