69 years ago today, on March 22, 1956 (February 11, 1956 in the lunar calendar), Martin Luther King Jr. was found guilty of resisting the separation of black and white. Martin Luther King Jr. On March 22, 1956, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was found guilty of organizing black people in Montgomery and Alabama to forcibly occupy white seats on buses, but he vowed to use "weapons of passive resistance and love" to continue the protest. A month since King's conviction, race relations in the South have deteriorated. On March 1, the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama announced the "permanent expulsion" of black female student Oselyn Lucy. She was admitted to the school by a federal court. The board ignored the court order and expelled Miss Lucy on the grounds that she had "slandered" school leaders. The board believes that if Lucy goes unpunished for her false remarks, school discipline will be compromised. On March 5, the Supreme Court ruled that its 1954 decision in the Brantobuka Education Board case that it was illegal to implement black-and-white schools in public schools was equally valid for schools supported by tax fees. The civil rights decision came after the University of North Carolina rejected three students on a racial basis. After minority leaders criticized Eisenhower for not taking action to protect civil rights, he said at a press conference yesterday that "striving for equal opportunity for all races is the duty of all Southerners."