Greenberg's Review of School Desegregation Cases

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PressRelease B ae ae <a 

FROM: The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund 
10 Columbus Circle 
New York, New York 10019 
(212) 586-8397 

Contact: Norman Bloomfield 

RELEASE AT WILL 

NEW YORK, N.Y. - School desegregation forces chalked 

up modest gains in 1973 throughout most parts of the South and 

in some Northern communities despite the busing controversy and 

sustained attempts to hinder or negate the law, it was reported { 

today by Jack Greenberg, Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal i 

Defense and Educational Fund. 

Reviewing a year of the organization's accomplishments, 

Mr. Greenberg noted that six Southern states are now in full 

or nearly full compliance with the Constitution in respect to 

school desegregation, and that many rural systems in South Carolina, ] 

Louisiana and Tennessee have become completely unitary. In 

Mississippi, he said, an increasing number of white students 

are returning to the schools they abandoned after the 1968-69 

integration orders. 

But, he added, these salutary developments must be seen 

in a context of demographic movement which, in Many areas, tends 

toward segregation and certain second generation school desegrega- 

tion problems, such as teacher discrimination and arbitrary 

discipline against black students. 

These trends are reflected in major court decisions made | 

in suits brought by the Legal Defense Fund during 1973: | 

* The Supreme Court in the Denver school case held that 

specific acts of segregation need not be shown at every school. 

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NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. | 10 Columbus Circle | New York, N.Y. 10019 | (212) 586-8397 

William T. Coleman, Jr. - President Jack Greenberg - Director-Counsel 



Rather, the Court suggested that if a substantial number of 

schools were segregated by official action, then presumably 

the entire District was illegally segregated -- unless the 

School District or Board could prove otherwise. The Denver 

decision opens the door for litigation against school systems 

in the North and West by making big city litigation manageable. 

* A successful action against HEW set a series of 

deadlines for the Government to start enforcing Title VI of 

the Civil Rights Act, which directs Federal agencies to act 

against discrimination in programs receiving Federal aid. 

An attempt to consolidate Richmond's public schools with 

two predominantly white school districts in adjoining suburban 

counties failed when the U.S. Supreme Court, by a four-to-four 

vote, upheld the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion. 

Another Supreme Court case is pending on a Detroit urban-suburban 

case in which LDF and other attorneys represent plaintiffs. 

Among the 150 school cases handled by the Fund in 1973 

were a number of second generation lawsuits -- including cases 

concerned with discriminatory firings of black teachers and the 

illegal suspension or expulsion of black students attending 

desegregated school systems. 

Commenting on recent developments in these areas, 

Mr. Greenberg observed that there were fewer incidents during 

the past year involving firings and more problems related to 

discriminatory hiring patterns. Student pushouts, which have 

deprived thousands of black children of an education, also appear 

to be declining in communities where desegregated systems have 

functioned for more than two years. 

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Reports filtering in from the Fund's 400 cooperating 

attorneys, in addition, indicate that continued gasoline shortages 

may adversely affect school desegregation programs where busing 

exists. In Memphis, where the busing issue already has been 

litigated, the District Court and the Court of Appeals have 

held that gasoline may not be withheld to thwart desegregation. 

Employment Discrimination 

During 1973, the Iegal Defense Fund expanded its 

litigation program in employment discrimination, thereby helping 

create new employment conditions and job opportunities for 

thousands of minority workers. 

Among the more than 200 employment cases on the Fund's 

docket were King v. Georgia Power Co., which dealt in part with 

discriminatory employment tests, and a series of three interrelated 

lawsuits in Birmingham, Ala. against U.S. Steel, three local 

steelworkers' unions and the United Steelworkers of America. 

The Fund's lawyers suggest that the ripple effect of 

the Birmingham cases -- combined with LDF's lawsuits against other 

major steel companies -- may help improve employment policies 

throughout the industry. The steel cases outlawed "separate 

lines" of progression in seniority systems and provided $201,000 

in back pay for 61 black workers to compensate for discriminatory 

employment practices. 

Remarking on the industry's recent negotiations to develop 

a voluntary plan, ostensibly directed toward ending racial bias 

in employment, Mr. Greenberg stressed: "Until an effective and 

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credible back pay doctrine is in effect, discriminatory practices 

will remain widespread throughout the industry." 

He also noted that the Legal Defense Fund is developing 

a major litigation program to enforce equal employment opportunities 

in municipal, state and federal civil service agencies. In New York 

alone suits are pending against the Narcotics Addiction Control 

Commission, the State Correction Authority, the Human Resources 

Administration, New York City's Police and Fire Departments, the 

New York City Transit Authority and the Long Island Railroad. 

The public employment program will be strengthened in the coming 

year. 

Capital Punishment and Prison Reform 

As 1973 drew to a close, 44 individuals were on death row 

in eight states. Their cases are now at various stages of appeal, 

with Legal Defense Fund lawyers providing assistance and heavily 

committed to a new and massive round of litigation. 

The defendants were convicted and sentenced subsequent to 

a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down eighteen months ago. In 

that decision, arising out of LDF cases, the Court held that the 

death penalty is unconstitutional when the sentencing authority 

is free to decide between death and sme lesser penalty. This was 

termed, "cruel and unusual punishment." 

Since that time 21 states have reinstituted capital 

punishment statutes, assuming that the statutes could meet consti- 

tutional requirements by imposing objective standards, or by making 

the death penalty mandatory for certain crimes. Some state courts 

also meted out death sentences under old statutes -- after removing 

jury discretion. 

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The Legal Defense Fund plans to challenge all death 

penalties arising out of new state laws -- as well as all convic- 

tions arising out of older statutes. 

The Fund's prison program, which prior to 1972 was 

handicapped by a "hands-off" doctrine imposed by the Courts 

(an LDF case in the Supreme Court ended that doctrine), last year 

was able to conduct major cases involving: discriplinary procedures, 

denial of parole without reason, racial and religious discrimination, 

decrepit facilities and inadequate medical care, voting rights, 

press access to prisons, censorship of mail and reading material. 

Among the 65 prison cases conducted by LDF in 1973 were: 

A class action case on behalf of all California 

prisoners which challenged censorship of prisoners' mail and 

restrictions on law student and paraprofessional assistance to 

prisoners. The three-judge Court held the regulations unconstitu- 

tional, and the case has been appealed and argued in the U.S. Supreme 

Court. 

* A Boston case in which the Judge ordered State correction 

officials to replace a 125-year-old jail, reduce the number of 

inmates and improve food, hygiene, visitation rights and recreation 

opportunities. 

Following a Court directive to reduce the number of 

state prisoners, improve facilities and provide better medical care, 

Florida's Corrections Director ordered the entire prison system 

not to admit any new prisoners from local jails until conditions 

were improved. 

A class action suit in Rhode Island challenged 

interstate transfers of prisoners without their consent. The 

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District Court held that such prisoners had been denied due 

process safeguards, and ordered that they be returned to 

Rhode Island. This decision was affirmed at the end of December, 

1973. 

A class action case instituted by inmates of the 

Reidsville State Prison in Georgia on behalf of 1,400 prisoners 

charging, in part, discriminatory treatment based on race, 

degrading and inhuman living conditions, capricious administration 

of punishment, and lack of desegregated prison staff. 

Other Aspects of LDF's Program 

The Legal Defense Fund, long termed the legal arm of the 

civil rights movement, engaged in about 50 fair housing cases 

during 1973 -- including a California case in which a realtor 

agreed to spend $20,000 a year for advertising in minority media. 

The agency also is arguing a series of cases to generate 

a substantial program in juvenile law. It is concerned about 

conditions of incarceration in children's institutions and the 

legal rights of children who are caught up in juvenile courts, 

often without legal aid. It is, in addition, attempting to limit 

and define the categories where children can be jailed. 

Note to Editor: The Legal Defense Fund is a completely separate 
organization even though we were established by 
the NAACP and those initials are retained in our 
name. Our correct designation is NAACP Legal 
Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., frequently 
shortened to LDF.