Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 November 1998 — Page 5

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FRBAY, MOVEMBER 27,1998

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

Kwame "hire goes ‘Home’

PAGE AS

NNPA the Youth of the African Democratic Revolution (YRDA), the Funeral services were held youth-wing of the Democratic Sunday, Nov. 22 in Conakry, Party of Guinea (RDA); the Party Guinea for Kwame Ture, (for- For the Independence of Guinea merly known as Stokely Bissau and Cape Yerde (PAIGO); Carmichael). A longtime chain- the Party of Sierra Leone pion of Black liberation, TVire died (PANA.FU), and the A-APRP in Nov. 15, after a battle with pros- Guinea and West Africa. In additate cancer. tion, Ture was very busy finishAt press time, attempts were ing his autobiography with Mike being made to bury Tine next to Thelwell, dictating articles and late Guinean President, Ahmed speeches, and fielding questions Sekou Hire, according to Fulani and requests, despite the constant Sheffield, a member of the All- pain. African Peoples Revolutionary Hire had been one of the chief Party, (A-APRP) to which Hire spokespersons and organizers for belonged. Memorial services are the A-APRP in the Republic of also being held all over the U.S., Guinea in West Africa for 30 including at Howard University, years. While in Guinea, he studHire’s alma mater. ied with mid worked under the “I am deeply saddened by the guidance of the late President Hire death of Stokely Carmichael. He and the late President of Ghana, spent his lifetime committed to the Osagyefo Kwame Nknimah. principles of freedom and racial Most people began to hear of equality for people of African de- Ture during the Civil Rights scent around the world. He never Movement of the 1960s, when he wavered. He never yielded to participated in the first Freedom popularcriticism,”saidU.S. Rep. R.ides and many sit-ins and John Lewis. The Georgia con- marches, gressman, a former colleague of His dedication to the movement Hire’s in the Student Non-Violent began during Hire’s feigh school Coordinating Committee (SNCC), years at Bronx High School of was one of several civil rights Science from which he graduated leaders who honored him earlier in 1960. This continued when he this year in Washington, D.C. enrolled at Howard University in while Hue was in the U.S. receiv- 1960. He graduated in 1964 with ing medical treatment a degree in philosophy. In recent months, however. In the winter of 1960, Black Hire had returned to his adopted college students in dozens of cornhome land and his modest little munities across the country conapartment in the heart of Conakiy. ducted sit-ins to secure the desegThere he was surrounded by negation of lunch counters in drug friends including Marylatou and variety stores. Arrests numBarry, his doctor, his former wife bered in the thousands. On every and members of the A-APRP. major college campus in this Right until the end, he contin- country, students organized ued to answer his phone with his groups such as NAG (The Non trademark greeting: “Ready for Violent Action Group), to conthe revolution?” In fact, during his tinue the Sit-In Movement. Hire last days Hire was planning a trip was a founding member of NAG on behalf of the party to Libya to and was one of its early leaders, protest the embargo and travel ban SNCC was formed out of this against the country. student activism at Shaw UniverHe also continued to meet, sity in April 1960. Other promiwork and study with the cadre of nent members included Washing-

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ton, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry. SNCC and its student base provided ground troops for almost every major Civil Rights demonstration and campaign during the 1960s. Hire was one of the 300 “Freedom Riders” arrested in Mississippi and Alabama during the Spring and Summer of 1961. From that point on, he participated in every major campaign that emerged.Hire came to the public’s attention on Nov. 16,1965 when Look Magazine featured an article titled “Freedom Road,” that mentioned his role as an organizer and leader in SNCC. Several months later in June 1966, Ebony magazine historian and writer, Lerone Bennett, Jr., wrote an article featuring Hire. Bennett observed that Hire like, “No other young man, with the exception of Martin Luther King, Jr. has risen so fast so quick. No other young man has sparked such an avalanche of hope, fear, anger, and public concern." Bennett asked the question, “Who is this young man? What does he want? What does he mean by Black Power?” According to materials from that time, Ture was elected chairman of SNCC at a Kingston Spring staff meeting in April, 1966. He ushered in a new level and direction for both the organization and the larger movement of which it was an integral part. And in June, after James Meredith was gunned down on a highway in Mississippi, he sounded the new Black mood, saying “The only way we are gonna stop them white men from whippin’ us is to take over. We been saying freedom for six years and we ain’t got nothing. What we gonna start saying now is BLACK POWER!!” Hire moved to Guinea in 1968, devoting the rest of his life to PanAfricanism.

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