"We Care"

In Mt. Dora, Fla. one day last week, someone drew a chalk line down the school sidewalk for all the pupils to see. One side was labeled "White People," the other "Nigger Lovers." Reason for the line: 65 of the pupils had just signed a special petition to TIME about the plight of the five children of Orange Picker Allan Platt (TIME, Dec. 13). Though the Platts had insisted that they are of Irish-Indian descent--and had documents to prove it--Mt. Dora's Sheriff Willis McCall arbitrarily decided that they are Negroes, and ordered them out of the school. TIME'S story had said that, except for Editor Mabel Norris Reese, no one seemed to care. The petitioners simply wanted "the world to know" that they did:

"We care . . . The Constitution says that a person is innocent until proved guilty. We feel that the Platt children have had a raw deal. Their right to an education has been taken away because of the opinions and prejudice of one man.

"To be expelled for violation of Florida's segregation law is one thing; to be expelled because of an unfounded suspicion is another.

"Therefore, we believe the Platt children should be permitted to remain in school until the sheriff can prove they don't belong."

In the incident of the chalk line, one child was stoned with pebbles. Two more decided next day that they had better withdraw from the petition "because it might hurt our daddy's business." And the Platt children? At week's end--despite their schoolmates' gallant try--they were still barred from school.

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