Viewing page 113 of 516

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Continued from page 101

• One billion dollars for a permanent endowment for the NAACP.

I believe, no, I know, that there are least 4,000 individuals who will join us in this effort. We will have a commemorative plaque in your national headquarters listing the names of those who joined in this noble effort.

Anyone who has an appreciation for history should be cognizant of the fact that nations and great civilizations were not destroyed from without, but from within. When hopes are blasted, when expectations are doomed, when respect for government is shattered by the disparate treatment of groups of individuals; when people are left out—then a social order is doomed to destruction. Yes, social and economic destruction from within, not foreign aggressors, constitute the greatest threat to our system of government.

While we must protect ourselves against those who may choose to be our adversaries, we must also work incessantly to defeat the age-old specter of hunger, or poverty, and of disease. To do less is to doom our future and seal our fate.

Fortunately for us, and for our nation I might add, there is the NAACP, strong and vibrant. Although we are put upon as ineffective and outmoded by the nattering nabobs of negativism, ostracized, vilified by cynics from both inside and outside, nonetheless, the NAACP stands today as it stood for the past 74 years as a bastion of hope for black Americans.

What other organization has a history of fighting through the courts, marching in the streets, lobbying on Capitol Hill and in state capitals in 50 states for the advancement of civil and human rights?

What other organization has a mass membership base, verifiable by certified public accountants, of almost 400,000 members?

The NAACP, for more than half a century, has been the most effective vehicle for black Americans in the struggle for human rights. The NAACP worked in the quarry when the rock was hard. And, thank God, we offered bold, imaginative leadership to those Americans who had little reason to believe in the hollow promises of this society. We must not lose the respect and confidence of the black masses.

We have, not since 1909, faltered or failed to be the faithful advocate of our people.

We intend to turn out of city halls, mayors who do not concern themselves with the plight of the poor, who won't appoint blacks to positions of responsibility or who neglect our neighborhoods. We intend to send into retirement, governors whose policies adversely impact blacks, women, Hispanics, and other minorities. We intend to drive from the hollowed halls of the Senate and from the exalted chambers of the House of Representatives men and women who are not representative of those of us who are caught at the bottom of the economic ladders. And unless there are major changes in the current direction of this Administration, we intend to march on the ballot box in November of 1984, and send President Ronald Wilson Reagan back to the sunshine, solitude and placid seaside of California.

Black Dollar Day

On Labor Day weekend, we are calling upon blacks around the country to demonstrate to merchants throughout the land that we have enormous economic clout which cannot be taken for granted. Under the leadership of Fred Rasheed and L.R. Byrd, our Fair Share consultant, we are launching this effort calling upon blacks to use Susan B. Anthony silver dollars and two-dollar bills for the purchases of goods and services they make that weekend. By so doing, we will say to the economic movers and shakers, businessmen and merchants, etc., that a significant portion of their income is derived from the black community and that we are insisting upon our fair share of the job and entrepreneurial opportunities which are available.

My brothers and sisters, as I close tonight, I want you to know that the struggle that we will face through the remaining period of the '80s and on through the twenty-first century will not be an easy one. It is fraught with pitfalls and plagued with set-backs, but we as people have developed a resiliency which has made it possible for us to survive slavery and vicious discrimination. We must never tire nor become frustrated by the difficulties that cloud future opportunities. We must transform stumbling blocks into stepping stones and march on with the determination that we will make America a better nation for all to live in.

I know what it is like to be put upon. As leaders of branches, state conferences, you, too, know what it is like to be vilified and abused. You know what it is like not to have your efforts appreciated and to have your motives questioned. But struggle on.

When the school boards of education are reticent to provide the kind of education that our children desperately need in the decade of the '80s, go to the school board meetings, let your voice be heard and struggle on. When you sit down with corporations and institutions and negotiate for more job opportunities for blacks and you are told that they cannot find blacks who are qualified, do not give up, but struggle on.

We, in the NAACP, want no more nor less than the same opportunities which have been afforded to the other groups that have landed on these shores.

Excerpts from address by Executive Director Benjamin L. Hooks, at the NAACP 74th Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, July 12, 1983.

NAACP is 75 Years Old

111

Transcription Notes:
In the paragraph beginning with 'We intend to turn out,' unsure if there is a worn comma or a black mark due to machine error. This is shown near the end of the paragraph, after 'Reagan back to the sunshine'. A comma has been put in place for the time being.