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... .
SAT., FEB. 1. t73
.BITOMALS : A
COMMENTS
BLACK HISTORY WEEK
liii
One week during the month of
February is traditionally set aside each
year to observe Black History Week.
One week each year set aside for
seminars, study groups, testamonials,
skits, exhibits, and other types of
programs that pay homage to the
accomplishments that thousands of
blacks have made to this country's
history.
One week each year is not enough.
It is difficult to condense in one
week the successes and failures, the
strivings, the longings, the hopes, the -fears,
the gains and losses of a people
with unmatched faith in the God of
their fathers and the law of the land.
Since 1619 the. story of black
Americans has been an ongoing one. It
has a beginning, but no end and as a
result, it cannot be prescribed and
should not be restricted to a weeks
celebration each year. The history of
black Americans is too proud, too
shameless, too true to be so confined.
For it is history written across the
face of the ages by black people of all
colon; big names, little names, no
names, leaders, thinkers, scholars,
workers, men and women who in their
own way have contributed mightily to
the uplift of their people.
But in order to insure that our
legacy remains a lasting one, our
heritage safe, our future secure, we
must fight to maintain, our institutions
while building new ones, and we must
strive to make sure that our young
reach the point of satisfaction that
comes from an awareness and a
knowledge of who we are and how far
we've come.
Black history is too important to
be limited to one week each year. It
should be celebrated each day of the
year.
And while celebrating, we must
make our Own lasting contributions.
LIFT EVERY VOICE . . .
Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty,
Let our rejoicing,' rise
High as the listening; skies,
Let is resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past
has taught us;
Sing a song full of the hope that the present
has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope
unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for whJch our
fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that
with tears has been watered,
We have come treading our path through the
blood of the slaughtered.
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last t A i ""'' '
;m Where, the wMfrgmMwiu
bright star is cast.
j'io.-! bit 1
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us
thus far on the way;
Thou who hast, by thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places
our God where we met thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine
of the world, we forget thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
WORDS BY JAMES WELDON JOHNSON
MUSIC BY J. ROSAMOND JOHNSON
BLACKS AMD THE BICENTENNIAL
Vtfthin the next two years the term
bi-centennial will become an
important word not only in our
schools, colleges, universities, states
and the nation at large, but within
households and family groups as well.
The very word bicentennial means
an event happening once in a period
of two hundred years. It may also
mean lasting for 200 years and may be
a 200th anniversary or its celebration.
1976 will be the 200 year of the
memorable occasions in each and
every community, state and the
nation.
The American Revolution
Bicentennial Commission (ARBC) has
the responsibility for proving all
interested planners, participants and
the general public with information
on Bicentennial activities and offers
suggestions on how it can best be
implemented.
An important division of the
organization is the Bicentennial
Information Network (BINET),
inaugurated July 3, 1973. Goals
include . the installation of Binet
terminals in each of the states and
territories.
Themes for the Bicentennial
celebrations are HERITAGE "76,
which honors and reflects the past,
FESTIVAL, U.S.A. featuring
celebrations and hospitality, and
; HORIZONS, 76, which makes a
commitment to improving the quality
of life for the future.
Dr. :Senjanin Quarles, from the
Executive Council of the Association
of the Study of Afro-American Life
and History, (ASALH) has made sons
historical comments on Blacks and the
Bicentennial.
To Black Americans the
Revolutionary War, has always meant
two things. It meant, as its name
indicates, both a war and a revolution.
The war would end when Lord
Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown.
But the revolution would continue
down to the present, and beyond.
The war took place on land and
sea, the revolution took place in the
minds of men.. The war dealt with
military and naval operations, the
revolution dealt with ideas and ideals,
especially with the great concepts
proclaimed in the Declaration of
Independence.
On both counts Black Americans
had a vital role to play. In the war
some 5,000 blacks, slave and free,
enlisted in the Revolutionary armies.
Additional thousands found service
with His Majesty troops, performing
. war-related duties. The fighting
contribution of blacks extended to
the American navies, state and
continental, and to the British fleet,
both sides extending a special
invitation to black pilots with their ,
bardwon knowledge of the Atlantic
Coastal waters.'
A 10! Of KOBE WHAT DOES IT HEAT! TO CULCKSt
IEWEUS.GOESTO
WW THIS YEARJTWN'T
BE A CASE OF
AMERICAN BLACKS
SHOOTNO ARABS TO
SAVE JEWS,BUTOF
AMERICAN BLACKS
SHOOTING NIGERIANS
IN ORDER TO TAKE
THEIR OILr
R05f.Hr MOWN
N. Y AMSTFROA1 WTlO
To Be Equal i
I by Vernon E. Jordan, Jrf , I
x ! 'i
I National Director of Urban League f
x I
FORD FOLLOWS THROUGH
President Ford had a whirlwind week
recently, highlighted by a special economic
message and the State of the Union address.
Although his economic proposals leave a lot
to be desired and he failed to include a
strong civil rights message to the nation, as
he bad been urged to do, he did follow
through on two recommendations made by
Black leaders in our meeting with him last
fall.
The first was that he appoint a black to a
Cabinet position, the second, that he
endorse extension of the Voting Rights Act
of 1965, up for renewal ithiji summer.
. iv i. u 1 . .i tyii1 ti'Sl yu
His nomination -of an outstanding Black
lawyer, William T. Coleraun Jr., as Secretary
of Transportation not only puts the first
black person in seven years into the Cabinet
but it marks a major upgrading of that body.
Mr. Colemn is an outstanding lawyer, an
honors graduate from Harvard Law School
and former law clerk to Justice Felix
Frankfurther, who has built an envitable
reputation as one of the nation's top legal
minds. He has also been a civil rights activist
who worked on the school desegregation
case that led to the Brown decision of 1954,
among other noteworthy civil rights cases he
had been involved with, and is president of
the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
He will take over a federal Department of
special interest to city dwellers. At a time
when it is essential to revitalize urban mass
transit, this excellent appointment signals a
more positive role in national transportation
policy.
Mr. Ford followed through on the
recommendation that he back extension of
the Voting Rights Act, and in the long run
that may be even more significant. Along
with the Civil Rights Act; of 1964, this
legislation forms the core of black gains in
. the Second, Reconstruction. At a time when
those gainare being sniped at and, one by
one, stripped away, it is good to see the
President drawing a line around the most
significant ones and saying they will stand.
The Voting Rights Act, by extending
federal protection of the right to vote in
sections of the country that had denied that
right to black eitizens, has helped to change
the face of the South. Black people are
voting today in places that used to react
with violence when a black person
attempted to register.
As a result, there are black mayors, black
sheriffs, and county supervisors, and other
black elected officials representing black
people and their white neighbors all over the
South.
, i The law, which runs for five years, , was
Twwwed in 1970"' aft President vfowMfe
endorsement of renewal 'will helalsflre Its
passage this summer. There are plenty of
people in Washington who would like the
law to expire quietly, and if that happened
we would be sure to see a host of measures
in some states whose effect would be to
deny blacks the opportunity to participate
in the democratic process.
I doubt that the old "grandfather clause"
and other unconstitutional methods would
be adopted. But today's sophisticated legal
engineers could easily come up with plans
from multi-member districting, literacy tests,
and gerrymandered districts that individually
might pass the test Of constitutionality but
collectively would slash black registration
figures.
That President Ford chose the birthday -of
Martin Luther King, Jr., to announced his
support for extension also shows his
sensitivity to the memory of the man who
led the winning fight to extend the right to
vote to black people.
Blacks have a lot to complain about in
regard to many Administration policies, but
Mr. Ford's appointment of William Coleman
and his backing extension of the Voting
Rights Act prove that he is willing to listen
and to accept advice of black leadership, and
that he is concerned about including black
citizens in the mainstream of American life.
In times that need bold action to improve
the lot of black Americans that may not be
as much as we hoped for,, but it is a big
improvement over the attitude of the
previous tenant of the White House.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
To be Continued
All of : the men who
participated in thebreak in of
the Democratic National
Headquarters in June of 1972,
and the other various scandals
that led' to Watergate were
white. There were only 4 black
clerical workers and one black
researcher out of a staff of
around 95 people who work in
the Watergate Comrittee. One
fact is that there were no black
lawyers . hired by the
Committee which hired all
white layers, investigators and
administrative staff to work for
the Coimittee.
White . America suffered
more so from Watergate than
blacks, which leads me to the
conclusion that not only can
. certain whites in America put
their trust, faith, and
confidence . in certain white
Americans to reoresent them In
public office and the Blacks
and minorities In this country
definitely cannot expect to
rely on certain whites we help
' vote and elect to public offices
' to really look after our welfare
survival as a minority race in
'this country. Therefore, we
'' must try to elect and put men
' in public office and especially
blacks and minorities who we
are sure will look out for our
' Interest and welfare and really
i help us solve the problems we
'are faced with in this country
today. We need to have people
in public office who are not
going to represent themselves
and a few voters or friends but
people who are going to
''represent the entire segment of
'the community that elected ,
them into office in the first
place, whether black, brown,
yellow, white or green. And we
,,must not let our elected
' officials voted, into office
men into public office.
Remarks by:
Albert Bryant ,
Former Staff and Research
Asst. U.S. Senate. Watereate
Corrm
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C.
THE M
CLOUT
POLITICAL
r1
By ELVA P. DeJARMON
Dr. . Nathaniel Wright mad
some interesting comments
recently on the continuing
need for political clout by
Black Americans even as we
note the singular successes of a
number of black leaders.
Black Americans conduct
themselves , today both
economically and politically as
a largely dependent race....with
the polite request still the
etiquette of survival. Unlike
the rise to power to other
group throughout history, we
are not seeking full entrance
into the American mainstream
by the mighty organized
political and economic power
of our vast numbers, Wright
said.
The alleged but doubtful
failure of much of the rhetoric
of black radicals in recent years
is no logical reason for blacks
to return to the outworn
tactics of the past. Even White
America is aware of the past
and present injustices against
us and have passed laws
granting us routes to redress.
Thus, the kind of inappropriate
diplomacy which we practice
far too often with white
, Americans when it comes to
politely seeking our fair share
of power might be far more
appropriate in our relations
with each other. Today, we
need black togetherness almost
as never before.
Wright said Black Americans
must learn that when a group is
one the bottom there is no
such thing in it as an
independent elitist corps as
some would like to feel. We all
need each other and must learn
to speak' and to act with the
most extensive and variegated
support which we can possibly
muster. Every ' Black with
stature...,notwithstanding some
o u t s t an ding
credentials. ...gained that
position in large part through
black help cannot speak with
power, if there are no large
constituencies who are
standing ready to impose
massive and telling sanctions
against those , who fail to heed
the rightfuf "Claims of black
citizens.
Further, the singular
successes of a number of blacks
on a statewide level illustrate
forget us, especially when it
comes time to call on our
representatives for assistance.
the need for blacks to-l be
flexible in their choice of
political alliances. "The black
Lieutenant Governor,' of
Califomiai Msrvyn Dymafly,
and the black U;.S.
Representative from TexaSyMs.
Barbara Jordan, chose jnew
paths largely untried by blacks
in the past-to power,? Wright
added.. . J.
For most of the years of our
freedom we have had a "lovely
complex" when what we have
needed was a "power.' for
freedom complex," he laid.
Our primary goal should never
have been to reward or to be
loyal to those who assumed the
role of friends of black
Americans. Rather we should
have thanked those who had
helped us, whenever and as
soon as we possibly could," and
kept our major efforts focused
on moving on to reach the goal
of equity (power and freedom)
toward which the helping hand
had moved us.
Our problem has been that
of getting locked into means
and forgetting our ends
overarching purpose which is
power and freedom. Blacks
need power in order to achieve
freedom. The two major paths
toward power are perpetual
in-group solidarity, regardless
of how the in-group may be
defined, and flexibility, to
openness by joining forces
temporarily with new groups
who can help us reach
immediately attainable goals.
In every state of the union,
we need to stop counting
repeatedly and gloating over
the political crumbs that we
have rescued. Instead, we need
to keep constant count of, and
our firmly focused eyes upon,
the new numbers we need for
political parity with other
groups whose place in America
is much newer but far stronger
than our own.
New occasions, we are told,
teach new duties. Nowhere is
this more true than in the
political b-arwiai black
Americans, pur political duties
are no less than our commonly
shared techniques for our
nation's cleansing for black
survival.
Slings You Should Knoi
PIPD...
(( MM
Wrong, Illegible
Addresses Delay Tax
Refunds, IRS Says
Some North Carolina tax
payers who filed a federal in
come tax return and claimed a
refund may not get the check
due them, IRS District Director
for North Carolina Mr. Robert A.
LeBaube said today.
"Many taxpayers have moved,
since filing their Form 104Q or
... A SUAVE OWNED BY w.H GATE-
WOOD OF BEDFORD, KY., WHO ESCAPED"
TO CANADA. IN 1849 HE PUBLISHED HIS
LIFE STORY PLEADING THE ABOLITION
IST CAUSE. BY 1851 HE HAO ORGANIZED
THE REFUGEES7 HOME COLONY. BUYING
SOME 1300 ACRES OF LAND FOR THE SETTLEMENT
OF ESCAPED SLAVES lN 1853 HE ATTENDED A NATIONAL
COUNSEL OF NEGRO LEADERS DISCUSSING THE
QUESTION OF AFRICAN COLONIZATION.
- ' pnw -sy-
L.. E.AUSTIN ;' ;"
Editor-Publisher 1927-1971
Published every Saturday at Durham, N.C.
by United Publishers, Inc.
MRS. VIVIAN AUSTIN EDMONDS, Publisher
MALVIN E. MOORE, IH, -.-.LEdltor
CLARENCE BONNETTE... .......Bustaeai Manager
J. ELWOOD CARTER, .... . Advertising Muaager
Thk. innliia aeiaMviriN1040Aand some forgot to give
-ri r.,r . ,
Black Americans and other the post ouice a iorwruinB
" minorities who help elect white address, he said.
tl 1 ..--,-rrr !,.'-'"- -t:'.-if '-': - ; '. ---. . ; .
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