Ten O'Clock News

Good evening I'm at Baumeister first tonight from Louis Lyons the top of the news then for the rest of the broadcast an examination of the situation in Boston schools from Judy Steuer and Greg Pilkington a reconstruction of what happened in the violence yesterday from Peggy Morel the reaction of the black community to yesterday's events from Pam Bullard. A look at changes in the school situation since day one of desegregation. From Judy Steuer a look at the effects of yesterday's events on other schools in Boston. From Pam Bullard's story on the legal ramifications of what has happened both short and long term. And for me a story on where the top political leadership is in all of this. From Boston the evening compass your guide through the news. Nelson Rockefeller. Approval by the House Judiciary Committee by 26 to 12 indicates the final act of his election by the House next Thursday Chairman Rodino and eight other

Democrats joined all 17 Republicans for Rockefeller. So there was no Goldwater influence on the committee. It had gone deeper into Rockefeller gifts to public officials than the Senate committee and dug up some more and heard a wider range of criticism. Both houses of Congress by overwhelming vote 374 to 79 to 13 voted new billions for public jobs for unemployed. The Senate bill to fund half a million unemployed. These veto proof measures are aimed at passage in this dying session. The president in session with the heads of the auto industry reported he indicated his willingness for a tax cut to stimulate car sales. He said that no gasoline tax increase the rate of inflation measured by wholesale prices leveled off last month the half the rise of the month before the reduction to 1 and a half percent rise was mostly in industrial prices farm and food prices kept their right. The Building Control Strip mining to save the land was surprisingly prompt approval by the rules

committee for a final vote next week. But the Rules Committee killed the chance of a vote in the section on the tax cuts and the end of the oil depletion allowance that Ways and Means Committee had worked on six months. Rules reporter who felt the bill would die in the Senate anyway. It was apparently killed jointly by oil state members and liberals were anticipating Mothra bill in the new Congress. Senate sources say that Attorney General Saxby has to be appointed ambassador to India where Pat Moynihan is now. And the president of the University of Chicago Edward levy to be attorney general Levy is a specialist in anti-trust. Of course proved his specialty and putting his foot in his mouth. The British government reported a record trade deficit of one and a quarter billion last month partly due to oil prices. The pound dropped again to a new low. Britain's currency suffered a blow this week when Saudi Arabia refused to accept any more stalling for oil. In Brussels Kissinger warned Western foreign ministers that disaster faces their economic system unless

answers can be found so far insoluble doubled prices of inflation and recession. President Ford and the French president. Stang will be wrestling with these problems on Martinique this weekend. The French are skeptical of Kissinger's notions to cope with oil prices. Burma's capital Rangoon under Martial Law is still torn up by students fighting troops burning down government buildings carrying the torch for the late old time against the repressive UN government. George's library progressive Governor Jimmy Carter threw his hat into the ring as a Democratic presidential candidate today. He talked tough about ending secrecy in government and ending cozy relations between government officials and the industries they regulate. And the violence in front of South Boston High School yesterday by no means totally disrupted Boston school system. But the episode seems sure to have some long range meaning for the federally ordered desegregation of Boston schools. The incident took place five days before the Boston

School Committee has to file in court a more far reaching desegregation plan than the one which now brings black students to South Boston. We have several reports tonight on the school situation. We begin with a reconstruction of what happened yesterday. Here is Judy Steuer. Tensions had been building for almost a week in South Boston before they expire before they finally exploded into violence yesterday. It began with a fight in the Machine Shop on Monday. Then a scuffle in the girl's restroom on Tuesday Wednesday there were fights in the cafeteria and in the library by weeks. And aides tell me the storm warnings were out and it was clear that serious trouble could erupt at South Boston High School. Those predictions proved right of course when shortly after school opened yesterday a white student was knifed in a black student charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. The word spread quickly in Southee first white students left the high school by 11:00 yesterday morning. A crowd of a few dozen at the high school swelled to a few hundred.

By noon it was several hundred men took off early from work to come there. Some longshoremen left their picket lines and walked up to the high school small contingents from East Boston and Charles Town heard the news and rushed over to Southee South Boston Muslim mothers and they're boycotting youngsters the stalwarts of the anti busing opposition man their usual positions outside the high school. By one o'clock the milling crowd numbered fifteen hundred. And as the crowd grew so did its anger they were waiting for the school buses to arrive to pick up the black students remaining inside. And many vowed those buses would not leave South Boston unscarred even councillor Louise day Hicks the spearhead of the anti busing movement could not quell the crowds fury. In your view today.

As the end of the school day approached the crowd's anger spread to include not only the black students inside the school but the police went outside as well. The tactical Patrol Force had returned to Southee along with the state police and the MDC and they seem badly outnumbered. Mounted Police rode into the crowd in an effort to split it but they were met by bricks bottles eggs and verbal abuse. Missiles flew from the sidewalks the back of the crowd and from the rooftops there were a few fights a few arrests. But for the most part the demonstrators held their ground. A shout went up from part of the crowd on the street and the sounds of breaking glass in an instant three yellow school buses crested the hill and pulled up in front of the school. The windows were smashed and splintered the floors littered with glass. Drivers huddled over their steering wheels or on the floor. The full fury of the crowd now seemed directed at the three buses. Then they pulled out

empty frustrated mob stood staring at the departing buses buses realizing too late that these buses were decoys. The black students had been let out a side door and sprinted down two flights of steps two buses waiting behind the school before the South Boston demonstrators realized what had happened. The buses had arrived safely at the bayside mall. The students may have arrived at the bayside mall safely but it was not calmly. The tension had been building among mothers and friends of the students who had been trapped for hours inside South Boston High when the buses arrive an almost hysterical mood prevailed. And now. We. Go.

To Vegas. Come on hurt. Come on. You know. They've. Got. To. DO IT. The buses the students their families and friends were gone in a matter of minutes. They were obviously angry. But the people I talked to yesterday as well as a couple of other parents and students this morning had a clear focus for their anger was not directed toward the people of Boston. There seemed to be a general tendency to dismiss them as beyond hope the anger was directed toward the city the police and the school committee. They ask questions like Why was the crowd allowed to swell swelled over a thousand outside the high school and drop black students inside. They seem to be saying that the people of South Boston aren't going to go along

with the segregation and can't be expected to police themselves. Enforcement is the job of the city they seem to be saying that the city has let them down. Thomas Adkins president of the Boston NAACP said at a press conference today that his talks with black students and parents reveal that they are determined to continue attending school but have expressed grave concern over the issue of safety as a result. Adkins said that NAACP attorneys filed today for a hearing tomorrow morning in federal court that Pam Bullard will report on in a few minutes. We are committed to having Boston schools open and functional Atkins said. But if that cannot be done safely we are asking that the schools be closed down not only to block students but to all students and that all students be reassigned to desegregated facilities throughout the city. Adkins said he considered this a repugnant alternative but that if necessary.

NAACP lawyers would ask the court to order the city to prepare a plan to this effect. State Representative Mel King echoed Atkins feeling that black students involved in the desegregation battle are geared up to stick it out. King was one of several black leaders who met with black South Boston High School students after their arrival back in Roxbury following yesterday's disturbances. The students he said discussed their feelings about returning to Southie. The kids decided they aren't going to let those people keep them from getting an education King said adding If the schools are open they will go to the schools. Both King and Atkins strongly deplored yesterday's disruption in South Boston placing blame on white leadership underscoring the feeling that if black students can't be educated safely then the system should be halted until it can. I think it was the most bizarre and diabolical set of circumstances I've ever

seen said King. It was immoral and baseplate I say beastly because of their animal behavior and immoral because the leaders there made no attempt to stop what was happening. King added angrily from now on if black kids can't go to school then no kids can go to school. Both Atkins and King allege that whites in South Boston purposely instigated the violence that erupted Wednesday Adkins at his press conference specifically charged the powerful South Boston home and school association with holding a racist rally inside South Boston High School encouraging scuffles between black and white students urging white students to boycott classes and other activities. Virginia she of the South Boston home and school association contacted this evening claims the rally was an assembly called for by students. When asked why there were only whites at the rally. Ms. He said it's

not unusual for black students to meet in an afro american society just for blacks. So why is a whites only meeting so extraordinary on encouraging students to boycott. MS She said we don't tell them what to do. They make their own decisions she said. The charge of encouraging scuffles was absolutely false. State Senator elect William Owens said he felt Boston School should be closed down until a peaceful solution to the desegregation controversy is found. However Owens who is also chairman of the emergency committee against racism in education the organizing group for the march against racism scheduled for downtown Boston on Saturday said that the march will go on as planned and that he had no worries about interference. Some people feel that the outburst in front of South Boston High shows that the desegregation order Boston is under can't work. Those of course as we just

heard feel quite the opposite. Nonetheless probably everybody agrees that the desegregation situation has changed since day one in September. Here for more is Pam Bullard. Everyone expected the worse in South Boston on day one September 12th with the national television and the foreign press on hand. It did seem as if the eyes of the world were on South Boston. Several hundred people were gathered in front of the high school waiting for the buses carrying the black students. There was the chanting anger some racial epithets minor confrontations with police. The police however were not hard on the crowd when the buses arrive. The black students ran into the school under a hail of verbal abuse but then all quieted down. The people said they just didn't believe it was happening here. Black students coming into South Boston filling seats that heretofore were filled by white students. The violence of course came in the afternoon when the buses were stoned and black children injured.

Since then there have been motorcycle escorts for the buses and police inside and outside schools. There has been violence. But in the last month at least on the surface it appeared quiet white and black were in the school together but the crime was deceiving. Yesterday when you walked into South Boston you came upon a crowd gripped by new levels of anger frustration and hatred. No longer were racial chants veiled or yelled by just a few. Almost everybody in the crowd screamed that blacks were niggers are boneheads. Many of the shouts and chants from the White crowd cannot be repeated on television. Perhaps the most significant fact was the boldness of the crowd. Young people walked around openly calling black cops niggers even when they stood a few feet from the black officers. They tried to grab cameras from the press and shouted obscenities at the press. They jumped up and down on police cars spit at police officers. The attitude seemed to be

that where a white kid had allegedly been stabbed by a black kid any retaliatory action was justified. Every time a bottle or a can was thrown hitting a police officer there were cheers and no longer was the crowd predominantly mothers and students. There were many fathers and older south Bostonians. There seemed to be no voice of moderation with the crowd yesterday. They cried for revenge and they wanted the black students out of South Boston for good. As one police officer put it I hate to think what would have happened to those black kids if this crowd had gotten their hands on them. What happened at South Boston High School seems to have had an effect on other high schools in the city. But in covering the other high schools today reporter Judy Steuer learned that there were differences between South Boston and other schools. Here now is her report on the other schools. The smart money said that if there were to be any spinoff from yesterday's violence in South Boston it would probably be at Hyde Park High School the scene of some fights and walkouts in the

past. So early this morning the press and police were on hand to watch the school day open in Hyde Park. The tactical patrol force lined the streets leading up to the school but as it turned out they were seldom needed. Several buses of black children do drew up to the school and the students entered peacefully. Then a little later the white students arrived again peacefully. But the word began to spread among the white students that after the first period there would be a walkout by whites and indeed after the first period about 100 white students didn't leave the school. Another 400 white students stayed in class. Police move the white students away from the building and several groups made a few unsuccessful efforts to get back in. There were a few fights with police and two arrests but no reported injuries although the walk out in Hyde Park was inspired by yesterday's events in South Boston. The mood of the Hyde Park people seemed significantly different than yesterday's angry crowd in Southie. I saw several black students walk to school for example something no black student would do in South

Boston these days. And all those students were upset about the stabbing of a white South Boston student. That wasn't the sole reason for today's walkout. I said to one girl why are you walking out. She said because we're protesting. I said What are you protesting. She turned to her friend and asked What are we protesting. After her discussion they told me it would be fun to have the day off. Other students said they wanted to show solidarity with white students in Southie. But most of the trappings of the South Boston anti busing protests were absent in Hyde Park today. Black and white students did not trade racial slurs at least out loud on their way into school. There were no anti black posters or buttons in sight. The only mothers on hand were those taking their children to school. Many of those mothers said they were appalled at the violence in South Boston. They weren't convinced that busing was a very good idea they said but they didn't want a police confrontation here. The city of the South Boston violence did seem to have some effect. Attendance in public schools was down sixty eight point one percent today from seventy 75 percent

yesterday. There were walkouts by white students in four Boston high schools but these involve less than 600 students altogether and at all for high school white students who stayed in school outnumbered those who walked out. But the situation could still go either way of course continued racial violence in South Boston is expected to escalate tensions in other schools mainly in Boston high schools and should Southee calm down again. Attendance is likely to shoot up again throughout the school system. As I said at the outset this new situation in the Boston schools comes about near an important court date next Monday when the final desegregation plan has to be filed. And is it. And as we've learned the NAACP wants some short term action from the federal court. Pam Bullard has a story now on the legal ramifications of what's happened. Yesterday's violence has spurned a call for further action by the attorneys for the black parents in the federal desegregation case. A special hearing before Judge WRGA

Garraty Jr. is scheduled for tomorrow morning. The hearing called by the plaintiffs is considered extraordinary. The plaintiff Black parents will request the following things. State troopers and National Guardsmen on the streets of South Boston and inside South Boston High School a ban on all unauthorized persons inside schools specifically members of the Boston home and school association. A ban on all gatherings of five or more people in South Boston and a specific declaration against the use of racial epithets. What Judge Garraty will rule on these requests is of course not known but the plaintiff black parents according to their attorneys are not about to back down. When I asked attorney Eric van Loon if he might consider vacating South Boston from the desegregation his response was quote absolutely not. If we have to put soldiers shoulder to shoulder in South Boston we will. The law will be obeyed. While many will be watching what happens in the federal courthouse tomorrow morning what happens in the Boston School Committee chambers in the afternoon is also

significant that the committee will no doubt talk about the South Boston problems but more important is what they will do about further desegregation as they say the show must go on. And the committee is under a court order to file a second phase desegregation plan this Monday. That plan is being put together with the educational planning center and at the heart of it is an opinion survey that will soon be made of parents asking them what types of educational approaches they prefer for their child. Traditional or flexible the basis of the new desegregation plan that will involve all sections of the city is a choice of educational approaches but not schools a location of schools. John Coakley of the educational planning center has worked on the plan and offers this explanation program preference approach we are developing most particularly at the elementary level and also at the middle school level less so at the high school level is designed to give parents some choice

of programs within Geographic zones of the city is not designed to give parents a choice of school parents would be to make the program a preference and then we would translate that program preference into a school assignment. The school assignment would be one such that the school was desegregated. What do you do if say the majority of the parents up for a traditional approach. The majority of the parents as a matter of fact we anticipate the majority of the parents opting for the traditional approach. What we're hoping is that not the vast majority opt that way if they do there is enough flexibility you know a plan to accommodate both parents. We are however noting that when they opt for traditional schools the automatic programs they're automatically opting for two schools one for the lower elementary and one for the upper elementary. One school in an all

white area another school in an all black area. If they opt out one of the less traditional programs in all likelihood they are opting for only one school and that school will probably be in some area midpoint between predominantly black and predominantly white geographic areas. So you're saying if a child if a parent opts for the traditional the chances could be that the child could end up one or two years in say East Boston and then another couple of years in Roxbury. That's correct. The question remaining is will the school committee approve the plan and send it on to Judge Garraty. He has mentioned several times he wants the committee's approval on any desegregation plan. The committee has repeatedly refused to condone any form of desegregation. Attorneys say now however that Judge Garrity could place the committee in contempt of court if they do not vote on the plan. The committee may chance it but it is doubtful that superintendent William Leary would take such a chance. He along

with the committee is a co-defendant and it is his staff that has worked tirelessly on the desegregation plan. When asked if he will submit the plan even without the committee's approval. Superintendent Larry gives a current no comment but friends say he will simply because he does not want to land in jail with the school committee. The political leadership of the state and city the governor and the mayor both of whom have been visible at various times during Boston's desegregation were both silent today. Either man's office could tell me precisely why the mayor and the governor were silent on the first day of court ordered busing. Mayor White reacted firmly to the stoning of school buses leaving South Boston. He appeared at a city hall at City Hall at 5 o'clock to personally denounce what had happened. I don't intend to let this happen again is isolated. Is this incident was it was more than we will hold people of this city will permit.

This week I promised the safety of all the children in the city. We kept that promise in 99 percent of the cases. But I promised 100 percent not 99. And that promise I intend to keep. I appeal to the leadership particularly in South Boston to act responsibly and pull the community together and I serve notice tonight the beginning this evening and continuing tomorrow morning and as long as is necessary. The trouble making element however small will not be allowed to continue disruption. Today a day after a violent incident in South Boston the mayor had no statement and the governor who had publicly announced in October and he was calling up the National Guard simply had no comment. A spokesman for Governor Sargent said he had been in touch with the situation but the governor according to the spokesman had no plans to issue a statement. So if the level of

violence in the desegregation has gone up the level of top official visibility has gone down. Thank you for joining us tonight