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Show _ When Elected Officers. Page 5 from the community to the national level in the civil rights, poverty and welfare fields. With a large Must Be Trained First By Charles Evers BAY EGE: to elect large numbers of black men Miss.-.—Four and. women centuries of slavery and servitude have deprived black Americans of many things, among the most important of which are the gamut of skills necessary to function and prosper in a modern, industrial society. Some skills are relatively easy to transfer from person to. person. This was proved clearly by the experiences of World War Il, when millions of Americans, black and white, were mobilized and trained within a very short time to build such complex war machinery as Flying Fortresses, radar, bazookas, Liberty ships and motorized vehicles of almost every conceivable Loti = -Wl-o stort these rapidly-mobilized Americans were unskilled and a high percentage was illiterate or barely literate. Thus, it seems Mayor-elect Evers (center) announces SEDFRE program to train Fayette’s all-black town government at New York press conference a month after election. Evers is flanked by SEDFRE President Marvin Rich (left) and | clear that if America’s scheme of priorities were so ordered, ina fairly short period of time we could plan and execute the training of every able-bodied adult citizen to hold a productive job, we could build every family a decent home or apartment, we could construct enough schools and hospitals to educate every child and care for every sick person. Our recent conquest of the ‘moon, after President John F. Kennedy crystalized the national will less than eight years ago, is another example of what we are capable of, once we decide to do something. SEDFRE Executive Director Ronnie Moore. to get them he must, with other men, join forces to use his political and economic power. | The problem then comes down will take the men The need The and individual “using” one’s power. where of we skills Here is heights which, own organization, and they other encounter the other form because of our second-class. status, black Americans, for the most part, have not had the opportunity to learn. These are the skills of human political or otherwise, include communicate, the to work ability with to others, take the reins of for patience is, however, only part of the picture. to such phrases as ‘joining forces’ to perceive goals and organize AQuestion of How energies to attain these goals, to After all, the growing discussions administer, to find resources and to of priorities or national will is make the most out of them. nothing more than how we will expend our resources—material and Can't Be Taught human— and to what extent the One common denominator that government black government. of side blacks is that, have risen power abilities, because most black while to of the their men-and women require intensive experience to catch up, even partially, to the level of skills attained by large numbers of whites. And we cannot wait generations or centuries for this experience, because we are determined to take our rightful place in American society as full participants now. We figure that four hundred years is time enough—that a century after the Emancipation Proclamation constitutes wait ‘reasonable for what was In less ‘incumbent every against the newcomer election. That invalidate the entire elections. And it would in would professionals, they prior municipal government : a few days, SEDFRE staff began to tailor a custom-made training social and political change forever. We might as well become a dynastic monarchy. Nevertheless, most had experience. Within idea of obstruct program Ronnie Negro office holders (and office seekers) have had less general experience in governing than is desirable. My own experience in Fayette is a clear case in point. Besides myself, the entire five-man Board of Aldermen which to be was elected May 13th is composed each of these types of skills has is our birthright. leadership, through taxation and that very little of them can-be planning—to achieve the objective taught—in the end, the only real Voter Registration we, as a nation, have decided to teacher is experience. And blacks In the past decade, therefore, we seek. have been denied the relevant organized on the most elementary This in turn leads us to a more experiences not only in our level to exercise our potential specific discussion of the two major political life, but also in our other power—registering to vote. Apart forms of power which determine important institutions, such as from the danger of the white the lives of all Americans—political schools and universities, the major extremists who have killed or and economic. Most ethnic groups corporations, the military services, wounded so many of our able have long understood the the big churches, the mass media leaders in the South, we have had importance of both forms of and so forth. to face other great obstacles — power. Negroes have only recently White America has had almost inadequate funds, illiteracy, the come to understand that their three centuries to learn to govern dispersal of so many Southern freedom and well-being is linked to itself (and others), for Negroes in rural ares, inertia, etc. their ability to achieve both self-government was practiced long But in five years time we managed political and economic > power before the Declaration of to register 2 million new black commensurate with their numbers. Independence. Yet today there are voters in the South. In Mississippi white Americans cast alone, where the NAACP built a In the long run, however, one. is many statewide organization, we hollow without the other. The right considerable doubt as to whether vast are capable of governing increased black registration from of a starving or disease-ridden man they to cast his vote is a right without themselves. 38,000 in 1965 to over 260,000 in much substance. Yet, a man who Black Americans have had 1969. The question then became has his material needs provided for almost no opportunities to govern of than three years, blacks have been elected to 89 public and party offices in Mississippi, ranging from | enable local leaders to analyze their State Senator to County Supervisor Own grievances, to unite on to Justice of the Peace to members constructive. courses of action to of the Democratic Party County bring about change, to set up their Executive Committee. own programs, to communicate, The fact that we were all with each other over and across inexperienced in governing did not barriers that until now seemed deter us. For one thing, the vast impenetrable. They have followed majority’ of white office-holders in up their initial training sessions our state were (and are) men of with more sophisticated techniques. extremely limited ability and a high. And, since 1968, they have ratio are barely literate. provided higher-level technical racist Second, because of assistance to holders of public attitudes, most of them failed to office which, in many. cases, govern justly or effectively when it including our own in Fayette, may came to the well-being or rights of prove the difference between black Mississippians. success and failure. Third, we have- come to Using Fayette as an example, let understand that the way to begin Is me Liu sth ate: now with to begin. In other words, if we want SEDFREs help we are to learn -to govern, we. black telescoping the acquisition of Americans -must.selze..the experience and thereby, of skills, in opportunites before us and learn to the process of making history. do the job. That after all is what Within two weeks after our election almost every holder of public last May, we sought the aid of office, except the incumbent, from SEDFRE to train our new city President to County Clerk, is government and to effect a smooth obliged to do. And if experience transition. We noted that none of were the sole criterion, we should black officials all be obliged to vote for the our newly-elected to time supposed to such posts. staff have imparted many of the skills which Negro and other minority groups have been denied for centuries because of discriminatory practices. Most important, they have helped to teach the natural leadership of the movements-forchange how to teach themselves. They have stressed the skills which to fit out Moore, needs. SEDFRE’'s executive director, spent the better part of two weeks in Fayette interviewing the new black officials to determine their backgrounds and interests. : On June 20-21, a two-day seminar was. conducted by Moore and his colleagues to help the 21 new black officials become familiar their municipal and county experience in municipal duties and to enable us to examine government. We all had to start some of the problems we would encounter. The seminar stressed from scratch. of leadership skills We do not have an indefinite development lectures, exercises and period of time to learn how to through govern. Before long, our workshops. These led naturally into mock city council meetings constituency, white and black, will the where the mayor-elect. and the be up before meetings of the Board of black men previous with without of Aldermento demand the changes incoming aldermen could learn not we only the correct procedures for conducting city affairs but also how to cope with tough political promised SEDFRE—an them. | | Idea What was needed was a method of short-circuiting the long, tedious trial-and-error method of learning which goes hand-in-hand with most forms of on-the-job training in government. Fortunately for us (and for thousands of other black, ~Mexican-American and Puerto questions. For example SEDFRE._ staff organized a group of black local citizens called Citizens for Progress — to present specific demands to the mock council session. These included bread-and-butter requests for paved roads, street lights, fire hydrants, improved garbage collection and an Rican office holders and seekers), such an institution: exists in the Scholarship, Education, and end to police brutality. The intensity of the demands daily by the grace or duty of themselves so it should surprise no ‘What do we do with the vote, now Defense Fund for Racial Equality, and the manner in- which the | another man is, at best, only half a sensible person if the first that we have it? known in the civil rights movement petitioning group presented its Despite the fact that no black in as SEDFRE. 3 man; or worst, a siave. Human steps—whether in Cieveland, Gary Since 1962, SEDFRE has been Of -b ave tee Mississippi had held public or party dignity requires that a man have (id iene) (Continued on Page 6) both political and economic rights; (Mississippi)—are not perfect when office in modern times, we set out in the business of training leaders — |
