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Blackout. 1977
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
NATIONAL URIAN LEAGUE
COOKT pROClfllMeDTHt
"SSPARflTC BUT CflVftL
UNCOnSTVTlONAL,,;
IN IT17 UNDER "TUB
IN STiWlOUS MERCLY ACCOMODATE BLACKS VMLE BUCK
WSTTNTHN S (WWtCH VCR PRAOICCD S666G6ATI0N ) CAM NO
LDrJGEfc COJTfcOL TWCifc OU)N) FUTOfcES.
More Fetal Money
Downtown
Announcement was made this week
of another big chunk of Federal money
coming - down the pipeline from
Washington to Durham - probably
between $800,000 and $900,000 from
the Economic Development; Adminis
tration for public works.
Durham has already spent $21
million beautifying downtown and not
one cent improving south of the tracks.
Vou know where south of the tracks is
where black , folk I Were pushed years
ago to try to live and do business. Uiv
ban 'black removal' :)ias , already :
wreaked havoc with dozens of blaik,
businesses and hundreds vrof TfdriTes '
, Several delegates to ..the General
Baptist State Convention found them
selves with no place to stay when they
arrived in Durham Monday and Tues-;
day morning, . even though they had
confirmed reservations in their hands,
for v the Downtowner Motor Inn.
While rooms were found in other
hostelries for the delegates, this, sort pf
experience in ., mc i iwuuijr , v. .
leaves an unpleasant 'taste in peoples'
4U. . . !
One man and his wife Were sent to
different motels across town from each
other - they left their cars at home and .
used public transportation to get here- .
think of the unsettling feelings. . ,
The Downtowner, management's
anolories orobablv won't mean much
'
Mf thara U no itraoaM. there is
A Costly Goof
favor freedom and ytt depreciate agitation, are men who want crops
without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and
lightning. They want the oceans majestic wives without the awful roar
of Its waters."
&p You SMd Knov;
KIMS PREMPEH ti
Out of Africa's richest .
AND A gClPEN ymOftt I HIS ATTEND'
: ANTS WORE JEWELS AND RARE 8ILKS! '
fOR TWJ HUWPEO VEARsIhiS PEO-
LC DOMINATED THEIR GOLD COAST
. NEI8HSORS AN0C0UECTE0 HEAVY
' TAXES FROM THE SRITISH
AND THI DUTCH!
Carrt
Going
south of the tracks, but still nothing is
considered for the wasteland left as a
result thereof, which would directly
benefit the black community. .
Plans are in the works for more
downtown"; improvements. City" Hall
Plaza, a small park at Parrish and
Orange Streets, the pedestrian mall for
parking deck No. 3 to Main Street and
Church Street in the two blocks north
and south of, Main. How much the
$2l)niiliori spent on downtown will
increase before some "notice ist'oaid to
l Durham V invisible citizen taxpayers is
t anybody guess. It;, certainly - doesn't
? augiir well fofDurham 's blacks"" ; -
s in. a group of 5,000 delegates who
dump approximately a half million into
the; economy of the convention city
4within a matter of four and a half to
five days. -: 1
h If Durham wants to attract con
ventions, this unpleasant and embar
rassing incident., .could' not have
happened to a worse group, in the sense
"-rr- . 7 " : .
that some of those involved are ex
tremelv active and influential in reli-
gious, civic and , social organizations
, that meet aU over, the country. What;
will happen when some of those or-
ganizations consider Durham for a big
convention in the future and this nega-
tive incident. is recited. The answer is
, simple. They go elsewhere,
, I,,'.''
no progress, i nosa wno prpmnrnw v
;,
'
t
;
-
,
,'
'
Frederick Douglass
titititim'Mtil
ti' UhJM i 1
When the lights went out in New York City , ,
we came face to face with urban anarchy in its
most terrifying! form. Large, sections of the
City fell prey to looting, burning and lawless
ness. New Yorkers were horrified, not least .
among them the poor people in whose neigh
borhoods most :of,,the outrages took place. .
Innocent people found themselves burned' out"
of their homes and terrorized by the break
down of order in the streets. , v ; ,
After the crisis passed, they were faced
with essential neighborhood services gone -food
stores, cleaning establishments and:
clothing stores burned or looted, lives al
ready made difficult by poverty and hard
ship became significantly harder.
That's a part of the New York story that
has been neglected by the nedia focus on the ,
acts of looting and on the arrests. AD of the J
attention has been placed on the violence and
little on the victims of that violence. The
storekeepers whose businesses were lost or
damaged were not the only victims - their
customers and . employees and neighbors
will suffer from the blackout looting too. ,
It would be a mistake to assume that this
was just a repeat version, of the riots of the
late 1960's. Racial violence was absent this
time - black and Hispanic-owned stores were
not immune from looting, and there was no
overt racial conflict behind the attacks.
: Many people in other cities should not be
smug about the New York tragedy. It's a
' ' "'""'1 ''.
Jf mill
Words
' In any era in ithjs country, labels and
labeling have played an important part in
defining how we felt about things.
During the infamous days of the McCar- .
thy era, when Senator McCarthy smeared
anyone he didn't like with the term
"communist," ' many Americans of varying
political persuasions were frightened to
death that they could be so labeled. Their
fright overcame their good .sense, and
McCarthy was then able to 'almost silence
, dissension, of any sort. .
; " There ..wexie! Amferlijahs ho. Stood up to
him, howeVeV.vandV fariunat??fbr us, they
f Succeeded in-'toppllhg m lafeisiiims. i
" ' ' - Other & labels- Hf 5 other Climes have
equally and unfairly misrepresented the .
state of things.
Remember yhe ..term, 'black jnttitant?"
When the current iriay- jr Lb$ Arigels,?Tom
' Bradley, first ran , agaSist thertayorlSarnf
Yorty, j-Yorty tondtnually teferreoR iatf
iomin 1. ffoofis
Den
IIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
I have been confronted with it on Face the
Nation; Good Morning America; TV and radio
., news interview too numerous to mention -in
person and by phone
Like death and taxes'the question seems
- inevitable: "Mr. Hooks," a steely-eyed ques-
tioner will begin, when you take over as the
i , executive director of the NAACP on August
' : i, this year.vwhat new direction do you plan
to take? What new strategy do you nave.';.
' " Ever since : I was first ; named
executive.'
' director-designate of the NAACP on NoVem-
oer v, last, ine question nas come ai me wnu.
only' minute .variation Every ftewsf show I
. have beenn every" telephone "interview,
every street corner spot reporter, all have
comi up with the same question. For the
implication seems to be, if, you have no new
gimmick or plan, you are not worth media
coverage,, - - ' "
So I've been doing a lot of thinking about
, that question. A new face, I suppose demands
a new set of objectives, a new direction, a new
appraisal of old problems. ;
Well, I have thought on it and thought on
it. I have examined the history ofthe civil
rights movement in this country "and the
woman's suffrage movement; other kinds of
movements, too. And I have come to the
. . conclusion that there is not much new under
the sun in respect to strategy than any of
them can boast. , .
Years; ago, the NAACP Initiated court
, action to secure remedies for historic wrongs.
;' It sought to introduce or influence legislation
through lobbying. It has always been a direct
action organization despite the view of some
Of its detractors (witness the whopping SI
million plus bond the organization was forced
to put up in Mississippi as a direct result of
; the selective , buying and picketing campaign
its members successfully launched ' in Port
Gibson). "
- BLACK
"The Black press has had to overcome great obstacles to achieve the re
spect it commands today as a voice for individual freedom, dignity, and
equality. That Is has done so, while remaining faithful to the standards of
professional journalism, Is a tribute to the dedication, responsibility and,
zeal of its members. As we go forward withour efforts to make equality of
opportunity a reality for all Americans, we will continue to depend on the
Black Press to provide us with guidance, insight and wisdom."
I
Proclamation. 61 377 President
re
, national past-time to downgrade New York'
and to exaggerate its problems. But what
; happened in New York could easily happen in .
any of our cities. - v :
For national policies of neglect have led to
the creation of an urban wilderness peopled
; by victims of poverty, discrimination and job
lessness. We have created a large underclass of
people with no stake in pur society, embitter
ed people whose exclusion from the main- ;
stream has led them to reject society's values
and principles of behavior. -
Many of the looters were young people. In
the affected neighborhoods, up to two-thirds :
-of minority youngsters who want to work ;
can't find jobs. At the same time as they des-
Eair pf finding work and live in substandard
ousing, they are exposed by a consumer
oriented mass' society to a constant barrage
of ads encouraging the good life, a life they
know is beyond their reach.
. So, when, as in the blackout conditions,
the opportunity presents itself to walk away
with the color tvs, the appliances, and clothes
our society values so highly, the do so. The
bonds of conventional behavior are broken,
and anarchy reigns.
To explain is not to condone. For every
lboter, there wire many . dozens of people,
eoually poor, who stayed off the streets and
who shared the horror at what wa$ happend
ing. Those people, as I've said, are the real
victims of the tragedy, for it is their neigh
Havvmns
Column
As Weapons
Bradley as a "black militant." Bradley ''
lost .that race. Whether or not people were,
frightened by the use of those words, is, an,
unknown, but it certainly stands to reason
that kind of label didn't help Bradley.
And n6 matter what Bradley did or said,1
the term obviously stuck in the minds of
some voters,, when they cast their vote.
Things haven't changed much in this,
regard. No one want to be called a "racist"
for example. Not even "ex-Presidents F :
Nixon and Ford.- " ! v
The term "racist" is not always appropriate,
anyhow, since the person may not be a racist
at all, bul' someone who idoes not' agree with '
your viewpoint. And so it's easier fo dismiss
his ideas, by calling him a name. ' -
Theiv there are the labels which identify ,
one as being for or against something.
What's your Jview 6n "reverse discrimina
tion?" Are you for "goals," "timetables,"
or quotas?" Is "gay" good? Do you believe
I
A Hew Strategy
Voter ' registration, with attendant voter
education and voter participation, have long
been staples in ' the pantry larder of the
NAACP.! So have negotiations, conciliation, .
etcetera. , , ; ' . . ',.
These tactics are traditionally used today
by every civil rights or protest organization I
I've had the occasion to know or study.
These include the National Council of Chris
' tians and Jews; the American Jewish Congress,
the Gay Rights Movement, the National
Association of Manufacturers, the Camber of '
Commerce, the ' American Civil Liberties
Union, Common Cause, Ralph Nader's "Raid
ers," the who shooting match.
, Indeed, when New York residents wanted.
to protest the Concorde decislonthey didn't
, dream . tip ?new' tactics; they simply staged a , -.
ar arid '. picket demonstration designed tQ
' forstal) the landing of the plan at Kennedy
International Airport.
That protest was newsi And why was it
news? 'Not because it was' new, but simply
because new people were employing our old
tactics When the NAACP does the same
it isnot news.
The media - white, not black - for the
reasons best known to themselves, do not
focus these days on the activities of tradi- :
tional civil rights groups -such as the .
. NAACP. : ,
."' .. ; ; -'-,.W'r,:rK.,:-: ,
Unless we are pioneering something new, . '
or unique, then we are jiot news. Hence, we t
, do not receive coverage . necessary to inform
, folks of what we are doing. Hence, some
. folks, including some in - this same , media,
PRESS
Jimmy Carter.: -r j
borhoods that were ravaged. .
; But it is too easy just, to condemn the
lootersi It goes without saying that punish
ment must take ' place if we don't want a
repetition of that night of shame. At the same
time; we've got to understand the social
conditions that' gave rise to the lawlessness
and do something about them. - . r i T . ?!
It will, take many millions of dollars to
repair the damages, but ..the same resources
placed intp employment and housing improve
ment programs. ,may welkfiave prevented the
rioting. People 'with, jobs, with secure in
comes, and with decent housing must realize
that their 'valued living standards may not
survive the onslaughts of those who have no
jobs, incomes or housing. n, ,.
- People abide : by the rules so long as the
game makes sense to themi But if they are
excluded from their share of the. necessities
of life, from jobs and housing, they become
prone to scrap, the rules. And the existence.,
of numbers of people who reject the rules of '
our. society and its values present a clear and
present danger to themselves and to the rest
of us. ; , A
So the real problem posed by New York's
, blackout isn't the technical one of why the,
electricity failed and how it can be prevented ,
from happening again, but the human one of
how we can organize our society so that it is
more just and so that all of our people can
have their share of its benefits and thus, of its -responsibilities
as well.'
1 -J . I I '
By Rep. Augustus F. Hawkins
in "preferential treatment" of minorities?'
Is : "affinitive action"' lcfgal? Does '
woman haVeX' right to have an "abortion "
if she wants one? 1 .
. - And soon'. !''. ..Jfrl,..:,-.
Labels' and labeling can graphicklly identify t
an issue, but they can't resolve issues. They
can also shut off discussion, by the fear they,
can engender, which is their great danger.
When Nixon , and his Attorney General,'
Mitchell, used the term "law and order," they
mean "law. and order''for yoi, but not for
themselves, as "Watergate" so neatly attested.
We'p aiwiys be confronted.with teiminoio
jjles th'aT'arewmotionally Toaded.-'-that are
meant to cut off dissent, and that discourage
open, free discussion.
As you know, I am an advocate of "full
employment." It means many things to many
people; but it's discussable. , : :;
Get my point? ?; (!
(.. ,'!;.". "I
question whether we effectivdy exist, or
they say we are in "a disarray."
From time to time in the future, I will be
addressing this vital subject of media
coverage, or lack of it.
For" the present, I suppose it is sufficient
, to say that our organization will be con
tinuing to do what it has been doing so
effectively and well for so many , years:
engaging in direct action, lobbying, launch
ing voter registration, education and parti
cipation drives; negotiating, concilieating,
demonstrating,-all old tried but true tactics, '
the curse, if there be one, is that we have
used them so effectively and well, we have
literally transformed to social face of
: America. So others have borrowed them
?! lock, stock and barrel.
Under my leadership at the NAACP, we do
not promise anything new. No "see-ma-no-hands"
magic. Just tough organizing, hard
work, utilization of old tried and true
.methods, and tears and much sweat.
L. E. AUSTIN
Editor - Publisher, 1927-1971
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