October 18, 1984
Black Ink
Page 3
The Oppositi
Helms
IS
by lohn Hinton
Columnist
As a black journalist and native
of North Carolina, I thought it would
be a good idea to look at Sen. Jesse
Helms' remarks about Blacks during
the civil rights movement.
So I picked up a copy of A Lot of
Human Beings Have Been Born
Bums — Twenty Years of the Words
of Senator No. Jesse Helms. After
reading it, I can't think of another
politician in the country who dislikes
Blacks more than the ultra
conservative senator from North
Carolina.
Researched by The North
Carolina Independent, the book is
mainly a collection of editorials from
Helms' television spot called View
point. It seems that every weeknight,
WRAL-TV in Raleigh gave Helms an
airwave forum to espouse his racism;
not only did his broadcast go to 70 of
the state's radio stations, but many
were printed in 200 newspapers
across the country.
Here are a few of the Senator's
greatest remarks from the 1960s about
Blacks and the civil rights movement:
*Society is beginning to ask the
inevitable question: Are civil rights
only lor negroes? White women in
Washington who have been raped
and mugged on the streets in broad
daylight have experienced the most
revolting sort ol violation ol their civil
rights... The hundreds ol others who
had their purses snatched last year by
negro hoodlums may understandly
insist that their right to walk the street
unmolested was violated...
*The negro cannot count lorever
on the kind ol restraint that has thus
tar left him free to clog the streets,
disrupt traffic and commerce and in
terfere with other men's rights...Mob
action invites mob action; violence
invites violence; lawlessness invites
lawlessness.
*'Candy' is hardly the word for
either the topless swimsuit or the
Civil Rights Bill. In our judgement,
neither has a place in America
—unless we have completely lost our
sense of morality.
Most notable however, was
Helms' character assassination of
Martin Luther King Jr. which began
in 1965 and has not ended.
"We live in a day of far-fetched
labels," Helms said in March 1965.
"The Russians call their government
'the people's republic' when in fact, it
is neither a republic nor a govern
ment of the people. Martin Luther
King repeatedly refers to his 'non
violent movement.' It is about as non
violet as the Marines landing on Iwo
Jima, and it is a 'movement' only in
the sense that mob action is moving
and spreading throughout the land."
King won the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1965 for his role in the civil rights
movement, but a year later. Kings
award became the subject of one of
Helms' harangues.
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"It is interesting to note that the
Nobel Prize won't be awarded this
year," Helms said. "When one recalls
that Martin Luther King got the prize
last year, it may be just as well that
the committee decided not to award
one this year. Perhaps it was too dif
ficult to choose between Stokely Car
michael and Ho Chi Minh."
After all of those comments from
Helms, one would think that he
wouldn't have anything more to say
about King after the civil rights
leader was killed in 1968. But, Helms
just couldn't resist in October 1983
when the Senate passed a bill honor
ing King's birthday with a national
holiday.
"King's view of American society
was thus not fundamentally different
from that of Communist Party, U.S.A.
or of other Marxists," Helms said, ac
cording to the 1983 Congressional
Record. "While he is greatly
remembered today as the pioneer for
civil rights for Blacks and as the ar
chitect on non-violent techniques of
dissent and political agitation, his
hostility to and hatred for America
should be made clear."
"What bothers me about this
whole scenario is that this proposal is
to set up Dr. King as a role model for
young Americans," Helms said. "The
palpable truth is - and many Ameri-
cand are learning it - that you cannot
eat politics. Dr. King has been
presented as a hero to his people by a
generation of people who qualify as
myth makers."
Helms also stated that he oppos
ed the holiday because the day off for
workers would cost the government
millions of dollars.
I understand now why so many
blacks say that Helms is a racist. His
mindless dribble about the civil rights
movement and Martin Luther King Jr.
proves that he is segregationist cling
ing to the customs of the Old South.
Unquestionably, Helms is
responsible for his racist image. No
one pointed a gun to his head in the
1960s when he lambasted the civil
rights movement and King. Nor was
his arm twisted when he opposed
every civil rights measure during his
12-year tenure in the Senate.
Political experts say that Helms is
fanning the King holiday issue to ap
peal to the diehard racists in North
Carolina. His strategy might work,
but it will be a cold day in hell before
I vote for Helms.
ITS
COMING
African/Afro-American Film Festival
October 23; EPHESUS
Documentary account of a Sunday evening service in a Black
“Holiness” church. People, sounds and happenings arc all authentic
— nothing was staged for the camcra.
October 30: MAU MAU
The stoiy about Mau Mau, the Land and Freedom Army which was a
political and military response to repression and armed aggression in
Kenya. When Kenya was handed over by the British government to
an African government composed of ‘loyalists. Mau Mau thus was
lost through Kenya’s independence.
No Easy Walk To
Freedom
by Herman Bennett
Special to the Black Ink
Since 1912 and year after year thereafter, in their homes, in provincial
and national gatherings, on trains and buses, in the factories and on the
farms, in cities, villages, shanty-towns, schools and prisons, the African peo
ple have discussed the shameful misdeeds of those who rule the country.
Year after year they have raised their voices to condemn the grinding
poverty of the people, the low wages, the acute shortage of land, the inhuman
exploitation, and the whole policy of white domination. But instead of more
freedom, repression began to grow in volume and intensity and it seemed that
all their sacrifices would end in smoke and dust.
This passage from Nelson Mandela s No Easy Walk to Freedom
characterizes the daily struggle with which South African Blacks are con
fronted. Mandela, who is serving a life sentence in South Africa s dungeons,
symbolizes the resistance to apartheid--white supremacy--in South Africa.
Today, South Africa is the last bastion of white supremacy on the African
continent. In order to maintain the status quo, the South African government
has enforced a policy of systematically oppressing the Black population, mak
ing the situation increasingly explosive. The recent riots in Sharpeville where
an estimated 60 people lost their lives is indicative of the level of tension that
exists.
But the roots of racial tension are deep in the history of South Africa. The
initial residents of what is presently called the Republic of South Africa were
the Zulus, Xhosa and other Black nations.
During the period of European colonial expansion, however. South Africa
was subjected to Dutch rule after a period of severe warfare between Dutch
and Africans.
In 1806, however, the British conquered the region and a struggle for
domination ensued between the Britons, Africans and Dutch Creoles (who call
ed themselves Boers then and Afrikaners today).
During the next 100 years, British strength in the region diminished as the
Afrikaner nationalism grew. By the outset of World War II, the Afrikaner Na
tionalist extremists formed links with Nazi Germany and hoped for a German
victory which would permit the establishment of an independent Afrikaner
Republic.
Central to the Nationalist philosophy was the establishment of a society
based on cheap land and cheap labor. The labor was provided by the Black
population which was also socially segregated and denied all political rights.
In order to maintain white minority rule, the Afrikaner leaders created a
religious justification which legitimized the oppression of the Black popula
tion. The religious argument states that the Afrikaner were a chosen people
with a manifest destiny to rule South Africa. God, they maintain, had given the
Black African his inferior position, and it would be wrong for the master race