Bronze Reporter [Volume: 1, Issue: 11]

* | Brige Four

THE BRONZE REPORTER

Saturday, January 30, 1954

~ Frankly Speaking. J 4

By Arthur J. Edmunds,
Executive: Secretary
a Urhan League of Flint

~Many of you are familiar with

| the ecurrent efforts to organize
ja ~federation~ or ~council~ of
\|\Negro clubs in our city.. While

pthe organizational plans are still
incomplete, I thought that many
of you would like to know some
of the reasons why we think
such an organization is greatly
needed:

After: carefully examining the
progress made by Negroes ~toward (full. equality, one fact; seemed to stand out: namely, we
\have not progressed as much as
| we Could although-we have came

a long way. Moreover, it must be

concluded that Negroes them:

selves: have often. hindered prog
ress. The basis*for thie conclusion is simply that (1) Negroes
hardly ever: present -a unified
front in any quest for equality
of opportunity; (2) Negroes fail
to take full jadvantage of opportunities: open to them for equal
~participation in many. city-wide
social, civic and political affairs;
and (3) the bickerings and petty
jealousies perpetually carried on
| by Negroes, as well as their ap| parent apathy to our second class
citizenship, only serve to glorify
our weaknesses and disunity to
these who work for the continujance of ~segregation and discrim| ination.
In regard to the first reason, I
doubt whether there has ev-r
been a single instance in which
|all Negroes have even gotten
|solidly behind any effort for removing the ugly manifestations
lof race prejudice. T am remindea
of one /incident iin ~which some
Negroes actually~ undermined the
efforts of a small group. to prevent the construction of substandard housing units im a decent
Negro neighborhood.~ Rather
than trying to see the bad affect
that the substandard housing

Enroll Now.....
FOR A PROFITABLE
FUTURE IN

Beauty Culture

| Receive Expert, Individual
Attention In A
Irrhly Professional Atmosphere

At.

% STAR x. BEAUTY |
~COLLEGE

~ 4025 Industrial Ave.
"> Flint, Mich,
Phone 5-3622

units would have on their homes,
they merely ~saw~ the petty,
personal reason for an attempt by
others to protest the construction.

Sadly enough. they saw too late:
how the construction concerned | ~~

affected them as well as others.

In. the last hearing for FEPC
before the City Commission, one
would have thought that every
Negro group in the city * would

have spoken out in favor of
FEPC since Negroes are - the
worse victims of discriminatory
hiring practices. But, sadly
enough, the vast majority of
groups expressed no céncern

whatsoever: -

That Negroes do not take advantage of available opportunities
is easily evidenced in the
too few of our young people take
active parts in the extra curricula programs of the schools.

how many are active in the programs of the YM, YW, the
League of Women Voters, the
Civil Defense program. Ask the
leaders of the.NAACP or the
many excellent Negro clubs about
the extent of participation in the
programs of these groups. Notice
sometime, the very small ~ attendance of our people at meetings
that ~are of special benefit to
them.

Regarding the intra-group friction and conflicts, I cite one example that is typical of the extent
to which we go to undermine our
own program. How many of you
are familiar wtih the lack of cooperation, passive interest or
~back sliding~ often evidenced in
group action merely because the
chairman of a group or ~some
active people within the group
come ~from across town~~?- This
thinking that ~I am better than
thee~. because I live in a certain
section of Flint is downright
asinine. It is worse that someone
saying they are superior because
they are white
In view of these and _ other
shortcomings, we felt that there
was a grave need for an overall
organizational effort. When the
idea ofa federation of Negro. organizations was conceived, we. felt
that whether a group was social,
civic, religious, or fraternal - in
purpose. there would always be
that point where we all, ~could
and should meet on = common
ground. When it comes: to advancement as a group of: people,
it makes no difference what religion we are, where~ we _ live,
what group we belong to or our
station) in lifes. We feel that
through an organization whose
membership is city-wide and covers every area of interest, Negroes can be reached and kept
up. to date on our common problems and needs. Until we -do

present a unified front, we can
always expect progress toward
full equality to lag.

Phone 3-9181

&

Sundaes

Gibson Dairy Bar

We Specialize In...
| _ Thick Malteds

Sandwiches of all kinds

913 LIPPINCOTT

2102 LAPEER RD.

STRANAHAN

4 @ 27 YEARS IN BUSINESS @

|r JOHNS-MANVILLE

ROOFING
COMPANY

PHONE 5-7093

ROOFING e

SIDING
e ALUMINUM STORM WINDOWS & DOORS. 36 MONTHS TO PAY

@ INSULATION

fact

To é Cass
get a better idea of this, just ask |

High } Spots. vs

By Henry J. Royster

The BAND BOX was the thing
this week end for gay after-hour
entertainment. Featured there
was Jeff Jefferson and his Combo. Playing with percussion and
soul, Jeff gaye out with the blues
and beautiful ballads. The floor
show was composed of. George
Copeland, M.'C., Dancer and Singer, Konita Quams, Shake Dancer
with a twist, She has just finished at Rialto Theatre in. the
Windy City. |

For early evening enjoyment,
Eddie~s Lounge offered high class
entertainment. ~There, featured
were ~Old Faithful,~ Big John~s
Trio, with an ofay Chick providing the shakes, that all you guys
go for. |

Singing~ the bilies was Margar
et, a little girl from Pittsburgh,
Pa. and Marie Jackson, recently
at the Mellow Lane Club in Pontiac.. Well, Guys and Gals, the rest
of Flint~s High- -Spots were jumping but had no special attractions.
So Guys and Gals, come -on out
this week end and let the good
times roll. You don~t live but
once you know. |

POET'S CORNER

Batile
They (men) ~battle the wind,
Insects, ~and rain| ~

Then gather,
The ripening grain.

Somehow, |

~ wonder just what we would do
If minds) |
Ripened minds

~

Ripened,)
Were harvested too?
| Mel Banner

i
T

A century ago, ~America~s entire

' output of goods, at present values

was around $7.5 billion. Final figures for 1953 are expected to disclose a world's record of $270 billion, This means that we. have
seven times as many Americans
working little more than half the
time, yet producing about 50 times
~as much.. i |; Joth The
MARCH
OF
DIMES

January 2 to 3i:| would give you my

| borhood

"REMEMBER"

BY THE OLDTIMERS

dati itty a

~Pleased To Heat -Yeu~~

ten

Prindieies Coal & Wood

From Mrs. 8. Tucker, So. Cht
cago, IHinois: We didn~t know what
cleanser was at my time to clean
the ~silverwear ~such as _ knives,
forks, spoons, pots and everything
in silver. We used the ashes from
the coal stove and they shined like
~new, no matter how old they were.

I read The Old Timer in my So.
Chicago paper, so I thought I
**remembering.~~; ~

From Mrs. Edward Koch, Ft.
Recovery, Ohio: When I was small,
making sauerkraut was a neighaffair; all the neighbors
would come in and the cabbage
was soon taken care of, that: is,

~| cut up and ~~stomped,~~ then they

would crack hickory nuts, pop corn,
eat apples and dance.

One large family -always made
their kraut in a large whiskey barrel, and instead of a ~~stomper~~
one of the girls would get in the
barrel and tramp the kraut with
her bare feet: I used to look in
the barrel and wish I could get in
there, too, but when we made our
kraut, my mother always used a
stomper.

The 4,000-year-old palace of King
Minos at Cnossus, Crete was as

large. as. London~s Buckingham.

Palace.

Jim Bonnelly Phone ~9~6653.

PEARSON COAL COMPANY |

For Real; Deals On
Automobiles

OTTO P.
GRAFF
lnc.

Or Our Lot
1920~N. DORT HWY.

UNCLE SAM ONLY WANTS
WHAT BELONGS TO HIM!

TAX DEPARTMENT OF THE
ASSOCIATED BUSINESS
SERVICES _
will return Uncle Sam ONLY the
amount you owe |

@ Thorsands of dollars are lost
each year because of improper
Income Tax Returns

2

3 We Offer | | |
EXPERT TAX SERVICE
with your interest in mind

Joint Returns

Single Returns........... v4 $1.00

(husband & wife) vee $1.50
Long Forms (single). daseducs $3.00
Long Forms (joint) vaseesee-e4-$4,00

Don't Delay... Come In Today
_ Avoid Last Minute Rush

+

202 E. 13th St. (Rear)

Income Tax Department

Associated Business

(Ask For Income Tax Department) |
Hours: 9:00 A. M. to 11:00 P. M.

~4
i

rvice

PHONE 3-8481