Portland Challenger_1952-12-23

Page Two An Independent ll{ewspaper WILLIAM A. HILLIARD EDITOR AND PUBLISHER TED BURGER RICHARD BOGLE JR. MANAGING EDITOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR 3300 North Williams Avenue, Portland 12, Oregon MUrdock 4092 Published every other Friday in Portland, Oregon. The Chal– lenger is not responsible for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. • SUBSCRIPTION RATES 10 Cents per copy $2.50 per year Christmas Every Day At this. time thousands of editorials, the country over, will express the same sentiment as this one. They will all ask what's happened to the concept of "peace on earth, good will toward men" and why it can't be practiced with the same cig– nificance the year around. Why can't we of the world have Christmas, in the deeper sense, every day? PORTLAND CHALLENGER More Urban League Continued from page 1 Civil Rights• Bill Kerns backed up Berry's state– ment and added, "Such segrega– tion as housing causes our entire structure to suffer economically as well as morally." • Tuesday, December 23, 195 Anti-African Thoughts By EMPHRIAM LAYODE Special "'rite, The Challenger Today there are many habits of thought which are anti– African in some parts of Europe and America. These hinder the realization of progress and happiness in Africa. Along with these habits of thought are some unauthorized plans and platitudes for the settlement of problems of this huge con– tinent. Europe and her imperialists make up a unique phenomenon, an effigy in the political, educational, economic and even re– ligious and social development of Africa. These demagogues are charged with the responsibUities of maintaining the status quo and so they employ their peculiar shrewd hush-hush pol– icy of gradualism and "of you will never get their technique" to retard progress in Africa. These people on the top of their voices speak of Democracy but instead are acting imperialis– tically and thus from time to time they give Africa political servitude and ignoble tutelage. Very unfortunately the position of Africa in the world poli– tics has made it impossibl~ for her representatives to speak or to be heard. All that is known of Africa outside of Africa has come from various European government agencies which today control the destiny of Africa. The objective is peace, at home and abroad and the question' The result is many people think traditionally that the Afri– can has no political acQmen, has neither religious nor the ca– pacity to direct the general af~airs of his country. we all ponder is simply how to achieve this peace. All of us are deeply concerned and all of us have ideas, no doubt, about . how to quell this world-wide unrest. This is ours: LAWSON McCALL Freedom Forum · moderator However, to contend this, history is on our side, because those who are conversant with the records of Africa in the past see how utterly fallacious these habits of thinking about the African are. They will know too that Africans are not children in government, religion or social affairs. We are children only in one thing, namely, mechanization of our methods of production, distribution and militarism. Three Points for Peace We propose a three-point program for peace, a lasting peace. Our solution is not, however, a panacea in that it will take time for the program to take effect. Concept of Brotherhood-Point one is the foundation of the whole program. Without a development of the concept of brotherhood within every heart there is no solution. With the development of this concept there comes a realiza– tion that even though we maye take different paths we all climb the same mountain and towards the same objective. The concept must be applied to all whether they live next door or half the world away. Dedication to Truth-The second point concerns the ability of the individual to recognize the truth and then direct his energies along the route which is indicated by the truth. It is not, however, easy to always be able to discern the truth. We are prone to let our emotions and the store of er– roneous information we all possess -decide our ·courses of ac– In answer to a question from the floor in regards to the pos– sible passage of a civil rights bill in the state Berry r e p li e d, "Chances of such a bill passing are pretty much related to what we will do. Individuals must let the legislature know that the pre– ponderance of this population wishes to live in a democracy." This is the first in a series of articles on Nigeria and the cus– toms, thoughts and culture of the Berry gave two reasons why population of that African coun– race progress is retarded, lethargy and misrepresentation. He said to try by Ephraim Layode. F'rom Ni- speed up the program against the geria, West Africa, Layode is a debit side of the balance sheet the student at the University of Port– people must be correctly in- land where he is majoring in ed– formed. "Good .attitudes are not ucation. He has spent time in Lon- enough, somethmg has to be done . . . . about it," he concluded. don and IS very fam1har with I the present-day situation on the Lelfe,r To The Editor African continent. EMPHRAU-1: LAYODE Africa looks ahead To the Editor: Just a note to tion for us or to let the influence of these overshadow the real .commend you on the calibre of significance of the ruth. .your newspaper. Not being jour– nalistically qualified to judge, I Industrialization and Development of Modern Africa-The Africans believe today only Africans can adequately plan how best Africans can industrialize and develop modern Africa. Within the continent of Africa, Liberia does not plan for Ethiopia, unless she is requested to do so. Egypt does not bother to lay out Ugandas future plans; neither does Nigeria intend to blueprint for the Gold Coast's future. But there can be no right solution as long as the truth is can only say that I like or dis- not delved o:gt and then brought to bear upon a problem; no like; in this case very definitely solution unless we are all students of the truth, dedicated to the former. Success to you. and humble before the truth. JAMES 0. BROOKS Faith and Energy-This third and last point is equally fun- , damental. Having gained a working knowledge of the pre- vious two points, we must now gather the faith in the correct– ness of them and then develop the energy to ex-tend them into our every day problems of gett ing along with our fellow men. We must be able to accept the challenge offered us by the complexity of modern living an to answer with the energy and direction which will solve the problems. The faith can be derived from the realization that there are problems which must be dispelled, that as individual citizens we can solve these problems and that they are our direct re– sponsibility. The energy is derived simply from the hope for better days ahead and the solemn realization that these better days must l::>e worked for. Then, as from one philosopher to another, there can be Christmas every day. So You Want A Job Continued from page 1 If you are tefused the job, be sure you understand why. If you are qualified and believe you have been refused the jQb because of your race, color, religion or nationality, remember you can and should report this fact to the State Bureau of La– bor in the State Office building, 1400 S. W. Fifth Avenue, in person or in writing explaining in detail your experience to them. With this knowledge they will take prompt steps to investigate your complaint. If your complaint is found to be supported by any sub– stantial evidence, they will immediately endeavor to elimin· ate the unlawful practice: (In the January 9 issue of the Portland Challenger Mark Smith will present the second in his series of articles entitled, "You and Training for a Better Job.") 1433 NE ·1st Ave. Hospitality Noted By Student Guest THE BOUQUET OF THE WEEK: It seems that a couple of years ago the Leon A. John– sons through their son Ben, were casual hosts for a few days to a young man, George Boyd, a graduate student at Univer– sity of Oregon. This week, the J ohnsons re– ceived the November issue of the Journal of Social Psychol– ogy. In it was a thesis, "The Levels of Aspirations of White and Negro Children in a Non– Segregated Elementary School," by George Felix Boyd. A footnote contained ac– knowledgments to professors who aided Boyd in making the study and carried this message too: "I would like also to ex– press my sincere appreciation to Mr. and Mrs. Leon A. John– son and their son, Ben, for mak– ing my stay possible while data for this study were being gath– ered." George Felix Boyd is now head of the psychology depart– ment at Alabama State Teach– ers college in oMntgomery, and has been invited to contribute again to the magazine. He has recently begun for his Ph.D. at the .University of Utah. But surprise it is today that these colonies are backing in national unit. The truism is, real Africans do not intrude upon other people's business because true Africans respect another man's inalienable right and the capability to be his own mas– ter and manage his affairs. Furthermore, and this is what any experienced man in ad– ministration should know, how administratively impossible it is for any minister or manager to have the charge and control of territories too far, too big, too cultrally different and fun– damentally complicated in their religious, economic and po– litical philosophies. The best man to serve such a nation is its own citizen, who knows and understands what his fellow citizens want and how they want it. The logical assumption, therefore, is that the best man to serve Africans is an African. Before the invasion of Europeans in Africa, there was no country of Africa which never had had her own leaders. Up until now, all over African countries there are score of kings and career diplomats who could very well do great things ' for Africa if they were given the chance to put their abilities into practice. (In the January 9 issue: AFRICA IS IMPA· TIENT.) School Hearings Continued from page 1 he did not believe Congress could adopt legislation, under the Four– teenth Amendment, which would remedy the situation. An international twist was brought into the issues when Ne– gro lawyers from the District of Columbia case charged that the segregation in that city's public school system, violated the laws of the United Nations as well as those of the United States Con– stitution. Correction In the December 12 issue the fortland Challenger reported, in reference to the 1952 re– vised Urban league balance sheet, that since 1920 Negroes of Portland had found employ– ment iiJ. a number of non-ster- ·~eotyped jobs. The sentence ~hou~d .have read since 1950 Negroes have found employ– ment in various non-stereo– typed jobs.