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The Curry Report
September 7, 2010
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In This Issue
The 1963 March on Washington Got Off to a Shaky Start
Reality and Poll Reporting are Poles Apart
Bernice King Pleased with SCLC Case
Sex Scandal Alleged at SCLC in Ohio
NAACP Takes Correct Steps after Sherrod Fiasco
Post-Katrina Investigations Uncover Attacks on Blacks by Whites
The Black-White Jobless Gap
Young Voters Not Poised for High Turnout on Nov. 2
To Put More Blacks in the Pipeline, Possess the Pipeline
The Irony of Jesse Jackson's Stripped SUV

The 1963 March on Washington Got Off to a Shaky Start


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By George E. Curry
NNPA Columnist
August 30, 2010

 

The dueling events on the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom have ended, but astoundingly little is known about the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that at several times threatened to derail the march where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Fortunately, a new book, Nobody Turn Me Around: A People's History of the 1963 March on Washington by Charles Euchner (Beacon Press) fills in some of the blanks. Although other books have chronicled the March on Washington, none provide the rich details contained in Euchner's compelling book.

On May 15, A. Philip Randolph, founder of the Brotherhood of Pullman Porters, announced an Emancipation March on Washington, then scheduled for October. He called a meeting to enlist the support of other civil rights leaders: Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the NAACP; the National Urban League's Whitney Young; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of SCLC;  James Farmer, head of CORE and Jim Forman, the chief strategist for SNCC.  Together, with John Lewis, the new SNCC president replacing Forman, they were known as the movement's Big Six.

President John F. Kennedy urged Randolph to cancel the march, but he refused. Failing to halt the march, Kennedy asked Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto Workers, to exert his influence over the gathering.

"The White House asked [Reuther] to infiltrate the march and steer it away from radical rhetoric and direct action. And so he did," Euchner wrote.

Randolph wanted Bayard Rustin to serve as director of the march. However, his detractors gave three reasons why Rustin would be a poor choice - he had been a communist, he was a draft dodger and he was a homosexual.

Randolph ended the stalemate by declaring, "I will not press Bayard on you gentlemen as the leader of the March on Washington. I will take it." But Randolph would take it on one condition - Rustin would serve as his chief deputy. Every one accepted that arrangement.

Even after that tension had been eased, Martin Luther King' speech - carried live on all three TV networks - was in danger of not being heard.

"Someone sabotaged the $16,000 sound system - state-of-the-art electronic equipment - to derail the March on Washington," the author wrote. The damage was done on the eve of the march and Walter Fauntroy, one of King's top aides, scrambled at the last moment, eventually persuading a Justice Department contact to get the Army Signal Corps to fix the system on the morning of the march.

March organizers faced a larger problem when copies of SNCC Chairman John Lewis' speech were circulated. In the prepared text, Lewis expressed opposition to an administration backed civil rights bill, derided those who urged patience and talked about "the revolution is at hand."

There was strong objection to this passage: "We will march through the South, through the heart of Dixie, the way Sherman did. We shall pursue our own 'scorched earth' policy and burn Jim Crow to the ground - nonviolently. We shall fragment the South into a thousands pieces and put them back together in the image of democracy."

Patrick O'Boyle, the archbishop of Washington, who had been scheduled to deliver the invocation, objected to Lewis' speech and threatened to not only walk out, but to take all Catholics with him if the speech was given. John Lewis said he would deliver the speech as written or not at all.

Walter Reuther of the UAW told coalition members, "If John Lewis feels strongly that he wants to make this speech, he can go someplace else and make it, but he has no right to make it here because if he tries to make it he destroys the integrity of our coalition and he drives people out of the coalition who agree to the principles...This is just immoral and he has no right to do it, and I demand a vote right now because I have to call the archbishop."

By then, the Big Six had been expanded to a coalition of 10. And nine of the 10 voted with Reuther, only John Lewis abstained. The speech was toned down an hour before the march got underway.

As the last speaker, Martin Luther King would define the march. And he was allotted only seven minutes to do so.

Euchner wrote, "Now King wondered: Should I talk about the dream? Should the dream provide the emotional conclusion of the speech? King had spoken about a dream for months. At a mass meeting in Birmingham, he sketched out a vision of an integrated society, concluding, "I have a dream tonight."

In a Detroit speech, King's dream encompassed a world in which the sons of former slaves and slave owners could live together as brothers and sisters. Although the audience cheered wildly, King thought the speech could be better crafted.

"King asked Wyatt Walker and Andrew Young what they thought," the author wrote. "'Don't use the lines about 'I have a dream,' Walker told King. 'It's trite, it's cliche. You've used it too many times already.' Young agreed. King looked up but said nothing.'"

Not until he gave his rousing speech.

 

George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge.

 

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Reality and Poll Reporting are Poles Apart
 

 Obama Speaking

 

 

 

By George E. Curry

TheDefendersOnline.com

September 3, 2010

Almost every day, the public is bombarded with news reports that President Obama's standing in the polls is at the lowest level of his presidency.

While true, the reporting leaves out one critical fact:Obama's approval rating of 43 percent in the Gallup Poll of August 23 is below the levels of both Presidents Bush at this point in their White House tenure but roughly the same level as Presidents Clinton, Reagan and Carter.

 

 READ MORE

Bernice King Pleased with SCLC Ruling 
Bernice King
Rev. Bernice King     
  


By Errin Haines

� Associated Press
Septemberr 2, 2010

 

ATLANTA - The Rev. Bernice King said she is pleased that the legal battle for control of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has ended.

The daughter of SCLC co-founder Martin Luther King Jr., Bernice King was elected the group's first woman president in October, but said she would not take the position until a judge determined who was in charge of the civil rights group.

King said in the statement that she plans to "reinitiate dialogue" with the SCLC board recognized by the court about the terms and timing of her installation.

"I am pleased that the court ruled yesterday on this matter; signaling an end to this unfortunate chapter," the statement reads. "Now is the time for SCLC to be restored as a moral voice for our nation and world. I pray that you join us in the days ahead as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference becomes a phoenix rising."

The ruling Wednesday from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Alford Dempsey effectively places control of the group with the faction siding with King, who was elected last October.

 

READ MORE 

Sex Scandal Alleged at SCLC in Ohio
 
Raleigh Trammell 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ousted SCLC Chairman Ralegh Trammell

 

 

[Warning: story has explicit language not suitable for children.]

 

 

READ FULL STORY 

NAACP Takes Correct Steps after Sherrod Fiasco 

 
Ben Jealous
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 

 NAACP President Ben Jealous

 

By George E. Curry

NNPA Columnist

 

A month ago, I took NAACP President Benjamin Jealous to task for mishandling the controversy over Shirley Sherrod. He deserved everything I said about him at the time. Since he dropped the ball on the controversy created by a right-wing blogger, Jealous and the NAACP have done a masterful job of redemption and damage control. After kicking Jealous in the butt for messing up, it is only fair to give him a pat on the back now that he has made amends.

Post-Katrina Investigations Uncover Attacks on Blacks by Whites
Katrina 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 .

By Trymaine Lee

� New York Times 

August. 26, 2010

 

In the days after Hurricane Katrina left much of New Orleans in flooded ruins, the city was awash in tales of violence and bloodshed.

The narrative of those early, chaotic days - built largely on half-baked anecdote and unfounded rumor - quickly hardened into a kind of ugly consensus: Poor blacks and looters were murdering innocent victims and terrorizing whoever crossed their path in the unprotected city.

"As you look back on it, at the time it was being reported, it looked like the city was under siege," said Russel Honore, the retired Army lieutenant general who led military relief efforts after the storm.

Today, a clearer picture is emerging, and it is an equally ugly one, including white vigilante violence, police killings, official cover-ups and a suffering population far more brutalized than many were willing to believe.

READ MORE 

The Black-White Jobless Gap 
 

 Job applicants (Black men)

  
 
By Margaret Simms and Marla McDaniel
(c) Philadelphia Inquirer
September 5, 2010 
 

There's little to celebrate this Labor Day weekend. The unemployment rate for August, stuck at 9.6 percent, means that 14.9 million people who have been looking for work are still jobless.

The situation is even worse for blacks between the ages of 16 and 24. Only one in three of them has a job. An additional one-third are actively job-hunting without any luck. In contrast, more than half of their white counterparts have jobs and "only" 16 percent are unemployed, a rate one-half that of blacks.

The higher unemployment among blacks - often exacerbated by the tumult of a recession - is partly explained by differences in educational attainment. The bigger problem? Even if you take two individuals who are exactly the same in every way except race and present them to employers for a job opening, chances are the African American will be less likely to get an offer.

READ MORE 

Blacks, Young Voters Not Poised for High Turnout on Nov. 2

 
Voters 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
  

 

By Lydia Saad

� Gallup

September 3, 2010

PRINCETON, NJ -- Minority and young voters made a significant mark on the 2008 presidential election with their high turnout; today, however, these groups appear to have reverted to previous levels of interest in voting in the context of midterm elections. Most notably, in contrast to 2008, when whites and blacks were about equally likely to say they were giving "quite a lot of" or "some" thought to the presidential election, whites are much more likely than blacks to be thinking about the 2010 elections: 42% vs. 25%, a gap exceeding those from recent midterm elections.

 READ MORE 

To Put More Blacks in the Pipeline, Possess the Pipeline
Venus and Serena Williams 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

  
 

 

By William C. Rhoden

� New York Times

September 3, 2010

 

Richard Williams strolled across the grounds of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Wednesday afternoon. Ever the recognizable figure, he was greeted by men and women, young and old. Some just wanted to say hello, others asked to have their picture taken with him, and others simply wanted to offer his daughters good luck.

Richard Williams is an intriguing sports figure, and the story of how his daughters Venus and Serena became defining presences in women's tennis continues to be one of the great stories in contemporary American sports.

Increasingly, the question has been raised: Why, after all these years, hasn't another African-American tennis star been identified and developed?

 

READ MORE 

The Irony of Jesse Jackson's Stripped SUV 
 
Jesse Rainbow logo 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

By Henry Payne
The Michigan View.com
September 3, 2010
 

Add Jesse Jackson's ride to prominent vehicles being stripped in Detroit.

Following the embarrassing news that Mayor Dave Bing's GMC Yukon was hijacked by criminals this week, Detroit's Channel 7 reports that the Reverend's Caddy Escalade SUV was stolen and stripped of its wheels while he was in town last weekend with the UAW's militant President Bob King leading the "Jobs, Justice, and Peace" march promoting government-funded green jobs.

Read that again: Jackson's Caddy SUV was stripped while he was in town promoting green jobs

 

READ MORE 

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