Segregationist leaders urged privatization or abandonment of public lands rather than integration

Evidence

In what would emerge as a recurring theme of segregationist resistance, these political leaders offered a drastic solution. Unwilling to let municipal spaces be integrated, they instead urged the city to abandon its public lands altogether. Talmadge, for instance, suggested the city sell its parks and playgrounds to private interests who could keep them white. The Supreme Court’s ruling, he predicted dourly, would “probably mean the end of most public golf courses, playgrounds, and things of that type.” Governor Griffin agreed. “I can make the clear declaration that the state will get out of the park business before allowing a breakdown in segregation in the intimacy of the playground,” he announced. — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 278

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Court-ordered desegregation of public spaces produced resegregation and private alternatives, not integration — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 250; State tuition grants subsidized wealthy whites already in private school, not refugees — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 391; Antiracist resource reallocation was rejected by both assimilationists and segregationists alike — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 928 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Segregationist legislation was justified in the language of property rights and liberty #corroborates (0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1468
• Antiracist resource reallocation was rejected by both assimilationists and segregationists alike #qualifies (0.75) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 928
• American racism shifted from constitutionalized segregation to privatized preference-driven apartness #corroborates (0.70) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 365