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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