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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 1963)
Poscri miration Ended in Armed S ervaces ft i l-.'rr' -rr- ' s -w-- ""'vtA'- By DARREIX GARWOOD United Press International WASHINGTON (UPI) - Ask the Defense department wheth er racial segregation has been abolished in the armed services and the answer is an unquali fied yes. Ask whether Negro service men enjoy equal opportunity for advancement and the answer is yes, but with qualifications. It depends, apparently, on how intelligent the Negro was when he enlisted or was draft- j ed; or whether he had previous- j ly enjoyed equal opportunity in j private life; or whether he had j been denied adequate educa tion or was held back by local segregation customs. President Harry S. Truman ordered racial barriers abol ished in the service branches 15 years ago the first such blow struck for Negro service men. President Kennedy and Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara now are expanding the doctrine to off-base commu nities. Desegregation Kai l Today, according to Alfred B. Fitt, deputy assistant secretary of defense for civil rights, on base desegregation is fact, not fancy, though the U.S. Civil Rights commission takes some exception to that. It reported recently that Negro servicemen were still meeting a little on base discrimination. On whether the Negroes are getting an equal chance for ad vancement, Fitt, 40-year-old Yale graduate from Michigan, ha', a different answer. In sub- RECREATION AREA DISAPPEARING house on dry land. So far in 1963 the Dallas White Rock Lake, once the water supply for weather bureau has recorded only 13.90 inches Dallas, Texas, but now a recreation area, is of rain through September. Normal rainfall slowly shrinking, the victim of a prolonged for that period is 26.48 inches. There has been drought. The lake was 4 ' i feet below spillway no rainfall in October. (UPI) level. The receding shoreline left this boat- SECTION D MedfordH&JTribune stance, it was that We oppor tunity is there if the Negro is qualified. "Where qualifications are equal in the junior and non commissioned officer ranks," he said in a UPI interview, "Our studies indicate that Ne groes are advancing as rapidly as whites. "We have to lake the man as he comes to us. If he had 18 or 20 years of unequal oppor tunity before entering the serv ice this is bound, in the aver age case, to make it harder for him." It is a fact that few Negroes qualify for military service. They number only 8.2 per cent of the 2.7 million defense forces. Those accepted do not neces sarily have equal qualifications. Few Negro Officers President Kennedy's commit tee on equal opportunity in the armed forces emphasized that statistical discrepancy in a re port last summer. It said Ne groes comprise only two-tenths of one per cent of the officers in the Navy and Marine corps, and 3.2 and 1.2 per cent, re spectively, in the Army and Air Force. Fitt said this was due in part to the fact that only is years have passed since H uman s historic order. But it also is true that the percentage of Ne groes receiving appointments to the service academies West Point, Annapolis and Colorado Springs is but a raindrop in a big ocean. Fitt's primary job is to achieve equal opportunity for all members of the defense forces under a directive issued by McNamara last July 26. The emphasis has now swung to off-base discrimination a new and delicate field for the military. In his order, McNamara di rected hundreds of command ers to submit reports on off base racial barriers. They were warned that segregation any where damages a soldier's mor ale and military potential and "They should oppose such prac tices on every occasion.'1 Vinson Protests This brought outraged cries from southern members of con gress who feared communities in their district might be placed "off limits" for while and Ne gro troops alike. Chairman Carl Vinson (D-Ga.)v of the House Armed Services committee and one of the most influential men in Congress, introduced a bill calling for court-martial of any commander who enforces such a rule. Filt emphasized that sharp restrictions had been placed on the use of such authority. "I want to make it entirely clear thai the defense depart ment is not seeking to desegre gate civilian communities; we just ask that they stop discrimi nating against servicemen," he said. "I think we have a reas onable program. When a man is in service and has no choice over where he's stationed, I've never found anyone yet who didn't think he should have equal treatment hut the fact of the matter is that many of them don't get equal treatment now." McNamara's directive said a commander "shall not, except with prior approval of the secre-, tary of his military department, use the off-limits sanction in j discrimination cases." The order said elsewhere that "every military commander has j the responsibility to oppose dis- j criminatory practices affecting i his men ... in nearby commu nities where they may live or gather in off-duty hours." Report off-Base On Oct. 2 the Defense depart ment issued another directive. This one asked the commanders to report off-base discrimination ! in detail so the department can obtain "necessary information for the formulation of future policy." All answers must be in by Nov. 8. A typical question was wheth- ; cr white and Negro military ! dependent children ride in sep j arate school buses or; "Do I white and Negro personnel have equal opportunity (or ade quate housing oil-base: These subjects also highlight ed" the U.S. Civil Rights com mission report. It said the Ne gro faces the traditional pat terns of segregation off his post. It added: "These practices in housing, education and public and rec reational facilities arc galling reminders that second-class citizenship has not been eradi cated, and have a detrimental impact on military morale and efficiency." Critical of Navy The report was more critical of the Navy, saying it used fewer Negro enlisted men and officers than the Army and Air Force and assigned them less frequently to clerical, technical and skilled occupations than in civilian life. The commission said that on the whole, the armed forces had made "great progress" in af fording equal opportunity to Ne groes but it added: "This prog ress has not been uniform, and areas remain which require prompt corrective action on the part of the defense depart ment." Fitt said he hoped the off limit rule will never have to be applied, and he believes there is a good chance that will be the case. He said that within the services, soldiers, sailors and airmen from the Deep South present no special prob lem in desegregation. To dale, the Defense depart ment has reported no major in stances of white and Negro racial clashes in the defense forces. II TOOTHPASTE hz&L .tSSA "SS&l 3?WmiZ PAGES 1 to 10 I CHARGES NEW INTRUSION S .... . IM 1 IT "SSPt... " " " "'" " 1 " ' II I :P ,,1 81 I ' TOKYO (UPI) Communist H $ "JK. C H l,rV"'lfl 'l I U 1 I I "' III II 1 1 Ml" I i 9 1 I China has charged India with H "TY M f "J'9 j! tfUpUf O99 RlfSQ 1 1 I anew intrusion into Chinese EI iS -, VALUE v. K. cowC ,lul 6 1? SI 111 1 ftiaSiSSlral H 7 EB 1 I . territory, the New China News 14 imaShttJL IlMS M SHSgMgrWWM, ( J L I MEDFORD. OREGON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1963 Iheardhere today. J" ' Sj?3"'1' j? jf r H.- HJI 199 g7ft, " ., i ,( k; "TINS 06 'pt " , j. - ',M 1 buying a new car l f5 J JPiM"'' .''4l4iSw.t mtm If Smfjf I In buying a new car, aswith most other purchases, the lady of the house takes 1 "fl j hi jiijji' -yf ffijjj I V loam...-. ip 'whsipyyk 11--' ill d$ m&esmmmm mm East Medford Branch 701 E. Jackson St. Phone 773-7315 "" ' "-" 1 " ' I (;) ' ' (3)
