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THE TRIBUNAL AID
THE VIEWS OF THE WRITER’S ARE NOT ALWAYS THOSE OF THE PAPER’S
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, I973
‘You’re A Part Of The Solution, Or You’re A Part Of The Problem
THE ROY WILKINS
COLUMN
BUCKS SHOULD NOT IGNORE HIM
All Religions Stress Peace
Luke’s verses of exaltation on
the birth ot Jesus Christ are fairly
bursting with joy: “And she...
wrapped him in swaddling clothes
and laid him in a manger; because
there was no room for him in the
inn. And there were in the same
country shepherds abiding in the
field, keeping watch over their
flock by night. And lo, the angel of
the Lord came upon them, and the
glory of the lord shone round
about them: and they were sore
afraid. And the angel said unto
them. Fear not: for, behold, I
bring you good tidings of great
joy, w'hich shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the
city of David a Saviour which is
Christ the Lord.”
In Matthew’s account the devil
is King Herod. He schemes to slay
the child in the manger. Matthew
has him saying to the wise men,
“go and search diligently for the
young child, and when ye have
found him, bring me word again,
that 1 may come and worship him
also.’’
But one of the three wise men,
who was black, not only suspected
Herod, but communicated his
fears to his companions. They
followed the star and, says
Matthew, “rejoiced with exceed
ing great joy” when they came to
the stable. They presented the
babe with “gold and frankincense
and myrrh.” Herod, of course,
had to do something to prove his
villainy. He had all the children
two years old and under in
Bethlehem slain.
In Luke’s version, without the
plotting of Herod, is a majesty that
rings out in every heart: “And
suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God and saying, glory to
God in the highest and on earth
peace, good will toward men.”
Where is the peace that was
promised on that Christmas 1,973
years ago? The cruelties visited by
men upon each other have become
less crude, but no less deadly. We
no longer disembowel men in
battle. Death does not strike by
the broadsword or the battle axe.
It comes out of the sky via missies
launched 200 miles away by
impersonal computers. Or from an
airplane, raining death from above
at twice the speed of sound.
Once an army consisted of
fighting men. Today men and
women and children, not equipped
for warefare, are shot down. Every
noncombatant is a potential
hostage in the warped minds of
those who dare not wear their
colors or their armor in public.^
Unashamedly they use unctuous
words which say to a helpless
world: “This is the way we fight,
not the good fight but the fight
with terror and submachine guns
and oil.” A child in Hoisington,
Kansas is without heat because
strangers she has never seen have
decided, in their warmth and
luxury, that she and 500 million
like her shall be cold.
The Moslems do not have Jesus
Christ, but they have Allah. All
the great religions have their holy
writings. All teach about peace on
earth, good will toward men. Not
hatred and blackmail.
Perhaps man has gone too far
down the way of the transgressor.
Perhaps, with the brief ritualistic
time he gives to religion and with
the empty monuments erected to
his beliefs he knows nothing else.
It may be that Mark’s capsule
picture of John the Baptist, in his
opening chapter, is still the model
of the reverent humble spirit that
lets love in, not just at Christmas
time, but for a lifetime lifestyle:
“There cometh one mightier than
I after me, the latchet of whose
shoes I am not worthy to stoop
down and unloose.”
APOLF
NfTLER
POR
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Fon _ ^
SrERIUZATION
PR.SHOCKLEY HAS SAID THAT HE BEUEVES IT MIGHT 0E
NECESSARY TO STERILIZE PERSONS OF VERY LOW
INTELLIGENCE TO AVOID WHAT HE CALLS "THE RETRO
GRESSIVE EVOLUTION THROUGH WE DISPROPORTIONATE
REPRODUCTION OF THE GENETICALLY PISAPVANTAGEP.'
ROBERT REINHOLD
N.Y. TIKES
TO BE EQUAL
by Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
No Conflict Seen Between
Middle Class, Poor Blacks
By ALFRED BAKER LEWIS
(A Guest Editorial)
Too often we hear from people who
ought to know better, in articles and
speeches reported in the mass media,
that the civil rights movement is
slowing down. It is being argued there
is a growing disillusionment among
civil rights workers because the
advantages of the gains made in civil
rights legislation and court decisions,
won mainly by the political pressure
and legal work of the NAACP, are not
reflected in the economic conditions of
poor blacks in the ghettoes.
Sometimes it is even claimed that
the ghetto Negroes are envious of the
more affluent Negroes who have made
economic gains, in jobs and education
for example, from civil rights
legislation; and that the affluent
Negroes want to separate themselves
in turn from the disadvantaged ghetto
blacks.
However, there are important
factors which are helping to counteract
that situation in so far as it exists. Most
members of the NAACP, and a few
others, mainly Negro trade unionists,
recognize that the struggles against
racial discrimination and against
economic exploitation are very closely
intertwinded. They can best be fought
by cooperation between black and
white organizations and individuals.
The NAACP, for example, has added
t^ its program of civil rights legislation
for the racially underprivileged,
support for economic legislation for the
financially underprivileged. These
measures include better social
security, particularly government
health insurance to provide part of
their pay plus medical and hospital
care for those who cannot work
because of illness or non-industrial
accidents, higher and more inclusive
Federal minimum wage legislation
especially the effort made by
Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm to
bring domestic workers under the
protection of Federal labor legislation.
(A bill which Nixon voteoed.)
The NAACP also supports the right
of unions which do not discriminate to
get recognition by a labor board
election instead of having to strike for
it, more public low rent housing, more
nearly adequate public welfare relief,
and more money for food stamps to
help the diet of the poor. All these
measures help poor whites as well as
poor Negroes, although Negroes suffer
from poverty more in proportion than
do whites.
There is ground for belief that poor
whites will join with poor blacks in an
effort to get these measures adopted;
and in a common political effort both
groups will get to understand each
other better, and racial antagonism
will erode with this greater
understanding.
There is no conflict here between
more affluent members of the black
middle class and poor Negroes, since
black doctors, dentists, lawyers, and
ministers depend overwhelmingly on
poor Negroes for their patients, clients,
and congregations. The same is true of
black teachers and professors,
although to a lesser extent because of
some real progress which has been
made in school integration among
faculty as well as students.
The lights are dimmer this year,
the electric decorations muted,
and the thermostats turned down.
Middle America’s Christmas is
colder this year, maybe the coldest
yet.
It was cold too, for the Christ
child in the barn at Bethlehem.
The Holy Family was told there
was no room at the inn, all doors
were closed, and the comforts of
that time, small as they seem to us
in the twentieth century, were
denied.
But they survived their
adversity. And with a lot less
complaining than we hear today.
Jesus survived to bring his
message of peace on earth and
goodwill to all mankind, a
message we still strive to fulfill.
Black people too, have survived
in the face of adversity. What for
so many middle class Americans is
the coldest Christmas irh memory
is for the bulk of black people who
are poor, who live in urban ghettos
or rural poverty pockets, just
another hard Christmas, cold but
mellow in the warmth of family
and friends.
For we have been honed on
hardship and steeped in adversity.
Many Americans will shiver for
the first time this winter because
of the energy crisis, but black folk
know what it is to be cold, to be
hungry, to be without enough fuel,
food and work.
When the President tells us to
lower thermostats to 68 degrees,
he speaks also to black folk who
never had heat and whose winters
were spent indoors in overcoats,
papering empty windown panes
with cardboard.
When the Congress tells us we
can’t drive faster than 55 miles an
hour, it is also talking to black fold
who could never afford a car, or
whose family car had to be coaxed
and wheedled into doing thirty on
a pock-marked country road.
We will hurt, but we’ll survive.
Life has always been hard for
black people in America. The
economy and American democracy
have not been as good to us as to
other people. Not enough of us
enjoy the affluent life; few of us
have known warm Christmases.
The stock market’s nose-dive
won’t destroy any black fortunes.
Black people didn’t go through
open windowns during the
Depression and our progress since
then hasn’t been so great as to
send us through them when the
expected recession hits.
But it will be hard. Many people
will be laid off from work at a time
of skyrocketing prices, profits and
unemployment. The man on the
street won’t understand why. He’s
already wondering what the
energy crisis is all about - he
wants to know who’s profiting
from it, why it happened, and why
he’s the one that’s got to bear the
burden.
It’s a national crisis and this
Christmas all sorts of top-level
committees and commissions will
be working on it. As usual, there
won’t be any black people
involved. Our role seems to be to
suffer the effects, not to man the
action committees to solve the
crisis.
But it would be a good idea to
have some blacks up there with
the high-powered oil men and
government officials. A few
representatives from rural Georgia
or Chicago’s Southside could tell
the experts what it’s like to be
without heat. They might have
some tips to give to affluent
Americans who have to make do
with a minimum for the first time
in their lives.
For black folk there’s nothing
much new about this current
crisis. But as experts in the art of
survival, we can be thankful for
the uniqueness of the black
experience that will see us through
this rough period. We have always
had to make do with less, and
know the positives of not relying
on luxuries.
So this cold Christmas we give
thanks for our continued survival
and ask that we continue to have
the strength to fight for our rights,
to fight for our fair share of the
rewards of this society that has so
long excluded us, and seek the
blessings of faith and hope in our
renewed struggle. For us this is
still the season of good tidings to
mankind, the season to rejoice in
what we have and pledge
ourselves to seek what wo have
not, the season to bask in the
warmth of our strengths and our
aspirations.
THE
POINTER
by Albert A. Campbell
‘Black Experience’ Helps
In Current Energy Crisis
Let’s Reassess
Values In '74
As the new year approaches, I can’t help
thinking of the many reasons I personally have
to be thankful. And as I look around, 1 also
have to count my blessings for those which 1
am not always aware of...even when 1 selfishly
deny they’re existence.
Because of my good fortunes, 1 am often
compelled to reach out and lend a helping
hand to some one else who might be less
fortunate than I. I do it not with any hope of
praise or special recognition, but remember
ing that at some point in time we all need a
helping hand.
Helping others unselfishly is just one of the
many ways of acknowledging our own good
fortunes as well as a reminder from which we
came.
Not long ago, I happened to be talking to a
friend who expressed a deep concern for a
renewing of aiding and assisting others. His
concern was mainly concentrated on members
of the Black community. But not because of
any unconcern of all people, but because of a
most apparent and definite need.
As the conversation progressed, it became
more apparent to me that some of the
damages, we. Black people, do to our own
selves, are intentionally or unintentionally.
Most of the harm is done to persons we have
at one time been very close to, or some one
who has never done us any harm nor even
have the potential or intent. Additionally, the
injustices we inflict upon others is not always
by commission but often omission.
This then falls under the area of forgetting
,,dthe;rs when we have somehow reached
whatever it is we worked for. For some
reason. Blacks have adopted the ideas that we
are not our brothers keeper, or I worked
harder for what I have and I owe nobody
anything. We immediately forget that at one
time we too needed help, and like any other
normal person, who sought it. Suddenly, after
we attain our goal, we decide that no one else
is worthy of our help.
Our concern for others no longer exist. We
actually are no longer aware of the existence
of our fellow human beings...most especially
their problems.
The problems of others are either too small
to bother with, or we completely discredit
thern by attempting to minimize their
significance. Regardless of how pressing a
situation might be to someone else, we have a
tendency to belittle it.
As my friend said. Blacks can no longer turn
our backs to other Blacks. We must be ready
to assist when there is a need, because all
humans are worthy, even if some don’t appear
to be.
When looking back at the conditions of
many Blacks, I can’t help wondering what
roles other Blacks played in helping to creat
those conditions. So often, we are our own
worst enemy.
Looking at various conditions throughout
wis community alone, I can easily see where
Blacks can be responsible for many of the
deplorable situations other Blacks are now
encountering. In most cases, somewhere
along the line assistance was not granted
when it was required. Today, in 1973, wfien
Blacks are supposed to be making large
advances, we are in some cases worst off than
ever before; and because we failed to reach
out a helping hand.
Is it too much to ask to reassess our values
and begin aiding? Afterall, we pattern our
lives after some people, why not imitate those
who help their own?
This new year is a good time to start.
THE TRIBUNAL AID
1228 Montlieu AVenue
(919) 885-6519
P. 0. Box 921 High Point, N. C. 27261
Published Every Wednesday
By Tri-Ad Publications, Inc.
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Albert A. Campbell, Managing Editor