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Show Reading about Blacks not all pleasurable For a number of years I have been reading biographies, novels, historical accounts and current problems of blacks in America. While it has been fascinating to me. it has not all been pleasurable. It has. however, always been enlightening. en-lightening. I have read a good deal of Baldwin's writings. Bitterness shows through in everything I have read of his. His novels im- its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one. or it may be a physical one. and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." On another occasion Douu-lass Douu-lass said "What Abraham Lincoln said of the United Stales is as true ol the colored people as of the relation of those Sni,-v Th.v 1 lit H-UUlll.1 .111 1.11.1.1111. UlUlllV and war. Naturally racism is the worst of these evils as she sees it. She describes it as a psyche of white Americans so if you arc while and an American then you are a racist. She told us that racism is shown in jobs, housing and education. I have so little patience with this cry which is intimidating our leaders everywhere every-where to lower qualifications for jobs as well as educational qualifications quali-fications instead of instilling in these people that they must work and work hard, some harder than others to attain good jobs, an education and eventually housing that suits their tastes. I've heard to much about discrimination and I've decided that only those seeking seek-ing it find it. I heard a prominent Negro minister speak this fall and he admitted that as individuals Negroes were accepted, but not as a race and they sought to be accepted as a race. Must not we all be accepted as individuals? Regardless Re-gardless of their cries 1 see tin's race as a spoiled child having been oven the most advantages, but press me as an effort to hide the author's desire to write his autobiography. auto-biography. I was completely captured in reading the story of Malcom . Alter seven years in prison, he was able to change from his life of crime to make remarkable contributions contri-butions to his race. While in prison pri-son he taught himself lo lead bv using the dictionary. He also gained some strong religious beliefs be-liefs by reading the Bible. Reading LI dredge Cleaver's "Soul on Ice" was a treniendouslv moving experience. His message came abundantly clear. Americans must suffer for the hundieds of years of injustice heaped upon the black race. Phipip S. Foner's biography of Frederick Douglass is one of the most helpful reading I have done to understand the struggle of blacks in America. While lols of this book is simple and factual, I inevitably got caught up in the power of this man's life, as Foner combines Douglass' speeches, experiences ex-periences and the historical setting of his day. He has proved Fred-' :i, rs i...... ... u ,.r .1... cannot remain half slave and half free. You nuisl give them all or take from them all. Until this half-and-half condition is ended, there will be just ground for complaint. com-plaint. You will have an aggrieved class, and this discussion will eo on. Until the public schools shall cense to be caste schools m eveiv pari of this country . lliis discussion dis-cussion will go on. Uniil ihe colored man's pathway lo the American ballot box. North and South, shall be as smooth and .is sale as ihe same is loi the while cilien. lliis discussion will eo on. Until ihe colored man's right to practice at the bar of oui com is and sit upon juries, shall be the universal law and piactice of the land, lliis discussion will go on. Until the courts of ihe country shall grant the colored man a fair trial and a jusl verdict, lliis discussion dis-cussion will go on. Until color shall cease to be a bar lo equal participation in offices and honois of the country, this discussion will go on. Until Ihe trades-unions and the workshops of the country shall cease lo proscribe the .i.i.. . i i - iii just not able to use them. Is it because some tiling given is never appreciated as much as something worked for? Is it because they have been given too much too soon, with lack of knowledge and ability to use it? Or is it because they inherently are a race that thrives better as followers and receivers? Mrs. King emphasized physical aaad psychological deprivations depri-vations the blacks have suffered. Most of our forefathers lived under the same, but they found way s to get out from under. Are we as white responsible for the black man not out growing this? I say not. I am sure that Martin Luther King Jr. pursued the course he did with his people with the feeling that they desired changes in life that he sought for them. I also believe in the beginning that he sincerely felt that he was going about achicvina iustice for his race CliCIS LUlliai5 IU UC Will Ol IIIC greatest figures in 19th Cenhiry America. It is regrettable that American historians have ignored Douglass. However, Foner's extensive study has established his rightful place in the history of our country. If it seems a stretch of ihe imagination that my paper would include these writings, and particularly par-ticularly that of Frederick Douglass, Doug-lass, I would justify doing so because they have put me in a frame of mind to appreciate the type of class thai we arc involved in. These experiences made me especially inleresled in having Corelta King included in the list of guest speakers. Douglass' words are as limcly today as they were a hundred years ago. I have chosen lo include in-clude parts of these speeches. Douglass was born in Feb. 1817 in Maryland. He was "born a slave, hp liftnrl hin-Kplf nn from hondane coioieu iiKiu anu picvcu i n is cniiu-ren cniiu-ren from learning useful trades, lliis discussion will go on. Until the American people shall make character, and not color, the criterion cri-terion of respectability, the discussion dis-cussion will go on." Douglass' words that power concedes uolhing without a demand de-mand can bridge lime into out generation when another American Ameri-can devoted his cucigy. his talents, his determinalion and his life lo the same cause. Mailin Lulhcr King said lhal injustice anywhere is a lineal lo justice everywhere. Mai tin I iitlicr King devolcd h is energies and lalenls to demand in a militant, nonviolent crusade thai justice be a icalily. not merely an expression, lo his people, lie said lhal a strongman must be militant as well-as moderate. moder-ate. A man musi be a realist as well as an idealisl. While Mailin Luther King was in ihe Birmingham Birming-ham iail he wrote a letter in in the only way possible. The example he set by breaking laws and being jailed only to win out in the end has set a precedent for all revolutionaries. Wiry obey laws? We are bigger and stronger and our will is our way. Consequently, I see Dr. King's non-violent revolution revo-lution that has grown to bigger heights and out of proportion as the beginning of a violent revolution revolu-tion in which we all stand to lose. Mrs. King certainly deserves the 'espect and admiration that many give her. Her entire life has been aimed towards bettering her Position and hopefully her race. Even the cruel and untimely death f her husband has not daunted her courage. She worked beside him and for what they believed hile he was alive and now she rks alone for him and what hey believed in showing the same courage and determination that has characterized her life. Claire Matthews by his own efforts, taught himself to read and write, developed a great talent as lecturer and organizer, organi-zer, became a noted figure in American life and gained recognition recogni-tion as the foremost spokesman for his oppressed people and courageous champion of many other progressive causes of his time." In his West India Emancipation Emancipa-tion speech given August, 1857. Douglass said: "Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. It must do this or it docs nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom fre-edom and yet depreciate agitation, agi-tation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of longhand to eighl while religious leaders of the Soulh in which he gave strong juslification lor his demand for action. Ralhci ihan maintain the slums quo in the snuggle for equal rights for the Negro, he quoted a distinguished juris! who said that "justice loo long delayed is jusl ice denied." All of these wrilers and others loo. have made me concerned with the problems of blacks and other minority groups in America. I can't be proud of our history in dealing with minority groups. Our need for strong leadership in affairs at home and away, is vital to our survival. Inlelligenl discussion, tolerance and concern for one anolher are essential lo ihe survival of mankind. Lois C. Canning |
