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We all know of others—the churches, the neighborhood groups, the fraternal societies, and the vast array of groups and organizations put together and sustained by ordinary working people trying to soften the blows of an indifferent society.

That spirit will be called on in the hard days ahead. But we are used to it. We have been pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps even when the only part of the boot we had was the strap.

The black community must get down to basics. It must raise its voice in loud protest, but it must also raise its arms to build better communities, to nurture a spirit of excellence, and to pull the levers on the voting machines.

Last year the commentators were saying the black vote didn't matter. This year they are looking at Atlanta, Miami, Virginia and Houston and they see the truth of what we have been saying all along—the black vote counts. The black vote will settle old scores when the time comes—and the time is coming soon.

I am convinced that this long night of indifference to the plight of America's poor people and its minorities will pass. And helping to bring a new dawn will be a new, spirited leadership, both white and black. The challenges facing black leadership in the eighties are enormous, but they are also exciting and inspiring. Black people have the depth of talent to bring forth leaders equal to the task.

The challenges facing white leadership are also huge, and they include the special responsibilities that come with power. For it is white leadership whose hands are on the levers of our society, who control the vast resources of the world's richest nation. It is white leadership that controls a three-trillion-dollar economy and a 700 billion dollar federal budget.

We have strong allies in the white community, and they include men and women who have worked tirelessly to secure equal opportunity and better race relations. But there haven't been enough of them in proportion to the size of the problem and the power of their community. We need more allies to meet a new era of change.

This nation has changed since the days of the marches
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"GOODBYE VERNON"

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