The Purge of an Agitator

The effort to resist Sch desegregation (Deseg) in the South may be regarded as a countermovement evoked by the successes of the integration movement. Though both movements attempt to gain their ends through legal maneuvers, both seek popular support, desire to project an image of legality & respectability, & claim that its values are constitutional, Christian & democratic. The attempt to maintain this value orientation limits the tactics which can be used by the segregation (Seg) movement & creates a problem of internal discipline. Pro-Seg leader John Kasper was investigated by a Committee of the Florida legislature generally regarded as a bulwark against Deseg. Yet the tactics of the committee during the hearing seemed designed to discredit Kasper not only as a leader in the Seg movement, but even as a segregationist. Its attack was so devastating that his chief lieutenants in Florida renounced him & he left the state shortly afterwards. Kasper's tactics were viewed by other segregationist leaders as inconsistent with the ideology of respectability & hence as a source of embarrassment to the movement; he was the victim of a purge. Despite this & other attempts of moderate segregationists to maintain a posture of legality & respectability, the difficulty encountered in forestalling Deseg through litigation makes them dependent on the so-called `extremist' wing of the movement. The tactic of relying upon use of the police powers of the state to interfere with Deseg under the guise of preventing violence makes them dependent upon the elements which threaten to resort to violence. They are forced into the position of constantly postulating disorder, violence & bloodshed, though they cannot afford to approve of such tactics. References to the threat of violence plus professions of inability to prevent it, take on the nature of a self-fulfilling prophecy, creating a milieu in which reckless leaders arise. AA.