Why Support NAACP Legal Defense? By Judge J. Waties Waring

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NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
107 WEST 43 STREET »+ NEW YORK 36, N. Y. «© JUdson 6-8397 
ARTHUR B. SPINGARN oe THURGOOD MARSHALL President Director and Counsel 
WALTER WHITE ROBERT L. CARTER Secretary Assistant Counsel 
ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS, ARNOLD De MILLE Treasurer Press Relations 

FOR RELEASE: JULY 7, 1955 

NOTE TO EDITOR: This is another in a series of articles written by 
outstanding leaders in the fields of education, 
religion, labor, business and the professions in 
Support of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational 
Fund spe cial fund-raising campaign, 

WHY SUPPORT NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE? 

by Judge J. Waties Waring 
U. S. District Judge (Retired) 

Noted for his decision in the South 
Carolina primary cases which gave Ne- 
groes the right to vote in the South 
Carolina primaries and for his opinion 
favoring desegregation in the original 
Clarendon County school segregation 
case. Appointed U, S, District Judge, 
Eastern District of South Carolina by 
President Franklin D, Roosevelt and 
qualified January 26, 192. 

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is seeking financial, 

moral and spiritual support from Americans of good will who have the 

true interests of their country at heart. 

Why should we do this? 

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States handed 

down a historic decision in which, speaking for a unanimous Court, the 

Chief Justice declared that segregation in the public schools is viola- 

tive of the rights guaranteed to all of us by the Constitution of the 

United States, 

The opinion is crystal clear and sounds the death knell of all 

forms of racial segregation. And so it is our duty as true Americans 

to support all endeavors to prevent evasion of this decision by the 

subversives who would adopt various devices to cancel its effects, 

These yersons who would break down the law of the land, as 

declared by our highest Court, are mostly State officials in the States 

of the Deep South which formed the nucleus of the Confederacy and nur- 

tured the Ku Klux Klan end other similar organizations which endeavored 

to oppose the laws of the land and to take into their own hands the 

enforcement of their own vicious code of discrimination against minor- 

ities, They would set up their own brand of citizenship which gives to 



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them supremacy over their fellow citizens who are of different skin 

color and racial ancestry, subjecting these people to the status of 

second class citizens and not protected by our Constitution or laws. 

Since May 17th we can now class these white supremacists as law break- 

ers and subversives; and we must resist their efforts to hold on to the 

evil of racial segregation. 

It wuld seem that all free people nurtured in the American way of 

life would realize the simple fact that our Constitution and laws are 

color blind and that racial and religious bias have no standing in our 

country. 

But unfortunately there is a large body of selfish and evil men 

who would retain the inequality of the laws which they and their pre- 

decessors in office have decreed and on which they fatten in power and 

refuse their fellow citizens true equality. This must end, 

But it will end only when the right thinking people of our nation 

awake to the injustice which has been practiced and the determination 

of the oppressors to hold on to their power to continue to oppress. 

And this requires that good citizens support with all their resources 

the people and organizations who are fighting for the cause of humanity 

and freedom. 

It takes effort and money because the oppressors are entrenched 

in political office in many of our states, They have a losing fight, 

of course. They can never win this fight against their country's laws, 

Law breakers never win in the long run, but often they do hae 

temporary success and often delay the eventual impact of law and order. 

These underprivileged people who have suffered the indignities of 

exploitation for so many years are entitled to relief, "Justice de- 

layed is justice denied." We must give our wholehearted support to 

those who would rescue these people from the devices of the subversives. 

That we should support the law of the land should be a sufficient 

reason for us. But in addition the whole matter is merely one of 

decency and justice. It is inconceivable that one who calls himself an 

American or a Christian can any longer tolerate this un-American and 

un-Christian method of continuing racial segregation, It is flaunting 

the law of God and man to persecute others and deny them the equal pro- 

tection of our laws and full opportunity in our civil and religious 



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life. We must recognize that indeed "All men are created equal" and 

that this means all, 

If we are not sufficiently moved by patriotism or religion; if 

neither the mandates of the laws of man or of God convince us, then 

perhaps the appeal to our own self protection may have some impact. 

The whole world is in the throes of change and awakening. The 

evil and dangerous Communist forces are appealing to the masses of peo- 

ple especially in Asia and Africa by showing that this land of ours, 

which is the great democratic country of western civilization, prac- 

tices gross discrimination against its large colored population. 

This has unfortunately been true in parts of the United States. 

It must stop. And the best way to meet propaganda is to first clean 

up our own ways of living as an example that a democracy has within 

itself the power and above all the will to practice and live in com- 

plete equality for all within its borders. 

The complete abolition of all forms of segregation and racial bias 

must be accomplished now, We have but a little time to show to the 

world what we really mean by democracy. And so it is necessary that we 

support fully the efforts to eliminate racial bias and discrimination 

to save our Country and to save our souls. 

Send your contributions today to NAACP Legal Defense and 

Educational Fund, 107 West 43rd Street, New York 365 Ma te 

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