Statement by Jack Greenberg to the Press at New Orleans, LA., September 27, 1962 at 1:00 P.M. C.S.T

    “ 

PRESS RELEASE 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
TOCOLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEWYORK19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY 
President Director-Counsol Associate Counsel 

S25 

STATEMENT BY JACK GREENBERG TO THE PRESS 
AT NEW ORLEANS, LA., SEPTEMBER 27, 1962 
AT 1:00 P.M. C.S.T. + 

"We have advised Mr. Meredith that we do not believe he 
should return to the University of Mississippi campus unless he 
is accompanied by sufficient force to assure his enrollment and 
continued attendance. He agrees with us. We have so informed 
the Department of Justice. 

"A trip to the campus, which tentatively had been planned 
for today with a force of marshals which may have been insufficient, 
was not made after we asserted this position. 

"Beyond question, the United States possesses sufficient 
power to enforce the orders of its courts and assure the rights 
of its citizens, and we have no doubt that it will employ this 
power. 

"In the meantime, we shall follow through on legal matters 
now pending, but we do not plan, at this time, to file any more 
papers. The courts obviously have and will continue to do their 
duty. Their orders now must be executed by the executive branch 
of government." 

STATEMENT BY JAMES H. MEREDITH OF 
SEPTEMBER 27, 1962, ENTITLED "MY POSITION" 

(This statement was written by James Meredith in New Orleans on 

September 26 while he waited to begin his third try to enter the 

University of Mississippi in Oxford. We have reproduced it with- 

out alteration or revision.) 

"In this time of crisis, I feel it ap>ropriate for me to 
clarify my position as to my intention, my objectives, my hopes 
and my desires, 

"For several months I have been involved in a struggle to 
gain my admission to the University of Mississippi. The prime 
objective is, of course, to receive the educational training 
necessary to enable me to be a useful citizen of my own home state 
of Mississippi. 

"There are those in my state who oppose me in my efforts to 
obtain an education in the schools of my state. They do this 
because I am a Negro -- and Negroes are not allowed to attend 
certain schools in my state of Mississippi. The schools that we 
are forbidden to attend are the only ones in the state that offer 
the training which I am desirous of receiving. 



=O= 

"Consequently, those who oppose me ave saying to me, we 
have given you what we want you to have and you can have no more. 
Except, maybe, they say to me, if you want more than we have 
given you, then go to some other state or some other country and 
get your training. 

"Pray tell me what logic concludes that a citizen of one 
state of the United States must be required to go to anothe state 
to receive the educational training that is normally and ordinarily 
offered and received by other citizens of that state. Further, 
what justification can possibly justify one state assuming or 
accepting the responsibility of educating the citizens of another 
pee the training is offered to other citizens of the home 
state 

"We have a dilemma. It is a matter of fact that the Negroes 
of Mississippi are effectively NOT first-class citizens. I feel 
that every citizen should be a first-class citizen and should be 
allowed to develop his talents on a free, equal and competitive 
basis. I think this is fair and that it infringes on the rights 
and privileges of no one. 

"Certainly to be denied this opportunity is a violation of 
my rights as a citizen of the United States and the state of 
Mississippi. 

"The future of the United States of America, the future of 
the South, the future of Mississippi, and the future of the Negro, 
rests on the decision -- the effective decision -- of whether or 
not the Negro citizen is to be allowed to receive an education in 
his own state. 

"If a state is permitted to arbitrarily deny any right that is 
so basic to the American way of life to any citizen, then democracy 

is a failure. 

"I dream of the day when Negroes in Mississippi can live in 
decency and respect of the first order and do so without fear of 
intimidation, bodily harm or of receiving personal embarrassment, 
and with an assurance of equal justice under the law. 

"The price of progress is indeed high, but the price of 
holding it back is much higher." 

ean