North Carolina Newspapers

{ t \ SATVBDAY, DEC. 10. 19S5 AHD "SOME LEADERS" In a radio address last Wednesday night, Governor Hodges stated that “some Negro leaders*’ are working for bis voluntary segregation plan which he proposed sev~ eral weeks ago. The governor fiirther stated that thie “some Negro leaders” did not want their names known because they do not want to be pres sured by ‘professional agita tors.’ Just what kind and who the “some Negro leaders” are who want to secretly lead Ne groes down the humiUating road sf segregation we would like to know. It appears to us the governor is only whist ling in the dark since about every Negro of any con sequence in North Cwolina has let it emphatically be known where he or she stands on the matter of the gover nor’s insulting proposal of voluntary segregation. Mr. Hodges also appears' to be clinging tenaciously to -the hope that he will li« able to find a “Sambo” within the race who is traitor enough to become an apostle of his mon strous enigma of “voluntary segregation.” For the benefit of the gov ernor and other unintelligent white people we hope to now and forever set them straight as to Negro leaders. No Ne gro, be he a college president or shoe shine boy will be tolerated as a leader who is ■ not willing to pay the price of leadership. He must “be willing to go to Coventry sometimes and let the popu lace bestow upon him their coldest contempt”—the white populace. The day when a Negro on the state payroll or not on it can sell the race down the river for his own selfish purposes and continue to have the respect of his own people is over. When discov ered he will be repudiat ed, excommunicated and de nounced. In spite of the fact that leaders in such organizations as the General State Baptist Association, the North Caro lina Teachers Association, Negro Masons, the Inter denominational Ushers Asso ciation, the A. M. £!. and A. M. E. Zion Conferences, the North Carolina branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo ple and numerous other or ganizations, representing a cross-section of the race. Gov ernor Hodges still insists that “some Negro leaders” are working for his proposal of voluntary segregation. Now we would like to know what kind of a leader it is who does not have conviction enough of his belief in volun tary segregation to let his name be known? If such a person exists lie certainly is not worthy of being call^ a leader of Negroes and in the very natui^e of the caro would have little or no influence among them. As stupid as Gov emor Hodges has proved him self to be about racial matters it appears to us that he ought to have sense enough to know if any Negro has promised him that he is working for or going to work for “voluntary segregation” he is merely do ing so because of pressure or because ne is trying to buy a favor. To make it sound a little more respectable the gover nor, in his address, referred to his wai^)ed Idea of volun tary segregation as a “volun tary separate schools attend ance plan.” The same old coon with just another ring around his tail. This newspaper, like all members of the race, is sick and tired of certain white people always harping about being their friends. Those who are true friends of the race do not have to say so. Their actions speak louder than any words they can utter. In fact every real friend of the race in this state is well-known by every Ne gro of average intelligence and needs no introduction, since the majority of them have been so often lambasted, and persecuted in the public press and elsewhere. Intelligent Negroes of the state want no more friendship that assumes a paternalistic attitude and loote down on them as inferior. They prefer the kind that is extended Germans, Italians, Russians, Japanese and other former enemies of this country. They know full well that the low est Communist, if his skin is whiljp, would be accepted in any white school in the South in preference to the most loyal and law abiding Negro. Tkiis is the stuff they are tired of and are determined to set tle once arid for all. Governor Hodges and his kind notwith standing. THE FABLE OF THE NOSES Once upon a time, many many eons ago, on a far away planet called earth (which vanished suddenly long ago from the solar system in a mysterious cloud of smoke) there existed a very prosper ous nation. Its people were industrious, worked hard and pU^ed hard. The nation was so large in land area that its inhabitants very early struck on the idea of dividing it into smaller compartmients, feel ing that in this manner their affairs could be best man aged. They eventually divid ed their nation into some forty eight of these compart ments, sometimes called states. By a happy combina tion of their singular inven- tive genius and the wealth of raw materials possessed by their land, these people were able to, in a short span of time, l^ome one of their planet’s most powerful na tions. The inhabitants of this nation far surpassed their earthly neighbors in the Arts and lienees, both pure and applied, especially in the technologies. Indeed, they were excellent engineers, for they had develop^ a mach ine which, by the simple operation of a lever, would issue forth in great quantity all the things they wanted, more than enough tp satisy their biological needs and vanities. These wonderful machines were called “goods machines.” The nation was composed of many and varied peoples, all of whom had made special contributions to their nation’s progress in technology and the Arts. Its different groups of peoples were distinguished by the length and shape of their noses. The ruling class, or Longites, was marked by very long protrusions, some extending to the proportions qf even nine inches in length. Among this group and in the nation generally length of the nose was of grave im port. Tte longer the nose, the greater the owner wad held in the esteem of his fel low Longites, apparently the notion having arisen that they were so narked by their Maker with the long nose as a symbol of their nobility of birth and unique fitness as leaders of their coimtrymen. There were countless of oth ers living in this great land whose noses were pug-shap ed, rounded, curv^, short, hooked or even flat. Regard less of what form their noses assumed, thkigh, all of these people were lumped together under the general heading of “Shorties.” In years past, the Longites in a particular section of the country had found it eco nomic^ and expedient to use Shorties to fill the hoppers of their goods machines. (It must be remembered that these goods machines were equipped with large vats near the top which had to be filled before the machines would produce. The filling of these machines was a laborious task and required a gc^dly nimiber of strong men.) Even after the nation’s governing council had outlawed the practice of using Shorties to fill the machines, this practice had not been abondoned com pletely in this part of the na tion. In fact, new ways were contrived by the Longites to continue the use of Shorties for this task under the sanc tion of the new rules set down by the governing council. As a result of the continued ill- use of the Shorties, grumb lings of protest, chiefly from the Shorties, mounted from year to year until more regu lations were set forth design ed to protect them from re peated ill-use. About this time, one of the schools in this section of the country was invited to parti cipate in a friendly contest with another school from a different section of the coun try. Now, these schools, a- bounding in great numbei^ throughout the land, were seats of learning for the na tion’s young. The youths were placed in these schools main ly to leam how to make more efficient and cheaper goods machines, the assipiption be ing that after four years of such study and application, the youths would enter the world equipped to maintain the status-quo. However, a few of the students turned their attention to such al truistic things as seeking means to in^)rove their gov erning system, searching for cures for diseases, and even some sought such projects as how to create a system which would make for harmonious existence between the varied peoples of their nation and their neighboring countries. These students were branded as hot-heads, deviates, way ward, ridiculous and even foolish. But, they were toler ated, largely because they were so few in number. Albeit, this proposed con test had excited the imagina tions of not only the students (who were happy to have any excuse to forget the luiinter- esting concerns of goods machine manufacture) but also of the rest of the people of the state, who took advan tage of such diversions by flocking to them by the thou sands. These contests were waged between a select group of students, referred to as a team. These teams often oc cupied the full time and tal ents of half a dozen or so of grown-ups whose jobs were tutoring, spying on possible opponents or assuaging the bruised limbs of the hapless players who were frequently injured during the contests. The whole state, as it were, looked forward in eager anti cipation to the contest. But, alas, one of members of the opposing team was a Shortie. Ordinarily, this would not have matter^, but the lead er oi this particular state, who boasted the longest nose in the State and one of the longest in the land, had pledged that he would go to any lengths to keep the Shorties and the Longites separated, it being the com mon opinion, especially a- mong Longites, that it was dangerous (even some said unpatriotic) to permit the two to associate in conunon en deavors. In fact, this leader, whose name was Mr. Oz Stritch, had SATURDAY M. E. JOHNSON DEC. 10, 1955 L. E. AUSnN, Pablialm CLATHAN M. BOSS, Editor H. ALBEBT 8MnS BastecM Hkhcot PnbUdMd Kvcrjr Saturdajr bjr th« UMl'nCU WBLlsmS, iDootyoratod at 4M K. PatUpcw St Entarad •• neond claM matter at Um Pa«t OtOem at Durlttaa, North CaroUna usdar tiM Act of Martb t. itn. Watlotial Advertiatiic WiprawntattTg: Intantati tlaltad Hawvapere. HaBagtm; Editor JESSE COnUiD Clrealattoa Maufsr No ffumataa of publicstloo of unaoUdtad mata- rlal. L«ttan fc tha adltor for publleatlaa mint •Unad and confinad to BOO worda. Subacriptlao Rataa: lOe par eofiy. Six nantha, »a.OO; Ona Taar. fS-OO (V«>ralCB Countrlaa. been placed in his high po sition solely on the buis of his ability to bury his head deeper in a pit of the State’s thickest mud than could his opponent (’Twas rumored that he was able to bury him self, head and neck, up to his shoulders in the mud where as his opponent could get no deeper than the ears, because' Mr. Oz Stritch’s long nose served as a scoop to shovel out a considerable hole for him. It is also to be recalled that during these times it Was the practice of those aspiring, for positions of leadership to Wt their head-in-mud-burying ability with their rivals, not only in Mr. Oz Stritch’s stata, but throughout the country. This practice had been en forced by long-standing cus tom and continued to win the hearty approval of the peo ple.) Moreover, Mr. Oz Stritch stressed as one of his f>eculiar qualifications for his job the fact that he was never with out his special measuring tape (which he carried around in a pocket he had sewn onto his vest for the purpose), a criterion which he used to judge the length of noses in his state, lest someone with a nose not conforming to the commonly agreed on length should dare assumed the title of liOngite. After learning that a Shor tie was a member of the op posing team in the proposed contest, Mr. Oz Stritch straightway mounted hitnself in the tallest tree of his state so that he could be seen and heard throughout the State when he issued his edict for bidding his state’s school to participate in the contest. Be cause the tree in whij^h-'he perched was so tal^,,4Ss state was noted for iJKexception- ally tall tre^^tha^ he was not only seeilimd heard by all his stat^iinen and country- ' men, but also by several of this coimt^’s neighbors. (Some scientists now say that the tree in which he as sumed his perch bore the name “Pine,” a secies now wholly extinct.) ”Ks said Mr. Oz Stritch thought he cut a grand and glorious figure, perched in his state’s t^est tree with his long nose sil> houetted against the evening sky. But, Mr. Oz Stritch had not been apprized of the sentiment of the people of his state nor the students of the school before he climbed out onto that fateful limb. It was common knowledge, even to the smallest urchin that the contest meant that the school’s officials could cany away several well loaded goods machines after the contest, for thousands of peo ple were known to flock to these contests and were re quired to drop some item in .one of the many goods mach ines situated at the scene of the contest. Some preferred the belief that Mr. Oz Stritch never fully recovered from theJiead-in-mud-burying con test, that the mud dried up in his ears, penetrated his ear channels and had eventual ly affected his powers of thought. Others simply said he was born too late. In any event, Mr. Oz Stritch was quite surprised when students began hurlii^ pebbles at his perch, and, in attempting to dodge them, he slipped from his limb and crashed headlong to the earth with a resounding crunch! Luckily he fell on his face so that his nose cushioned the fall, saving him from incur ring a broken neck. ’Twas not told what the eventual out come of the situation was, “but it was said that Mr. Oz Stritch presented a ludicrous sight, flailing his arms and legs vainly from his inverted position with his head stuck fast in the earth at the si>ot on which he had fallen. Even though a few of his friends dared to try to extricate him, their efforts were to no avail, and Mr. Oz Stritch remained there for sometime in this untenable position. Crowds, it is said, passed to taunt and mock him, and he became the laughing stock of his country. But It Is Happening Now Under A New Name Life Is Like That Br H. ALBERT SMITH FEAR AS A UABIUTY-NO. H Last week noted that a good many people live in con stant torment because of lear. And the fear is not' the result of some threat existing in re ality, but the reaction to seU- created hobgobblins of failure, defeat, disease and other trage dies. The ghosts that fill their lives with constant terror have been create by the Dat of T&eir own imagination and lack of faith. An Example An example of this needless fear is afforded by one of the greatest characters in the N6w Testament, a man bearing the name Peter. He and his aposto lic associates were crossing the sea of Galilee early one morn ing in the midst of a fierce storm. It was about four o’clock. Suddenly, they saw a man in garments of flowing white coming towards them as he walked upon the water. It was a shocking, terrifying ex perience, so much so that' “they cried our for fear.” No Blame For this fear, I cannot blame them too much, if at all. Here was something totally unex pected and beyond any exfteri- ence they had had. Years ago, 1 woke up one night and found >a man lying in bed beside me when I thought I was all alone. (My father had agreed to give him lodging for the night, a transaction of which I had no knowledge). For a moment, I was almost paralized with fear, but recovered and prepared to strike. The gentleman spoke and recognition brought quiet. Began To Sink iNoting the consternation of the apostles, Jesus identified himself and bade them to have no fear. Impetuous Peter chal lenged, “If It’s you, bid me cbme to thee on the water.” Jesus did. Peter cliiabed over the side of the boat and started triumphantly to walk upon the rolling waves. But, suddenly, he began to sink. The Master’s intervention at his call lor help saved him. Do you know why the man Peter began to sink? The cause was fear. And it was needless. Attention Shift It was needlen, first of all, because it was induced by a foolish shift of attention on Peter’s part. He concentrated on wind and wave, a raging wind and churning sea. A fran tic fear replaced an overcom ing faith. Then came dismal failure. Five Things Happen Now, when a person concen trates on the element of a dif ficulty and danger in any given task or the. general matter of living life successfully, five things happen to him. Fear invader his Ufe. The obstacles and danger he faces are exag gerated out of aU proportion. He tends to minimize his pow ers and abilities to cope with the situation. He loses faith in God or any other source of help. And, finally, the last three changes in thought and mood, tend to multiply his original fear. Three Reasont The fear of Peter was need less, in the second place, for three reasons. First, there was no change in the situation which he faced and was meet' ing with success. Second, there was no change in his powers or abilities. And, third, there was no change of attitude in the per son by whose command and power he was succeeding. In that is revealed the absurdity of his fear. Make Analyst* Analyze your fears and see if they are not in many instances due to the two major causes we have mentioned. We often build a molehill of difficulty and danger into mountainous- proportions that scare us either into half-hearted effort or total hopelessness. No Change We also often let fear creep in when neither the situation we face, our own abilities nor our source of help has changed. And, an original fear multi plies until we become ' the pawns of life, pushed aroimd without getting anywhere, liv ing without either hope or joy or the prospects thereof, iitbtead of becoming the builders of noble destiny as God intended. A Rented)/ I know a remedy for such a crippling fear. It Is available to all. That remedy is prayer. And the praying I • have in mind is not the emergency prayer that reaches out for God in extre mities. But it is constant daily prayer that reaches out' for God continuously. In that way, we build up an inner source of faith and spiritual strength that banishes fear. -BUT UNCLE- THEY- C. ^HUT up- cant YOU SEE l>1BUSY? IVE TOLD you many times that »T CANT HAPPEN HERE - so WHAT ARE VOU WRRY-^ ing ABOUXBOY! \ \ Spiritual Insight By REVEREND HAROLD ROLAND Pastor, Mount Gilead Baptist Church ‘‘A BEAUTIFUL THING” Let her alone..why trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing.. Mark 14:6. A loving and grateful soul of a woman blossoms forth with a beautiful act for the Christ as he nears the agony of Calvary. This little act of kindness calls forth the Master’s praise...“She has done a beautiful thing..’’ The clouds {gather, the way :gets hard, and the storm is ready to strike with its fury. The Cross now overshadows the path of the Master’s loving ininistry. A greatfyl woman arises from this setting to show an act of kindness to Jesus.' Yes, out of a tender and loving heart she did a beautiful thing. An act of kindness for a troubled soul is a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, in the midst of beauty their lurks envy—the poison of the soul. Envy would deny the master this little act of kindness. £nvy, in its hy pocrisy, would discourage this beautiful act of kindness to ward Jesus. Envy in its ugliness would hide behind the robe of charity. How often do we in envy hide behind a robe of re spectability. EUivy ever seeks to stifle words and deeds of kind ness. Envy would pretend to be concerned about the poor but its real intent is to crush an im pulse of kindness. How many times do we, in envy, try to discourage acts of love in others? How many times are our evil intents cloth ed in the robe of charity? Many times we’re moved by envy when we would have others believe we are concerned about the poor. Every act of kindness is crowned with the blessings of God. God marks every good im pulse that stirs in our souls. Even that good thought of yours is amply rewarded. So Let us go on doing and think ing acts of kindness. God wiU not let them be jn vain. God re wards every act of kindness. M^ do not always recognize kind thoughts and deeds. Men will often forget and ignore them. A kind act is sweet to the receiver and a rich blessing to the doer. Every kind thought or deed leaves in the soul a sweet fragrance of peace. Every act of kindness is a beautiful thing. And the poet says that a thing of beauty is a joy forever. Thus a series of thoughts and deeds of kindness add up to a rich storehouse of spiritual treasures. Your word of encouragement to a strug gling soul ia a beautiful thing. The time you take to listen to a painful soul ADDS UP TO A BEAUTIFUL THING. The sick visit, the shoulder offered to cry, and a helping hand in a time of distress ALL THINGS CAN BE BEAUTIFUL. Let us take more time to do little acts of kindness amid the world’s crying needs: THEY ADD BEAUTY TO LIFE. Let not the ugliness of envy keep us from doing acts of kindness. Capitai^Close-Up Federal Aid Underlie* "Ed” Confab Debate As anticipated. Federal aid to education was the principal theme underlying discussions at the White House Conference on Education, here, last week. Whether, how much, and under what conditions were the ques tions raised. And the much- flaunted absence of floor de bate did not seem of much im portance, in view of the ani mated discussions carried on, each day, in the main lobby and around the conference tables at the Sheraton—Park Hotel,.... where the conference was held. Press, “observers” and “par ticipants” mingled freely, all talking when and to whom they pleased. Groups from State delegations—some governor-ap pointed, some representing or ganizations—conferred, chatted, introduced friends and express ed opinions. Strangers tapped each other on the shoulder and exchanged views-and we have a slight suspicion that this is what the White House C(Hiler- ence on Education was all about-that it was a device, not only to discuss education, but to educate. The “feel” of the conference was in sharp contrast to the spectacular demand made by NAACP’s Clarence Mitchell, for denial of Conference expen ses to delegates from any State not conforming to the Supreme Court’s decision-a demand, which, we have reason to be lieve, did not have the blessing of more astute leadership of NAACP powers-that-be. As to “race representation” Negroes were everywhere. In all three categories, participa ting, observing and repotting. Some, were doing all three, like Frank Stanley, Louisville Defender publisher, who began as chairman of his original dis cussion table, and lasted through a succession of round table chairmansships (all elect ed) to the “semi-finals”-the last “distilling” of discussants and chairmen before a final topic report was made to the next general session—debating and educating as he went, driving his pdints home to participants from all over, including Miss. “Making friends and influen cing people.” Although the recommenda tion of Stanley’s first three roundtables, opposing school segregation as being “unecono mical, undemocratic, and con trary to the full and free edu cational opportunity guaran teed under the Federal Consti tution,” was lost in the final drafting of the report to the main body, forty people con sidering the efficient and eco nomical organization of school systems, took part in those shoulder-to shoulder discus sions. (There were S Negro dwdrmen, 88 participating delegates and more than 60 ob servers.) Irene McCoy Gainei .Mrs. Irene McCoy Qalnes, Pq^sident of the National Asso ciation of Colored Women, had a 'i;imilar experience in round table discussion of school buil ding needs, during which she was able to effectively put over the argimient of the financial waste involved in the operation of dual school systems, and again on discussion of “How to Get Good Teachers and Keep Them”-was able to direct at tention to the resources of well prepared but unused teaching skill among Negroes. Multiply these experiences by the impact of hundreds of participants and observers talk ing to, rather than “at” each other, and the White House Coilference on Eiducatlon,- ob jectively viewed, must inevi tably add up to a constructive forcd of the greatest magnitude and significance in human re- latic&s, which could not have been missed by the many foreign observers present. Marshall, Bunche, Kennedy, Oliver j Thurgood Marsha^ was there in forc^ (it takes only one Thurgood to be a “force.”) Ralph Bunche, who, with Lorl- mer Milton of 'Atlanta, was a member of the Committee for the Conference, was there. W. Lawrence Oliver, Des Moinas attorney and member of tha Governor’s party from Iowa, was there. North Carolina Mu tual’s President, W. J. Kennedy, of Durham, was there as a member of his State’s Council on Education. The list of solid and influential citizens would exhaust the rest of thin column. We're going to say more later, about many of these partici pants and ol^servers and the views they expressed to us. During the pre-Conference pull-and-tug we refrained from making comment. We are glad to'make this comment now. Seeing is believing. Voluntrj/ Home Mortgages Jump The Voluntary Home Mor^ gage Program, started a scant year ago, has just compiled figures for October-^its ninth month of operation. The rapidly increasing momentuin of the program, which has moved the total up to one thousand and one loans to members oi mi nority groups (write for Table I, if you want to check), is at tributed by VHM officials—and ■ by lay citizens like^our colum nist—^to the spread of informa tion about the program. Some have thought that it was limit ed to Veterans, others just have not known about it. Bre:.’cdown on October loans showed: 27 PHA-insured loans to Individu als, 63 VA-guaranteed loans to individuals, 114 FHA-insured loans to builders of housing (Continued on Page Seven) H