Viewing page 25 of 43

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

FREEDOMWAYS       SECOND QUARTER 1972 

them; many a white ex-G.I. who dares to say "Never Again"; yes, and many of the white working class, too. We don't for a moment accept the movie character, "Joe," or his television counterpart, "Bunker," as the prototype of the white man with the blue collar. 

The sixties were an exciting decade, loaded with ferment. Freedom rides, sit-ins, marches. It was all there-from the strains of "We Shall Overcome," sung warmly with arms linked-to the penetrating cries of "Black Power," with fists raised.

We buried some wonderful brothers and sisters who strode, like giants, across the decade, sweeping away injustice before them. And for each murdered martyr, a half-million Black soldiers took his place. 

The seventies will be the decade of an independent black political thrust.

Its destiny will depend on us.

How shall we respond?

Will we walk in unity or disperse in a thousand different directions? 

Will we stand for principle or settle for a mess of pottage?

Will we maintain our integrity, or succumb to the man's temptations?

Will we act like free Black men or timid shivering chattels? Will we do what must be done?

These are the questions confronting this convention. And-only we-can answer them.

History will be our judge.

142


IMPRESSIONS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN NORTHERN IRELAND
CARL E. FARRIS

ON FEBRUARY 10, 1972, Mrs. Juanita Abernathy, whose husband is the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Rev. Bernard Scott Lee, Special Assistant to the President (SCLC), Mrs. Ellen Mullin, National Coordinator for the National Association for Irish Freedom (the official United States representative for the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, NICRA, our host group), and this writer left for an eight day tour of Northern Ireland for a first hand experience of the struggle for civil rights in that part of the British Empire.

Our first stop was in Shannon, which is located in the Republic of Ireland. As the plane on which we flew from the Kennedy Airport in New York began its descent to the airport on the first leg of our journey we could view many acres of land not being utilized. Once we touched down and started our taxi into the airport we were struck by the American presence of Esso Gasoline trucks refueling planes. 

We spent about an hour and a half in Shannon before leaving for Belfast. In one of the main corridors of the airport in Shannon there was a large painting of the late U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Our first experience in Belfast was going through customs and seeing the presence of a platoon (about 32 men) of British soldiers in full combat gear. We were told by a stewardess on our flight that the soldiers were in the airport for the purpose of searching a later flight from the United States and that their presence had nothing to do with our arrival.

The customs official did not check any of our personal baggage. However, Miss Mullin's luggage along with her purse and note book were searched with great care for about an hour.

Carl Farris is National Coordinator of SCLC's Department of Labor Organizing Projects. His previous article in FREEDOMWAYS was on the Steelworkers' Strike in South Carolina.

143

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-16 16:15:15