Black manifesto, May 15, 1969.

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    [George E. Sweazey speaking] Now with the report of the committee on the report and the General Council. [Smith, John Coventry, speaking] Mr.
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    Moderator. Fathers and brothers.
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    Last night I became what
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    former moderator Ganse Little says is the
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    person who is next to being a living moderator.
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    I expect it to report to you this morning on minor
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    details, significant and important, but still minor details of the actions of
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    General Council. But I now find myself
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    reporting in a preliminary way to you about
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    a very serious issue.
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    I was on this platform before you twenty-one or two hours
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    ago conducting a communion service
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    in which we declared our unity in Jesus Christ,
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    a unity that binds us together in spite of
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    differences and tensions and triumphs over it because
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    we are in Christ.
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    Two weeks ago today in New York
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    some of the members of General Council were together talking about
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    what we would do as representatives of the United Presbyterian Church
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    if the presentation of the Black Manifesto
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    was should be brought to our church.
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    We were aware that they were, that it would be brought and would
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    probably be brought to the General Board of the National Council [National Council of Churches] on the next day.
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    And we decided as we met together that our response would
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    not be one of obstructing conversations and
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    negotiate and conversations and dialogue.
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    We would seek to listen but that our response then
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    would be within the regular responsible avenues of church
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    structure by which decisions are arrived at.
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    In the General Board meeting of the National Council the next day, this kind of
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    procedure was followed. Mr. James
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    Forman, representing the Black Economic Development
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    Group spoke, with restraint and
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    within a time limit. And, he was heard, and the
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    matter was referred to heads of communion
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    a special committee representing all denominations which will consider
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    the requests that were made and will give an answer some time the end
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    of June.
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    The General Council of this church met on Monday
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    here in San Antonio. I have never seen a General Council
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    in the more than 10 years that I've been related to it as a corresponding member deal
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    so exhaustively so seriously with a single
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    problem.
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    What should we do in anticipation? For certainly,
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    Mr. Forman knew that the assembly was meeting in in San Antonio. Should we
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    try to arrange a way that had been successful before the General Board or
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    should we wait and and perhaps have a disruption in which
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    we would not be able to talk to one another? And
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    by yesterday about noon we decided.
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    By that time we knew also that he had made an approach through the office of
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    the Board of National Missions. So we invited him.
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    What I'm saying to you is that the consideration of an invitation had begun
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    several days before. We still
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    believe that the process of listening
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    without compromising our position is a Christian one.
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    Secondly. Every agency and committee of the General
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    Assembly is an agency of the General Assembly.
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    And while the General Assembly is in session for one of its
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    major agencies to deal with an issue that has national significance without
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    any reference to the General Assembly is irresponsible. We
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    do not expect that you will be able or want to
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    or should respond by an action. But at
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    least you should know something of what the issues are and should give
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    your tacit approval to the continuing process through
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    the committees of this assembly and the agencies of the church by which
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    answers to these problems may be arrived at. Needless
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    to say we are here. For the first day
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    one bit of hope. We had gotten better acquanted with one another before issues of this kind would come up.
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    But we're here to listen to one another even
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    to listen to people who disagree with us and to listen then to God
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    and act.
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    We had expected that Mr. Forman would speak to us for 20 minutes.
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    There would be some other presentations under the church's Committee
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    on Church and Race with Dr. Hawkins [Hawkins, Edler G.] concluding the presentation.
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    But this morning it became evident that there were two presentations
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    that were clamoring to be made to this assembly and actually needed to be made,
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    one from the brown group as well as the black
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    group. And, therefore, we
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    now present to you a spokesman for the brown group first.
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    Mr. Forman having kindly stepped down
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    and allowed the brown group to speak first. And, I represent the
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    Reverend Antonio Medina one of our own pastors in the Los
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    Angeles area, who will introduce the speaker for the brown group.
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    He has 20 minutes.
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    Thank you, Dr. Smith [Smith, John Coventry]. Mr. Moderator
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    brothers and sisters. God
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    is at work in the world.
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    We know that he is at work because this is a time of tension and a time of conflict
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    and a time of crises. We also know that he is at
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    work because it is also a time of redemption and
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    a time of reconciliation. Reconciliation
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    and redemption through the work of God through His Holy Spirit
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    God in His infinite freedom to speak to
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    us not perhaps through the vehicles that we may define
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    instruments that he himself uses.
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    You have noticed no doubt in the display area
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    the sign that read the motto for our display area of La Raza that says
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    that the Spirit speaks for LaRaza.
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    But the Spirit speaks through La Raza.
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    It is in keeping in line with this that I take
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    now the privilege of introducing to you
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    Mr. Eliezer Risco, who is the editor of La Raza, a
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    barrio communications paper in Los Angeles. He is also
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    professor of ethnic studies at Fresno State University. He is a member of the IFCO
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    board. And in his spare time
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    is a national consultant to the Spanish speaking ministries, not only of the Presbyterian
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    Church, but also for the other Protestant denominations. And, I present to you at this
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    time, Eliezer Risco.
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    I speak to you, not as a leader.
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    I speak to you not as spokesman. I speak to
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    you as a mouthpiece. I'm speaking here
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    only because the brown caucus or the
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    caucus of La Raza decided that
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    all of us couldn't speak. So one would have to do it. But, what I'm
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    going to say was written down by the group as a whole. Upon
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    days and days of deliberation we have been working on these.
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    Demands for quite a while.
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    People throughout the Third World in Latin America
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    Africa and Asia speak about the church
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    in connection with the whole phenomenon of what Western
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    civilization has done to the third world.
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    And people speak about what I call the "three
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    m's." missionaries, money and Marines.
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    The church by omission
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    sometimes, sometimes by silence
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    but many times by active collaboration has
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    inflicted to people throughout the third world some of the same
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    ills that colonization has brought to the third world.
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    And that doesn't apply only to people who are third
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    world people in Latin America Africa and Asia,
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    but also to people who are members of that third world here
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    in the U.S.
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    I think that. I remember reading somewhere in the history
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    of the Reformation that one of the goals,
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    one of the spiritual goals, as well as institutional goals,
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    of the Reformation was for the community of
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    believers to have self-determination as against
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    the Roman Curia. I seem to remember reading somewhere
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    also that the World Council of Churches since
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    their meeting in Madras has been talking about the need for
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    self-determination of people that up to now to then on up to
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    now where being can see they're only as subjects for missions.
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    And I think that, if the church is going to survive the crisis that the world
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    and the church is faced with today, the church has to
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    make good that promise of self-determination.
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    And I repeat if the church is going to survive the crisis, the church has
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    to make good that promise of self-determination
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    because people throughout the world are involved in a
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    revolutionary struggle for self-determination
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    and liberation. And the church has to do
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    what Eldridge Cleaver sometimes says: You have to decide whether you are going to be
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    part of the problem or part of the solution.
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    And more than that I think that even for the church spiritually, not
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    just institutionally, If the conscience of
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    Christianity. If the moral credibility of
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    Christianity is to remain. And, it has been quite
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    damaged up to now. The
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    church has to deal within itself with the question
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    of self-determination, justice, and more than that
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    with the pressing question of liberation.
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    With what. Throughout Latin America and
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    within the US there is a movement that we call the
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    movement of La Raza. Mexicans,
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    Cubans, and Bolivians and Colombians and
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    Argentineans and Chileans are involved. Here in the US,
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    predominantly Chicanos in the southwest and Puerto
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    Ricans in the Northeast and in the island of Puerto
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    Rico are engaged in that very same struggle
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    for self-determination and liberation.
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    The display that you see in the display
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    area referred to before, that says "La Raza  a la spiritu"
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    is a conviction that is within the
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    Latin American people that
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    we are arriving at a historic moment in which the
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    possibility for fulfilling the potential that is
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    historically in us to be fulfilled,
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    and that we ourselves will have to carry through to
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    fulfillment that promise of greatness and potential
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    of human experience that is within La Raza
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    and that is the point from which we are addressing you
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    today.
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    Point one
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    community control of health, education
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    and welfare programs and agencies in the U.S. and
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    Latin countries to those communities. This
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    also means community ownership of such
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    facilities and buildings as neighborhoods and settlement
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    houses, schools, hospitals, and the turning
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    over of real estate holdings for the occupation and ownership
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    of low income families where the church has holding into day
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    slum areas in order to
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    guarantee the operation or continued operation
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    of those facilities and services.
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    Budget based on need as determined by the
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    community should be guaranteed for as long as the community
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    deems necessary.
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    The process of raising those health education
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    welfare programs and agencies
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    should be begun as soon as possible but no later
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    than the fall of 1969.
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    Point two. The Spanish speaking churches
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    will no longer be considered as missions. Boards,
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    agencies, and judicatories of the
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    church will be mandated to facilitate with his
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    Spanish speaking churches
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    the development of a style of life and ministry that is
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    reflective of our culture and a spiritual reality. This
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    not only applies to U.S. Spanish-speaking
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    churches but to those in Latin America also. The
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    implementation of these autonomous rule
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    for Latin American churches will be entrusted to
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    Spanish speaking churches within the US.
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    Point three. A proportion equal to the
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    national percentage of the Spanish-speaking population
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    nationally or local percentage,
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    whichever is higher, of all program funds
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    for ministries, services, church and community
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    development will be earmarked for the use of  Spanish
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    speaking communities. Point four. These
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    programs and the goals of the movement of La Raza
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    cannot be implemented without financial resources.
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    Therefore, we request from the United Presbyterian Church
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    seed money as follows.
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    A. Seed money for phasing in community
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    control of these programs mentioned above as soon as
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    possible. B. Seed money for assistance
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    in the building of the now-going on movement of La Raza
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    through conferences, workshops, training institutes,
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    and so forth.
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    An approximate figure for the seed money would be
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    in the area of $250 to $500,000.
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    Point five The church will
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    liquidate and transfer to a co-operative associtions of poor
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    people in Latin America all investments and
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    holdings in private corporations in Latin America.
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    Furthermore the church should disassociate itself
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    from any programs of the U.S. government and private
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    corporations that Latin American liberation forces denounce as
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    exploitative and neo colonialism.
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    Sixth. Furthermore we support any and all demands
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    of our brothers in the Third World, as made
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    within The Black Manifesto. Point 7.  Once this Assembly
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    has approved and set in motion
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    mechanisms for implementation of these demands,
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    the General Council should be supportive of our request
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    through JSAC, National Council of Churches and any other church
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    agencies of other Protestant denominations so they can
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    respond likewise.
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    One specific example I want to
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    bring to you today comes from Chicago where as of last night
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    people from the surrounding Latin American community in Chicago of
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    Lincoln Park have occupied McCormick Seminary.
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    But somebody from that community should explain to you much better
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    what is happening there. And, it is only as an illustration
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    of the. What it means in those communities to talk
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    about self-determination and liberation.
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    [Lopez speaking] Last
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    night the poor community of Lincoln Park
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    under the leadership of the Young Lords organization, the Latin American Community,
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    a
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    political action group took under
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    its control the McCormick Theological Seminary
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    of Chicago or rather the administration
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    building of the Theological McCormick Theological Seminary. The
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    purpose of this action was to confront the church
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    with its own inconsistency and with
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    its own inadequacy. The poor community of Lincoln
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    Park presented ten demands to the board of directors
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    of the McCormick Theological Seminary and gave a
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    reasonable time for an answer. And, the answer that
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    the community received was not considered satisfactory.
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    The demands that are, that are presented to them are the
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    following. Number one that McCormick Seminary
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    immediately turn over to the community six hundred and one thousand dollars
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    for low cost housing development.
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    Number two. That McCormick Seminary provide a building and re
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    creational for a badly needed co-operative day care center.
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    That the Seminary provide a bus so that children can be picked up for the center.
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    Number three. That all theapartment owned by McCormicks may not be
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    rented to people in the community should be rented to poor and working
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    class families. Number four. That the
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    fence around McCormick Seminary be torn down so that the Seminary
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    can become a part of the community, not a
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    fortress against the community. Number five. We
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    demand that the Stone building be made available to the Puerto Rican community
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    for the creation of a Puerto Rican cultural center to
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    preserve and strengthen our cultural and historical heritage and to
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    transmit these values to other people in our community and in Chicago. If
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    it is found mutually advantageous to the McCormick Seminary and to
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    the Young Lords organization, we propose that the Seminary
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    make available to the Young Lords organization sufficient
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    funds to purchase the property of Armitage Avenue Methodist Church to be
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    made the Puerto Rican cultural center. Number six. The McCormick Seminary extend a
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    grant in the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars to the Young Lords
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    organization to be used in a community leadership
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    development program and in the continuation and strengthening of the work
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    of protecting and serving our poor community. Number
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    seven. We demand that the McCormick Seminary actively support
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    the efforts of the Latino-American defense organization to end the arbitrarinous
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    of the Cook County Department of Public Aid in its dealings with welfare
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    recipients and with welfare recipients defense groups.
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    Specifically, we demand that McCormick publicly support the three demands
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    that GLAVL the Latino-American defense organization along with the Lincoln Park
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    coalition for welfare right have meet it to David Daniel, Director
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    of the Cook County Department of Public Aid, and to George W. Dunne,
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    president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. The demands are
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    one the removal of Walter A. Cunningham, district office supervisor and James
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    Patterson, the front office supervisor for their lack of sensitivity to the
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    needs and the human dignity of welfare recipients at the Lincoln Park Public
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    Aid office. Voice of the community served by the Lincoln Park office in the
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    selection of a new director of the office. Voice in the interpretation and
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    implementation of welfare laws and regulations at the Lincoln Park office level. We
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    demand that this report be expressed in letters to David Daniel, Director
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    of Cook County Department of Public Aid ,and to George Dunne, President of the Cook
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    County Board of Commissioners.
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    Number eight. We demand that McCormick Seminary extend a grant in the
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    amount of $25,000 to the Latino-American Defense Organization
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    to further our aims of creating a strong organization for welfare
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    recipients in our community. Number nine. We demand that the
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    McCormick Seminary publicly oppose and condemn the
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    political persecution carried out by the city of Chicago against poor
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    peoples' organizations, such as the Black Panther Party, the Latin American Defense Organization,
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    and the Young Lords organization.
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    McCormick Seminary must demand from the respective authorities that
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    charges arising out of political outrage be dropped by the complaining institutions,
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    namely Department of Urban Renewal, Cook County Department
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    of Public Aid, Chicago Police Department, the city of
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    Chicago and the state attorney's office. The Young Lords organization and the Lincoln Park welfare office and in
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    particular  Jose Cha-Cha Jimenez,
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    chairman of the Young Lords organization,
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    must not be jailed  and punished for their belief in justice and for their
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    concern for their communities' rights. Number ten. W
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    e demand that McCormack Seminary extend a seed money grant in the amount
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    of $25,000 to establish a legal bureau
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    controlled by poor people's organizations, the attornies to be chosen by the
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    organizations, to work full time for them, and to be responsible only
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    to them.
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    Mr. Moderator, I wish that you would now recognize
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    Dr. Gay Wilmore [Wilmore, Gayraud S., Jr], who is the Secretary, the
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    executive director of the Council on Church and Race. Dr. Wilmore.
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    Mr. Moderator, fathers and brethren. I have been
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    in direct contact with the La Raza caucus
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    here in San Antonio and the caucus representing the National
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    Black Economic Development Conference
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    with respect to the procedures to be followed during this
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    hour.
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    I think you ought to know that you have massed on the platform
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    representatives of both the black and the brown community, who
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    are members and clergy of our United Presbyterian Church
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    and who are members of the San Antonio community, both
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    brown and black citizens. And, they are
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    here to demonstrate visibly
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    their support in principle, in
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    spirit of the challenge that is being
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    presented to our General Assembly by these two groups
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    in concert and in coordination with one another.
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    It was agreed that the two principles of the two groups would be brother Risco
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    for the Spanish speaking caucus and brother Forman
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    for the black caucus. You've already heard from Brother
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    Lopez as a, shall we say, supplementary
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    presentation in connection with Risco's presentation. And,
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    you will hear Brother J. Metz Rollins, [Rollins, Joseph Metz, Jr.] the Executive Director of the National Committee
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    of Black Churchmen as a supplementary
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    supporting presentation of the black church community.
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    Then we suggested that this hour of be wound up by
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    your hearing from one who is well known to every
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    commissioner here, I'm sure, and certainly respected and honored throughout our
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    church, Dr. Edler Hawkins [Hawkins, Edler Garnett], who is
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    the chairman along with Mr. Neal [Neal, George F.] of
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    New York of the Council on Church and Race of our denomination.
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    After that I
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    think, we must begin to think
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    what kind of response this church is to make to what
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    many of us, and I personally, feel are legitimate
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    justifiable demands from a beleaguered
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    people. I first met
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    Mr. Forman when our church was bearing witness to freedom
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    in Mississippi in 1964, when John Smith [Smith, John Coventry]
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    former moderator himself ,walked the picket line at Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
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    James Forman at that time was Executive Director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
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    I got to know Jim at that time, and so did John Smith, as a
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    courageous man, a man of integrity, a man with a passion for
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    freedom burning in his breast. He
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    is today the chairman of the international
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    affairs division of SNCC. But, more
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    importantly for us, he is the
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    representative of the National Black Economic Development Conference,
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    which has acclerated the black revolution in this country within the last three weeks.
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    And he comes here to speak on behalf of that new
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    movement, which has taken the place of the civil rights movement in this
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    country, which represents the militant black poor in this
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    country and every other black person, who is concerned about
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    freedom and justice in American society.
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    A sermon that I preached in Germantown Community Church last Sunday I called Jim
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    Forman a prophet for our time. And I still call him that.
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    Scriptures tell us that if a man has ought against us, we ought to go
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    to even find out what it is and be reconciled to him and then go
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    to worship.
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    That's why we have interrupted the regular order of business because this man
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    says he has something against the Christian church.
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    Some of your own black brethren and some of your brown brethren say, "Amen!" Let
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    us hear him speak
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    now, James Forman.
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    Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, members of the police department, the press and what
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    have you. I'm happy to be here.
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    As you know I come to you as chairman of United Black Appeal, which is division of the
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    National Black Economic Development Conference. I'm extremely appreciative of the
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    conference for allowing the brothers from the Spanish-speaking community La Raza
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    to appear before you and to allow me to appear before you.
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    I think that this is a very significant occasion for oppressed people in the United States that have united to present
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    before the white Christian church, which we maintain is racist.
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    a position that we think that the church can help to
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    eliminate itself from the racism . The brother from La Raza
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    spoke to you about the three "m's": the money, the missionaries, and the Marines.
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    It is an objective fact that when black people came to the United States in 1619, long
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    before the descendants of many of the Europeans came to this country. We came
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    not as Christians, we came as pagans, as the Christians called it. And the
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    justification for our coming to this country was rationalized by saying
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    that it is better for us to be slaves in the United States, working 16 to
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    17 to 18 hours a day without any rights without any pay. It
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    is better for us to be slaves inside the United States where we have a chance to become
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    Christians than to remain in Africa, our continent, our motherland, where we
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    were dwelling in peace.
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    This rationalization continued to extend throughout the period of slavery. And that
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    cannot be denied. And the fact that our justice our demands against the
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    Christian Church today is based upon several principles.
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    Number one that the Christian church is not just a building in and of itself. It
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    represents its membership. And, the membership of the white Christian church
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    was predominantly white, which began to exploit the resources of black
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    people in this country. This is a fact which the church cannot deny. Many
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    of the black brethren have pointed out that the church itself owned slaves in many
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    instances. And, certainly the slave owners would go to church on a Sunday morning and pray to
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    God, but would whip our mothers and fathers with lashes on the back the next day. The
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    same is true after reconstruction. After during the period of
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    reconstruction, after the Emancipation Proclamation, many of the Christians
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    who had been defeated in the Civil War began to leave us through a process of
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    sharecropping. And at the turn of the 20th century black people were not
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    involved in the industrial process of this country. That the resources and the riches of
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    the country had been gathered by the White racists who had been exploiting us, who had
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    enslaved us in the name of Christianity for the most part. In the
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    name of Christianity for the most part. This is an objective fact that we cannot
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    deny. The church itself ,which is involved in
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    very heavy financial responsibilities throughout the world, has accumulated
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    the resources and the richness of the church through that process of
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    exploitation, through that process of slave income if you will.
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    The church today has tremendous amount of investment, so much
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    investment that the church can not be considered a religious institution. The
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    church today, and this is the point that we try to make, and we are trying to let
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    everybody understand this, black, brown, green, or white, that the church in the
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    United States today is a financial institution. Elders sitting in this
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    room do not even know where the funds from the United Presbyterian Foundation
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    is in fact invested. Many sitting in this room do not understand that
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    the Presbyterian Foundation is investing in South Africa, in
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    corporations which invest in South Africa, which further exploit black people as well as
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    Rhodesia. Many people in this room today do not question
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    what in fact the Presbyterian Foundation does with the money that it has continually
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    accumulated over over years after years after years when they
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    do not question the real estate holdings of the Catholic Church, which is the
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    largest corporation inside the United States, larger than General Motors and certainly
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    around the world, and is responsible primarily for the exploitation of our brothers and
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    sisters from La Raza. The same is true of the Episcopalian church.
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    Trinity Episcopalian Church in New York City alone has assets of over
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    350 million dollars, which it continually invests. And, it is a small church on
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    Wall Street. And where did it get this money from? Who were the rock bottom
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    Christians who came to this country and began to enslave black people?
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    Were they pagans? Were they Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists,
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    Methodist, Baptists? These are the premises for which we make our
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    demands upon the white racist Christian church today. And, to make it more
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    contemporary, let us look at Riverside Church, which projected me unfortunately
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    into a national situation. But we will have to deal with that. Lets look at the Board of Trustees
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    of Riverside Church in New York, not the board of Deacons which
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    traditionally has the power in the Baptist church, but the board of trustees at
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    Riverside Church comprises Winthrop W. Aldridge, 30 Rockefeller Plaza,
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    who's related to the Rockefeller family, Victor C. Great, president or
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    rather the Graduate School of Business at Columbia which owns the land at
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    Rockefeller Plaza is located on. James A. Forman, Sr., of
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    American Telephone and Telegraph. John H. Fisher, he's from Teacher's College small
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    fry. Robert G. Robert G. Fuller president of the
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    board of Erie Lackawanna, railroad company. William H. Green of the
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    American Can Company. Francis S. Armand, former
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    Mississippi Attorney General. Charles Lynn King director of the Research Grants Administration of St. Luke's.
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    Ward B. Ogden, the treasurer of the board of Price,
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    Waterhouse and Co. Charles C. Killingham, Jr., who's President of Trans World Airlines. Donald H.
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    Elliott, who  is Secretary of  the board of the city planning
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    commission in New York, directly related to Mayor Lindsay. And, it is the board of
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    trustees which controls the tremendous wealth of Riverside Church.
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    Now Reverend Campbell of Riverside Church [Campbell, Ernest T.] has admitted, in his own words, that the moral
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    thrust which we injected into the church has forced him and the board of deacons to grant
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    that they have to pay reparations, which is a form of penitence, to the black
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    community to the disadvantage. Of course, they're not willing to give that to the National Black
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    Economic Development Conference and that's another fight. But nevertheless he has
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    admitted the justification and the correctness of the position we have put before
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    him. What we are saying,  gentlemen, and we are saying this about the Presbyterian church
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    today, that it is not a religious institution. It is
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    not just a religious institution. It has not been just a religious institution
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    since its inception on the shores of the United States. For, if it were a
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    religious institution, then Presbyterians would not have been slaveholders.
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    Presbyterians would not be investing in South Africa if we took the teachings of
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    Jesus to all to our hearts. And, we say that we are on sound theological
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    grounds when we go to any Christian church and say that you are money
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    moneylenders hustlers what we have followed in the footsteps of Jesus. But we don't make that
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    comparison that is for the Christian Brothers to make for us. What we are saying though,
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    is that we make certain demands of the white racist Christian church and the Jewish synagogue
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    today. We are asking for 500 million dollars in reparations, which is to
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    be spent in the following way. Now we escalated the demands because the new knowledge that
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    we found out about the church. And I'll explain that in a minute. But
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    nevertheless our original program called for
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    two hundred million dollars to establish a national land bank in the Deep South where we
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    would have co-operative farms, where we know our people are sharecroppers, tenant
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    farmers and day laborers and have no economic base whatsoever in the south.
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    But with a 200 million dollar land bank, we could establish tremendous amounts of co-operative
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    farms. Second point of course was four major print printing
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    industries. Now no Presbyterian can deny the value of a printing establishment as long as
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    Presbyterian Life is being printed by the Presbyterian Church. We're saying the black
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    community we need to have four major printing
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    establishments funded with no less than 10 million dollars each, which comes to the sum of 40
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    million dollars, to be located in Detroit, Los Angeles,
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    Atlanta, and New York.
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    Our third demand was for the establishment of television networks in four
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    major cities of this country, which would be the most scientific,
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    futuristic television operators that we can locate. These
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    to be funded by 10 million dollars each. We have some copies of the Manifesto, which we will pass out
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    after the service. The the next
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    point.
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    Thank you.
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    The next point was the establishment of a research skills center to be funded by
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    no less than 30 million dollars each. The next point was of course a training
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    center in film-making, radio-making, television-making to be funded with no less
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    than 10 million dollars. We all know that the television industry in this country
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    is racist. That its cameramen's look around us, exclude black people by and
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    large. And, if you go to the TV stations, you will see that NBC, CBS,
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    and ABC have all tied up, are all tied up with basically white technicians. And,
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    we want a training center where this can be eliminated. And, we then know that our next move will be to
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    bust the racist white unions. We also call for a national army, I mean, for ten
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    million dollars to assist in the organization of welfare mothers. We
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    call for a 20 million dollar national labor strike and defense fund. Black
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    people in this country are extremely dissatisfied and many of them are not organized. In
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    the major plants of this country, we see black workers 60 and 70 percent of the
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    population. And yet we say that the United Automobile Workers is a
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    racist union, for, if it were not, then it would be supporting the demands of some of the
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    churchmen that all United States investment come out of South Africa. But
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    instead, we find General Motors, Ford, Chrysler all investing in South
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    Africa and the unions in this country are not doing anything about this particular
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    situation. And we know that black workers understand the condition of our
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    people in Africa. And, they have to understand that more and more. But in order to organize
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    black workers, we must have a labor strike and defense fund. Next thing, of course,
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    we call the United Black appeals to be funded with 20 million dollars each. This
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    United Black Appeal is to generate capital, raise money throughout the United States
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    not only for the program of the National Black Economic Development Conference but also to establish
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    cooperatives in Africa. We recognize that we have to be self-reliant in so
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    far as that is possible within the black community, given the structure of government under which we
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    live. And it is necessary to launch a massive United Black Appeal, which we have started to
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    do. And, with the money from the United Black Appeal, we intend to
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    establish a black Anti-Defamation League to protect our African image
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    inside the United States. Then we call lastly for 130 million
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    dollars for the establishment of a black university. To us this means more than just a
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    black board of trustees, teachers and faculties. This means, in fact, that
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    we will eliminate some of the class bias that operates in American education today.
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    The reality of black life is that many people can not get into
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    college because they've dropped out of school at 17 18 years old in the tenth grade or the
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    sixth grade or what have you. And we want a university where any body of
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    any age can feel that there's a community to which he can come in order to
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    learn. Because many of our people reach the age of 35 or 45
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    because they had to go to segregated schools, want to learn, but there's no place available
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    for them to come. And, our egos are important because many people who cannot read and
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    write will not tell you they cannot read and write because of the whole
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    emphasis and value, prestige upon reading and writing in the society. And it
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    works a psychological handicap. That basically is how we intend to spend
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    the 500 million dollars, which we are asking in reparations. Now we have been going to
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    different churches and different synagogues, not been in the synagoges as of yet, but we've also been
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    making certain demands. Now as you know there was an ad hoc committee for justice when the
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    Presbyterian Church which made certain demands upon the Presbyterian Church. We
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    had intended to come to this church in a different manner, but certain events made us
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    come to it in the manner in which we did.
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    And therefore we would like to say, to read out the special demands that we're making of the
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    Presbyterian church. The first demand that the ad hoc committee made, I'm
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    authorized to tell you has been dropped. And that demand was that Kenneth G. Neigh
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    be replaced as the General Secretary of the Board of National Missions. We have
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    dropped that demand, because we have come to find out that there was a certain amount of bureaucracy
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    involved in this particular letter, which went out, which shows you how
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    bureaucratic the church structure is. But we never the less, are reasonable people and are
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    willing to drop this particular demand.
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    So that's out of the window.
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    Although we certainly think that Brother Neigh has to look at that administrative apparatus,
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    which he has up there, and not to allow these kinds of mistakes to
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    occur again.
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    Second demand is just a general demand. And, that is that the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
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    Church self help implement the Black Manifesto. Now concretely, Demand
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    number three has been enlarged from that the Mexican-Americans
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    to be given all land held by the Presbyterian Church in New Mexico to the total support
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    of the demands which have been made here this afternoon by the representative of La Raza.
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    Number four.That the Presbyterian Church turn over all its land holdings in all Southern
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    states specifically the states of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi to the
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    National Black Economic Development Conference to be used for the benefit of poor black people through its
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    program.
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    What we are saying is this, gentlemen, is that, and sisters, that the church
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    does not need all of the land it has. Much of the Presbytery land is idle in the state of
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    Mississippi for instance. And, this is something that you do not realize as commissioners,
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    as members of the Presbyterian church. And, we're saying that an investigation of this land
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    would reveal that much of it it is idle and much of it could be used
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    in the development of co-operative farms inside the United States and would
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    give a an opportunity to have economic development for black people. Thank you. Second
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    point was that 80 million dollars be channeled through IFCO, the Intereligious Foundation  for Community Organiation,
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    by the by the Presbyterian Church for the National Black
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    Economic Development Conference for the implementation of the Black Manifesto. Now, somebody
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    will say, "Well, the church doesn't have 80 million dollars which it has in fluid funds." But,
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    the church has a membership, which represents some of the richest people in
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    this country. In fact, some of them operate the CIA incidentally.
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    And you know, S. A. J. Hamm, who is a Presbyterian. He works with the Central Intelligence Agency.
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    If you check the other Presbyterians, you will find that they're very very involved in the power structure,
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    in the business enterprise of this country. Now, that is also our contention that the
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    church is not just an edifice. The church is not just made up righteous men, such as you
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    sitting in this room, but the church is also made up of people,
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    you know, who call themselves Christians, who contribute to the church. And, the church has a moral responsi
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    bility to exact tithes from these people for the economic development of black
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    community, because they are all involved in exploiting machinery. Englehart is a classic
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    example. I'm not sure he is a Presbyterian, but nonetheless he's all involved in the
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    economic operations of Africa and throughout the world. And, that the church has a
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    right to go and call upon its membership, who are rich, white, racist businessmen,
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    to put some money back into the black community and the Spanish-speaking community of
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    this country. Next point. Let the Presbyterian Church
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    liquidate all its assets in South Africa, which is a demand that is almost non
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    negotiable, and channel those assets through I.F.C.O. to go to the National Black Economic
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    Development Conference and that a black person acceptable to the United Black
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    Presbyterians be put in charge of the African desk and that the program be enlarged.
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    This is a very serious problem, gentlemen, because one of the things that we make
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    in our Manifesto is that in fact the only guarantee that black
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    people have against the guarantee they have against racism is to have
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    revolutionary black people concerned about the total humanity of this world in
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    charge who's really in charge of total control of the country. But to
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    exercise humane leadership. And, that whites who are prepared to deal with their racism,
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    must be prepared to accept black leadership. Now, it is ironic that in the
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    Presbyterian Church, the man who is in charge of the African program is a white man when
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    there are so many qualified black Presbyterians who could run that program. That is
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    a very very real problem. That is a question the church ought to grapple with certainly at this particular
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    meeting. Next point is that the Presbyterian Church make available,
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    and this is for the benefit of everybody in the Presbyterian Church incidentally. A complete
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    listing of all church holdings and stocks, bonds, real estate investment,
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    unrelated business interests, pension, retirement,  investment funds. And that
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    60 percent of the income from all these investments be annually given to the National
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    Black Economic Development Conference. The purpose of that is is that
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    you know the church has tried to maintain a rationale, give up thy goods for the poor
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    and go and do some stewardship. We say that if that is true, then the church
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    which is a financial empire unto itself, must make certain
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    sacrifices. The church has accumulated wealth through the whole
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    exploitive machinery and that is true, gentlemen, we cannot doubt that. I've seen the
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    directory of the Presbyterian Foundation. I know where the money is invested in
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    stock and so forth. And I also know that those companies are exploiting black people
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    around the world, as well as other people of color. And, that the church does not need all
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    those assets in order to function as the church. The church does not
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    need  all those assets to function. There is an interlocking relationship
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    today between the church, business, and government. They're all in cahoots.
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    Now many of the people who are out here, who are normal Christians, good Christians trying to be good
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    Christians, do not in fact understand what James Pew [Pew, J. Howard] is doing with the United
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    Presbyterian Foundation. This is a serious problem. And if it can't be
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    resolved at the General Assembly, then where can it be resolved? This is the
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    point that we are raising. Where can it be resolved?
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    People will tell you that the Presbyterian Foundation is a separate entity. The Episcopalians
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    try to tell us that the pension fund was a separate entity from Bishop Hines, [Hines, John E., Presiding Bishop] the
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    bishop in charge of the church, that he has nothing to do with the pension fund. Well, where is the
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    pension fund invested? The same  thing is true that we tried to raise with the
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    membership of Riverside which is why all of that notoriety, We were  saying to the
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    membership of Riverside that if you can't control the board of directors , or ratherf the Board of
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    Trustees, then who can? By what right does a few people have to
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    perpetually sit up on money and to continually invest it in God knows what? Because
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    we know that the Riverside Church in New York is heavily involved in real estate investment
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    inside the United States, inside New York in particular. When Rockefeller Plaza can be
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    completely tax exempt then something is wrong. So what we say we're not really raising the
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    question that the church should be paying taxes to the United States because we don't feel it
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    should, But, it should be paying taxes to the National Black Economic Development Conference.
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    But this is a real problem. And, so we are saying, that if we take serious. If
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    we take seriously the question of our stewardship of our
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    ministry then we must begin to  divest the church of its financial
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    involvement in business and government. No one is saying that the church should not operate.
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    No one is saying that some people have to be cut back from their salaries or that some people don't
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    need three secretaries and what have you, although they could do with one. Nevertheless
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    we're saying that the church has to seriously consider whether or not it is a financial
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    entity in the United States at this particular moment. This is the question that we're
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    trying to get across. And we know many commissioners, many average church people, who give
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    dollars and dimes to the church do not understand how
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    involved the church is in the government and how the government uses the church for
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    legitimate interests. How the C.I.A. is involved in the use of the church and
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    overseas domination. And we say that is relevant for black people today because
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    we are concerned about the total humanity of the world. We are concerned about our brothers
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    and sisters in Africa, about our Spanish speaking brothers in Latin America and inside this country.
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    And we come to you today.
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    Clearly if you don't do anything else to understand and and we will
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    still have them liberated territory up there at 475, which is being expanded to the 9th and
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    the 12th floor.
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    But nevertheless if you don't do anything else, then certainly begin to
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    understand how in fact that  the church is a financial empire inside the
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    United States. And that was not the original intention of the church
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    and the church can begin to make restitution, reparations is in fact a part of business.
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    And 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
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    mic development in the black community. And, reparations is legitimate. And the
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    white Christian church, which has been a part of our exploitation, must begin to pay those
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    reparations. And, we hope that this General Assembly will act as men and women and not let somebody tell you, Let's
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    refer this to some sort of board, which is going to be bureaucratic and stifle demands.
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    Where is your power as the General Assembly, if in fact, you are concerned? If in
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    fact you are interested in eliminating racism, then we should not leave here until there are some answers to the
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    demands made by Spanish-speaking and black people of this country.
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    Thank you.
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    [Rollins, Joseph Metz, Jr., "Metz" speaking ] There are several reasons the least I think why I'm here
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    as a part of this program. Because, in addition to being
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    a black Presbyterian clergyman, I'm also the Executive Director for the National Committee of Black Churchmen. And,
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    perhaps in this statement which wasn't too widely circulated
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    those of you will have to wrestle with the demands of the Manifesto may get some
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    clue from black churchmen
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    who have taken seriously this demand and who through the years
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    in the context of the predominantly white church institution have struggled
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    mightily to be taken seriously. And in part,
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    this is why we are here and why the spirit of many
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    black churchmen, including black Presbyterians, is right in the heart of
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    what Jim Forman is saying. Now, the National Committee of Black Churchmen
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    is made up of everybody from black Roman Catholic
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    priests to Church of God people, black denominations
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    primarily. We have what we call real soul ecumenicity. It
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    has nothing to do with creed or dogma.
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    The common recognition of the black experience regardless of the religious
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    Hang-Up that we were a part of. And, this is important to understand.
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    And so it was the board of directors that met a week ago yesterday. They
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    considered the Black Manifesto. And we considered it after we had heard
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    from brother Forman and we gave this following response.
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    And we call upon this church and the other churches to
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    look at the spirit of this response as they debate for the confrontation that's been
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    put upon them. We rise to salute the entire religious foundation for community
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    organization which sponsored the National Black Economic Development Conference,
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    which, in turn, became the channel through which James Forman could appear as a
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    modern day prophet to speak to the churches.
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    We are mindful that the program proposed has troubled the waters of Siloam. We dig
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    it, baby, it's biblical. Yet we know that how much the churches may shake
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    to the vibrations of its own cleansing, the healing of Christ is working
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    upon them.
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    In other words we're trying to say that this is not something from the outside.
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    This is very much a part of God's ongoing activity
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    in the history of the world and in the history of the church. We have taken action
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    to support in principle the demands of the National Black Economic Development Conference upon the churches
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    and synagogues of the United States as a beginning.
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    And I want to say to you that it's important to realize that there were some brothers last week
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    in Atlanta who thought Jim Forman was too conservative. And,
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    that there were some who said that the Manifesto was essentially a reformist
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    paper, position.
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    So I just keep in mind that those of us who were a part of the National Committee of Black Churchmen,
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    we emphasize as a beginning. And,
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    the next thing is fairly historical statement which Jim has already alluded to and into the
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    interests of time I'll move on to the gut issues of our statement.
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    It must be clearly understood that the black church does not stand in the same
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    dock as a white church before the bar justice and that includes
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    the black church within the predominant white churches.
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    Black churches were victims rather than the guardians and
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    perpetuators of racism in America.
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    Yet this is a thing that has not been picked up and I emphasize that again we do
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    nevertheless accept the responsibility of the black churches to share in the
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    remuneration of the black community.
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    But we recognize that it is these communities which have sustained our churches
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    over the years and even our black brothers, who have been a part of the United
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    Presbyterian Church all these years, we are beginning to discover and understand where
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    our life and our heart and soul is.
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    It is with black folks no matter, our
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    commitment, our belief in order procedure.
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    Our commitment is with the black revolution.
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    We urge the Black caucuses in the predominant white churches and the black
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    denominations to play a major role in interpret the justness, the humaneness and a
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    theological soundness of the demands of the Black Manifesto.
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    This is important. Therefore, we urge all the religious Black Caucuses and our brethren
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    within the predominantly black denominations to accept the responsibility to develop the
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    strategy that is necessary to obtain the funds which are demanded. We further
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    call upon them to assess the institutional assets of their respective
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    denominations and to negotiate specific amounts which are to be allocated
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    through I.F.C.O. for the purposes outlined in Manifesto. We become
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    wise in the ways of those who act.
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    My sisters and brothers. And, there was an effort to isolate Jim Forman, to make him look
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    like a kook as an effort to discredit I.F.C.O.
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    So there's an effort to discredit any of those who have responded positively
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    to the Black Manifesto.
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    And this is why it was so important what the board of directors of the National Committee
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    did in Atlanta last week.
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    The pursuance of these eons. We appealed to the black caucusses and the black denominations to unify
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    their efforts of advocacy and implementation of the Manifesto
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    the recording nation provided by the National Committee of Black Churchmen.
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    We instruct the executive director of NCBC to immediately begin this activity. And,
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    this explains my presence with Jim Forman at the Catholic Archdiocese on
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    last Friday in New York and on Monday in the presence
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    of Bishop Hines [Hines, John E., Presiding Bishop, Episcopal Church]
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    I want to say again that those representatives of Cardinal Cook on Friday and
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    Bishop Hines, they did take us seriously.
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    They did take the whole idea of their Manifesto seriously. In that sense, they
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    were acting as responsible churchmen.
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    The other filip that we added to the statement in support was that we insist that the great
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    foundations not be excluded from this Vanguard contributors
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    from the private sector. Many of the foundations are creatures of
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    corporations whose founders and stockholders amassed incredibly huge
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    fortunes from a capitalistic system, which was rooted and grounded
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    in the exploitation of our forefathers. While a few of them have supported the civil
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    rights movement, none of them have done what they ought to have done about the mounting
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    crisis among non-white peoples in the urban
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    and rural ghettos are the nation. We call upon the foundations, as well as the
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    churches and synagogues, to provide millions of dollars for economic and social development
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    in the black community.
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    The NCBC, through its executive director and its affiliates, is ready to
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    participate whatever conferences and negotiations may ensue from the demands of
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    our brothers for the reparational relief of the suffering of black people. We
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    urge the private sector of the American economy, particularly the churches, synagogues, and
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    foundations to receive these demands with utmost seriousness.
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    One of the things that's probably going in your minds. And then, I'm through. Is that, you know, in
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    each place that we've gone, each time Jim has been, the church always trots
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    out its record of involvement, but we never really were radically
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    changing anything. We would never radically changing our
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    modus operandi, our style of mission. And,
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    in our response to the civil rights movement in the past, much of what we
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    did, while it was helpful, was also no more than protection and buffer. It
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    kept the rank and file of our membership from really knowing what it was about.
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    On Sunday I was up in Northern Westchester, one of our nice predominantly
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    white congregations. And, I didn't realize how
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    uptight they were, after I made my presentation on behalf of this. In
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    the word coming back followed almost the sort of physical sense because for the first
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    time, despite all that our Presbyterian church had been doing over the last
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    10 15 years, the Manifesto, the Black Manifesto had finally
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    gotten under their skins. And, they were upset.
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    And this is what it's all about.
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    Radical challenge has been placed before us. And, it's too late to talk about
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    moderation and propriety and understanding and
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    gradualism and give us a little time.
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    The means are available. The will to use them must not be withheld.
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    Peace and power.
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    [Hawkins, Edler Garnet] I suspect that perhaps the only
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    person in this auditorium that has a more difficult job than myself is our
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    moderator [Sweazy, George E.].
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    I would hope that that
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    we might find the occasion
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    for movement today.
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    What we
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    have had a demonstration of is not so much the fact
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    that there is anything new
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    in the deep critical nature of our
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    time in relation to
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    the black and the brown community. All that we
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    have had is a very
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    sharp indication of the new
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    sense of drama with
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    which this condition has been lifted up very
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    dramatically before us. And
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    it seems to me that no great length of words
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    should be the part of any of us. We
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    are a part of the problem.
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    We were involved.
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    In the complicity, in the
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    compilation of evil in our time.
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    And yet there are some of us who have some very real problems.
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    Because somewhere along the line, there were those
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    of us who stood in a church such as ours
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    and made a commitment to the Lord Jesus
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    Christ.
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    A commitment that was born
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    out of the idea that this was a Christ.
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    Our
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    own words who did proclaim
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    release to the captives and
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    all the rest that we know so well.
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    There's been that desire on the part of some to live by that.
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    And there's been a desire on the part of
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    many of us, who
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    are part of the black community
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    and also who are part of a church such as ours.
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    The hope that we could live in these two
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    worlds.
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    This has been our faith and we've tried
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    to live by this.
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    There's a sense in which, to some degree,
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    we have felt a responsibility to our White Brothers
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    as we have lived within this common fellowship.
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    And we want to remain within it.
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    We have been trying to say as part of that
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    responsibility.
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    Let's not perhaps the deepest but certainly one of the deepest
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    levels of frustration and disillusionment
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    on the part of the black community and
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    the brown community came at the point
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    of the Koerner report that did not say anything
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    new but that lifted up
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    dramatically this sense of the two societies
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    into which we were drifting.
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    The response to which was so
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    so terribly disappointing.
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    And we come to this moment
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    that many of us hope will represent
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    both a challenge and the necessity
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    to respond.
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    I recall some other words that
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    come back, came at another point
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    in the struggle for civil rights.
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    And we remember those words, "Late
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    we have come."
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    But there was a sense in which at that point
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    and for that level we came.
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    The basis of our faith requires a
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    response.
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    Some of us who are on the platform here. We had a very
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    distinct disadvantage
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    because we were not able to hear
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    the terms of these demads.
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    That's not important. It seems to me that
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    our will, our determination, to
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    move as fast
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    and as full as a church such as ours
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    can move becomes becomes our immediate
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    responsibility at this point.
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    And if I was if I happened to be a Commissioner
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    of this General Assembly, I would
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    like very much to make the kind of motion
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    that within the framework of how this General Assembly
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    can operate.
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    The motion that would enable us to move
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    seriously and as completely
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    as we can in the direction of a
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    response to what we have heard
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    this day from our brown and our
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    black brothers. And,
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    because we do stand with in
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    this kind of faith
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    that requires a response, the
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    hope is that somehow under God we may be able
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    to give[ it.
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    [Smith, John Coventry speaking] Mr. Moderator, this completes the presentation from
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    the General Council's report.
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    I am led to say that if we had a Cardinal Cooke [Terrence, Cardinal Cooke].
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    That's where we would have recommended that James Forman
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    and our brown brethren also should go. W
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    e don't have a cardinal. If we had a Presiding Bishop Hines, as the Episcopal Church has,
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    we would have
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    recommended they go there. We don't have a presiding bishop, but we
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    have a General Assembly.
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    So this is where we recommended that these things should
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    be heard. And
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    now, we have a procedure in the General Assembly.
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    Sometimes it's a very bureaucratic procedure, but when we pay
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    attention and use it,
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    It can get things done. There's an
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    article in the manual, page 136 and 32
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    136 32 that says that
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    all resolutions for the appropriation of money, and these
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    resolutions were at least that,
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    shall be submitted to the General Council for consideration and recommendations
  • speaker
    before action is taken by the General Assembly. I believe that
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    this is the channel. I have talked to the Secretary of the General Council. And
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    we are prepared to call a meeting immediately
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    following the closing of the session this evening in the
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    St. Anthony Hotel, where we've been accustomed to meet. Edler
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    Hawkins is a member of the Council. Gay Wilmore is on the staff.
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    Bryant George and others are there to advise us.
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    Roger Granados and, I would say, Reverend Antonio Medina
  • speaker
    would also be invited on this occasion so that we will have the
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    full reading of those
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    presentations. Some of us behind the microphone are not able to hear
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    nearly as clearly as as you can hear. And may we make Gay
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    and one of you responsible for. And
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    perhaps if you would like to bring someone else with you, it will be satisfactory.
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    That will be our initial look at them. There should be some immediate
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    places where some of these go. Some of them are long term and will take far
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    longer than this meeting of the General Assembly.
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    But some of them can be given attention. And, we shall
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    try our best to report to you about what we do
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    with all of them as soon as possible.

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