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THE MAROON TIGER
April, 1967
NATIONAL POLITICAL UNITY Cent.
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5-COLUMN 3)
zenship. The moral concepts of human
equality and brotherhood have been com
promised and subverted by the white
power complex of government and busi
ness. Thus the masses of black Ameri
cans are still paralyzed by poverty;
frustrated by unkept promises, bloodied
in the streets of America, sacrificed in
the jungles of Vietnam and strangled by
a pattern of racism that runs through the
entire fabric of American life.
Black men, women and children
watched as a racist Georgia legislature
twice denied Julian Bond the right to
represent them. Again more than twenty
million black men, women and children
watched a racist United States Congress
deny Adam Clayton Powell the right to
represent them. No longer can black
people be regarded by this society as
passionless, as insufferable and as sub
human, for they can see that the time
is now to assert themselves as men.
These racial injustices prevail because
of the absence of adequate political
power on the part of black Americans
to bring about an end to these in
equities.
It is imperative that new methods
and tactics be used to end this pattern of
powerlessness.
In a racist society such as this,
only through the use of power generated
by the unified action of black people on
behalf of black people and black causes
can justice, equality, and human dignity
be attained.
No political machinery now in exist
ence is available to us through which
our just hopes and aspirations can be
achieved.
Hence, it cannot be denied that the
attainment of our social, economic, po
litical, and human rights will come only
through our own joint efforts, dedicated-
ly inspired and relentlessly pursued.
Therefore, we hereby call together
all black Americans without regard to
their party affiliation, political leanings,
or social status to assemble in conven
tion in the City of New York on Feb
ruary 18 and 19, 1967, to participate in
the creation of a black national political
structure.
Philosophical Forum
by Terry Dawkins
They stood before us mere
ly as imitations of meat, blood,
and bones.
They begged us until their
throats were like slabs of
burnt coal.
They cried to us until they
choked and split their tongues.
They showed us the decay
in the ribs of their shrunken
bodies.
They ached and trembled
in the man-eating jaws of man
made poverty.
As we threw dirt into the tar
nished holes of their scream
ing eyes.
“Fraud! Fraud! Fraud! It won’t
work! It can’t work! You hear! You hear!
Do you understand? Do you hear? Don’t
you see? Don’t you see?” These were
the strange words that were shouted to
me one morning about four o’clock. I
was sitting at my desk studying. It was
warm so I left my door open and a little
man walked through the door telling me
the words I have just mentioned. The
little man was dressed in an orange robe
with a green hood. He had no hair on
his head or face. After his abrupt intro
duction, he smiled at me and lay on my
bed looking up at the ceiling with his
hands folded across his stomach. He
spoke again in a soft, pleading voice.
“I want to tell you a story. I want to
tell you a story. I want to tell you about
the places I have been, the things I
have seen, and the world as it is. I have
travelled 'through many countries, and
everywhere I went I saw black ants and
yellow ants and brown ants and white
ants being manipulated by black ant-
eaters and yellow anteaters and brown
anteaters and white anteaters. It was
strange to see the anteaters not eating
the ants. Instead of eating the ants, the
anteaters made promises of peace and
welfare benefits for the masses of ants,
but at the same time the anteaters were
doing just the opposite of what they
promised.
“Each country in which I travelled
gave me an opportunity to see a different
colored anteater use a different method
of ‘convincing’ the ants in his country.
I noticed, too, that the ants are no longer
physically forced to do what the ant-
eaters wanted them to do. Now they are
psychologically induced to realize that
whatever is good for the ‘country’ is good
and necessary for them. Seemingly, the
anteaters are the ones who define what
is good for the country. None of the
anteaters worried about a revolution be
cause the system was big enough to
eventually contain or destroy, if neces
sary, all of the revolutionaries.
“In Russia, the anteaters tell the
ants that the United States is full of
anteaters who are always hungry for
Russian ants. Therefore, the Russian
ants must always use whatever is neces
sary to protect themselves from an in
vasion by the fierce American anteaters.
The Russian ants believe their leaders
and are satisfied to live their lives in
constant fear and in constant toil for
the defense of their country.
“In China, the anteaters tell the
ants that the United States and Russia
are full of anteaters and anteating ma
chines that must be fed yellow ants con
stantly. The ants in China believe their
leaders and sacrifice their whole lives
to the never-ending task of defending
their country. Year after year, the yellow
ants work for the defense of their country
and live in near poverty.
“The anteaters in Europe, who have
just recently come out of a war of their
own, tell their ants that war is a terrible
thing but a necessity at times. Especial
ly if the anteaters in America say that
war is necessary. The anteaters in Eu
rope promise their ants that they won’t
have to fight the yellow ants in Asia,
but all Eruopean ants should support
any war the American anteaters deem
desirable.
“In Africa, the anteaters tell the
black ants that the white anteaters in
Russia and America and the yellow ant-
eaters in China need the natural re
sources of Africa, but they all will have
to pay a heavy price and the outcome of
the negotiations must be African. The
ants in Africa believe their leaders’
words, but they don’t understand what
price must be paid by the foreign ant-
eaters, because the African anteaters
keep forcing them to industrialize as
rapidly as possible so they can be ‘mod
ern’ like the ants in America, Russia
and China.
“The ants in the United States are
very complicated and much more active
than the ants in Africa, Europe, China,
and Russia. The anteaters in America
have convinced the black ants and the
white ants that becoming a part of the
‘system’ is the greatest good attainable
on this earth. The anteaters have in
spired the black ants to believe that
their heaven on earth will be found when
they are all integrated into the ranks of
the white ants. The anteaters have also
told the white ants, who have no love
for the black ants and vice versa, that
the black ants must share in the wealth
of the nation and the benefits of living
in such a rational country as the United
States of America. But some of the black
ants are still angry with the white ants
and the white ants are angry with the
black ants and the anteaters are still
drafting all of the young ants, both black
and white, to fight the yellow ants in
Asia who are fighting each other be
cause the anteaters there can’t figure
for themselves what is best for the ants
in their own countries. Ants and ant-
eaters have been playing the same old
game for centuries.”
When the little man finished his
story, he looked at me with sad eyes*
and said, “Why do the ants find ration
ality in the irrationality of the anteaters?
Don’t the ants see that without them the
anteaters would not be able to act ir
rationally? Can’t the ants see that the
anteaters are maniacs whose existences
depend upon the ants? If there were no
ants to serve in the armies; if there were
no ants to starve themselves for the de
fense of an ant hill that doesn’t need de
fending; if there were no ants who would
let themselves be defined by anyone
other than themselves; if there were no
ants who believed there were no more
alternatives than the ones the anteaters
stated; then there would be no more ant-
eaters who could set up and perpetuate
irrational systems of destruction and
despair; there would be no more anteaters
to feel indestructible — to feel like little
gods with big appetites; there would be
no more anteaters who saw a need to
spend one dollar to wipe out poverty in
one country and seventy dollars to per
petuate poverty in some other part of
the world; there would be only two
choices for the anteaters: (1) They
would have to eat up all of the ants
everywhere, or (2) they would have to
meet the needs of those ants. I feel that
the anteaters would be afraid to eat up
all of the ants everywhere, because then
they would have to be ruled by each
other, and they are incapable of doing
that without eating up each other.”
The little man was standing when
he finished his last statement. He look
ed tired as he slowly turned to walk out
of my door. I was sleepy, so I crawled
out of my chair and crawled into bed
and went to sleep.
"Thanks, Baby"