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Sit-Ins: Proceed With Caution, Charles E. Rice

Journal Articles

In the current racial contentions, the sit-in demonstration has proved to be an effective and disturbing weapon against segregation by privately-owned business establishments. It is effective because the imposition of economic loss, through monopolizing the seats in a restaurant to the exclusion of potential customers, can break down a proprietor's pattern of segregation more relentlessly than persuasion. It is disturbing because the sit-in poses a direct challenge to accustomed understanding of private property rights.