Newspaper Page Text
October 10, 1963
The Maroon Tiger
Page 3
THE MAROON TIGER
Founded in 1898
George Perdue, Jr.
Editor-in-Chief
Associate Editor Charles Jackson, Jr.
Business Managers .... Earl Guiles, Obasa Babatunde
Secretary to Editor Henry Lee
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Editor Hardy Withers
Reporters .... Jethro Toomer, Walter Bums, B. C.
Amadi, Walter Pierce
FEATURE DEPARTMENT
Editor Johnny Houston
Reporters Arthur Davis, Wilson Fallin, William
Clement, William Leonard, Leon Reynolds
SPORTS DEPARTMENT
Editor Richard Enochs
Reporters .... Robert Davis, Johnny Fuller, Ronald
Mosley, John Lowell
CIRCULATION & EXCHANGE
Manager Jerome Hunt
Assistant Herman Mixon
LAY-OUT DEPARTMENT
Manager Billingsley Jones
PHOTOGRAPHERS
J. T. Hargrett Alton Pertilla ... Samuel Andrews
CARTOONISTS
Barry Gaither William Howard
Discrimination? Or Lack of Training?
WORDS TO LIVE BY
EDITORIAL
In an article in the September 21st edition of the
SATURDAY EVENING POST, a noted Negro, Louis E.
Lomax, says lack of training, not discrimination, cheats
Negro youths of job opportunities. “The generation of
young Negroes,” he states, "that is doing so much to
win new opportunities for itself is ill-equipped to use
those opportunities .... With splendid courage, these
youngsters are breaking down barriers of prejudice.
Yet they are not qualified for the new jobs open to them
in industry and government. Even worse, Negro students
often fail to show a desire to get ahead.”
The facts concerning this matter are very disturbing:
- The National Urban League, an organization concern
ed with finding jobs for Negroes in industry, has more
Job openings than qualified Negroes can fill. This lack
of qualified Negro workers has plagued the League for
five years.
- Only four of the 208 students from Negro colleges who
took the State Department’s Foreign Service Entrance
Examination in the past four years made passing grades -
one passed in 1961, three in 1962.
- Despite an honest and intensive search, the Civil
Service Commission has been unable to find as many
qualified Negro law students for work in the Justice
Department as the Administration would like to employ
there.
-The Chrysler Corporation’s New Orleans division
recently gave a clerk-typist examination to 50 Negro
girls; all 50 failed the test. The New Orleans Urban
League then invited each of the girls to take a free
course in typing with the understanding that they would
reapply at Chrysler once they achieved the minimum
rate of 40 words a minute. Only one of the girls took
the free course.
- At least two national foundations dedicated to giving
grants to Negro students complain that they are unable
to find students who can satisfy the minimal require
ments for the grants.
- Several Ivy League Colleges not only are searching
for Negro students but are ready to offer full scholar
ship to them. The students cannot be found.
- The American Telephone and Telegraph Company
has hired a Negro, Raymond Scruggs, to recruit quali
fied Negro workers. A. T. & T. is but one of the major
firms to take such a step in recent months. But the
harvest has been meager.
- Finally, and this is the most disturbing fact of all,
spokesmen for both the Urban League and the United
Negro College Fund frankly admit that, as things now
stand, this general lack of readiness among Negro
college students will get worse, not better. “Unless
there is a rapid change in many of our academic
institutions,” says Otis Finley, Jr., associate direc
tor of education of the Urban League, “we may find
ourselves in the odd position of having more welfare
dependency - in effect, more economic enslavement -
at the very time when job opportunities free of racial
restrictions are more prevalent.”
One could hardly ignore what Lomax and Otis Finley
Jr. have said here concerning the Negro youth today.
It will be well that we as Negro college students
today rededicate ourselves to the task which is before
us. Are we to remain complacent and set in our ways
at a time when opportunity is knocking at our door?
Are we going to take cover and refuge in the face
of these challenges ?
The facts indeed are stated in Lomax’s article.
To shun them and not take action will be fatal. To
heed them and be motivated toward positive action
could mean a reniassance in our life, our future,
and our happiness; for it is the lack of training, not
discrimination, that cheats young Negroes of job op
portunities.
Whoso would be a man,
must be a nonconformist.”
R. W. Emerson
But there is but one man
Who knows
That’s the man who faces
A man should not become
satisfied with his status
as a conformist in our
society today. He should
strive to think and analyze
all known ideas about an
issue. It is relevant for man
to carefully weigh all sides
of the issue. In other words,
he should gain that per
spective which expresses
his sincere and personal
opinion.
For to go along with a
situation because it is the
general consensus of the
group is not always the
proper course to take. But
let each consider that way
which will prove most
beneficial to him. Taking
this stand will gain for him
the respect of his fellow
man, and will give him a
special sense of self-inde
pendence and confidence.
Furthermore, this position
allows him to make his best
contribution to mankind.
Just what traits does it
take for one to become a
non-conformist? First of
all, a desire to perser-
vere regardless of criti
cism is a noteworthy one.
A courageous person is
able to stand alone in a
crisis. President Kennedy
expressed this view when
he said:
Bull fight critics
Ranked in row,
Crowds enormous
Plaza full;
the bull.
But most of all, self-
discipline, in my opinion,
is the highest virtue in the
character of a nonconfor
mist. It is the aim of the
nonconformist to discipline
his ideas with reason. It
is true that conformity
tends to lessen the value of •
one’s opinion. To get the
necessary knowledge and
then to arrive at the best
conclusion is the aim of
a true nonconformist.
Morehouse men, will you
choose to be conformists
and be considered merely
as a part of the crowd/
or will you dare to be an
individual and make a con
tribution to humanity ?
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