CA
AY 23 - 29, 1984 THE CITIZEN PAGE I E
c
I.
LODY FOUR GOSP L S GERS - Th elody
Four Gospel Singer of u egon will celebrate
their 14th Anniversary on ay 27 at 3 p.m. at
Zion Baptist Church, 375 School Street here Rev.
Clarence Guy . p or. Gue s will be the United
Junior and t. Olive ale Chorus with special gu t
- 'dugan Knightingales of Kalamazoo. The elody
Four will also be in concert ay 26, 7 p.m. at uske­
gon Ht . High School uditoriurn. The orning
Star B ptist Church ale Choru will join them.
ry Day' president of the elody Four; Arthur
Ho ell, cretary; Jo phine Goin , mana er and
Laymon Zachery, booking manag r.
lJlDL Y SPEAKING
Build ing" with our collective wealt
By AImd W· ,Jr.
Frederick Douglas, the gre t Black
tat man of the American Civil War
period, stated, in n open letter to tho
Blac who were fleeing the Southern
s tes after President Rutherford Hayes
removed the Federal occupation troop
from tho tat, that he could sym­
pathize with their desire to be ir� of the
everyday brutality and con tant intimi­
dations pr cticed against ex-slaves, but he
could not agree that their flight would
accomplish its purpo , bee u e the
intimidations, harrassments and individ­
ual cts of brutality ould follo them.
Douglas insisted that if this b . c pro­
blem of Blac Americans wa ever to be
re lved, til y would have to stand and
f ce the problem w re it originated.
Dou ted that the per ns ho
nted progress ithout truggle, anted
th ithout its roar.
The reality of . Dou ' perception
proven over the next one hundred
years. For, after all the conver tions
d m etings, after th creation and
exp 'on of 0 major national organi­
zations (the .A.A.C.P. and the Urban
League), with very little change a
result, finally, on person stood up on a
bu in Alabam ·and said, I no stand
f . and f ce this problem at i origin
d the problem began to be solved.
Blac Ameri� ince 1954, have
gone thro ,once again, all of the
tin co entions, conferences, mi-
oar , tel' . 'on 0 and ·tivity
. 0 , including role-playing for bite­
company busin ,produc· on line fore­
men, educators, soci wor er , religiou
retre t , and so on. This has been a kind
of fie ing by B c from the phisto-
ted b' otry and intellectual prejudice
pr cticed daily again t the Black com­
-munity by all 1 ve of tod v: white
community.
o , once gain, th Blac Amencan
will have to tand f and face the pro- the economic and social upheaval being
blem t it origin, but this time it will not experienced at this time by the United
be in Alabama or against any particular States, it is imperative that they become
force of white bigots. Rather, the stand producer. Our future lies in our ability
must be m de in every Black community to become competitor for the am
of America, for the real problem this time markets that the white community
is ourselve. In our desperate need for ulitizes fo it economic ba . The pre-
relief from the constant pressures of nt energy cri is, the emergence of the
racial bigotry and prejudice, we have Third World an economic force in
renously pur ed every and any avenue world politic and particularly the n ed
that held promise of relief. We have of these United St te for solid relations
looked to the epublican and Demo- with Africa, affords Blac America with
cratic political partie , and som of us a unique opportunity to enter into the
have even looked to Communism and economic footrace on almost equal
other forms of Socialism. e have terms.
followed religiou leader in ve B ck Americans control as much
re . tance and militant leader in boy- wealth some European countrie
cotts and demonstrations, and some of us po their total national ealth.
h ve become activists promoting violence. . e must ce the pr ctice of being a
Yet, the valid goal of equal opportunity fiduciary gent of tru, ealth to the
in the pursuit of happine ,guaranteed white community and begin the practice
to all citizens of this United State of of retaining a greater portion of our
America by our con itution, is yet to own wealth through the ppropriate
become a reality. development of major economic pro­
ject - projects hich ill create a con­
tinued flow and job development,
controll d. by the Black community.
To achieve this, we mu utilize every
type of busine structure known, such
as individual proprietorship, corporat­
tions, partnership, cottage indu trie
I contend that Blac ericans will
never chieve equality with our fello
American through th historic effort ,
simply because these efforts are, in
e nee, asking for equality to be granted
payment from "The er" for ser-
vice to him, and equal opportunity a
granted in much the same manner that
profit shared by a company with its
orkers - under pre re and threats
called "labor arbi ation" .
Black American ,regardle of then:
personal rifice through patriotic r­
vice to their country, are not regarded
stock-holders in this great "corpora­
tion". Rather, they are thought of a
"share-croppers", i.e., when you do not
rve the needs of the landlord, you are
put off the land.
Yet, it is a f ct that Black American
are con umers, and if they are to survive
and producer cooperative .
Th Black Church was es ntial to
the uccessful development of th great
Civil Rights ovement. The Church wa
the communication core hich enabled
national movem nt to remain in con­
stant touch with the Black communitie
of Am rica. I propo that the Bl c
Church becom th cataly for the
creation of local economic developm nt
thrusts through the u of the congre­
gation's Purcha Po er! Before an
effici nt economic thru can b im­
plemented by Blac Americans, stable
and influential le net wor must be
established. This will enable BI c
man facturer to develop becau of the
networ 's bility to II tho BI ck­
produced product .
e should remember, "from mall
acorns, strong oak gro ." The b . c
ingredient in th ational Blac C ucus'
Plan for Blac Family Survival i the
creation of capital r ource that are
controlled by Blac . In other ord
stop being what e are no - a
through vehicl for billions of dollars.
If e are to urvive, th n the 1980s
must be the decade for Black to begin
the retention of a much larger portion
of "our collective wealth".
turn the n gative recolcitrant person
into pillar society. It can not be done.
Up to a po' t, I will agree with you.
When you y, orne will, "this is
impo ible," I think of my high school
ie ce te cher. He . d and believe
"The atom is the smallest unit of energy.
It is impo ble to break it. It will always
be the srnalles unit." He knew more
about . ence then than I do no ,but
did break the atom.
ImpoaibiJity is a tentati e and tr
t circumstance. Thil has been de­
mo rated to be true on many occuions.
In this , I be it is untrue.
EV.
OlA D l .. HOW
I
D, PASTO
THE QUEE ESTHE BAPTIST CHU CH
5510 OU C
We are truly thankful to God we are able to help through the
ministry of giving to those in need.
If you ar in
food, cloth i n9 ,
coun .1 in
/ w ar h
d of a · tanc for
housing, mploym nt,
piritua I hlp,
to rv you
Office Hrs. 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Mon - Sat
or C II 739-8825 • 739-5238
UEE ESTHE BAPTIST CHURCH
2220 SUPE 10 ST -.
US EGO HTS., I 494
GOOD MUSKEGO
ofield
If every child were born to love,
if ' en or " en ere m de are of
• his" or "her" own e ntlal and pecu­
liar value, if "he" or" e" re alowed
d impelled to develop "his" or' ern
If d encouraged to develop
"his" or' "peculiar talen ,
ould be a gIorio egon.
with all my heart that the
are irrefutable, that any
contrary indefeDlible.
thiS eDnilhbnpot-
me d under·
If you are interested in receiving our monthly Christian Out Reach
News Letter, please send in the following application as soon as
possible. (No charge for the News Letter).
••••••••••...•.•••••.•••....••..•...•..................••..........•....••.......
: Yes I Id Ilk. to subscrl to your onthty s L
·
·
·
·
•
•
·
·
·
. . .
·
·
·
·
•
·
•
· . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
••...............•......•.........•...............•.........•...................•
•••••••••••••••••••• .zIp •••••••••••••••