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under a state name and that the 15th only officially became the 369th after its baptism under fire in 1918.

The outstanding event of the evening was a speech by Brooklyn Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, who was a fortunate last minute replacement for U.S. District Judge Alcee L. Hastings. The judge had to cancel his appearance at the last minute because of unforeseen developments. Congresswoman Chisholm said that she had been in four different states during the last few day and had ended up in Florida this morning. She assured us that that she was not running for president again but had come to speak in these states because of her concern for her people.

She said that the state of the Black nation is in very deep trouble at this particular juncture in the history of this country and that she has been deeply disturbed over the fact that many of the Black men who had moved out of the economic millieu of this great nations as a result of the civil rights struggle, were now being laid off left and right. That she was not talking about poor people at the bottom of the economic ladder but middle class Blacks who had been earning between $25,000 and $42,000 annually. This she said was the result of the last hired, first fired syndrome. Further, that the tax break gave major windfalls to the wealthy at the expense of the working people and the poor. She said it was time for Blacks to focus their attention on the Congress and that if members of the House of Representatives considered standing for re-election in late 1982, they must hear a loud and clear expression in the Black community that our interests be advanced. That is was not enough to come and visit your Congressman's office and to be carried away by the fact that they take you to a restaurant or have their pictures taken with you but we are going to have to learn to do like other people do in this country and ask the representatives what they have done in terms of the legislation that they have supported, that would be beneficial to our advancement in this society.

In closing she said "Oh Dear God, give me the strength and courage and the fortitude and the stamina, re-energize, revitalize me so that I can continue to make some kind of contribution, until like old people usually say "This too shall pass", and you should remember that no other group of people in this country would have been able to sustain themselves the way that we have. We have been maligned, abused, misinterpreted, misunderstood. When one has deep unshakeable faith and a sense of character, the determination of their spirits will carry them through when things get rough. We have been able to say step back on that rock. But, I

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