Nigeria hosts Black cultural
festival
lortlind/obaerver
Ttorsd.y, June |S, 1972
Wallace shooting worried blacks
I I » Second World Black
By Vernon E . Jordan, J r.
nial domination.
ond World Black Festival of
Festival of Arts aisl Culture
Participating countries w ill
Arts and Culture are generally
will take place In 1974 In La
By now the national news
be Invited to organize their
for Intellectual, spiritual and
goa, N ig eria.O rig in ally known
media have dissect«! the i r
own Festival Co-ordinating
human
fulfillm
ent
ami
in
par
as II» World Festival of Ne
rational attempt on t l * I lie ol
Committees ami, m particu
ticular;
gro A rts, the F irs t Festival
Governor
George Wallace
la r, to stage their own Festi
.
.
.
to
bring
together
Black
was field In Dakar, Senegal In
from almost every angle. The
vals not later than end of Sep
Artists
from
all
over
the
1966 on the initiative of tie Af
shock ami horror all Ameri
tember 1973, with a view to
world, and especially toenable
rican Cultural Society anil the
cans feel, including those of u
selecting their entries for tl»
Black
A
rtists
from
beyond
the
Government of the Kepubllcof
who see in him a force that is
1974 World Festival. Thus
Atlantic to perform period
Senegal, and uniter the chair
dangerous for the country, p.
participation by the United
ically a "re tu rn to orlgui;”
manship of President Leopold
real.
States w ill he organized by a
. . . to facilitate tl» growth of
Seder Senghor of Senegal. At
I he immediate,gut reaction
Cixnmittee in th e!l.sjL .un d er
Black
Artists;
tl» Festival Nigeria was hon
of many black people was
the direction of a Black A m er
.
.
.
to
bring
to
light
and
life
oured with the role of "S ta r
ican Vice-President, and with
"Who shot him? Was it a black
all that tlw Blackman has con
Country."
man?" I here was tear l«hmd
tl» eo-ope ration of the most
tributed to the gieatuniversal
The aim of these two Fes
thaï reaction, feat that in a
'juellfled American organiza
movements of thought and art;
tivals, and of those that w ill
tions.
violent country whose racial
.
.
.
to
lead
to
better
Interna
V e ro n E. J o r d a n , Jr.
follow In future years. Is to
tensions are endlessly boiling
It Is evident that a great Im
tional ami inter-racial under
present Black Culture in Its
over, there mighi be a brutal
pact w ill be expected from the
standing.
highest and widest conception.
blacklash that would hurt in
participation of Black A m eri
E
arly
this
month,
a
high
In order to achieve this goal,
nocent people.
cans because of the distinc
powered II-m a n delegation
each Festival w ill bring to
It was only after the woi I
tiveness of their art and tech
hesd«l by Chief Lnahoro, and
gether Black Artists from all
was released that the assailant
nical and füiancial means
including
D
r
.
About»
Diop
over tire world, so that styles
and Ideological difletences to
was a young, blonde, white
which they ami their country
visited the United States and
ami talents can confront one
obscure the sanctity of human
man,
th
jt
many
black
[eople
can put at the disposal of the
held a senes of meetings with
another, ami so as to Illus
life. Racism ami seg legal ion
could breathe a bit easiei arid
organizers. The artistic ex
many
Black
leaders and
trate the diversity ami the en
preceded any single spokes
turn to hopes that reprisals
perience of Black Americans
oiganlzations. The team vis
tity of Black Culture, A rt and
would not occur.
man for those causes and they
w ill he highly prized I7 Black
ited New York, Washington,
Civilization. The Festival will
will continue for a season, for
This is something that puz
Peoples everywhere lo r It
D
.
C
„
Philadelphia,
Balti
favour the promotion of Black
they are rooted deep in tl«
zles a lot of people. Governor
constitutes t particular di
more,
Chicago, Nashville,
Artists and bring to light the
darkest corners of the national
Wallace is a self-proclaimed
mension of tl» artistic genius
New Orleans, Atlanta, San
diverse contributions of Black
psycl«. It is only wl«n the rout
segregationist much of whose
of Black Civilization.
Francisco and Los Angeles.
Peoples to the universal cur
causes and conditions chjnge
program is diam etrically op
At the Second World Festi
At a meeting by tl» delega
rents of thought and of a rt.
that they w ill be ended.
posed to black rights ami in
val, all tl» disciplines oí art
tion
with
representatives
of
a
At the F irs t Festival, there
terests. Yet the immediate
H e are now in for a spat ol
including sculpture, painting,
numlwr of Black National or
weie 3,(100 participants ami
glib questionings like those
and overwhelming black re
craft, music, ballet, plays,
ganizations in New York on
20,000 visitors. The Second
which
follow«! the tragic
sponse was to condemn tie
poetry, novels, essays, cine
Wednesday, May 10th, 1972,
Festival is expected to attract
shooting and to hope for the
murders ol Senator Robert
ma and dressing fashions will
M
r.
O
ss»
Davis
was
selected
10,000 a m a ts ami 100,000
Kennedy sml D r. King in 1968.
Governor’ s recovery.
be represented, shows and
as Chief Convener of a fuller
visitors, many of them from
The same old questions come
That shouldn’t puzzle any
exhibitions will display tradi
n«eting
of
Black
American
the United states of Am erica.
u p - " A r e we a violent na
one. We have felt the lash of
tional as well as modern art.
organizations
to
decide
on
the
Preparations ami planning are
tion?” , etc. My feeling is that
the whip ami have seen beloved
Prizes w ill distinguish the
organization of A m encanpar-
•I reedy well underway both by
we may get so hung up on the
leaders
like tl« Kennedy
greatest talents of tl» Black
tlclpation. In that capacity,
the Nigerian Government and
brothers, M ed g arE v ers,M al
questions that we don’t get
World. ' I I » panels of judges
M
r
,
Davis
la
t
e
m
p
o
r
a
r
y
peoples - hosts to ll» F e s tiv a l
anxind to providing the an
colm X and M artin Luther
af the Competitions will be
Chairman of the 11>. Commit
- and the International Secie-
swers.
Kü’lî. J r , fall before the guns
compos«! of qualified Black
tee.
other
members
of
the
tarlat of the organlzlrqt body of
of twisted kille rs . Enough
On tl« question of violence,
Persons In each discipline of
American Planning Commit
the F estival. Chief Anthony
for example. Black people
blood has heen shed, enough
an.
tee include:
Lnahoro, Nigeria’ s Informa
have been the victims of
m artyrs have been created.
The. Festival w ill last for
tion and Labour M ünster, has
four 'weeks, during which
These terrib le deeds have on
American violence for 400
M r . Charles Diggs, C hair
been appointed President of
ly wedded usever more firm ly
years. An assassination at
there w ill also be a collo-
man
Congressional Black
the Festival. Presalent-Poet
to the conviction that bullets
tempt doesn’ t make a whole
i/ilm on the theme:
Caucus,
Leopold Senghor of Senegal
have no answer for our prob
country "vio len t,” txit persis
M r . Imamu Baraka, Con
and the Niger tan Head of State,
lems.
tent racism and a stubbornly
" BLACK
C IV IL IZ A T IO N ”
gress
of
African
People,
General Yakuhu Gowon. are
lingering, escalating war that
It Is of the gieatest impor
D
r.
Charles
Wesley,
Assis
(Mir
disagreements with
Grand Patron and Patron res
kills many thousands every
tance that the values of civ ili
tant forStudyofN egrol.de and
Governor Wallace cannot ob
pectively of the 1974 Festival.
year does.
zation, specific 10 Black Peo
History,
scure two very basic e le
The F a le ra l Government of
Present-day political vio
ples, be defineil sml brought
D r. H. R. Branson, Pres
ments. F irs t, that our chal
Nigeria is building a reception
lence in Am erica, like so much
to the knowledge of tl« widest
ident of Lincoln University,
lenge to him and the ideas be
infrastructure worthy of the
of our past politics! violence,
public m the world. With this
D r. Ms.Ssmella Lewis, Na
represents must be through
high tearing of the occasion.
seems to be the product of
goal in miml, the colloqutm
tional
Conference
of
Artists,
(lie medium of f r ee speee h a no
Indeed the 1974 Festival will
lone, disturbed minds. There
will study the technical means
M r. Samuel L . Evans, P hil
legal and political action. In
be the greatest gather ing of
may be very little a democra
and teaching methods which
adelphia Bicentennial Corp.,
an open socety with free ex
Black Peoples ami the greatest
tic society can do to prevent
are moat appropriate for the
Rev.
Jesse
Jackson,
Direc
pression for all ideas, the
manifestation of their art and
sick individuals from running
diffusion ami teaching ofthese
tor of Operation Push in Chi
marketplace of the ballot box
culture that the world has ever
amok. But it doesn’t have to
values of civilization at all
cago,
should decide among differing
make it easy for them ,either.
levels of world opinion. It will
Miss
Dorothy
Height,
Na
viewpoints. The rule ol the
Nigeria, aa host country,
The prevalence of cheap
also dlacusa (he Important
tional Council of Negro Wo
gun must never be allowed to
w ill co-ordinate the arrange
hand guns made it possible for
q u e s t io n : "Who are the
men,
replace
the
rule
of
reason.
ments for participation by the
Blacks?"
prominent political figures
D r. Richard Long, Center
Secondly, we hold human life
Black Liberation Movements
like Governor Wallace to be
Thus it may be said that the
for Afro-Am erican Studies in
too precious to allow political
of countries still under colo-
attacked and it also makes It
aims and objectives of the Sec-
Atlanta.
possible for mno.ent |«ople
in tl« ghetto to («come v it -
tmis of violent c iim e . It
seems to me that it's not
enough to ask if we are a vio
lent
nation - the historic
M iieri. an love affair with tl«
gun has to ie ended.
\s we wish Governor Wal
lace a speedy recovery, arxl as
we condemn any attempt to m-
tiude violence into the normal
lemodietic processes, we a l
so affirm oui undying opposi
tion to segregation and to ra
cism. Sympathy for the man
in his hour of tria l dues not
i« g ite our unending op|>osition
to tl« positions and actions he
has taken, both past and p re
sent.
Patrick Gray III, Acting
Director of tl« F .B .I., said he
will take steps to lure more
black agents. He also w ill
overturn J. Edgar Hoover’ s
policy against hiring women as
special agents.
The F .B .I. now has 19,875
employees, 8631 agents anti
11,226 clerical. Only I20of the
agents are black or chicano.
T l« job pays $12,151 a year.
WANTED:
BRIGHT young t o i
I EGE MEN FOR EXEC
UTIVE POSITIONS in
government must
meet physical re -
QI/RFMENTS Q U A U ry
through special
T R A IN IN G COURSE.
Here’s a government job with a real future. A pilot
ano officer in the A-r Force. An executive-level job
in anybody’s book To qualify, college grads enter
the Air Force’s Officer Tram,ng Program and upon
receiving their commission continue on to flight
school. Investigate. You’ll find that as an Air Force
pilot you’ll be able to go far, fast.
Find yoursdF in the United Slates Air Force
Dad ideas. We’ve got
lots more ideas where
these came from.
Now. New lower prices,
our entire stock of
0 °
Tribute to the ideals of Kwame Nkrumah
By
.R . . James
Jemes
By C
C .L
.I..R
’
(The following column was
written for the Institute of the
Black World by guest author
C .L .R . James, famed West In
dian Scholar and political
theorist, and author of "The
Black Jacobins." James’ c ri
tical appreciation of the work
of Nkrumah Is based on per
sonal and political association
with him and with George Pad-
more,
of whom he also
speaks.)
On May 27, we took part, if
not In per son at least In spirit,
in one of the great political
celebrations of the day, A fri
can Liberation Day. Osagyefo
D r. Kwame Nkrumah died on
April 27. 1972. H e d le d ln e x -
Ue and away from his family
and intimate friends.
S o n* of us may say, and with
truth, that the exile wasdue to
his political mistakes. If he
had been alive o n A frlc a n llb -
eration Day, I doubt that there
are Any who would have ob
jected to our letting him know
that we, even though seas di
vided us, would have heen at
one with him, and confident
also that he was etone with us.
The elementary facts of his
life tell us a great deal shout
him and, as with all great men,
about the kind of wot Id In which
we live. Nkrumah grew up as
a little African hoy IntheGold
Coast,
and was fortunate
enough to obtain a scholarship
to a secondary school. In his
early twent«s he went to the
Untt«l States and there worked
and gave himself an education
at LlncolnUnlverslty, then un
der the presidency of Horace
Mann Bond. He also did work
at Pennsylvania University.
We have to bear in mind that
the future piesident of inde
pendent Ghana gave himself
this «lucatton often by working
with his hands at backbreaking
manual labor. I got to know
him In 1941, and for two years
he was very friendly with me
and my associates, although
he never became a member of
any organization that I know of.
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A ll who knew him were
working committee of the Uni
struck by his intellectual en
ted Gold CoastConvention and
ergy and acuteness, the ele
laid before them a program
gance and grace of his person,
which he hed written thatvery
end his capacity very quickly
morning. In It he divided the
to establish good relations in
stages of political work into
whatever company he found
three parts.
himself. But it would be a mis
The firs t period was for
take to believe, as some have
tuilding the organizational
done, that these social gifts
units all over the Gold Coast.
were the sec ret of his political
The second period was to be
success.
marked by constant demon
He left the United States in
strations throughout the coun
1943 and spent four years in
try whenever there was a po
England In close association
litical c ris is . In the third
with George Padmore, and this
period he was to convene a
was one of the great political
Constitutional Assembly of the
associations of the century.
Gold Coast people to draw up
To the energy, social gifts,
a constitution for self-gov
anl political determination to
ernment and national indepen
free Africa, which were al
dence.
ways characteristic of Nkru
The way this was to be
mah. he was now able to add
achieved was by organized
the enormous political sophis
demonstrations, boycotts, and
tication of George Padmore,
strikes, the only weapons to
who today rightly bears the
support the pressure for self-
title of "The Father of African
government against British
Emancipation." I who knew
im perialism . I
am s t i l l
them both cannot think of Pad
thrilled to he able to say that
more without Nkrumah or
this program was carried
Nkrumah without Padmore.
through by Nkrumah to the last
Yet Nkrumah was, of neces
comma in 27 months. This is
sity, the man of politically ef
one of the great revolutions of
fective action in A frica. The
the 20th century. The story of
Africans of the Gold Coast
the Gold Coast revolution is a
were a people who suffered for
tract for the times, not an epi
two centuries from slavery
sode In the history of backward
and then 100 years from colo
Africa.
nialism . But fo r the work of a
There was nothing backward
few devoted Africans, men like
shout the Gold Coast revolu
Rev. J j j . Aggrey an.IJ.Case-
tion. The backward, the bar
ly-Hayford, those few A fri
barous, the politically igno
cans who had managed to get
rant. sat In the GoldCoast ad
an education would have heen
ministration and the Colonial
taught to see the world through
Office of the British govern
the eyes of the British Univer
ment.
sity mentality and the govern
It would be a mistake not to
ment officialdom.
recognize that Nkrumah fa ll« !
In this stifling environment
to establish a viable regime
Nkrumah built a political party
In Ghana.
end the way this was done Is
But too many African states
one of the great political
have followed the same course
achievements of our time.
and forced us to recognize that
Nkrumah return«! to the
the failure was due not to a de
Gold Coast on December 19,
cline In personal or political
1947, He had been away from
character hut to the failure to
Africa for 12 years, living and
overcome tl« Immense d iffi
working for his education In culties which newly indepen
the United States and spending
dent states have to face In the
some years In England, with
efforts to lift their countries
the purpose of passing the bar
cut of the enormous messes
examination and becoming a the im perialists are leaving
lawyer, but In reality devoting
behind.
himself to politics.
That Is the way we should
On January 20, 1948, Nkru
think aboutNkrumsh. and what
mah called a meeting of the
he did and did not do.
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