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P«l« 4
THE CRUSADER
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
JULY 12, 1963
I*oni* ivhmiiImms of the Student Nonviolent Coordinat
ing Committee, a national civil rights organization, arc
now at work with the Crusaders here in Savannah. Bruce
Cordon, John Kifnor, Kick Tuttle and Joe Eyer aid the
Youth Strategy Committee in planning direct action and
iii using nonviolent techniques. This is their opinion
of the struggle here: what is going on, and where it is
headed.
Many thousands of people nr other hand, the joyful dolo'inina
lively support the fight for free- tion expressed in the night murch-
dorn in Savannah. They come' es and in the willingness to go to
out to the mass meetings, to day
and night demonstrations. Many
• willing to go to jail, and to
jail , is too casually organized to
have the full effect. Many
Southern cities have obtained
if ice some part of their ordi-|what the Negroes of Savannah
<rv way of living to win their ire still striving for, with a small
iVoedom. Registration to vote j nucleus of determined people,
is easy in Savannah, so great num-j These people know when and
of Negro people can and should where to strike, how to widely
• egister. A significant part of’publicize their actions, and howto
tiie Negro population now exec keep their direct action creative
use its right and duty t*» vote.: and new. The Savannah move-
The united voted of the Negro j ment lacks these qualities in im-
has already affected city politics, portant sectors of its struggle.
In all of these ways Savannah To correct this lack we must
differs from other Southern cit : es. hav P a clear view of the nature of
The movement in Atlanta, for in the struggle for freedom, and a
stance, has far fewer active sup- j pinpointing of where we are right
porters. But they have won part now.
ol their demand.'': late in June, the The fight to wipe out segre-
hotels ami most of the downtown cation has two basic campaigns.
Atlanta restaurants desegregated. First, wo must do away with the
Night marches, as a regular pro- outward appearances of discrimi-
gram, are now in the South. But nation. These include segregation
,! vs program has yielded a good in lunch counters, restaurants, ho-
! of success: more people e me tels. motels, theatres, tax windows,
for the night marches, while vc-t rooms, and so on. The mo-
e mobilization of .masses of peo- thod of struggle appropriate to
■ e spells out in large letters the this first phase is direct action:
determination of the Negro com- - : t-ins, freedom marches, pickct-
•nity. At th ( . same time, the ing, boycott of Broughton Street,
people here are willing to back These notions will work because
up the : r determination by going to they strike at the power structure,
jail. In this respect Savannah hurt the economy of segregated
c o m p ares laborably with Savannah. But onc 0 the appoar-
eities as Nashville, Tenn., that are lances are removed, the jimerow
in the lead of the struggle for signs taken down, how many Ne-
equality. j groes will be able to eal in An-
Yet the situation of Savannah ton’s or sleep at the DeSoto Ho
rn contradictory. On the one hand, j tel? How many men and women
the movement is headed in the who work the night shift will be
right direction: obtaining the able to use the desegregated
right to vote. This right is fun- down theatres?
damental to the solution of the Segregation has roots much
segregation problem. On the I deeper than its outward appear
ance-. Slum housing in the Ne-1
gro urea of the city; inadequate
sewer systems; no paving on the
streets in Negro districts; inude-!
quale reerelationgl facilities and,
inferior schools for Negro chil
dren. These defects produce evils
I in addition. Any day you can
! see Negro children playing in mud 1
I and puddles at the corner of the
j unpaved street. These puddles j
ai’i! a breeding place for mosoui-j
! tos and disease germs. Slum I
housing often has crumbling foun
dations which weaken with every
rain; and in the dark tunnels un
der houses small children play,
while rats and scavenging insects
make themselves at home. Ov
ercrowded housing denies privacy,
and thus ordinary decency, to ;
every Negro. The rent is sky-1
high, as with all tenement lions-1
ing.
The white man keeps the Ne
gro in subjection by encouraging
drunkenness and crime in the Ne
gro communities. lie knows that
if the black man seeks relief from
his degradation through united ac
tion. The white man also knows
that if he can keep the Negro di
vided against himself in crime and
rackets, then he can manipulate
any arising militancy, and thwart
it with ease.
The Negro does not lie idle in
this fix, however. Since he i.-
human, he has dignity. His dig
nity is denied by his social posi
tion. As a result, he must con
stantly put on appearances, keep
up a facade, to avoid admitting
to himself that he is not free, that
he is constantly humiliated and
treated as less than human. He
buys a powerful car; he keeps his
pants pressed so sharp you could
cut your finger on the crease;
lie wears his hat cocked at a jaun
ty angle. He talks big.
This cycle of humiliation, be
ginning with actual conditions of
life, running through reactions to
this way of living, and generating
PART OF A COLLECTION OF KNIVES taken from local youth by the Crusade. Responsible
police officials have stated that the Negro crime rate has shown a marked decrease since the
•tart of demonstrations.
back to degraded conditions I
life through buying on credit t <
maintain the facade thi eye] ■
must be broken.
Wi* begin to break it with the
desegregation of downtown iacil-
ities, the wiping out of the appear
ances of jimerow. This step gives
back true dignity to the oppress
ed, as every struggle for libera
tion must. Also, it instills confi
dence in united action to achieve
a goal.
This confidence In working with
your fellow man is hard to come
by, especially for the humiliated
Negro. As we have seen, he
reacts to his humiliation by valuing
him-elf in terms of flashy posses
sions. It is a case of who owns
a bigger or more expensive car.
People are valued by what they
own, rather than what they be
lieve. I will envy you if you have
a more powerful stereo. But if
you believe in freedom and equal
ity. ran 1 envy you for your
belief? What can 1 do but be
lieve along with you, and work
along with you, and fight by your
side? So when we struggle for
freedom, we cease to envy and
hate. We are willing to stand to
gether for the cause of freedom.
We have confidence that by unit
ed action we can win what we
lie!iev 0 in.
The basic method t uproot the
deep-down effects of segregation
is to vote. Savannah lias the
right idea: the direct action pro
gram is led by the Crusade for
Voters. When the appearances
of jimerow are wiped away, the
fundamental job of voter registia-
tion will go on.
How will the Negro vote change
the situation? We want a new
city. Tt would he nice to pave
the streets in front of the slum
housing; but what we want is
new housing, integrated, with ad-
o mite sewerage, water supply,
iw'rby recreation centers, and
fu n y equipped schools. Most of
all, we demand better jobs and
equal pay for equal work, so that
we can pay for the good things
of life that are rightfully ours.
This is a matter of the vote. Not
only can fair employment prac
tices laws be enacted, and dis
crimination in union training for
skilled work he eliminated. The
point is not to take the job from
the white man, but to create more
jobs. Such jobs as construction
work to build the new city, to
erect schools and build housing
projects, must he Federally fi
nanced and directed. A>d to ed
ucation, which must improve the
education of the Negro first of all,
can only come from the Federal
government. Voting is involved
here two ways: first, voting for
and Administration that will car
ry thes ( . measures out; second,
voting against our Southern ra
cist Senators and Congressmen
who consistently block aid to edu
cation, medical aid, and financing
for housing.
So there is a two-part strate
gy to win freedom: kill segrega
(Continued on Page 5
SCLC LEADER
AT MASS MEETING
Iiev. James “Fiery” Bevels, sec
retary ol the SCLC speaks for our
Freedom Now Movement ato ne
of the nightly mass meetings. Rev.
Bevels spoke from the subject
“Use That Responsibility and
Power Which Is In Your Hands,
Or It Will Destroy You.” He
reminded Savannahians that God
sent Moses down in Egypt land to
free his people with only a stick
in his hand backed up by the pow
er of God Almighty. Moses had
i fear of the military powers of the
Pharoahs but lie obeyed the com
mand of God. Moses carried a
stick in his hand and one day
God told him to put the stick on
the ground. When the stick was
placed on the ground, it turned
into a serpent. To me this is
something to destroy you. God
commanded Moses to pick up tiie
snake, but (Moses) feared it
would destroy him. After a bit
oi hesitation, Moses caught the
snake by the tad and attempted
to pick itup . The snake turned
back into a stick. Then Moses,
no longer afraid, used the stick
which he picked up to protect him
self.”
“America is being destroyed be
cause her citizens have laid their
responsibilitieson the ground.
Disregard for the U. S. Supreme
Court’s School desegregation Rul
ings turned Little Rock and New
Orleans into serpents that almost
destroyed them. Birmingham was
turned into a town of savages be
cause the 14th amendment was
thrown on the ground by the pub
lic officials. Long ago, whBe
Americans in Mississippi laid the
constitutional rghts of Negroes on
the ground, these rights have
turned into snakes and Mississip
pi is being destroyed. Our church
es have laid their responsibilities
on the ground; responsibilities like
teaching the Fatherhood of God
and the Brotherhood of man, love
thy neighbor as thyself, you are
your brothers’s keeper, how can
l you love God whom you have nev-
| er seen when yon don’t love your
I fellow man, and if you do it to
I the least of these you have also
! done it unto me. These churches
responsibilities have turned into
snakes, and are now destroying
the freedom of all mankind. C?t-
' izens of Savannah Georgia have
laid their responsibilities on the
(Continued on Page 5
Fiery Bevel Urges
Responsibility
SNICK Team Aids Crusade;
Rvaluates Savanna,! Movement