Swift Justice

"To prevent a man from carrying on his lawful pursuits or activities should not be allowed anywhere in the world," said Judge Ralph E. Parker as he glowered across the bench at the four men lined up in his Birmingham courtroom last week. The four were up on misdemeanor charges only eight days after participating in the attack on Negro Singer Nat "King" Cole as he entertained an all-white audience in the Municipal Auditorium (TIME, April 23). As a warning against similar incidents in Birmingham, Judge Parker imposed on each the maximum six-month jail sentence and $100 fine. Two other white-supremacy fanatics who led the charge against Cole waived preliminary hearings on more serious intent-to-murder charges, must appear before a grand jury.

Judge Parker went a step farther, declared: "It is a duty I owe the South to commend Nat 'King' Cole for his conduct at, and since, the time of this unfortunate incident." Meanwhile, Negro newspapers were framing no commendations; they blasted Cole roundly for singing to a segregated audience and for declining, on grounds that "I'm an entertainer, not a politician," an invitation to join the N.A.A.C.P. Some Negro nightclubs banned his records from their jukeboxes for the same reasons; in one Harlem establishment they were ceremoniously yanked out and smashed.

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