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Black manifesto, May 15, 1969.
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- speaker[George E. Sweazey speaking] Now with the report of the committee on the report and the General Council. [Smith, John Coventry, speaking] Mr.
- speakerModerator. Fathers and brothers.
- speakerLast night I became what
- speakerformer moderator Ganse Little says is the
- speakerperson who is next to being a living moderator.
- speakerI expect it to report to you this morning on minor
- speakerdetails, significant and important, but still minor details of the actions of
- speakerGeneral Council. But I now find myself
- speakerreporting in a preliminary way to you about
- speakera very serious issue.
- speakerI was on this platform before you twenty-one or two hours
- speakerago conducting a communion service
- speakerin which we declared our unity in Jesus Christ,
- speakera unity that binds us together in spite of
- speakerdifferences and tensions and triumphs over it because
- speakerwe are in Christ.
- speakerTwo weeks ago today in New York
- speakersome of the members of General Council were together talking about
- speakerwhat we would do as representatives of the United Presbyterian Church
- speakerif the presentation of the Black Manifesto
- speakerwas should be brought to our church.
- speakerWe were aware that they were, that it would be brought and would
- speakerprobably be brought to the General Board of the National Council [National Council of Churches] on the next day.
- speakerAnd we decided as we met together that our response would
- speakernot be one of obstructing conversations and
- speakernegotiate and conversations and dialogue.
- speakerWe would seek to listen but that our response then
- speakerwould be within the regular responsible avenues of church
- speakerstructure by which decisions are arrived at.
- speakerIn the General Board meeting of the National Council the next day, this kind of
- speakerprocedure was followed. Mr. James
- speakerForman, representing the Black Economic Development
- speakerGroup spoke, with restraint and
- speakerwithin a time limit. And, he was heard, and the
- speakermatter was referred to heads of communion
- speakera special committee representing all denominations which will consider
- speakerthe requests that were made and will give an answer some time the end
- speakerof June.
- speakerThe General Council of this church met on Monday
- speakerhere in San Antonio. I have never seen a General Council
- speakerin the more than 10 years that I've been related to it as a corresponding member deal
- speakerso exhaustively so seriously with a single
- speakerproblem.
- speakerWhat should we do in anticipation? For certainly,
- speakerMr. Forman knew that the assembly was meeting in in San Antonio. Should we
- speakertry to arrange a way that had been successful before the General Board or
- speakershould we wait and and perhaps have a disruption in which
- speakerwe would not be able to talk to one another? And
- speakerby yesterday about noon we decided.
- speakerBy that time we knew also that he had made an approach through the office of
- speakerthe Board of National Missions. So we invited him.
- speakerWhat I'm saying to you is that the consideration of an invitation had begun
- speakerseveral days before. We still
- speakerbelieve that the process of listening
- speakerwithout compromising our position is a Christian one.
- speakerSecondly. Every agency and committee of the General
- speakerAssembly is an agency of the General Assembly.
- speakerAnd while the General Assembly is in session for one of its
- speakermajor agencies to deal with an issue that has national significance without
- speakerany reference to the General Assembly is irresponsible. We
- speakerdo not expect that you will be able or want to
- speakeror should respond by an action. But at
- speakerleast you should know something of what the issues are and should give
- speakeryour tacit approval to the continuing process through
- speakerthe committees of this assembly and the agencies of the church by which
- speakeranswers to these problems may be arrived at. Needless
- speakerto say we are here. For the first day
- speakerone bit of hope. We had gotten better acquanted with one another before issues of this kind would come up.
- speakerBut we're here to listen to one another even
- speakerto listen to people who disagree with us and to listen then to God
- speakerand act.
- speakerWe had expected that Mr. Forman would speak to us for 20 minutes.
- speakerThere would be some other presentations under the church's Committee
- speakeron Church and Race with Dr. Hawkins [Hawkins, Edler G.] concluding the presentation.
- speakerBut this morning it became evident that there were two presentations
- speakerthat were clamoring to be made to this assembly and actually needed to be made,
- speakerone from the brown group as well as the black
- speakergroup. And, therefore, we
- speakernow present to you a spokesman for the brown group first.
- speakerMr. Forman having kindly stepped down
- speakerand allowed the brown group to speak first. And, I represent the
- speakerReverend Antonio Medina one of our own pastors in the Los
- speakerAngeles area, who will introduce the speaker for the brown group.
- speakerHe has 20 minutes.
- speakerThank you, Dr. Smith [Smith, John Coventry]. Mr. Moderator
- speakerbrothers and sisters. God
- speakeris at work in the world.
- speakerWe know that he is at work because this is a time of tension and a time of conflict
- speakerand a time of crises. We also know that he is at
- speakerwork because it is also a time of redemption and
- speakera time of reconciliation. Reconciliation
- speakerand redemption through the work of God through His Holy Spirit
- speakerGod in His infinite freedom to speak to
- speakerus not perhaps through the vehicles that we may define
- speakerinstruments that he himself uses.
- speakerYou have noticed no doubt in the display area
- speakerthe sign that read the motto for our display area of La Raza that says
- speakerthat the Spirit speaks for LaRaza.
- speakerBut the Spirit speaks through La Raza.
- speakerIt is in keeping in line with this that I take
- speakernow the privilege of introducing to you
- speakerMr. Eliezer Risco, who is the editor of La Raza, a
- speakerbarrio communications paper in Los Angeles. He is also
- speakerprofessor of ethnic studies at Fresno State University. He is a member of the IFCO
- speakerboard. And in his spare time
- speakeris a national consultant to the Spanish speaking ministries, not only of the Presbyterian
- speakerChurch, but also for the other Protestant denominations. And, I present to you at this
- speakertime, Eliezer Risco.
- speakerI speak to you, not as a leader.
- speakerI speak to you not as spokesman. I speak to
- speakeryou as a mouthpiece. I'm speaking here
- speakeronly because the brown caucus or the
- speakercaucus of La Raza decided that
- speakerall of us couldn't speak. So one would have to do it. But, what I'm
- speakergoing to say was written down by the group as a whole. Upon
- speakerdays and days of deliberation we have been working on these.
- speakerDemands for quite a while.
- speakerPeople throughout the Third World in Latin America
- speakerAfrica and Asia speak about the church
- speakerin connection with the whole phenomenon of what Western
- speakercivilization has done to the third world.
- speakerAnd people speak about what I call the "three
- speakerm's." missionaries, money and Marines.
- speakerThe church by omission
- speakersometimes, sometimes by silence
- speakerbut many times by active collaboration has
- speakerinflicted to people throughout the third world some of the same
- speakerills that colonization has brought to the third world.
- speakerAnd that doesn't apply only to people who are third
- speakerworld people in Latin America Africa and Asia,
- speakerbut also to people who are members of that third world here
- speakerin the U.S.
- speakerI think that. I remember reading somewhere in the history
- speakerof the Reformation that one of the goals,
- speakerone of the spiritual goals, as well as institutional goals,
- speakerof the Reformation was for the community of
- speakerbelievers to have self-determination as against
- speakerthe Roman Curia. I seem to remember reading somewhere
- speakeralso that the World Council of Churches since
- speakertheir meeting in Madras has been talking about the need for
- speakerself-determination of people that up to now to then on up to
- speakernow where being can see they're only as subjects for missions.
- speakerAnd I think that, if the church is going to survive the crisis that the world
- speakerand the church is faced with today, the church has to
- speakermake good that promise of self-determination.
- speakerAnd I repeat if the church is going to survive the crisis, the church has
- speakerto make good that promise of self-determination
- speakerbecause people throughout the world are involved in a
- speakerrevolutionary struggle for self-determination
- speakerand liberation. And the church has to do
- speakerwhat Eldridge Cleaver sometimes says: You have to decide whether you are going to be
- speakerpart of the problem or part of the solution.
- speakerAnd more than that I think that even for the church spiritually, not
- speakerjust institutionally, If the conscience of
- speakerChristianity. If the moral credibility of
- speakerChristianity is to remain. And, it has been quite
- speakerdamaged up to now. The
- speakerchurch has to deal within itself with the question
- speakerof self-determination, justice, and more than that
- speakerwith the pressing question of liberation.
- speakerWith what. Throughout Latin America and
- speakerwithin the US there is a movement that we call the
- speakermovement of La Raza. Mexicans,
- speakerCubans, and Bolivians and Colombians and
- speakerArgentineans and Chileans are involved. Here in the US,
- speakerpredominantly Chicanos in the southwest and Puerto
- speakerRicans in the Northeast and in the island of Puerto
- speakerRico are engaged in that very same struggle
- speakerfor self-determination and liberation.
- speakerThe display that you see in the display
- speakerarea referred to before, that says "La Raza a la spiritu"
- speakeris a conviction that is within the
- speakerLatin American people that
- speakerwe are arriving at a historic moment in which the
- speakerpossibility for fulfilling the potential that is
- speakerhistorically in us to be fulfilled,
- speakerand that we ourselves will have to carry through to
- speakerfulfillment that promise of greatness and potential
- speakerof human experience that is within La Raza
- speakerand that is the point from which we are addressing you
- speakertoday.
- speakerPoint one
- speakercommunity control of health, education
- speakerand welfare programs and agencies in the U.S. and
- speakerLatin countries to those communities. This
- speakeralso means community ownership of such
- speakerfacilities and buildings as neighborhoods and settlement
- speakerhouses, schools, hospitals, and the turning
- speakerover of real estate holdings for the occupation and ownership
- speakerof low income families where the church has holding into day
- speakerslum areas in order to
- speakerguarantee the operation or continued operation
- speakerof those facilities and services.
- speakerBudget based on need as determined by the
- speakercommunity should be guaranteed for as long as the community
- speakerdeems necessary.
- speakerThe process of raising those health education
- speakerwelfare programs and agencies
- speakershould be begun as soon as possible but no later
- speakerthan the fall of 1969.
- speakerPoint two. The Spanish speaking churches
- speakerwill no longer be considered as missions. Boards,
- speakeragencies, and judicatories of the
- speakerchurch will be mandated to facilitate with his
- speakerSpanish speaking churches
- speakerthe development of a style of life and ministry that is
- speakerreflective of our culture and a spiritual reality. This
- speakernot only applies to U.S. Spanish-speaking
- speakerchurches but to those in Latin America also. The
- speakerimplementation of these autonomous rule
- speakerfor Latin American churches will be entrusted to
- speakerSpanish speaking churches within the US.
- speakerPoint three. A proportion equal to the
- speakernational percentage of the Spanish-speaking population
- speakernationally or local percentage,
- speakerwhichever is higher, of all program funds
- speakerfor ministries, services, church and community
- speakerdevelopment will be earmarked for the use of Spanish
- speakerspeaking communities. Point four. These
- speakerprograms and the goals of the movement of La Raza
- speakercannot be implemented without financial resources.
- speakerTherefore, we request from the United Presbyterian Church
- speakerseed money as follows.
- speakerA. Seed money for phasing in community
- speakercontrol of these programs mentioned above as soon as
- speakerpossible. B. Seed money for assistance
- speakerin the building of the now-going on movement of La Raza
- speakerthrough conferences, workshops, training institutes,
- speakerand so forth.
- speakerAn approximate figure for the seed money would be
- speakerin the area of $250 to $500,000.
- speakerPoint five The church will
- speakerliquidate and transfer to a co-operative associtions of poor
- speakerpeople in Latin America all investments and
- speakerholdings in private corporations in Latin America.
- speakerFurthermore the church should disassociate itself
- speakerfrom any programs of the U.S. government and private
- speakercorporations that Latin American liberation forces denounce as
- speakerexploitative and neo colonialism.
- speakerSixth. Furthermore we support any and all demands
- speakerof our brothers in the Third World, as made
- speakerwithin The Black Manifesto. Point 7. Once this Assembly
- speakerhas approved and set in motion
- speakermechanisms for implementation of these demands,
- speakerthe General Council should be supportive of our request
- speakerthrough JSAC, National Council of Churches and any other church
- speakeragencies of other Protestant denominations so they can
- speakerrespond likewise.
- speakerOne specific example I want to
- speakerbring to you today comes from Chicago where as of last night
- speakerpeople from the surrounding Latin American community in Chicago of
- speakerLincoln Park have occupied McCormick Seminary.
- speakerBut somebody from that community should explain to you much better
- speakerwhat is happening there. And, it is only as an illustration
- speakerof the. What it means in those communities to talk
- speakerabout self-determination and liberation.
- speaker[Lopez speaking] Last
- speakernight the poor community of Lincoln Park
- speakerunder the leadership of the Young Lords organization, the Latin American Community,
- speakera
- speakerpolitical action group took under
- speakerits control the McCormick Theological Seminary
- speakerof Chicago or rather the administration
- speakerbuilding of the Theological McCormick Theological Seminary. The
- speakerpurpose of this action was to confront the church
- speakerwith its own inconsistency and with
- speakerits own inadequacy. The poor community of Lincoln
- speakerPark presented ten demands to the board of directors
- speakerof the McCormick Theological Seminary and gave a
- speakerreasonable time for an answer. And, the answer that
- speakerthe community received was not considered satisfactory.
- speakerThe demands that are, that are presented to them are the
- speakerfollowing. Number one that McCormick Seminary
- speakerimmediately turn over to the community six hundred and one thousand dollars
- speakerfor low cost housing development.
- speakerNumber two. That McCormick Seminary provide a building and re
- speakercreational for a badly needed co-operative day care center.
- speakerThat the Seminary provide a bus so that children can be picked up for the center.
- speakerNumber three. That all theapartment owned by McCormicks may not be
- speakerrented to people in the community should be rented to poor and working
- speakerclass families. Number four. That the
- speakerfence around McCormick Seminary be torn down so that the Seminary
- speakercan become a part of the community, not a
- speakerfortress against the community. Number five. We
- speakerdemand that the Stone building be made available to the Puerto Rican community
- speakerfor the creation of a Puerto Rican cultural center to
- speakerpreserve and strengthen our cultural and historical heritage and to
- speakertransmit these values to other people in our community and in Chicago. If
- speakerit is found mutually advantageous to the McCormick Seminary and to
- speakerthe Young Lords organization, we propose that the Seminary
- speakermake available to the Young Lords organization sufficient
- speakerfunds to purchase the property of Armitage Avenue Methodist Church to be
- speakermade the Puerto Rican cultural center. Number six. The McCormick Seminary extend a
- speakergrant in the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars to the Young Lords
- speakerorganization to be used in a community leadership
- speakerdevelopment program and in the continuation and strengthening of the work
- speakerof protecting and serving our poor community. Number
- speakerseven. We demand that the McCormick Seminary actively support
- speakerthe efforts of the Latino-American defense organization to end the arbitrarinous
- speakerof the Cook County Department of Public Aid in its dealings with welfare
- speakerrecipients and with welfare recipients defense groups.
- speakerSpecifically, we demand that McCormick publicly support the three demands
- speakerthat GLAVL the Latino-American defense organization along with the Lincoln Park
- speakercoalition for welfare right have meet it to David Daniel, Director
- speakerof the Cook County Department of Public Aid, and to George W. Dunne,
- speakerpresident of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. The demands are
- speakerone the removal of Walter A. Cunningham, district office supervisor and James
- speakerPatterson, the front office supervisor for their lack of sensitivity to the
- speakerneeds and the human dignity of welfare recipients at the Lincoln Park Public
- speakerAid office. Voice of the community served by the Lincoln Park office in the
- speakerselection of a new director of the office. Voice in the interpretation and
- speakerimplementation of welfare laws and regulations at the Lincoln Park office level. We
- speakerdemand that this report be expressed in letters to David Daniel, Director
- speakerof Cook County Department of Public Aid ,and to George Dunne, President of the Cook
- speakerCounty Board of Commissioners.
- speakerNumber eight. We demand that McCormick Seminary extend a grant in the
- speakeramount of $25,000 to the Latino-American Defense Organization
- speakerto further our aims of creating a strong organization for welfare
- speakerrecipients in our community. Number nine. We demand that the
- speakerMcCormick Seminary publicly oppose and condemn the
- speakerpolitical persecution carried out by the city of Chicago against poor
- speakerpeoples' organizations, such as the Black Panther Party, the Latin American Defense Organization,
- speakerand the Young Lords organization.
- speakerMcCormick Seminary must demand from the respective authorities that
- speakercharges arising out of political outrage be dropped by the complaining institutions,
- speakernamely Department of Urban Renewal, Cook County Department
- speakerof Public Aid, Chicago Police Department, the city of
- speakerChicago and the state attorney's office. The Young Lords organization and the Lincoln Park welfare office and in
- speakerparticular Jose Cha-Cha Jimenez,
- speakerchairman of the Young Lords organization,
- speakermust not be jailed and punished for their belief in justice and for their
- speakerconcern for their communities' rights. Number ten. W
- speakere demand that McCormack Seminary extend a seed money grant in the amount
- speakerof $25,000 to establish a legal bureau
- speakercontrolled by poor people's organizations, the attornies to be chosen by the
- speakerorganizations, to work full time for them, and to be responsible only
- speakerto them.
- speakerMr. Moderator, I wish that you would now recognize
- speakerDr. Gay Wilmore [Wilmore, Gayraud S., Jr], who is the Secretary, the
- speakerexecutive director of the Council on Church and Race. Dr. Wilmore.
- speakerMr. Moderator, fathers and brethren. I have been
- speakerin direct contact with the La Raza caucus
- speakerhere in San Antonio and the caucus representing the National
- speakerBlack Economic Development Conference
- speakerwith respect to the procedures to be followed during this
- speakerhour.
- speakerI think you ought to know that you have massed on the platform
- speakerrepresentatives of both the black and the brown community, who
- speakerare members and clergy of our United Presbyterian Church
- speakerand who are members of the San Antonio community, both
- speakerbrown and black citizens. And, they are
- speakerhere to demonstrate visibly
- speakertheir support in principle, in
- speakerspirit of the challenge that is being
- speakerpresented to our General Assembly by these two groups
- speakerin concert and in coordination with one another.
- speakerIt was agreed that the two principles of the two groups would be brother Risco
- speakerfor the Spanish speaking caucus and brother Forman
- speakerfor the black caucus. You've already heard from Brother
- speakerLopez as a, shall we say, supplementary
- speakerpresentation in connection with Risco's presentation. And,
- speakeryou will hear Brother J. Metz Rollins, [Rollins, Joseph Metz, Jr.] the Executive Director of the National Committee
- speakerof Black Churchmen as a supplementary
- speakersupporting presentation of the black church community.
- speakerThen we suggested that this hour of be wound up by
- speakeryour hearing from one who is well known to every
- speakercommissioner here, I'm sure, and certainly respected and honored throughout our
- speakerchurch, Dr. Edler Hawkins [Hawkins, Edler Garnett], who is
- speakerthe chairman along with Mr. Neal [Neal, George F.] of
- speakerNew York of the Council on Church and Race of our denomination.
- speakerAfter that I
- speakerthink, we must begin to think
- speakerwhat kind of response this church is to make to what
- speakermany of us, and I personally, feel are legitimate
- speakerjustifiable demands from a beleaguered
- speakerpeople. I first met
- speakerMr. Forman when our church was bearing witness to freedom
- speakerin Mississippi in 1964, when John Smith [Smith, John Coventry]
- speakerformer moderator himself ,walked the picket line at Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
- speakerJames Forman at that time was Executive Director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
- speakerI got to know Jim at that time, and so did John Smith, as a
- speakercourageous man, a man of integrity, a man with a passion for
- speakerfreedom burning in his breast. He
- speakeris today the chairman of the international
- speakeraffairs division of SNCC. But, more
- speakerimportantly for us, he is the
- speakerrepresentative of the National Black Economic Development Conference,
- speakerwhich has acclerated the black revolution in this country within the last three weeks.
- speakerAnd he comes here to speak on behalf of that new
- speakermovement, which has taken the place of the civil rights movement in this
- speakercountry, which represents the militant black poor in this
- speakercountry and every other black person, who is concerned about
- speakerfreedom and justice in American society.
- speakerA sermon that I preached in Germantown Community Church last Sunday I called Jim
- speakerForman a prophet for our time. And I still call him that.
- speakerScriptures tell us that if a man has ought against us, we ought to go
- speakerto even find out what it is and be reconciled to him and then go
- speakerto worship.
- speakerThat's why we have interrupted the regular order of business because this man
- speakersays he has something against the Christian church.
- speakerSome of your own black brethren and some of your brown brethren say, "Amen!" Let
- speakerus hear him speak
- speakernow, James Forman.
- speakerThank you, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, members of the police department, the press and what
- speakerhave you. I'm happy to be here.
- speakerAs you know I come to you as chairman of United Black Appeal, which is division of the
- speakerNational Black Economic Development Conference. I'm extremely appreciative of the
- speakerconference for allowing the brothers from the Spanish-speaking community La Raza
- speakerto appear before you and to allow me to appear before you.
- speakerI think that this is a very significant occasion for oppressed people in the United States that have united to present
- speakerbefore the white Christian church, which we maintain is racist.
- speakera position that we think that the church can help to
- speakereliminate itself from the racism . The brother from La Raza
- speakerspoke to you about the three "m's": the money, the missionaries, and the Marines.
- speakerIt is an objective fact that when black people came to the United States in 1619, long
- speakerbefore the descendants of many of the Europeans came to this country. We came
- speakernot as Christians, we came as pagans, as the Christians called it. And the
- speakerjustification for our coming to this country was rationalized by saying
- speakerthat it is better for us to be slaves in the United States, working 16 to
- speaker17 to 18 hours a day without any rights without any pay. It
- speakeris better for us to be slaves inside the United States where we have a chance to become
- speakerChristians than to remain in Africa, our continent, our motherland, where we
- speakerwere dwelling in peace.
- speakerThis rationalization continued to extend throughout the period of slavery. And that
- speakercannot be denied. And the fact that our justice our demands against the
- speakerChristian Church today is based upon several principles.
- speakerNumber one that the Christian church is not just a building in and of itself. It
- speakerrepresents its membership. And, the membership of the white Christian church
- speakerwas predominantly white, which began to exploit the resources of black
- speakerpeople in this country. This is a fact which the church cannot deny. Many
- speakerof the black brethren have pointed out that the church itself owned slaves in many
- speakerinstances. And, certainly the slave owners would go to church on a Sunday morning and pray to
- speakerGod, but would whip our mothers and fathers with lashes on the back the next day. The
- speakersame is true after reconstruction. After during the period of
- speakerreconstruction, after the Emancipation Proclamation, many of the Christians
- speakerwho had been defeated in the Civil War began to leave us through a process of
- speakersharecropping. And at the turn of the 20th century black people were not
- speakerinvolved in the industrial process of this country. That the resources and the riches of
- speakerthe country had been gathered by the White racists who had been exploiting us, who had
- speakerenslaved us in the name of Christianity for the most part. In the
- speakername of Christianity for the most part. This is an objective fact that we cannot
- speakerdeny. The church itself ,which is involved in
- speakervery heavy financial responsibilities throughout the world, has accumulated
- speakerthe resources and the richness of the church through that process of
- speakerexploitation, through that process of slave income if you will.
- speakerThe church today has tremendous amount of investment, so much
- speakerinvestment that the church can not be considered a religious institution. The
- speakerchurch today, and this is the point that we try to make, and we are trying to let
- speakereverybody understand this, black, brown, green, or white, that the church in the
- speakerUnited States today is a financial institution. Elders sitting in this
- speakerroom do not even know where the funds from the United Presbyterian Foundation
- speakeris in fact invested. Many sitting in this room do not understand that
- speakerthe Presbyterian Foundation is investing in South Africa, in
- speakercorporations which invest in South Africa, which further exploit black people as well as
- speakerRhodesia. Many people in this room today do not question
- speakerwhat in fact the Presbyterian Foundation does with the money that it has continually
- speakeraccumulated over over years after years after years when they
- speakerdo not question the real estate holdings of the Catholic Church, which is the
- speakerlargest corporation inside the United States, larger than General Motors and certainly
- speakeraround the world, and is responsible primarily for the exploitation of our brothers and
- speakersisters from La Raza. The same is true of the Episcopalian church.
- speakerTrinity Episcopalian Church in New York City alone has assets of over
- speaker350 million dollars, which it continually invests. And, it is a small church on
- speakerWall Street. And where did it get this money from? Who were the rock bottom
- speakerChristians who came to this country and began to enslave black people?
- speakerWere they pagans? Were they Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists,
- speakerMethodist, Baptists? These are the premises for which we make our
- speakerdemands upon the white racist Christian church today. And, to make it more
- speakercontemporary, let us look at Riverside Church, which projected me unfortunately
- speakerinto a national situation. But we will have to deal with that. Lets look at the Board of Trustees
- speakerof Riverside Church in New York, not the board of Deacons which
- speakertraditionally has the power in the Baptist church, but the board of trustees at
- speakerRiverside Church comprises Winthrop W. Aldridge, 30 Rockefeller Plaza,
- speakerwho's related to the Rockefeller family, Victor C. Great, president or
- speakerrather the Graduate School of Business at Columbia which owns the land at
- speakerRockefeller Plaza is located on. James A. Forman, Sr., of
- speakerAmerican Telephone and Telegraph. John H. Fisher, he's from Teacher's College small
- speakerfry. Robert G. Robert G. Fuller president of the
- speakerboard of Erie Lackawanna, railroad company. William H. Green of the
- speakerAmerican Can Company. Francis S. Armand, former
- speakerMississippi Attorney General. Charles Lynn King director of the Research Grants Administration of St. Luke's.
- speakerWard B. Ogden, the treasurer of the board of Price,
- speakerWaterhouse and Co. Charles C. Killingham, Jr., who's President of Trans World Airlines. Donald H.
- speakerElliott, who is Secretary of the board of the city planning
- speakercommission in New York, directly related to Mayor Lindsay. And, it is the board of
- speakertrustees which controls the tremendous wealth of Riverside Church.
- speakerNow Reverend Campbell of Riverside Church [Campbell, Ernest T.] has admitted, in his own words, that the moral
- speakerthrust which we injected into the church has forced him and the board of deacons to grant
- speakerthat they have to pay reparations, which is a form of penitence, to the black
- speakercommunity to the disadvantage. Of course, they're not willing to give that to the National Black
- speakerEconomic Development Conference and that's another fight. But nevertheless he has
- speakeradmitted the justification and the correctness of the position we have put before
- speakerhim. What we are saying, gentlemen, and we are saying this about the Presbyterian church
- speakertoday, that it is not a religious institution. It is
- speakernot just a religious institution. It has not been just a religious institution
- speakersince its inception on the shores of the United States. For, if it were a
- speakerreligious institution, then Presbyterians would not have been slaveholders.
- speakerPresbyterians would not be investing in South Africa if we took the teachings of
- speakerJesus to all to our hearts. And, we say that we are on sound theological
- speakergrounds when we go to any Christian church and say that you are money
- speakermoneylenders hustlers what we have followed in the footsteps of Jesus. But we don't make that
- speakercomparison that is for the Christian Brothers to make for us. What we are saying though,
- speakeris that we make certain demands of the white racist Christian church and the Jewish synagogue
- speakertoday. We are asking for 500 million dollars in reparations, which is to
- speakerbe spent in the following way. Now we escalated the demands because the new knowledge that
- speakerwe found out about the church. And I'll explain that in a minute. But
- speakernevertheless our original program called for
- speakertwo hundred million dollars to establish a national land bank in the Deep South where we
- speakerwould have co-operative farms, where we know our people are sharecroppers, tenant
- speakerfarmers and day laborers and have no economic base whatsoever in the south.
- speakerBut with a 200 million dollar land bank, we could establish tremendous amounts of co-operative
- speakerfarms. Second point of course was four major print printing
- speakerindustries. Now no Presbyterian can deny the value of a printing establishment as long as
- speakerPresbyterian Life is being printed by the Presbyterian Church. We're saying the black
- speakercommunity we need to have four major printing
- speakerestablishments funded with no less than 10 million dollars each, which comes to the sum of 40
- speakermillion dollars, to be located in Detroit, Los Angeles,
- speakerAtlanta, and New York.
- speakerOur third demand was for the establishment of television networks in four
- speakermajor cities of this country, which would be the most scientific,
- speakerfuturistic television operators that we can locate. These
- speakerto be funded by 10 million dollars each. We have some copies of the Manifesto, which we will pass out
- speakerafter the service. The the next
- speakerpoint.
- speakerThank you.
- speakerThe next point was the establishment of a research skills center to be funded by
- speakerno less than 30 million dollars each. The next point was of course a training
- speakercenter in film-making, radio-making, television-making to be funded with no less
- speakerthan 10 million dollars. We all know that the television industry in this country
- speakeris racist. That its cameramen's look around us, exclude black people by and
- speakerlarge. And, if you go to the TV stations, you will see that NBC, CBS,
- speakerand ABC have all tied up, are all tied up with basically white technicians. And,
- speakerwe want a training center where this can be eliminated. And, we then know that our next move will be to
- speakerbust the racist white unions. We also call for a national army, I mean, for ten
- speakermillion dollars to assist in the organization of welfare mothers. We
- speakercall for a 20 million dollar national labor strike and defense fund. Black
- speakerpeople in this country are extremely dissatisfied and many of them are not organized. In
- speakerthe major plants of this country, we see black workers 60 and 70 percent of the
- speakerpopulation. And yet we say that the United Automobile Workers is a
- speakerracist union, for, if it were not, then it would be supporting the demands of some of the
- speakerchurchmen that all United States investment come out of South Africa. But
- speakerinstead, we find General Motors, Ford, Chrysler all investing in South
- speakerAfrica and the unions in this country are not doing anything about this particular
- speakersituation. And we know that black workers understand the condition of our
- speakerpeople in Africa. And, they have to understand that more and more. But in order to organize
- speakerblack workers, we must have a labor strike and defense fund. Next thing, of course,
- speakerwe call the United Black appeals to be funded with 20 million dollars each. This
- speakerUnited Black Appeal is to generate capital, raise money throughout the United States
- speakernot only for the program of the National Black Economic Development Conference but also to establish
- speakercooperatives in Africa. We recognize that we have to be self-reliant in so
- speakerfar as that is possible within the black community, given the structure of government under which we
- speakerlive. And it is necessary to launch a massive United Black Appeal, which we have started to
- speakerdo. And, with the money from the United Black Appeal, we intend to
- speakerestablish a black Anti-Defamation League to protect our African image
- speakerinside the United States. Then we call lastly for 130 million
- speakerdollars for the establishment of a black university. To us this means more than just a
- speakerblack board of trustees, teachers and faculties. This means, in fact, that
- speakerwe will eliminate some of the class bias that operates in American education today.
- speakerThe reality of black life is that many people can not get into
- speakercollege because they've dropped out of school at 17 18 years old in the tenth grade or the
- speakersixth grade or what have you. And we want a university where any body of
- speakerany age can feel that there's a community to which he can come in order to
- speakerlearn. Because many of our people reach the age of 35 or 45
- speakerbecause they had to go to segregated schools, want to learn, but there's no place available
- speakerfor them to come. And, our egos are important because many people who cannot read and
- speakerwrite will not tell you they cannot read and write because of the whole
- speakeremphasis and value, prestige upon reading and writing in the society. And it
- speakerworks a psychological handicap. That basically is how we intend to spend
- speakerthe 500 million dollars, which we are asking in reparations. Now we have been going to
- speakerdifferent churches and different synagogues, not been in the synagoges as of yet, but we've also been
- speakermaking certain demands. Now as you know there was an ad hoc committee for justice when the
- speakerPresbyterian Church which made certain demands upon the Presbyterian Church. We
- speakerhad intended to come to this church in a different manner, but certain events made us
- speakercome to it in the manner in which we did.
- speakerAnd therefore we would like to say, to read out the special demands that we're making of the
- speakerPresbyterian church. The first demand that the ad hoc committee made, I'm
- speakerauthorized to tell you has been dropped. And that demand was that Kenneth G. Neigh
- speakerbe replaced as the General Secretary of the Board of National Missions. We have
- speakerdropped that demand, because we have come to find out that there was a certain amount of bureaucracy
- speakerinvolved in this particular letter, which went out, which shows you how
- speakerbureaucratic the church structure is. But we never the less, are reasonable people and are
- speakerwilling to drop this particular demand.
- speakerSo that's out of the window.
- speakerAlthough we certainly think that Brother Neigh has to look at that administrative apparatus,
- speakerwhich he has up there, and not to allow these kinds of mistakes to
- speakeroccur again.
- speakerSecond demand is just a general demand. And, that is that the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
- speakerChurch self help implement the Black Manifesto. Now concretely, Demand
- speakernumber three has been enlarged from that the Mexican-Americans
- speakerto be given all land held by the Presbyterian Church in New Mexico to the total support
- speakerof the demands which have been made here this afternoon by the representative of La Raza.
- speakerNumber four.That the Presbyterian Church turn over all its land holdings in all Southern
- speakerstates specifically the states of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi to the
- speakerNational Black Economic Development Conference to be used for the benefit of poor black people through its
- speakerprogram.
- speakerWhat we are saying is this, gentlemen, is that, and sisters, that the church
- speakerdoes not need all of the land it has. Much of the Presbytery land is idle in the state of
- speakerMississippi for instance. And, this is something that you do not realize as commissioners,
- speakeras members of the Presbyterian church. And, we're saying that an investigation of this land
- speakerwould reveal that much of it it is idle and much of it could be used
- speakerin the development of co-operative farms inside the United States and would
- speakergive a an opportunity to have economic development for black people. Thank you. Second
- speakerpoint was that 80 million dollars be channeled through IFCO, the Intereligious Foundation for Community Organiation,
- speakerby the by the Presbyterian Church for the National Black
- speakerEconomic Development Conference for the implementation of the Black Manifesto. Now, somebody
- speakerwill say, "Well, the church doesn't have 80 million dollars which it has in fluid funds." But,
- speakerthe church has a membership, which represents some of the richest people in
- speakerthis country. In fact, some of them operate the CIA incidentally.
- speakerAnd you know, S. A. J. Hamm, who is a Presbyterian. He works with the Central Intelligence Agency.
- speakerIf you check the other Presbyterians, you will find that they're very very involved in the power structure,
- speakerin the business enterprise of this country. Now, that is also our contention that the
- speakerchurch is not just an edifice. The church is not just made up righteous men, such as you
- speakersitting in this room, but the church is also made up of people,
- speakeryou know, who call themselves Christians, who contribute to the church. And, the church has a moral responsi
- speakerbility to exact tithes from these people for the economic development of black
- speakercommunity, because they are all involved in exploiting machinery. Englehart is a classic
- speakerexample. I'm not sure he is a Presbyterian, but nonetheless he's all involved in the
- speakereconomic operations of Africa and throughout the world. And, that the church has a
- speakerright to go and call upon its membership, who are rich, white, racist businessmen,
- speakerto put some money back into the black community and the Spanish-speaking community of
- speakerthis country. Next point. Let the Presbyterian Church
- speakerliquidate all its assets in South Africa, which is a demand that is almost non
- speakernegotiable, and channel those assets through I.F.C.O. to go to the National Black Economic
- speakerDevelopment Conference and that a black person acceptable to the United Black
- speakerPresbyterians be put in charge of the African desk and that the program be enlarged.
- speakerThis is a very serious problem, gentlemen, because one of the things that we make
- speakerin our Manifesto is that in fact the only guarantee that black
- speakerpeople have against the guarantee they have against racism is to have
- speakerrevolutionary black people concerned about the total humanity of this world in
- speakercharge who's really in charge of total control of the country. But to
- speakerexercise humane leadership. And, that whites who are prepared to deal with their racism,
- speakermust be prepared to accept black leadership. Now, it is ironic that in the
- speakerPresbyterian Church, the man who is in charge of the African program is a white man when
- speakerthere are so many qualified black Presbyterians who could run that program. That is
- speakera very very real problem. That is a question the church ought to grapple with certainly at this particular
- speakermeeting. Next point is that the Presbyterian Church make available,
- speakerand this is for the benefit of everybody in the Presbyterian Church incidentally. A complete
- speakerlisting of all church holdings and stocks, bonds, real estate investment,
- speakerunrelated business interests, pension, retirement, investment funds. And that
- speaker60 percent of the income from all these investments be annually given to the National
- speakerBlack Economic Development Conference. The purpose of that is is that
- speakeryou know the church has tried to maintain a rationale, give up thy goods for the poor
- speakerand go and do some stewardship. We say that if that is true, then the church
- speakerwhich is a financial empire unto itself, must make certain
- speakersacrifices. The church has accumulated wealth through the whole
- speakerexploitive machinery and that is true, gentlemen, we cannot doubt that. I've seen the
- speakerdirectory of the Presbyterian Foundation. I know where the money is invested in
- speakerstock and so forth. And I also know that those companies are exploiting black people
- speakeraround the world, as well as other people of color. And, that the church does not need all
- speakerthose assets in order to function as the church. The church does not
- speakerneed all those assets to function. There is an interlocking relationship
- speakertoday between the church, business, and government. They're all in cahoots.
- speakerNow many of the people who are out here, who are normal Christians, good Christians trying to be good
- speakerChristians, do not in fact understand what James Pew [Pew, J. Howard] is doing with the United
- speakerPresbyterian Foundation. This is a serious problem. And if it can't be
- speakerresolved at the General Assembly, then where can it be resolved? This is the
- speakerpoint that we are raising. Where can it be resolved?
- speakerPeople will tell you that the Presbyterian Foundation is a separate entity. The Episcopalians
- speakertry to tell us that the pension fund was a separate entity from Bishop Hines, [Hines, John E., Presiding Bishop] the
- speakerbishop in charge of the church, that he has nothing to do with the pension fund. Well, where is the
- speakerpension fund invested? The same thing is true that we tried to raise with the
- speakermembership of Riverside which is why all of that notoriety, We were saying to the
- speakermembership of Riverside that if you can't control the board of directors , or ratherf the Board of
- speakerTrustees, then who can? By what right does a few people have to
- speakerperpetually sit up on money and to continually invest it in God knows what? Because
- speakerwe know that the Riverside Church in New York is heavily involved in real estate investment
- speakerinside the United States, inside New York in particular. When Rockefeller Plaza can be
- speakercompletely tax exempt then something is wrong. So what we say we're not really raising the
- speakerquestion that the church should be paying taxes to the United States because we don't feel it
- speakershould, But, it should be paying taxes to the National Black Economic Development Conference.
- speakerBut this is a real problem. And, so we are saying, that if we take serious. If
- speakerwe take seriously the question of our stewardship of our
- speakerministry then we must begin to divest the church of its financial
- speakerinvolvement in business and government. No one is saying that the church should not operate.
- speakerNo one is saying that some people have to be cut back from their salaries or that some people don't
- speakerneed three secretaries and what have you, although they could do with one. Nevertheless
- speakerwe're saying that the church has to seriously consider whether or not it is a financial
- speakerentity in the United States at this particular moment. This is the question that we're
- speakertrying to get across. And we know many commissioners, many average church people, who give
- speakerdollars and dimes to the church do not understand how
- speakerinvolved the church is in the government and how the government uses the church for
- speakerlegitimate interests. How the C.I.A. is involved in the use of the church and
- speakeroverseas domination. And we say that is relevant for black people today because
- speakerwe are concerned about the total humanity of the world. We are concerned about our brothers
- speakerand sisters in Africa, about our Spanish speaking brothers in Latin America and inside this country.
- speakerAnd we come to you today.
- speakerClearly if you don't do anything else to understand and and we will
- speakerstill have them liberated territory up there at 475, which is being expanded to the 9th and
- speakerthe 12th floor.
- speakerBut nevertheless if you don't do anything else, then certainly begin to
- speakerunderstand how in fact that the church is a financial empire inside the
- speakerUnited States. And that was not the original intention of the church
- speakerand the church can begin to make restitution, reparations is in fact a part of business.
- speakerAnd we thank you for this time. We'll be available to discuss with you anywhere else. And, we can say, we must, in fact, begin to make reparations. We must begin to have econo
- speakermic development in the black community. And, reparations is legitimate. And the
- speakerwhite Christian church, which has been a part of our exploitation, must begin to pay those
- speakerreparations. And, we hope that this General Assembly will act as men and women and not let somebody tell you, Let's
- speakerrefer this to some sort of board, which is going to be bureaucratic and stifle demands.
- speakerWhere is your power as the General Assembly, if in fact, you are concerned? If in
- speakerfact you are interested in eliminating racism, then we should not leave here until there are some answers to the
- speakerdemands made by Spanish-speaking and black people of this country.
- speakerThank you.
- speaker[Rollins, Joseph Metz, Jr., "Metz" speaking ] There are several reasons the least I think why I'm here
- speakeras a part of this program. Because, in addition to being
- speakera black Presbyterian clergyman, I'm also the Executive Director for the National Committee of Black Churchmen. And,
- speakerperhaps in this statement which wasn't too widely circulated
- speakerthose of you will have to wrestle with the demands of the Manifesto may get some
- speakerclue from black churchmen
- speakerwho have taken seriously this demand and who through the years
- speakerin the context of the predominantly white church institution have struggled
- speakermightily to be taken seriously. And in part,
- speakerthis is why we are here and why the spirit of many
- speakerblack churchmen, including black Presbyterians, is right in the heart of
- speakerwhat Jim Forman is saying. Now, the National Committee of Black Churchmen
- speakeris made up of everybody from black Roman Catholic
- speakerpriests to Church of God people, black denominations
- speakerprimarily. We have what we call real soul ecumenicity. It
- speakerhas nothing to do with creed or dogma.
- speakerThe common recognition of the black experience regardless of the religious
- speakerHang-Up that we were a part of. And, this is important to understand.
- speakerAnd so it was the board of directors that met a week ago yesterday. They
- speakerconsidered the Black Manifesto. And we considered it after we had heard
- speakerfrom brother Forman and we gave this following response.
- speakerAnd we call upon this church and the other churches to
- speakerlook at the spirit of this response as they debate for the confrontation that's been
- speakerput upon them. We rise to salute the entire religious foundation for community
- speakerorganization which sponsored the National Black Economic Development Conference,
- speakerwhich, in turn, became the channel through which James Forman could appear as a
- speakermodern day prophet to speak to the churches.
- speakerWe are mindful that the program proposed has troubled the waters of Siloam. We dig
- speakerit, baby, it's biblical. Yet we know that how much the churches may shake
- speakerto the vibrations of its own cleansing, the healing of Christ is working
- speakerupon them.
- speakerIn other words we're trying to say that this is not something from the outside.
- speakerThis is very much a part of God's ongoing activity
- speakerin the history of the world and in the history of the church. We have taken action
- speakerto support in principle the demands of the National Black Economic Development Conference upon the churches
- speakerand synagogues of the United States as a beginning.
- speakerAnd I want to say to you that it's important to realize that there were some brothers last week
- speakerin Atlanta who thought Jim Forman was too conservative. And,
- speakerthat there were some who said that the Manifesto was essentially a reformist
- speakerpaper, position.
- speakerSo I just keep in mind that those of us who were a part of the National Committee of Black Churchmen,
- speakerwe emphasize as a beginning. And,
- speakerthe next thing is fairly historical statement which Jim has already alluded to and into the
- speakerinterests of time I'll move on to the gut issues of our statement.
- speakerIt must be clearly understood that the black church does not stand in the same
- speakerdock as a white church before the bar justice and that includes
- speakerthe black church within the predominant white churches.
- speakerBlack churches were victims rather than the guardians and
- speakerperpetuators of racism in America.
- speakerYet this is a thing that has not been picked up and I emphasize that again we do
- speakernevertheless accept the responsibility of the black churches to share in the
- speakerremuneration of the black community.
- speakerBut we recognize that it is these communities which have sustained our churches
- speakerover the years and even our black brothers, who have been a part of the United
- speakerPresbyterian Church all these years, we are beginning to discover and understand where
- speakerour life and our heart and soul is.
- speakerIt is with black folks no matter, our
- speakercommitment, our belief in order procedure.
- speakerOur commitment is with the black revolution.
- speakerWe urge the Black caucuses in the predominant white churches and the black
- speakerdenominations to play a major role in interpret the justness, the humaneness and a
- speakertheological soundness of the demands of the Black Manifesto.
- speakerThis is important. Therefore, we urge all the religious Black Caucuses and our brethren
- speakerwithin the predominantly black denominations to accept the responsibility to develop the
- speakerstrategy that is necessary to obtain the funds which are demanded. We further
- speakercall upon them to assess the institutional assets of their respective
- speakerdenominations and to negotiate specific amounts which are to be allocated
- speakerthrough I.F.C.O. for the purposes outlined in Manifesto. We become
- speakerwise in the ways of those who act.
- speakerMy sisters and brothers. And, there was an effort to isolate Jim Forman, to make him look
- speakerlike a kook as an effort to discredit I.F.C.O.
- speakerSo there's an effort to discredit any of those who have responded positively
- speakerto the Black Manifesto.
- speakerAnd this is why it was so important what the board of directors of the National Committee
- speakerdid in Atlanta last week.
- speakerThe pursuance of these eons. We appealed to the black caucusses and the black denominations to unify
- speakertheir efforts of advocacy and implementation of the Manifesto
- speakerthe recording nation provided by the National Committee of Black Churchmen.
- speakerWe instruct the executive director of NCBC to immediately begin this activity. And,
- speakerthis explains my presence with Jim Forman at the Catholic Archdiocese on
- speakerlast Friday in New York and on Monday in the presence
- speakerof Bishop Hines [Hines, John E., Presiding Bishop, Episcopal Church]
- speakerI want to say again that those representatives of Cardinal Cook on Friday and
- speakerBishop Hines, they did take us seriously.
- speakerThey did take the whole idea of their Manifesto seriously. In that sense, they
- speakerwere acting as responsible churchmen.
- speakerThe other filip that we added to the statement in support was that we insist that the great
- speakerfoundations not be excluded from this Vanguard contributors
- speakerfrom the private sector. Many of the foundations are creatures of
- speakercorporations whose founders and stockholders amassed incredibly huge
- speakerfortunes from a capitalistic system, which was rooted and grounded
- speakerin the exploitation of our forefathers. While a few of them have supported the civil
- speakerrights movement, none of them have done what they ought to have done about the mounting
- speakercrisis among non-white peoples in the urban
- speakerand rural ghettos are the nation. We call upon the foundations, as well as the
- speakerchurches and synagogues, to provide millions of dollars for economic and social development
- speakerin the black community.
- speakerThe NCBC, through its executive director and its affiliates, is ready to
- speakerparticipate whatever conferences and negotiations may ensue from the demands of
- speakerour brothers for the reparational relief of the suffering of black people. We
- speakerurge the private sector of the American economy, particularly the churches, synagogues, and
- speakerfoundations to receive these demands with utmost seriousness.
- speakerOne of the things that's probably going in your minds. And then, I'm through. Is that, you know, in
- speakereach place that we've gone, each time Jim has been, the church always trots
- speakerout its record of involvement, but we never really were radically
- speakerchanging anything. We would never radically changing our
- speakermodus operandi, our style of mission. And,
- speakerin our response to the civil rights movement in the past, much of what we
- speakerdid, while it was helpful, was also no more than protection and buffer. It
- speakerkept the rank and file of our membership from really knowing what it was about.
- speakerOn Sunday I was up in Northern Westchester, one of our nice predominantly
- speakerwhite congregations. And, I didn't realize how
- speakeruptight they were, after I made my presentation on behalf of this. In
- speakerthe word coming back followed almost the sort of physical sense because for the first
- speakertime, despite all that our Presbyterian church had been doing over the last
- speaker10 15 years, the Manifesto, the Black Manifesto had finally
- speakergotten under their skins. And, they were upset.
- speakerAnd this is what it's all about.
- speakerRadical challenge has been placed before us. And, it's too late to talk about
- speakermoderation and propriety and understanding and
- speakergradualism and give us a little time.
- speakerThe means are available. The will to use them must not be withheld.
- speakerPeace and power.
- speaker[Hawkins, Edler Garnet] I suspect that perhaps the only
- speakerperson in this auditorium that has a more difficult job than myself is our
- speakermoderator [Sweazy, George E.].
- speakerI would hope that that
- speakerwe might find the occasion
- speakerfor movement today.
- speakerWhat we
- speakerhave had a demonstration of is not so much the fact
- speakerthat there is anything new
- speakerin the deep critical nature of our
- speakertime in relation to
- speakerthe black and the brown community. All that we
- speakerhave had is a very
- speakersharp indication of the new
- speakersense of drama with
- speakerwhich this condition has been lifted up very
- speakerdramatically before us. And
- speakerit seems to me that no great length of words
- speakershould be the part of any of us. We
- speakerare a part of the problem.
- speakerWe were involved.
- speakerIn the complicity, in the
- speakercompilation of evil in our time.
- speakerAnd yet there are some of us who have some very real problems.
- speakerBecause somewhere along the line, there were those
- speakerof us who stood in a church such as ours
- speakerand made a commitment to the Lord Jesus
- speakerChrist.
- speakerA commitment that was born
- speakerout of the idea that this was a Christ.
- speakerOur
- speakerown words who did proclaim
- speakerrelease to the captives and
- speakerall the rest that we know so well.
- speakerThere's been that desire on the part of some to live by that.
- speakerAnd there's been a desire on the part of
- speakermany of us, who
- speakerare part of the black community
- speakerand also who are part of a church such as ours.
- speakerThe hope that we could live in these two
- speakerworlds.
- speakerThis has been our faith and we've tried
- speakerto live by this.
- speakerThere's a sense in which, to some degree,
- speakerwe have felt a responsibility to our White Brothers
- speakeras we have lived within this common fellowship.
- speakerAnd we want to remain within it.
- speakerWe have been trying to say as part of that
- speakerresponsibility.
- speakerLet's not perhaps the deepest but certainly one of the deepest
- speakerlevels of frustration and disillusionment
- speakeron the part of the black community and
- speakerthe brown community came at the point
- speakerof the Koerner report that did not say anything
- speakernew but that lifted up
- speakerdramatically this sense of the two societies
- speakerinto which we were drifting.
- speakerThe response to which was so
- speakerso terribly disappointing.
- speakerAnd we come to this moment
- speakerthat many of us hope will represent
- speakerboth a challenge and the necessity
- speakerto respond.
- speakerI recall some other words that
- speakercome back, came at another point
- speakerin the struggle for civil rights.
- speakerAnd we remember those words, "Late
- speakerwe have come."
- speakerBut there was a sense in which at that point
- speakerand for that level we came.
- speakerThe basis of our faith requires a
- speakerresponse.
- speakerSome of us who are on the platform here. We had a very
- speakerdistinct disadvantage
- speakerbecause we were not able to hear
- speakerthe terms of these demads.
- speakerThat's not important. It seems to me that
- speakerour will, our determination, to
- speakermove as fast
- speakerand as full as a church such as ours
- speakercan move becomes becomes our immediate
- speakerresponsibility at this point.
- speakerAnd if I was if I happened to be a Commissioner
- speakerof this General Assembly, I would
- speakerlike very much to make the kind of motion
- speakerthat within the framework of how this General Assembly
- speakercan operate.
- speakerThe motion that would enable us to move
- speakerseriously and as completely
- speakeras we can in the direction of a
- speakerresponse to what we have heard
- speakerthis day from our brown and our
- speakerblack brothers. And,
- speakerbecause we do stand with in
- speakerthis kind of faith
- speakerthat requires a response, the
- speakerhope is that somehow under God we may be able
- speakerto give[ it.
- speaker[Smith, John Coventry speaking] Mr. Moderator, this completes the presentation from
- speakerthe General Council's report.
- speakerI am led to say that if we had a Cardinal Cooke [Terrence, Cardinal Cooke].
- speakerThat's where we would have recommended that James Forman
- speakerand our brown brethren also should go. W
- speakere don't have a cardinal. If we had a Presiding Bishop Hines, as the Episcopal Church has,
- speakerwe would have
- speakerrecommended they go there. We don't have a presiding bishop, but we
- speakerhave a General Assembly.
- speakerSo this is where we recommended that these things should
- speakerbe heard. And
- speakernow, we have a procedure in the General Assembly.
- speakerSometimes it's a very bureaucratic procedure, but when we pay
- speakerattention and use it,
- speakerIt can get things done. There's an
- speakerarticle in the manual, page 136 and 32
- speaker136 32 that says that
- speakerall resolutions for the appropriation of money, and these
- speakerresolutions were at least that,
- speakershall be submitted to the General Council for consideration and recommendations
- speakerbefore action is taken by the General Assembly. I believe that
- speakerthis is the channel. I have talked to the Secretary of the General Council. And
- speakerwe are prepared to call a meeting immediately
- speakerfollowing the closing of the session this evening in the
- speakerSt. Anthony Hotel, where we've been accustomed to meet. Edler
- speakerHawkins is a member of the Council. Gay Wilmore is on the staff.
- speakerBryant George and others are there to advise us.
- speakerRoger Granados and, I would say, Reverend Antonio Medina
- speakerwould also be invited on this occasion so that we will have the
- speakerfull reading of those
- speakerpresentations. Some of us behind the microphone are not able to hear
- speakernearly as clearly as as you can hear. And may we make Gay
- speakerand one of you responsible for. And
- speakerperhaps if you would like to bring someone else with you, it will be satisfactory.
- speakerThat will be our initial look at them. There should be some immediate
- speakerplaces where some of these go. Some of them are long term and will take far
- speakerlonger than this meeting of the General Assembly.
- speakerBut some of them can be given attention. And, we shall
- speakertry our best to report to you about what we do
- speakerwith all of them as soon as possible.