Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 30 July 1960 — Page 10

The IndiaMpoiis Recorder, Jidy 30,1960

Nixon’s Stand on Rights Issue Commendable The Republicon Presidential aspirant, Vic-President Richard M. hiixon is to be congratulated and admired for ms "give-no-ground" Stand against Southern party members and other so called conservatives who sought to weaken the civil rights plonk at the party's national convention in Chicago. The Vice-President's unprecedented statement that he could not accent the Republican Presidential nomination if the plonks adopted by the Platform Committee didn't coincide with his own convictions and ideals, resounded throughout the world. In effect, the Vice-President told the committee members and their respective delegations that he could only carry the party standard if the issues to which he would be pledged were equal to those he has set for himself as a politician and a mah. The Vice-President's action was in sharp contrast to that of the Democratic Presidential nominee, Sen. Robert F.-.Kennedy, who, despite the party's “strongly worded" civil rights plank, personally wired Arkansas' Gov. Orval Faubus, an avid segregationist who used his state's National Guard to prevent integration at Little Rock's Central High School, and asked for his cooperation during the coming campaign. It is our sincere opinion that the stand taken by VicePresident Nixon in regard to the most important issue, facing the people of the United States, the Negro's fight for civil rights, reflects the qualities necessary for the man who is to stand at the helm of our ship-of-state during these trying times. Without the persuasive efforts of such a man, how can,a great notion such as ours—or for that matter, any nation—attempt to solve the internal problems of other nations .or even retain the respect of those notions with so much that needs "tehdin' to" on the homefront. Experience has shown that financial did alone is not the answer. The skeletons in our Southern closets have supplied the Soviets with some of their most potent ammunition, which they have used all to advantageously in their unceasing quest to oppress not only the United States but the entire world under the yoke of Communism. We, as Negroes, again commend the Vice-President for his stand, for we feel the fight hasn't been in vain and the hill isn't quite so steep. .

No Mention of Belgians We cannot help but wonder why the daily newspapers across the country, our own Indianapolis dailies included, who seemingly derived pleasure in blaring that the Congolese were barbarians and savages who are not, by any stretch of the imagination, ready for independence, so noticeably failed to make any mention of the countless inhuman atrocities wreaked upon the enslaved Congolese down through the x years. These same newspapers who condemned the Congolese for the rape, the rioting and other dastardly acts since being granted their independence by Belgium July 1, carefully omitted any mention of how the hands and feet of natives who foiled to bring enough rubber were cut off, or how natives who for some reason had gained the displeasure of their masters were staked out and left to the mercy of the anfs. We are by no means condoning the actions of the Congolese. But we compare their actions to those of an animal caged too long, and unsure just what to do with his newly acquired freedom.

The Judge in His Jungle By now you've read that one Jim Johnson, State Supreme Court justice in the State of Arkansas, is reputed to have issued what might have been a shocking pronouncement hod it been made by anybody but a judge in Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi and the like. For out of his twisted mind the judge come up with the deduction "that integration is yvorse than rape or murder," In his case, when we consider the locale, it is easier understood how he arrives at this conclusion. The history of his kind) under Southern tradition, is that they have practiced murder and rape so long on the Negro whom they have exploited and subjugated and that murder and rope have never been a crime, but the bestial white man's prerogative. For two hundred years, the judge's predecessors have burned and Ivnched Negroes with impunity and for an equal length of time thev have used and abused Negro women to satiate their beast'y oassions and to spawn their bastard children, and despite their shocking and immoral conduct, they have been permitted to wear the cloak of respectability and even bear the name of Christians. And more none of this has phased them in the slightest in their misguided notion that they are 'superior men. For long years he has been the sponsor of a jungle society'. The 'dog eat dog' philosophy has undergirded his thinking in the fqrmig^ancf operation of his community life. He has practiced the.animalistic selfishness that draws a circle including only the Best for himself and his own and only what he wills for the other fellow to have whom he judges not his own. it is easy then to see how easy this A/kansas judge could think integration a crime worse than rape and murder,., For rape and murder have become tp him virtues,, >vhen .practiced on Negroes. Integration which has its premise that dll men belong to the human race and as such are entitled to the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness unhampered is an ideal entirely foreign to the natives of the jungle. It is worse for these when integration comes, and if will, come: there will be no place for judges like these, The judge must fight to preserve his jungle, for when the jungle is changed to a democratic community, Ichabod will be written over the judge's head and all other like him. The judge has got to be rash, he must do any and everything to preserve his jungle, for only the jungle can preserve him. THE OKLAHOMA EAGLE

EDITORIALS AND COMMENTS ti» iBimuft W6<u

UNTIL THESE CAUSES ARE REMOVED, PEACE WILL BE JEOPARDIZED

BETWEEN THE LINES

Sizing Up Kennedy By DEAN GORDON B. HANCOCK

GORDON HANCOCK

The Democratic National Convention of 1960 is history. It resulted in the nomination of John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson as candidates, respectively, for the presidency and vice-presidency in the coming November elec-

tion.

As was mentioned time and again in the convention, we are face to face with one of the most critical hours of American history. There are three major issues that must be

faced—and seriously. The first the state or the country. This point was almost completely overlooked in the oratory ?nd excitement of the edivention. Inflation and a srow-ballinig national debt of nearly $300,000,000,000 dmand notice at least, and sad to say, it was almost completely bypassed by the office-hungry would be candidates. Our mounting national debt is like termites in a mansion. THE SECOND BRISTLING isspe is race relations in this country; and the mere insertion of a race relations clause in the platform, by no means settles the grave issue of race relations. Race prejudice is an insidious and dangerous evil in this country and the fight the ten Southern states made on the floor of the convention is

proof thereof.

Then ftnafly there is the grave issue of foreign relations. With Cuba and the Belgian Congo crying for Russian help and intervention, and with Nikita Khrushchev brandishing his atomic bombs and his unlmited missile power end with thedelegates openly confessing on the floor of «the Convention that we are second to Russia in almost* exery important field, foreign relations become a stinging issue that demands attention. Jin other words we are facing critical issues and just how we are to extricate ourselves— if indeed we can be extricated—is going to demand the highest statesmanship More joy to those who can laugh off the situation, but as for this column “Gloomy Dean” is the

word.

. .So far as this column is concerned there is nothing funny about the prospects growing out of the aforementioned grave issues which have thrust themselves into the forefront of the nation and the

world. What about John Kennedy in the premise? When the Kenncdy-For-Presidont movement first got under way, he betook himself to New Orleans and was feted there in a big way; and what is more, what he said did not provoke the hostility of those rabid anti-Negro Southerners. Not a Southern newspaper heckled Kennedy, and htis column has often wondered why. Here in a section of the country where the civil rights issue provokes bitterness toward is advocates, John Kennedy can go in and out without bitter castigation. In one of the convention caucuses, an Alabama delegate was asked whether Kennedy would receive the support of the Southern states. The Alabamian was quite sure the South would :”o all out for Kennedy in the coming November election. With its civil rights plank sticking out like a sore thumb, this rabid Southerner concluded that the South would string along with Kennedy, even with with the much opposed civil rights plank in the platform. Since when did the South become willing to accept anything that remotely advocated civil rights as they pertain to Negroes? Even the most guillible must suspect something irregular when Southerners do not fly into the face of any-

body and anything that promises civil rights for Negroes. Then to climax all, Governor Almond almost threw the fat into the fire when he told the press that in their talks together "Kennedy stated his fundamental convictions and they are not any departure from principles Virginians stand ror.” Massive resistance is the principle which most white Virginians stand for and we are wondering here whether. Mr. Kennedy stands for the same. Then again Qovemor Almond is quoted as saying that Kennedy "is deeply concerned for our way of thinking”; and the world knows just what the South’s way of thinking is. We arc beginning to wonder just what commitment Kennedy has made to make him so strong with the South Intelligent Negroes and whites no longer look to the presidency for the settlement of interracial issues. Presidents are in many ways limited in what they can do, but this docs not erase the fact that presidents can be tremendously effective in the interracial situation. Eisenhower for instance.

VOICE FROM THE GALLERY

The Belgians Reap The Whirlwind In the Congo

Af|er weeks of turmoil and strife the Belgians have finally been persuaded by the United Nations to leave the Congo, the territory which they freed with a great deal

of

. B e Igian troops either remained or returned . to the newly freed country after antiwhite riots broke out and thi segregationists and the white supremacy press from Indianapolis to Johannesburg gested that

ANDREW W.

RAMSEY

gleefully sugthe Congolese

were not ready for freedom And in a sense they were not, as perhaps the 13 American colonies were not. The natives reasoned that they had *1 right to their freedom and the right to govern themselves even if they made gross mistakes. And they might have a lot to say about why they were not ready. From 1884 until 1908 the Congo was the personal proprety of Leopold II of Belgium with the approval of the colonial powers and the United States. During the period of the tender administration of King Leopold, and Congolese who failed to bring in as much rubber as the King desired was punished by having his hands chopped off. There was a system of forced labor, and the natives were bound over to pri vate investors who held the power of life and death over them. There was no system of either public or private educa-

tion.

After several international "investigations.” Leopold turned the Congo over to Belgium in 1908, The new overlords

By Andrew W. Ramsey ended some of the grosser mistreatment of the natives, instituted a system of elemen- * tary schools and permitted missionaries into the territory. The missionaries were allowed to operate schools on the elementary and to a lesser extent on the secondary level All governmental power was contralized ih Brussels with the inhabitants, both Negro and white, denied any say whatsoever ip the running of the colony. It was very difficult for a Congo Negro to leave the country and these who happened to get to Europe were not allowed to re-enter the country NO CONGOLESE WAS allow to study modern economics, politics, science, medicine, law or engineering. With one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium, the Congo had not one native trained in mining engineering or chemistry. Out of a population of some fourteen million^, the new Congo Republic has only sixteen college graduates. That was the situation in ' which the Belgians reluctantly left the Congo. They had bet strongly on staying forever and consequently they saw to it that the Congolese were not ready for independence in the Western sense. Among many Americans, British, Dutch and French there was a great deal of weeping and wailing for the Belgians and a condemnation of the Congolese for wanting independence when they were so unprepared. The American segregationlists had a field day reading of the disorders in the new country and they took heart for it supported their argument that the American Negro is not prepared for integration into first class citizenship. And again they were right

m a sense—although not a mor-. al sense. They know as the Belgians knew that there is nothing about racial discrimination and segregation that prepares the victims for freedom. It is an essentially dishonest argument advanced by the oppressors but it contains enough logic to convince some of the victims that they are not ready. Left to their own devices the Belgians would never have done anything to prepare the Congo for freedom and membership in the family of nations. Similarly left to their own devices the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Florida, Virginia, Arkansas and Maryland would never do anything to prepare their Negroes for efficient participation in American life. And the Southerners can find in the North plenty of allies, includ- t ing many large newspapers and U .S. Senators and state governors. Added to those who give aid and comfort to the enemy are those Negroes who glibly say things such as, "We are not ready,” “I don’t blame the white man, because we don’t know how to act” and “I don’t want to go where I am not welcome.” It is reported that among * the Congolese there are corresponding "Uncle Tom®.”. Fortunately, they happen to be outnumbered.

The Congo Republic may flounder for a time and it may ' make mistakes, but in the end it - will come up with a system * for running itself which will be far more rewarding than the serfdom under which it has been operating for fiftyone years. As for the Belgians, they sowed the wind an dit is written that they shall reap the whirlwind. So mote it be.

Letters to the Editor..

Beckwith Deserves Ticker Tape Horrtecoming Reader Asserts

A Newspaper route is good training. Help your child start a Recorder route in your neighborhood.

Neoro Press Creed Thc Ne9ro Pre,s be,ieye * 3 flic United State* ot America can best lead the world away from racial and national antagonism when it accords every man, regardless ot race, color or creed, his human and legal rights. Hating no man, tearing no man, the Negro Press strives to help every man in the firm belief that all are hurt so long as any one is held back.

To The Editor; History is the ladmark by which we are directed into the true course of life. What we do at the present that is worthwhile inspires others to do in the future. There is nothing in the world common to man that man cannot do. Not too long ago the son of a slave threw his hat in the ring and said to the world: “I am going to run for the highest office in this country that my brothers fought and saved.” Sad to say, the majority of our people (and the whites) laughed. I salute Atty. Frank R. Beckwith, and I call him the trail blazer When Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who was the idol of millions of Americans, returned to this country his own called him a hero. Hundreds of oars, big brass bands and motorcycles cleared the way for their hero. The believe in lifting up their own. It is a shame that 75% pr more of our people act like crabs in a barrel. We believe in pulling down, not lifting up. In our town there are over 70,000 Negroes. Why can’t we do the same for Beckwith as the whites did for

MacArthur” In my opinion Atty. Beckwith is a hero. I would joy to see all the Negro mindstets of the city get together and line up the Negroes behind our hero and turn him loose on a platform in the biggest hall in the city. Democrats and Republicans should get together for this effort and look at the man and not the party, Can anyone tell me what party in the

South is giving us hell? What party in the South is burning crosses? What party in the South is burning houses and churches? What party in the South is calling us niggers? What party the policemen be-, long to who are mistreating our people in our town? I’m sure it’s not Atty. Beckwith’s party. Fleecy locks and black complexion do not alter nature’s claim. Skin may differ but affection lies in black and whites the same Atty. Beckwith well have my prayers,

up the steep ladder. Rev. George Tate.

Ewing - Champion Says Thanks for Recorder Help To The Editor: Robert Ewing of Richmond, the Negvo applicant for a trooper’s position with the Indiana State Police, joins me in expressing our thanks and appreciation for the assistance you rendered in getting a re-

view of Ewing’s rejection before the Indiana State Police Board. . I feel that a blow was struck for fair play and decency in Indiana by the action of the board in permitting Ewing to continue his efforts to become Indiana’s first Negro state police trooper. Again, many thanks for your great cooperation. Very truly yours, Rufus C. Kuykendall.

Hints On Health

Things You Should Know

'4

CARNEY..

. The hero of the negro

VOLUNTEER 54l& MASSACHUSETTS regiment/in THE BATTLE OF FORT

WAGNER. ON JULY IQ, I86Q HE MET OVERWHELMING ODOQCRVMQ * THE OLD FLAG NEVER TOUCHED THE GROUND, BOYS."/

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CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT Small children have more curiosdtl than common eense. A child’s curiosity is natural and leads to learning. He needs to learn how to stay alive, something he does not think much about. To keep a child alive is the parents’ responsibility. Parents arc teachers in this early learning, with varying degrees of success r failure. Accident, more than disease, a killer of childi<n. Doctors can immunize children against a dozen formerly fatal diseases There is no vaccine against accident; there is only circumstance. Accidents in the home— smothering, falls, poisonous household cleaners left within a child’s reach, burns from

fire and electricity* are to be guarded against. Children are killed in the street by automobiles and drowned at swimming centers. Qf concern to parents are a child’s eating habits, medical and dental care, early education and desirable association with other children. We read much about the baleful effect of a mother’s protecH'' F instinct, overly cultivated. A child must learn to cope with threats to his bodily safety and life. According to accident figures — the number of overly protective parents must be far outnumbered by parents who are not enough concerned with their children to demonstrate for them a way of living.

Our Olidtor

V

Dili* Week

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Aa ANP Feature JULY 24, 1393 — Chorles S. Johnson, noted sociologist and first Negro president of Fisk University, born in Bristol, Va. 6 JULY 25,1866 — Ulysses S. Grant, elevated from combaf general to full general as result of victorious leadership of Union forces during Civil War. JULY 26| 1847 *— Liberia, first alf-Negro republic in A £/"t /A,as* f/■*■**«f*c ikv/Jo