—IBS CABOLZNA TOOK SAT„ IWMt ft, iM
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OcCarajijUCte* ' . •*'
EDITORIALS
• ... * \ * •«.
Voter Registration
tf black people are not to end this
decade as disadvantaged as we began
it. there will have to be a strong grass
roots movement to influence the poli
tical institutions of the country. Black
people have the numbers and the
know-how to help bring about the
political "browning of America" that
will at long last result in the total in
clusion of blacks in the democratic
political process.
Some people think that if a black
man is elected mayor of a city, that
proves the existence of black political
power. To some degree, it does, but
that mayor is going to have to deal
with regional authorities, governors,
planning boards, councilmen and legis
lators, not to mention federal offi
cials, and his power to benefit his
black constituents is partially depen
dent upon these outside forces. So
black political power must come to
mean more than electing a few may
ors. It must mean the complete par
ticipation of black people in the poli
tical process and their involvement in
party-decision making and govern
ment machinery at all levels.
Black office-holders amount to
only three-tenths of one percent of
the 522,000 elected officials in this
country. There is need to increase this
percentage, as well as to influence the
political institutions to become more
aware of the needs and power of black
voters.
Massive registration of black voters
is, then, a necessity. Some stumbling
blocks in many places will be thrown
up to stop this registration. Election
; laws and regulations are gradually be
ing changed so as to include 18 year
old citizens. It will not be enough to
just give lip service to voter registra
tion and lam blast the system. In some
places the only way to register is to go
to the county courthouse in the
center pf town. It is open usually
from 9 to 5 on weekdays and in some
areas there may be other times to
register.
Local governments have a responsi-
"Of Trial And Error"
The names McGrue Booker, and
Larry Hatten have issued forth from
the mouths of many city residents,
particularly members of the black
community. Such issuance has come
forth rightfully so in the sense that a
member of the black community has
been slain, and as such, we must re
main attentive whenever the respect
for one well-being, and especially his
life has been violated.
But on the other hand, fruitless
rhetoric, limp theory and idle philoso
phy occupies time spans which could
well be sp*nt otherwise, if in no other
way than clipping one's toe nail in
serene silence.
In many instances tempers have
risen in heated debate over the trial
and its outcome. For those who storm
sloppy police investigation involved
leading to a miscarriage oi justice, not
one person bothered to contact the
authority to push for a better han
dling of the situation. No, its much
easier, and typical of many of us, to
"wag our jaws", blare our eyes", and
demonstrate how alert we are to our
own tytle groups by "not being satis
fled with the verdict.
On the other hand, many clammer
ed that the two football players had
been falsely accused and "shafted"
from the beginning. That it was an
attempt at a speedy conviction to
cover up the negligence of the school
for having an unlighted area on cam
pus, motives of vengeance on the part
of students who testified against the
bility to encourage widescale registra-
tion and voting. Many existing prac
tices really amount to the undemocra
tic denial of our basic citizenship
rights. If this system is to survive,
those who have long been excluded
from it must now be included.
There should be opportunities to
register all year round, not just for a
few days in the fall. Registration of
ftcies should be open evenings and
weekends. Neighborhoods with low
registration might get their own neigh
borhood registrars drawn from those
living in the community. Mobile units
could go to where people work and
live. Community groups could be
commissioned to register people.
If this system is to work, it will
have to expand the participation of its
citizens in the political processes. And
if black people are to make our needs
and interests felt, we'll have to learn
how to make the political system re
sponsive. This is why voter registra
tion as well as voter education are im
portant.
Registration is the important first
step. Black citizens also have to be
come more active in party politics of
both major parties, for it is the party
structure that is the basis for our po
litical system. The party delegates and
the party machinery pick the candi
dates for offices and write the plat
forms and strategies they run on. So
we must be involved at all levels to
gain power in politics these days.
Remember election day may be too
late for black voters. Unless enough
blacks register, become active in party
meetings and clubs, and run for party
posts, we may be back in the old poli
tical role of being taken for granted
and forced to choose among candi
dates and programs that do not re
flect our much needed interests. We
must truly learn the name of that
game called politics.
It is through the ballot that black
people and other oppressed people
will bring the meaningful change in
our communities and in our lives.
defendant, and the surrendering to op
portunity of court solicitors." And
yet, somehow no defense fund to hire
investigators and to aid the defense
attorneys was organized or men
tioned. And neither did there come an
offer of assistance for leg-work or of
moral support to the young attorneys
who waged an uphill battle.
And. for those of us who ardently
sought the avenging of Ollie Sprang
lln's death, where is the reward for in
- formation leading to the apprehension
of the murderers?
Of course, there are others of us
who have been genuinely moved from
the beginning. Some who have been
weighed by the awful reality that a
young black student is dead and two
others have sat facing even the possibi
lity of death sentences, and who will
continue to be plagued by an indict
ment for murder. All three students,
unlike many members of our commu
nity were intelligent, ambitious and
energetic enough to launch a quest for
higher education.
Currently, one is dead. Neither of
the other two remain in school. It is
tragic-inexcusably tragic.
But as we reflect, even as the pic
ture of Spranglin's brutalized body
pushes its way into our mind's eye
and as the irreplaceable void appears
deep and dark, there are universal
truths we may touch upon for an in
stance and share.
In the words of Ralph Waldo Emer
son: "There is a law of compensation.
Should Low Income Consign Us to a Life Of | Poverty?
fOttST HILLS, NX
LOW INCOME WANTS WILL
OF INCREASED CRIME, SAID 6ARY BfftBACH, LEAPfR or
THE PROTEST GROUP.
WE WILL WILD AMBON CURTAIN AROUND THIS PROJECT,
SAID NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN, HERBERT MILLER,
India s Peace-Loving Myth Debunked
WASHINGTON - Whatever
the military outcome of India's
piously calculated aggression
against Pakistan, India already
has suffered one crashing de
feat.
Its deliberately provocative at
tacks on its smaller and weaker
neighbor have resoundingly de
bunked for all time two great
myths India has sedulously pro
pagandized for years:
—That it is a loftily peace
loving and nonmilitary nation
that meticulously does not med
dle in the affairs of other coun
tries, and sternly disapproves
of others doing so.
—That it is firmly "neutralist"
and "uncommitted," and right
eously not beholden to either
the East or West
To informed authorities, these
two sanctimonious claims have
long had a hollow ring. Realis
tically, they have had no illu
sions about India and its self
righteous pretensions. Its crass
flings You Should Know
NELSON- jpgH
BORN JULY 19,1875 IN NEW
ORLEANS,AND A GRADUATE OF STRAIGHT V
UNIV.,SHE SOON WENT NORTH TO TEACH IN FRTE
COLLEGE-SHOWN HERE AS A YOUNG LADY,AT THE TIME SHE ORGAN
IZED THE DOUGLASS PUBLISHING
EDITED MANY IMPORTANT BOOKS BEARING ON NEGRO LIFE/
ON MARCH 6,IB93,SHE.MARRIED THE POET DUNBAR/SHE WAS
FAMOUS IN WORLD WAR 1 AS AN ORGANIZER OF WOMEN FOR
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF DEFENSE/
V£*jr+t Tzs*jtS
The value of the universe contrives to
throw itself into every point. If the
good is there, so is the evil; if the af
finity, so the repulsion; if the force,
so the limitation."
Emerson wrote also, that: "Justice
is not postponed. A perfect equity ad
justs its balance in all parts of life. The
world looks like a multiplication
table, or a mathematical equation,
turn it how you will, it balances itself.
Every secret is told, every crime is
punished, every virtue rewarded, every
wrong redressed, in silence and cer
tainty.
"We feel defrauded of the retribu
tion due to evil acts, because the cri
minal adheres to his vice and con
tumacy and does not come to a crisis
or judgement anywhere in visible na
ture. There is no stunning confuta
tion of his non-sense before men and
angels. He has therefore outwitted the
law? Inasmuch as he carries the malig
nity and the lie with him he so far de
creases from nature. In some manner
there will be demonstration of the
wrong to the understanding.
"Commit a crime and the earth is
falsity has been too glaring to
lime and again, India has
proved herself a liar, hypocrite
knowledgeable insiders,
and a fraud.
Example: A few years ago
when millions of Indians faced
outright famine and the U.S.
gave and sold (for Indian cur
rency that has remained in that
country) immense quantities of
grain aid other products, Delhi
pulled a typically deceitful act:
On one hand, it stentoriously
sided with the Arabs and with
equal fervor championed the
Vietcong; on the other, India
excoriated the U.S. for support
ing Israel and intervening in
Vietnam against the Communist
aggressors.
Example: While incessantly
proclaiming its alleged "neu
tralism," India irately threat
ened to crack down on its small
neighbor Nepal when that
isolated Himalayan country
proposed to modernize its cur
rency. For years. Indian cur
made of glass. Commit a crime and it
seems as if a coat of snow fell on the
ground, such as reveals in the woods
the tracks of every partridge and fox
and squirrel and mole.
"You cannot wipe out the foot
track, you cannot draw up the ladder,
so as to leave no inlet or clue. Some
damning circumstances always tran
spires."
Let us here not fail to commend
the jury for respecting "reasonable
doubt" and the young attorneys for
enforcing their belief in the innocence
of the two. And let us not fail to pay
homage to the court solicitors for
forcing light upon the evidence.
And for those who continue to
voice dissatisfaction, we ask, is it not
better to err in the donation of free
dom than to translate doubt into fur
ther tragedy?
And for all of us, let us not forget
that it was an act of passion, and ir
rational possession which led someone
to take the life of another human be
ing. Let us re-enforce the line between
thoughtfullness and compassion; and
the sea of wanton distruction.
rency was Nepal's legal tender.
As a modernization move, King
Mahendra instituted a native
currency—to India's vehement
indignation.
In retaliation, it threatened to
stop the U.S. from using its
hundreds of millions in coun
terpart funds in India (accu
mulated from sales of food to
avert famine) as economic aid
to Nepal. That amounts to only
a few million dollars a year,
but India proposed to block it
and was deterred only by stren
uous Washington protests.
DOUBLE-DEALING - Ex
ample: In the past 20 years,
India has received more eco
nomic aid from the U.S. than
any other country in the world
—and shown the least appre
ciation. In fact, about all the
U.S. has gotten in return for
more than $7 billion poured into
India is snooty disdain and cen
sorious reproof—and often out
right animosity and hostility.
; TAKING k W SB
Santa Claus is dying. At
least the one in Modesto, Cali
fornia is. He has terminal ab
dominal cancer. Cyril B.
Sherwood, a 70 year old for
mer school teacher, was Santa
Claus for hundreds of children
at a shopping center for the
past three years.
A bachelor who taught deaf
persons for 42 years, Sherwood
says he hopes children will
come to visit him in Yosemite
Convalescent Hospital, al
though he won't be wearing a
bright red suit.
"That's why I grew my
beard," he says, "I wanted to
be Santa Claus again."
Here is a man who knows,
and has accepted, the fact that
he may not see tomorrow. In
the past he wore a costume
and a fake beard. These things
are not available to him this
year, so he grew his own beard.
He wants to be Santa Claus
again during three weeks be
fore probably his last Christ
Reform Plan
| For Prisons
Is Announced
WILLIAMSBURG, Va.
•- Atty. Gen. John N. Mitchell
'revealed Monday the creation
of a National Corrections
Academy to reform American
! prisons, which President Nixon
called "colleges of crime."
J Mitchell's announcement
came in an address to 350 cor
rections specialists from across
the nation, gathered in this re
stored colonial capital for a
White House-sponsored Nation
al Corrections Conference.
Mitehell said the academy
will offer training for local,
atate and federal corrections
personnel as an "effective
means for upgrading the pro
fession and assuring that cor
rection is more than a euphe
mism for detention."
Nixon, in a taped message to
the conference's opening ses
sion, called on the delegates to
"blaze the trail of prison re
from." Important strides
recently have been made to
ward reform "but let us not de
ceive ourselves," the President
said. "Our prisons still are col
leges of crime and not what
they should be . . .
"Locking up a convict is not
enough. We must also offer him
the key of education, of rehabil
itation, of useful training, of
hope—the keys he must have to
open the gates of a life of free
dom and dignity."
Establishment of two other
federal projects to help in the
work of state and local correc
tions officials also , was an
nounced by Mitchell at the
opening of the four-day confer
ence.
One project will be creation
of a "clerainghouse" for cor
rectional education, providing
help in the formulatipn of edu
cation programs for prison in
mates.
BESSIE SMITH
1895 "UV »
THE GREAT BLUES SINGER WAS
I BORN IN CHATTANOOGA.TENN., IfcTSL^SJBSr
OF POOR PARENTS.SHE SANG FOR
PENNIES ON THE SIDE WALKS. AT AN TWIT ffiT
EARLY AGE SHE JOINED THE RA&-
BIT FOOT MINSTRELS. BY 1920 SHE
WAS HERALDED AS THE GREATEST. '
HER FIRST RECORDING (1925)- THE '
DOWN HEARTED BLUES- SOLD OVER W f «WPr i
fIOO.OOOAND BECAME COLUMBIA'S ■»
FIRST BIG HIT. IN THE NEXT FEW
YEARS,SHE WROTE OVER 50S0NGS - RECORDED 160 WHICH SOLOOVFD
AND'MMOM MMM Hill,PA" SUT ° Aa 'jl >T "" WIHITO
|L &
VV /~R?J ASL^MN OTHRU 0 THRU HIS EFFORT*
H Y " H INVENTED A GAS MASK. ALTHO HE HAD
\\\ WON FIRST PRIZE AT THE 2nd INTERNATIONAL
AND SAFETY. HE
HA ? UTTLE SUCCESS UNTIL JULY 25,»M>.QN THAT
NIGHT AN EXPLOSION OCCURRED IN TUNNEL 5
"7 \« !Si2£H$ AND HB BROTHtt wtIHTI,a
\ *1 6W MASKS SAVED MANY UV($. A HEROIC DEED.'
L. E. AUSTIN
Editor-Publisher, 1937-1671
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mas. He miglit not make it.
Here is a man who taught deaf
people for 24 years. People
who can not hear his last pleas
for happiness, his children. He
is a bachelor, but who has
more children than Santa
Claus? This year he can not go
to them. They must come to
him. Will they? Have their
parents taught them the true
meaning of Christmas or is all
they see in Santa Claus con
fined to a bag of toys? Let's
hope the children of California
have the knowledge and the
good will to recognize a person
in need. Let's hope the
children of Durham and the
rest of the world are taught at
least a brief understanding of
what Christmas really is.
I fear people have taken
Christmas as a time of good
will when they may accumu
late all the hatred, fears, and
injustices of the past year into
a small gift and a card, redeem
themselves for another year. I
sincerely gain a feeling of love,
brotherhood, and peace at
Christmas; But, we can not de
pend on three weeks in Decem
ber to be the salvation of
eleven months of pain. Each
year, through commercialism,
Christmas is spread over a lar
ger time span. Each year the
feeling of Christmas is dented a
little more by the dread of
buying gifts one cannot afford.
Is it to be, in the years to
come, that Christmas will be
turned into a December white
sale and good will, packaged in
department stores?
Christmas is giving. Not
gifts in bright paper and spark
ling ribbons, but should be, in
stead, tied io plain low with
simple strings of understand
ing. ° ~
Cyril B. Sherwood is a good
example of the Christmas
spirit. He gave until the time
came when he could give no
more. It is now his turn to re
ceive. Not gifts of material, but
a card saying "we love you
Santa. Hurry and get well;" A
hand shake from a stranger
who came to see him because
he felt compelled at Christmas;
Or by far the best gift to Sher
wood: A small head at the edge
of his hospital bed, standing
on tip-toes to give him a kiss
on the cheek and say "Merry
Christmas Santa." I hope he
gets it.