Summary

Dr Martin Luther King 1:27:11 I think so I think it has done a very effective job And I think it's life should definitely be extended Although this commission has no power to act It does have subpoena power, and it can bring out to the open into the public things that are not known and that have not been known I think they have made some excellent studies on discrimination and housing and education in the court system And in all of the areas where we have glaring expressions of discrimination, both north and south And I think they have made some verifying recommendations to the President and recommendations to the legislative branch of the government I think it's very unfortunate that the President has not seen fit And this is true, President Kennedy and also President Eisenhower They have not seen fit to take a stand for any of the recommendations that have been made by the Civil Rights Commission Civil Rights Commission that they appointed David Susskind 1:28:22 Dr King, we have to pause again very briefly We'll be right back David Susskind 1:28:28 Dr King, one of Paul's Zuber suggestion that the NAACP Corps, the Urban League, and the followers of yourself should merge, so as to combat the increasing force of more militant violent groups within the negro community Dr Martin Luther King 1:28:46 Well, I would say that these groups need to merge, I think, the most effective the most difficult, I think there are real difficulties in trying to bring all of these groups together into one group There are problems of constitution and bylaws and all that But I do think there is a need for these groups, these organizations to move out on a more coordinated basis I think that is more need for unity among these organizations now than ever before And I've always felt that even where there can't be absolute uniformity, that can be unity I think each of these groups serves a real need And while there may be differences in emphasis, there is an absolute unity in the goals we seek So I think that there's a great deal that we can do on a coordinated basis, which will give a much more powerful movement and which will cause us to have a force that will be able to come back other developments that are going down a negative path or going another way David Susskind 1:30:13 I wonder if you would comment on the Supreme Court ruling on May 27 That unwarranted delay in school desegregation will no longer be tolerated Does this ruling implement to your satisfaction, the deliberate all deliberate speed provision? In the 1954 decision? Will it take deliberate speed to here and now, in your view? Dr Martin Luther King 1:30:36 Well, I think this was a most significant ruling And I think it reveals that the Supreme Court is becoming impatient with the delaying tactics and the evasive schemes that are being used by Southern states to keep from complying with the 1954 decision And I believe this may be the kind of new course of action from the Supreme Court on this issue that will help speed up the process Now, I think it has to be done through getting the president to see the necessity of standing up as firmly as the judicial branch of the government But I welcome this decision And I've said all along that these new evasive schemes that are being used can just hold us back many, many years And it will keep us from really reaching the goal of thoroughly integrated schools by this decision, the Supreme Court makes it clear that that token integration really has nothing but a new evasive scheme with covered up with certain niceties of complexity And I'm sure that as other decisions go up to the Supreme Court where you have these unnecessary delays, it will continue to clarify its position David Susskind 1:32:04 Dr King earlier in this program, you commented that you thought the President not being in the country at the point of the civil rights legislation battle getting underway, was not right Do you think would you go further and say that if the President were to absent himself during the struggle, you would consider it a dereliction of his duty to the basic civil rights struggle in this country? Dr Martin Luther King 1:32:26 Well, I would say, I know the President has to be concerned about foreign policy and our whole stance and international relations, as well as domestic issues But I frankly, I don't see what this particular tour will accomplish And I don't see the need to the point of being so great, that he should leave at this time And I think at this point, that if he leaves, he would be during a grave disservice to the nation And to all of the people that he's representing and to the civil rights movement I think he would, because there is no basic accomplishment that could take place now that could not take place later on David Susskind 1:33:20 And perhaps the civil rights struggle in the Congress could not be won without him,