NAACP convention 1980; Part 4

<v Narrator>Major funding for this program was provided by this station and other public <v Narrator>television stations. Additional funding was provided by the Quaker <v Narrator>Oats company. [Intro music] <v Carl Rowan>They came from the centers of America's great and seething cities from <v Carl Rowan>the farmlands of Alabama and Mississippi and from the West Coast, make believe <v Carl Rowan>havens to which so many blacks have gone. <v Carl Rowan>[Song: Lift Every Voice and Sing] They all came talking about the importance of this <v Carl Rowan>seventy first convention of the National Association for the Advancement <v Carl Rowan>of Colored People. They came in a time of crisis, a crisis

<v Carl Rowan>of the pocketbook for millions of Americans who were both jobless and hopeless, <v Carl Rowan>a crisis of despair for some cause by the realization <v Carl Rowan>that the mood of this nation seems to be drifting to the right with America's <v Carl Rowan>majority turn its back against most of those things for which <v Carl Rowan>minorities cried out. <v Carl Rowan>They came remembering that gruesome riots had taken place recently, <v Carl Rowan>not far from their convention site riots, which were the product <v Carl Rowan>of black anger and frustration. <v Carl Rowan>They came knowing that a ghost would hang over their convention. <v Carl Rowan>The ghost of Arthur McDuffie, the black insurance man whose <v Carl Rowan>slaying, while in the hands of policemen, gave new fervor to <v Carl Rowan>their outcries against police brutality. <v Carl Rowan>They came like moths lured by the fire this time. <v Carl Rowan>T he flames of nearby Liberty City dancing in their heads, raising <v Carl Rowan>questions about a repeat of 1967, that long,

<v Carl Rowan>hot summer when hundreds died and billions of dollars worth of property <v Carl Rowan>was destroyed in Newark, Detroit and a hundred other cities. <v Carl Rowan>They came frustrated and angry. <v Carl Rowan>Yes, even executive director Benjamin Hooks, who opened up the convention with <v Carl Rowan>a blast at the press and an assault on blacks who fight other blacks, <v Carl Rowan>a point surely well-taken. But the 68 members of his board of directors <v Carl Rowan>who have made a sport of fighting each other. <v Benjamin Hooks>I'm pleased to be able to report that the NAACP, your <v Benjamin Hooks>NAACP is stronger today than it had ever been in its <v Benjamin Hooks>history. And let the New York Times and let all of these line people all <v Benjamin Hooks>over this nation talk about us all they want. <v Benjamin Hooks>They'll wake up to find us sitting on their front door. <v Benjamin Hooks>[Applause] I'm tired. Sick and <v Benjamin Hooks>tired of newspaper reporter running to wake up people

<v Benjamin Hooks>from a dead drunk and asking them, do you know what the NAACP is? <v Benjamin Hooks>Why don't you go to the black churches where 10 million people assemble every <v Benjamin Hooks>Sunday morning? Why don't you go where black folk are working and trying to make decent <v Benjamin Hooks>life for themselves? Why don't you go where black folk are trying to remove the yoke <v Benjamin Hooks>of bondage and lift those who are down and ask them about the NAACP? <v Benjamin Hooks>And they know who we are and where we are. <v Benjamin Hooks>[Applause] We gonna tell that story. <v Benjamin Hooks>I know what it is when you a branch president and you're doing your best, you're <v Benjamin Hooks>criticized by your family, by your friends, by <v Benjamin Hooks>the folks who voted for you. Harrassed by the white power structure, ignored <v Benjamin Hooks>by many blacks, talked about by others. <v Benjamin Hooks>But I want you to stay on the case. <v Benjamin Hooks>There have been a lot of rumors circulating about the fact <v Benjamin Hooks>that I plan to resign, that I plan to retire. <v Benjamin Hooks>There've been a lot of lies told about problems that I'm supposed to be having

<v Benjamin Hooks>with the board. But let me tell you now, I'm not a quitter <v Benjamin Hooks>because quitters never win and winners never quit i <v Carl Rowan>NAACP members came in rejection of violence as they always have done, looking <v Carl Rowan>first for relief within the political system. <v Carl Rowan>Many politicians also came, they, too, sensing that this is a season <v Carl Rowan>of urban crisis and most decidedly, their season of political <v Carl Rowan>survival. The politician who first got the convention's complete attention <v Carl Rowan>was Ronald Reagan, the man who wasn't here. <v Carl Rowan>Reagan, the certain presidential nominee of the Republican Party, declined <v Carl Rowan>an invitation to speak when NAACP director Hooke's suggested <v Carl Rowan>that Reagan was writing off the black vote. <v Carl Rowan>Reagan sent Hookes a telegram pleading ignorance of any invitation to speak <v Carl Rowan>and declaring that he would never write off the black vote. <v Carl Rowan>The hostile reaction here may have had something to do with Reagan's acceptance of

<v Carl Rowan>an invitation to speak at a National Urban League meeting in New York on August <v Carl Rowan>5. A few days before the Democratic convention in Madison Square <v Carl Rowan>Garden, how much damage was done to Reagan's hopes of winning <v Carl Rowan>black votes by the faux pas regarding this convention? <v Carl Rowan>I can report exclusively that the NAACP board has discussed <v Carl Rowan>doing with regard to Reagan what it has done only once before <v Carl Rowan>in 1964. <v Carl Rowan>NAACP leaders were so frightened by the prospect of a Barry Goldwater <v Carl Rowan>presidency that they appealed publicly to blacks not to vote for <v Carl Rowan>the Arizona senator. My information is that the <v Carl Rowan>NAACP probably will do the same for Reagan. <v Carl Rowan>Suspecting this, perhaps three of the nation's leading politicians did show <v Carl Rowan>up. John Anderson came in the beguiling posture of a white <v Carl Rowan>boy deprived because he never had black friends.

<v Carl Rowan>Ted Kennedy came as the rich white boy who now feels a special blackness. <v Carl Rowan>And Jimmy Carter came draped in the halo of the Oval Office, singing We <v Carl Rowan>Shall Overcome. <v Ted Kennedy>And in the sum total of all that we say, <v Ted Kennedy>we shall be raising our voices to sound once again more the deeper, ideal <v Ted Kennedy>and the abiding dream of the Negro national anthem <v Ted Kennedy>in 1980. We shall stand again with James Weldon Johnson <v Ted Kennedy>from across all the generations of struggle. <v Ted Kennedy>We shall sing a song full of the faith <v Ted Kennedy>that the dark past has taught us. <v Ted Kennedy>Sing a song full of the hope that the President has brought <v Ted Kennedy>us. Facing the rising sun of our new <v Ted Kennedy>day begun. [Cheering] Let us march on till victory until <v Ted Kennedy>it is won.

<v John Anderson>Let me be very direct. <v John Anderson>I come from an essentially white community in Rockford, Illinois. <v John Anderson>I have grown up in white America. <v John Anderson>I have not had that many really close black <v John Anderson>friends and that has not been entirely my own choice. <v John Anderson>Indeed, I believe it has been my loss and it may well <v John Anderson>be a measure of our common situation. <v John Anderson>I cannot pretend to know how it feels. <v John Anderson>Day in and day out to be black in America. <v John Anderson>I do not know how it feels to be black and poor. <v John Anderson>And I do not even know how it means to be black and successful. <v John Anderson>But I will speak to you tonight from what I do know. <v John Anderson>I will speak to you as one who has spent nearly 20 years in the Congress <v John Anderson>as a legislator.

<v Jimmy Carter>You've got a friend in the Oval Office who will join that fight with you. <v Jimmy Carter>Thank you very much. And God bless you all. [Applause and Song: We Shall Overcome] <v Carl Rowan>If America's cities remain powder kegs and if blacks and other minorities remain <v Carl Rowan>second class citizens, it will not be because the nation's presidential contenders <v Carl Rowan>don't know what the problems are. <v Carl Rowan>The candidates hammered on the same issues and themes. <v Carl Rowan>Let's take a look at the rhetoric used by President Carter, John Anderson and Ted <v Carl Rowan>Kennedy. <v Ted Kennedy>This morning, I walked the bleak streets of Liberty City and I saw <v Ted Kennedy>a community that has become a bombed out ghetto filled with frustration <v Ted Kennedy>and fear. And Liberty City reveals more starkly than any <v Ted Kennedy>words that our nation still provides liberty and

<v Ted Kennedy>justice only for some. <v Ted Kennedy>[Applause] <v Ted Kennedy>The first fire last time here in Miami was <v Ted Kennedy>lit by a sense of unequal justice, but a sense of unequal opportunity <v Ted Kennedy>smolders all the time in other slums and barrios of this land <v Ted Kennedy>across America as Ben Hooks has worn, there are a dozen <v Ted Kennedy>Liberty Cities waiting to happen. <v John Anderson>It is appropriate that we meet here this evening just a <v John Anderson>short distance, as we have heard over and over again during this convention, <v John Anderson>a short distance from Liberty City. <v John Anderson>It is a tragic but gripping reminder, as the governor has told <v John Anderson>us and others this evening of the unfinished work which the next <v John Anderson>president of the United States must carry on. <v John Anderson>And it is he the only one who is elected by all

<v John Anderson>Americans who must seek to translate America's age <v John Anderson>old promise of equality for all of our citizens into a new <v John Anderson>and meaningful reality. [Applause] <v Carl Rowan>President Carter never mentioned Liberty City or the riots. <v Carl Rowan>The delegates got a shock on Monday the convention's opening day when the United <v Carl Rowan>States Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to validate the Hyde Amendment, <v Carl Rowan>in which Congress denied Medicaid money for abortions for the vast majority <v Carl Rowan>of the nation's poor women. <v Carl Rowan>This convention already anguishing over the fact that 2 black families <v Carl Rowan>out of every 5 are now headed by a woman with no husband present <v Carl Rowan>was outraged. <v Margaret Bush Wilson>And just today, word has come to me that <v Margaret Bush Wilson>the Supreme Court of the United States has made a ruling in the <v Margaret Bush Wilson>Hyde case. <v Margaret Bush Wilson>The effect of which is to say that our government cannot longer

<v Margaret Bush Wilson>finance to support women who wish to exercise the choice <v Margaret Bush Wilson>of abortion. And so we have the spectacle of poor people <v Margaret Bush Wilson>being denied what rich people can do by virtue of their resources. <v Carl Rowan>Two days later, the high tribunal gave minorities a victory and an <v Carl Rowan>affirmative action case involving public works funds. <v Carl Rowan>But the NAACP general counsel, Thomas Atkins, put the two decisions <v Carl Rowan>in special perspective. <v Thomas Atkins>Glad that the Supreme Court affirmed the the uh <v Thomas Atkins>set aside the Congress pass at the same time <v Thomas Atkins>we see this as a uh an opportunity for us <v Thomas Atkins>through our branches to help minority business men across <v Thomas Atkins>the country who they set aside program guarantees the <v Thomas Atkins>opportunity to participate.

<v Thomas Atkins>We see this as a chance for us to help them get involved. <v Thomas Atkins>The hundreds of millions of dollars made available through this set aside programs, <v Thomas Atkins>public money. <v Thomas Atkins>We want to see used in our communities. <v Thomas Atkins>And we think that the Supreme Court was right in saying that the Congress did <v Thomas Atkins>have the power and the authority and we believe the responsibility <v Thomas Atkins>and obligation to assess the problems, which in part they created <v Thomas Atkins>and to come up with legislation that would help to remedy that. <v Thomas Atkins>We do not consider the good decision and full of love today to offset <v Thomas Atkins>the terrible decision and the uh a day or <v Thomas Atkins>so ago when the Supreme Court validated the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits <v Thomas Atkins>poor people, poor women, to be precise, from <v Thomas Atkins>using public funds with which to have an abortion. <v Carl Rowan>This convention dealt with a lot of politics and pain, but it's early days <v Carl Rowan>offered much more than that.

<v Carl Rowan>Ben Hooks made the point shortly after succeeding the longtime great leader, Roy <v Carl Rowan>Wilkins, that lifting the level of life of 27 million black people <v Carl Rowan>involves a lot more than filing lawsuits, pressuring presidents <v Carl Rowan>and cursing Congress. He said the NAACP had to inspire <v Carl Rowan>and honor young people who study, perform, achieve, so <v Carl Rowan>act so. That means Afro-American, academic, cultural, technological, <v Carl Rowan>scientific olympics, Act-So came into being. <v Carl Rowan>We saw some marvelous talent compete for the Act-So award. <v Carl Rowan>[Actress performing monologue] [Techno dance music] [Pop music] [Piano music] <v Carl Rowan>And the NAACP honored one of the civil rights organizations, oldest

<v Carl Rowan>and most distinguished members, when it gave the highly coveted Spingarn Medal <v Carl Rowan>to Dr. Rayford Logan of Washington, D.C., whose teaching has prepared <v Carl Rowan>and inspired many thousands of blacks across the land, <v Speaker 1>Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime <v Speaker 1>and departing leave behind us footprints in the sands <v Speaker 1>of time. Footprints that perhaps another ?saving <v Speaker 1>or life solemn name?, a forlorn and shipwrecked brother <v Speaker 1>seen may take heart again. <v Speaker 1>[Organ music and applause] <v Rayford Logan>Mrs. Wilkins, Dr. Cobb, ?Dr.

<v Rayford Logan>Oaks?, other guests at the head table, <v Rayford Logan>members of the oldest Negro civic organization <v Rayford Logan>in the unremitting quest for equal rights. <v Rayford Logan>You who could be and should be and I hope <v Rayford Logan>will the members of the NAACP <v Rayford Logan>I proudly and gratefully accept this medal, the most <v Rayford Logan>prestigious award that can be conferred upon an American citizen <v Rayford Logan>of African descent. <v Carl Rowan>But in the plenary sessions, the workshops and on the streets, these delegates <v Carl Rowan>focused on a half dozen or so critical issues that go to the heart of the <v Carl Rowan>well-being of 27 million black Americans. <v Carl Rowan>They were ever mindful of the dangers that violence of the sort which erupted in <v Carl Rowan>1967 could push this country further toward a police state. <v Carl Rowan>So they talked about how to mute the effects of black frustration,

<v Carl Rowan>as chronicled in this piece by reporter Rodney Ward of Miami's WPBT. <v Carl Rowan>[Song: Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around] [Song: Lift Every Voice and Sing] <v Speaker 2>I like to see America go a long ways with black folks. <v Speaker 2>But now the way I see they're going to be very hard, very difficult. <v Speaker 3>I feel like the problem is, you know, that <v Speaker 3>they just don't understand us, you know.

<v Speaker 3>Like we all created equal and like hey, if we can get some justice, <v Speaker 3>man, you know, some equal rights, we can get it. <v Speaker 4>You're white, you're right. You're black, you're out- you know? <v Speaker 4>That's how I go down here, man, you're in a justice system. <v Marzell Smith>The masses of black people who have not been cut in to <v Marzell Smith>the systemic rewards have suggested very strongly to our leadership in <v Marzell Smith>this county and in this city and in this nation that <v Marzell Smith>they are not satisfied and they will not just <v Marzell Smith>sit back and rest at ease when they have nothing to rest <v Marzell Smith>at ease on and rest at ease about. <v Marzell Smith>[Song: Lift Every Voice and Sing] <v Protestor 1>We <v Protestor 1>are going to demand equal justice under the law.

<v Protestor 1>We are going to declare poor people's independence in this country. Thank <v Protestor 1>you, Jesus. [Song: Lift Every Voice and Sing] <v Eula Bell McDuffie>That's alright, let them walk free. But they'll be sorry. <v Rodney Ward>Do you find that you're taking advantage of a situation, just why are you selling this <v Rodney Ward>T-shirt? <v Speaker 5>I think that this is why we why we're doing this is because we want to make <v Speaker 5>sure that this stays in the people's face. <v Speaker 5>Not all people we already know what happened, I'm talking about the people that did it. <v Speaker 5>We want them to know. We want em to keep seeing it. <v Speaker 5>If they keep seeing that, they might do some about it so it don't happen again. <v Rodney Ward>But you're putting a 5 dollar price tag on an incident that happened? <v Speaker 5>No we're not putting a $5 price tag. All we're doing is selling a piece of black history. <v Speaker 5>[Song: Lift Every Voice and Sing] <v Rodney Ward>What do you think about your future?

<v Speaker 6>Well, if I stay around here, there won't be too much <v Speaker 6>of it. Because you know, ain't too much out here you know to have a good future about it, <v Speaker 6>so that's what I think, you know. <v Speaker 6>I might have a better chance, you know, if the community lived more decently <v Speaker 6>and everything. [Song: Lift Every Voice and Sing] <v Marvin Dunn>America's always been a very racist country and it still is.

<v Marvin Dunn>But I also suggest that <v Marvin Dunn>black people have to confront that reality, have also <v Marvin Dunn>the responsibility for owning some charge to <v Marvin Dunn>ourselves to move ahead in spite of that racism and not to have all of our <v Marvin Dunn>defeats attributed to the fact that the white racists out there give a darn about black <v Marvin Dunn>people. <v Carl Rowan>The delegates talked a lot about jobs. <v Carl Rowan>There's a saying that the only thing wrong with poor people is that they don't have any <v Carl Rowan>money. The mores of America is such that the only honorable way to get money <v Carl Rowan>are to work or inherit it, and not many of the people being discussed <v Carl Rowan>here have any rich uncles dying soon. <v Carl Rowan>So, speakers here said again and again that black America doesn't <v Carl Rowan>want that dishonorable means of getting money, welfare; that <v Carl Rowan>what they want is jobs. <v Carl Rowan>Sharon Stevens has this report on disadvantaged youth. <v Sharon Stevens>What NAACP delegates heard today was an ambitious and many say long

<v Sharon Stevens>overdue assistance program for black youth, whose unemployment at 35 percent <v Sharon Stevens>is the highest in the country. The Labor Department will also oversee a jobs creation <v Sharon Stevens>program that will have joint input from both the public and private sector through <v Sharon Stevens>the Community Economic Development Corporation. <v Sharon Stevens>There are also plans for a new Job Corps center, which will serve black and Hispanic <v Sharon Stevens>areas. And the NAACP is working on its own jobs program with the <v Sharon Stevens>National Alliance of Businessmen. <v Sharon Stevens>Earlier, Assistant Labor Department Secretary Ernest Green said the new employment <v Sharon Stevens>program will cover a wide range of jobs. <v Ernest Green>For some young people, it's the business of having adequate labor market information. <v Ernest Green>For some, it's having work experience, getting prepared for jobs, for others, things <v Ernest Green>like Job Corps, where you need more intensive training and educational assistance. <v Ernest Green>For some, it's full time on the job training activity beginning immediately. <v Ernest Green>And what we need to do and what we if you look at <v Ernest Green>the youth bill, I think it moves a long way and connecting the education

<v Ernest Green>side and the employment side to make that assessment that different young people need <v Ernest Green>different things. And some young people are simply not ready to go immediately into a <v Ernest Green>job. Others are and need less preparation. <v Ernest Green>It's the range of those job and training opportunities that will provide <v Ernest Green>over a million and a half employment opportunities. <v Sharon Stevens>Secretary Green said the type of job each individual receives is related to education. <v Sharon Stevens>A major factor that has worked against minority youth. <v Ernest Green>It's obvious that two things have got to happen. <v Ernest Green>The general economy has got to improve, but we've got to make a better connection between <v Ernest Green>education. I mean the bulk of the young people who are long term unemployed <v Ernest Green>are unemployable. <v Ernest Green>They come with limited skills, education, skills and <v Ernest Green>and work experience. And it's there that we've got to try to make the mix. <v Ernest Green>I mean, we can improve the job market all we ?have.? <v Sharon Stevens>Part of the jobs program goes into effect within the next couple of days if everything

<v Sharon Stevens>goes according to plan. Green predicts there could well be a 10 percent decrease <v Sharon Stevens>in the jobless rate among black youth in 1981. <v Carl Rowan>John Anderson promised jobs and more. <v Carl Rowan>Kennedy blamed black unemployment on a Carter administration that he said <v Carl Rowan>has abandoned democratic principles. <v Carl Rowan>President Carter boasted about how many jobs his administration has created, <v Carl Rowan>especially for blacks. <v Ted Kennedy>At the Democratic convention, we must fight for a platform <v Ted Kennedy>which reaffirms the basic civil right to a job. <v Ted Kennedy>We must give a specific and effective response to this recession. <v Ted Kennedy>And the only true Democratic response can be summed up in three short <v Ted Kennedy>words jobs, jobs, jobs. <v John Anderson>But, you know, it isn't enough simply to create jobs. <v John Anderson>We must also create opportunities for human fulfillment

<v John Anderson>and career advancement, because for too many young Americans, <v John Anderson>unemployment isn't just a temporary inconvenience. <v John Anderson>It is a way of life, not a way of life that they have chosen. <v John Anderson>But our way of life to which they have been condemned by a lack of education <v John Anderson>and opportunity, or because they have met with outright discrimination. <v John Anderson>And it is for reasons like that that I have supported the proposed <v John Anderson>$2 billion youth employment initiative. <v Jimmy Carter>Unemployment and particularly black unemployment in particular, black young unemployment <v Jimmy Carter>is far, far too high. <v Jimmy Carter>But we've created more new jobs in the last three and a half years than in any other time <v Jimmy Carter>in history, even including. ?For? <v Jimmy Carter>years of war, 1 million more black Americans hold jobs <v Jimmy Carter>today than it did in January 1977. <v Jimmy Carter>Employment, even among black teenagers, has risen dramatically.

<v Jimmy Carter>And in the spring of this year, for the first time in 7 years, black teenage <v Jimmy Carter>unemployment even went down. <v Carl Rowan>It is doubtful that any of these speeches satisfied the youngsters who interrupted <v Carl Rowan>the convention business to demonstrate for jobs. <v Carl Rowan>[Song: Battle Hymn of the Republic] <v Carl Rowan>With all the talking over there, still, we're more than a million seven hundred thousand <v Carl Rowan>blacks out of work. Twenty five percent more than when President Carter took

<v Carl Rowan>office. And black unemployment was still double the rate for whites. <v Carl Rowan>Perhaps the most acceptable comment about jobs came from an official who isn't <v Carl Rowan>running for anything. Assistant Secretary of Labor Ernest Green. <v Ernest Green>The delegates are very concerned about what happened to those jobs... <v Ernest Green>[continues talking] <v Interviewer>Well, what have things? <v Ernest Green>Well, one thing for certain, that about 60 percent of all the increase <v Ernest Green>in unemployment is about three industries automobiles, steel and rubber. <v Ernest Green>The state of the industrial world, this country, automobile particularly, <v Ernest Green>has had a devastating effect on black workers, many of them right now covered <v Ernest Green>certainly by unemployment insurance, supplementary benefits, trade adjustment assistance. <v Ernest Green>But in terms of long range employment opportunities, it's likely that many <v Ernest Green>of those jobs will be gone forever. <v Ernest Green>And what we've got to have is a serious reindustrialization program for this country. <v Carl Rowan>If any subject dominated this convention more than jobs, it was the issue <v Carl Rowan>of police brutality and the question of whether it will provoke riots

<v Carl Rowan>in other cities. Sociologist Marvin Dunn talked to Rodney Ward <v Carl Rowan>about the role of police brutality in provoking the Miami riots. <v Marvin Dunn>The McDuffie killing, you must understand it was a thing taken <v Marvin Dunn>quite personally about a great many black people in this town, including myself. <v Marvin Dunn>Because the killing of McDuffie merely reaffirmed our individual <v Marvin Dunn>and collective vulnerability. <v Marvin Dunn>It said to us, this could have happened to you. <v Marvin Dunn>And I think that that in part explains the particular viciousness <v Marvin Dunn>of this riot. It was an act of revenge. <v Marvin Dunn>The white people who were killed were not killed because they got in the way, they were <v Marvin Dunn>not kill because they provoked a confrontation, they were killed because they were there. <v Marvin Dunn>And because they were white. <v Carl Rowan>Police brutality is such an emotional subject that few delegates need it

<v Carl Rowan>to be stirred up. But Ben Hooks around the convention with this comment. <v Benjamin Hooks>It makes good print and I think it's a good idea to talk about human <v Benjamin Hooks>rights in South Africa and Yugoslavia and friends, but I am told a charity <v Benjamin Hooks>begins at home. <v Benjamin Hooks>We cannot tell the leaders of South Africa about shooting down <v Benjamin Hooks>innocent blacks over there if we slaughter them in Los Angeles and in Wrightsville, <v Benjamin Hooks>Georgia. We cannot admonish the Ayatollah Khomeini <v Benjamin Hooks>about safeguard human rights if we continue to disregard human rights at home. <v Benjamin Hooks>We cannot talk about correcting conditions in France until we correct <v Benjamin Hooks>conditions right here in Florida. <v Carl Rowan>The presidential candidates knew that blacks were really stirred up over this issue. <v Carl Rowan>So each of them dealt with the subject. <v Jimmy Carter>I wish I could come here to you tonight as president <v Jimmy Carter>of a greatest country of all to say that this battle for moral justice

<v Jimmy Carter>was over. But it's not. <v Jimmy Carter>Not while gr- groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the self-proclaimed Nazis <v Jimmy Carter>and others still encourage racial hatred and religious <v Jimmy Carter>hatred, not when minorities still fear police harassment. <v Ted Kennedy>And the Kennedy forces secured a pledge to play civil rights units <v Ted Kennedy>in U.S. attorney's office. In every state where there were a need <v Ted Kennedy>it, we insisted that the full power of the federal government must be deployed <v Ted Kennedy>in local areas to prevent and punish any repetition <v Ted Kennedy>of the Arthur McDuffie case. <v Ted Kennedy>And last week, <v Ted Kennedy>[Applause] I wrote the attorney general asking for the swift action in that <v Ted Kennedy>case. <v John Anderson>We ought to have sensible uniform standards <v John Anderson>nationwide for the use of deadly force by

<v John Anderson>law enforcement officers. <v John Anderson>And I understand, Dr. Hooks, that the NAACP will soon <v John Anderson>conduct a full review of the deadly force issue. <v John Anderson>As your president, I pledge you to review those findings <v John Anderson>and to work toward the swift acceptance of appropriate <v John Anderson>standards. <v Carl Rowan>One voice that cried out to these delegates about the criminal justice system <v Carl Rowan>came from the ghost of Arthur McDuffie, the black insurance man who was beaten <v Carl Rowan>to death while in the hands of Miami policemen. <v Carl Rowan>The delegates heard McDuffie saying, "There is no justice for black people." <v Carl Rowan>One of the most moving moments of the convention came when Ella Washington sang <v Carl Rowan>The Ballad of Arthur McDuffie. <v Carl Rowan>[Song: The Ballad of Arthur McDuffie] <v Carl Rowan>President Carter scored his best points politically when he played to black concerns

<v Carl Rowan>about the criminal justice system by reminding delegates that when they vote for <v Carl Rowan>the next president, they also will be voting for control of the Supreme Court and <v Carl Rowan>for voices on other federal benches. <v Jimmy Carter>As you know, for your long struggles on civil rights, one of the most important <v Jimmy Carter>powers of any president is a power of appointment. <v Jimmy Carter>Presidents come and go, but those appointments quite often <v Jimmy Carter>stay on and they determine the policies of our nation that affect the lives of everyone, <v Jimmy Carter>not just Cabinet administrative officials, as crucial as they might be, but U.S. <v Jimmy Carter>attorneys, members of regulatory boards and <v Jimmy Carter>federal judges. [Applause] I've <v Jimmy Carter>appointed people like Drew Days and Eleanor Holmes Norton to administer the laws <v Jimmy Carter>that enforce civil rights.

<v Jimmy Carter>I put black people on regulatory boards of all kinds. <v Jimmy Carter>And I've also always insisted on affirmative action. <v Jimmy Carter>The results speak for themselves. I won't quote the statistics in order to save time. <v Jimmy Carter>I've only served three and a half years as president, but I have already <v Jimmy Carter>appointed more blacks, more women <v Jimmy Carter>and more Hispanics to the federal bench as judges than all <v Jimmy Carter>other presidents in a 200 year history of this country. <v Jimmy Carter>[Applause] <v Carl Rowan>Delegates spent many hours talking about the housing needs of America's minorities. <v Carl Rowan>Benjamin Hooks set the theme in his keynote address. <v Benjamin Hooks>Urban housing is a national disaster. <v Benjamin Hooks>In 1980, many of our cities are torn up as <v Benjamin Hooks>the war torn cities of Europe. <v Carl Rowan>All three presidential candidates talked about housing in ways designed <v Carl Rowan>to make black America believe that they offer the best answer to this problem.

<v Ted Kennedy>In this session of Congress, we must continue to strive for <v Ted Kennedy>a fair housing law that will unlock the doors of discrimination <v Ted Kennedy>once and for all. <v Ted Kennedy>That bill is my first priority in this session <v Ted Kennedy>and I intend to see it pass. <v Ted Kennedy>[Applause] <v Ted Kennedy>I will find a quorum to act on fair housing no matter <v Ted Kennedy>what it takes. And no matter what the Republicans do. <v Ted Kennedy>[Laughter and applause] <v John Anderson>But just as I found discrimination intolerable in 1968 <v John Anderson>in housing, I find it intolerable in 1980 <v John Anderson>and we need fair housing laws that work. <v John Anderson>We need teeth put into the enforcement of that law. <v John Anderson>We need to give the Department of Housing and Urban Development the authority <v John Anderson>that they now lack to take administrative action against those who

<v John Anderson>would discriminate. Even now, twelve years later, in the <v John Anderson>leasing and sale of housing. [Applause] But <v John Anderson>just as I found discrimination intolerable in 1968 <v John Anderson>in housing, I find it intolerable in 1980 <v John Anderson>and we need fair housing laws that work. <v John Anderson>We need teeth put into the enforcement of that law. <v John Anderson>We need to give the Department of Housing and Urban Development the authority <v John Anderson>that they now lack to take administrative action against those who would <v John Anderson>discriminate. Even now, twelve years later, in the leasing <v John Anderson>and sale of a housing. [Applause] <v Jimmy Carter>We are waging important battles right now, today in the Congress that affect your <v Jimmy Carter>lives for the confirmation of federal judges that I have sent to <v Jimmy Carter>the Hill that have not yet been approved for welfare reform, <v Jimmy Carter>for fair housing legislation, to make sure that we take the 68 act, which was

<v Jimmy Carter>good and which has never been enforced and have enforcement powers. <v Jimmy Carter>We got that bill to the legislature, to the Congress and the House with <v Jimmy Carter>your help. <v Carl Rowan>Here, as in all the other areas of discussion, a mood of skepticism prevailed. <v Carl Rowan>Many delegates said they doubted that the powerful people who could change things <v Carl Rowan>were really listening. President Carter twice said that blacks have a friend <v Carl Rowan>in the Oval Office, but there were people here who insisted that his budget <v Carl Rowan>doesn't show it. Delegates wondered if the nation's home builders <v Carl Rowan>and bankers were listening enough to put an end to redlining and naked <v Carl Rowan>discrimination in the sale and rental of housing. <v Carl Rowan>There was doubt that the mayors and police chiefs were listening to the extent <v Carl Rowan>that they will take the steps necessary to reduce hostility between the police <v Carl Rowan>and the residents of America's cities. <v Carl Rowan>There seemed general agreement here that it is essential to hire

<v Carl Rowan>and promote more minority policemen so as to make police forces <v Carl Rowan>more representative of the communities they serve. <v Carl Rowan>There was general agreement here also on another crucial point. <v Carl Rowan>Not many politicians are going to listen unless black Americans <v Carl Rowan>use the power of the ballot. <v Carl Rowan>I talked to two prominent figures about the black vote and what it can mean <v Carl Rowan>in this election year. <v Ernest Green>It is indeed a fact that the black vote made the crucial margin of difference for Jimmy <v Ernest Green>Carter, certainly in the state of Mississippi. <v Ernest Green>Throughout the south and indeed, many of the states that he carried. <v Ernest Green>Carl, the Census Bureau tells us that on Nov. <v Ernest Green>4, 1980, there will be 17 million blacks eligible to vote <v Ernest Green>in America. That is between 11 and 12 percent of the national electorate. <v Ernest Green>Now, what is significant about that is that those voters are located in crucial <v Ernest Green>cities, in major states with large blocks of electoral votes, and therefore <v Ernest Green>they have the potential to exert enormous influence.

<v Ernest Green>All of the pundits so far believe that this election is coming down to the wire and will <v Ernest Green>be very close. Blacks can make the difference. <v Ernest Green>What has been so exciting to me at this convention is that is all of the issues have been <v Ernest Green>analyzed, whether the question was jobs or the question <v Ernest Green>was healthcare or education, what not all of the roads led to, we must get <v Ernest Green>some power. We must increase our political influence. <v Ernest Green>And if we get that kind of trust and enthusiasm coming out of every national <v Ernest Green>black organization in America, we can stem the tide of apathy, which is running <v Ernest Green>heavily in our communities. And I'm optimistic that we're going to be able to do that. <v Ernest Green>We're going to be able to to get a substantial number of those 17 <v Ernest Green>million eligible to vote, not just for the presidential election. <v Ernest Green>Too much emphasis has been placed on that. <v Ernest Green>We've got to vote to get out some of those congresspersons <v Ernest Green>who are not being responsive. We've got to vote to get positive state legislators who can <v Ernest Green>impact not only on our agenda, but also on reapportionment in 1981.

<v Ernest Green>And of course, we've got to impact at the local level. <v Carl Rowan>I gave some figures earlier from a survey of delegates to this convention <v Carl Rowan>done by the Miami News. <v Carl Rowan>That survey showed that 53 percent of the delegates said that if the <v Carl Rowan>election were held tomorrow, they'd vote for Jimmy Carter. <v Carl Rowan>This despite all I've heard here and around the country about how Jimmy Carter <v Carl Rowan>didn't keep his promises and so forth. <v Carl Rowan>Does that 53 percent figure surprise you? <v Carl Rowan>Or is it in keeping with what happened in the primaries? <v Ernest Green>No, it does not surprise me at all, Carl. <v Ernest Green>And it certainly is in keeping with what we found in the primary in <v Ernest Green>Florida and Alabama, in New York and in several other states. <v Ernest Green>Nor does it surprise me in terms of what I hear around the country if indeed the election <v Ernest Green>were held tomorrow. And it seems to me that that does indeed reflect a rather pragmatic <v Ernest Green>judgment on the part of blacks. And the question has to be raised, Jimmy Jimmy Carter, <v Ernest Green>compared to whom? <v Carl Rowan>There are an awful lot of people out there who say that with the candidates <v Carl Rowan>available now, none of the above could win the election if it were held tomorrow.

<v Carl Rowan>Are we going to get a lot of blacks who will say, I don't want <v Carl Rowan>Reagan? I'm not happy with Carter. <v Carl Rowan>I don't believe John Anderson's got a chance. <v Carl Rowan>So to hell with it, I'm just going fishing. <v Aaron Henry>I think when it becomes clear as to whether Rich Kennedy or Carter <v Aaron Henry>that there will be a genuine effort <v Aaron Henry>not only made but demonstrated in terms of a political <v Aaron Henry>institution that has delivered. <v Carl Rowan>A group of young members of the NAACP board have been arguing that <v Carl Rowan>the NAACP won't be relevant to the great mass of black people <v Carl Rowan>until some of the old school blacks are removed from the board and replaced <v Carl Rowan>by young people with modern, even militant ideas. <v Carl Rowan>Rodney Ward and Sharon Stephens talked to executive director Hooke's about <v Carl Rowan>some of the strains within the organization. <v Benjamin Hooks>? I have the support of the board.? I don't know if I've been anything long term in

<v Benjamin Hooks>support of everybody, but I don't think I have the active opposition of anybody on the <v Benjamin Hooks>board. And obviously the large organization like ours with hundreds <v Benjamin Hooks>of thousands of members, 18 other chapters. <v Benjamin Hooks>I don't think everybody out there supports me or [Annoucer speaking over PA] would <v Benjamin Hooks>support anybody else. But I think the overwhelming majority of the people in the NAACP <v Benjamin Hooks>have been very supportive of the ?job inaudible this organization? <v Carl Rowan>A few days later, the young people took their fight to the convention floor with <v Carl Rowan>the support of some old timers and got this result. <v Speaker 7>I firmly believe that we have not become the largest and oldest civil rights <v Speaker 7>organization in the world by placing limitations on the amount of service our <v Speaker 7>members can give. [Applause] But white people recognize and <v Speaker 7>believe in the strength of our leaders in the democratic process by which they are <v Speaker 7>elected. I believe that young people, all people, your region, my <v Speaker 7>region should be represented on the board. <v Speaker 7>But I also believe in my right to vote and decide if I want to send someone

<v Speaker 7>to represent me for 12 years or 24 years. <v Speaker 7>We have got to stop being emotional. <v Speaker 7>We've got to be realistic. I urge support of the minority report. <v Speaker 7>Thank you. <v Annoucer>All right. <v Speaker 8>The survival, of the NAACP or any other organization is <v Speaker 8>dependent upon new ideas, new people and new <v Speaker 8>projects and new strategies. <v Speaker 8>What we have today is basically a new deal board, a board that past <v Speaker 8>his times in many ways. <v Speaker 8>We need another generation. <v Speaker 8>When I said throw the present board members out, we are saying integrate the board <v Speaker 8>members and give everybody a chance to serve. <v Speaker 8>Mr. Chairman, we ought to remember what happened to Iran. <v Speaker 8>We ought to remember would have in Nicaragua. <v Speaker 8>We ought to remember what happened to Korea today when repressive and non <v Speaker 8>democratic regimes fall and many cases the organization to fall. <v Speaker 8>For many of us, we've struggled too long to see a democratic organization fall

<v Speaker 8>because the repressive board of governance. <v Annoucer>All those in favor please signify by showing your cards fine, in <v Annoucer>favors, all thank you. <v Annoucer>All those opposed, please show your cards. <v Annoucer>[Crowd booing] OK. <v Carl Rowan>Then I ask two top NAACP officials what they thought the <v Carl Rowan>board would do. <v Thomas Atkins>Well, most of the board members were present today during the session. <v Thomas Atkins>So it's not a message that is going to have to be delivered in a sealed envelope to them. <v Thomas Atkins>They were there, they heard they felt the conviction that was being expressed. <v Thomas Atkins>And I think that convention dealt with a number of other issues, which <v Thomas Atkins>is which of crucial, crucial importance to the NAACP and the work <v Thomas Atkins>we're doing across the country. <v Rev. Charles Smith>Well, I basically concur having served on that board for 9 years. <v Carl Rowan>Sharon Stephens and Rodney Ward have done a marvelous job of covering this convention all

<v Carl Rowan>week. I asked them to join me for a chat about what some of these <v Carl Rowan>things mean. Sharon, what's all this ruckus in this plenary <v Carl Rowan>session? Do we have a Young Turks rebellion going on in the NAACP? <v Sharon Stevens>I think there's no question about it. And not only is it a Young Turks movement, but it <v Sharon Stevens>involves of older people too. <v Sharon Stevens>The resolution that was so important to the body yesterday, which was passed, is <v Sharon Stevens>going to require tenure for national board members. <v Sharon Stevens>It's going to mean that they can only serve if it is approved, of course. <v Sharon Stevens>12 consecutive years at a time or 4 terms. <v Sharon Stevens>And they can run again. But they've got to take a break there. <v Sharon Stevens>And this is a resolution that's been debated and it's been voted on and defeated in <v Sharon Stevens>past years. <v Carl Rowan>A so-called purge of the tarried blood, huh? <v Sharon Stevens>Could be <v Carl Rowan>Rodney, is this going to make any difference? <v Carl Rowan>Do you see the NAACP becoming more militant because <v Carl Rowan>of these changes? <v Rodney Ward>I think it will make a difference because as you said, the people in the organization,

<v Rodney Ward>the delegates who voted for this change are saying that there are a lot of people who've <v Rodney Ward>made their impact on the organization. It's time for some new blood. <v Rodney Ward>Time for some leadership. I think the NAACP is headed toward a <v Rodney Ward>new era, an era where it will become a more vocal <v Rodney Ward>group. I think there's going to be a new approach taken by the NAACP. <v Rodney Ward>I think there will be a new militancy by the organization. <v Carl Rowan>Do you think that this convention lived up to its billing share? <v Carl Rowan>And I know that at the beginning I and others were seeing it might be the most important <v Carl Rowan>convention in the organization's history. <v Carl Rowan>Was it? <v Sharon Stevens>I'd say the next few years will tell this story. <v Sharon Stevens>It's too soon to say that. Yes. They're clearly going to make some changes here, some <v Sharon Stevens>changes there. That's why this particular resolution is so important within the next few <v Sharon Stevens>years. We'll see what the complexion of the board is. <v Carl Rowan>Well, Rodney, do you think there's any question that the board would <v Carl Rowan>refuse to heed that voice off the plenary session floor?

<v Rodney Ward>That was a question that delegates raised immediately after the resolution was passed, <v Rodney Ward>a couple of delegates went to the microphones and said ask the question, is the board <v Rodney Ward>required to do this? Well, the board is not required under the constitution to do it. <v Rodney Ward>But as Ben Hooks said, and as Thomas Atkin's, the general counsel, said, there <v Rodney Ward>were board members that were present there. <v Rodney Ward>And perhaps they will heed this call, because I think <v Rodney Ward>if the board did not go along with what the majority of the delegates voted <v Rodney Ward>for, decided upon, that we would see a very serious split in the organization. <v Carl Rowan>Well, one of the things I heard, Rodney, was a lot of people saying, <v Carl Rowan>I'm not sure that anybody is listening. <v Carl Rowan>Do you think the delegates went home believing that the country heard what they had to <v Carl Rowan>say on these crucial issues? <v Carl Rowan>That's a very difficult question to answer, because I think that <v Carl Rowan>the delegates themselves were there to learn <v Carl Rowan>themselves about what was going on.

<v Carl Rowan>I don't think there were so much concerned about what the country was listening to, as <v Carl Rowan>was what they were hearing and what they could gain out of this convention. <v Carl Rowan>And I think what they got out of this convention was acknowledge <v Carl Rowan>that racism runs rampant in this country, a new awareness of some of the <v Carl Rowan>problems that exists within this country. <v Carl Rowan>Some new information about the economic problems that are faced by blacks in this <v Carl Rowan>country. I think this was a convention more for the delegates for than to say something <v Carl Rowan>to those outsiders who were watching what was going on in the NAACP. <v Carl Rowan>You know, during the convention, I made a little crack about the fact that we sent 800 <v Carl Rowan>questionnaires out to delegates, got 116 back. <v Carl Rowan>And I said, I hope they vote better than they return questionnaires. <v Carl Rowan>We talk a lot about black apathy, as you saw what was going on in this convention. <v Carl Rowan>Were they participating in such a way that would lead you to believe that <v Carl Rowan>the apathy is gone, that they're fired up and they're going to transmit this back to

<v Carl Rowan>their community, Sharon? <v Sharon Stevens>I don't know that the apathy is is gone. <v Sharon Stevens>Some of the NAACP chapters have gone through a very rough time. <v Sharon Stevens>Some of them have closed down for a while and then become active again. <v Sharon Stevens>I think what we saw was a lot of people, particularly young people who said, "I want to <v Sharon Stevens>be involved and I want to help this organization be the viable voice that <v Sharon Stevens>it had been in years past." So there may still be some apathy. <v Sharon Stevens>But they seemed like they were working towards it. <v Sharon Stevens>I think the vote on the resolution and the resolutions, period, all of the resolutions <v Sharon Stevens>showed that they were out there and that they want to see some changes. <v Carl Rowan>Sharon, Rodney, I thank you for that analysis. <v Carl Rowan>It's been great working with you. <v Carl Rowan>After a tennis session with a longtime white friend who lives in Miami, I <v Carl Rowan>ask him if racial tension is as high as I'd been led to believe. <v Carl Rowan>"Yes," he said. "And the worst thing about this chasm that separates blacks <v Carl Rowan>and whites is that you can't even talk about it." We've tried

<v Carl Rowan>with these broadcasts to bridge that chasm to be a channel of communications <v Carl Rowan>between Americans who don't talk to each other and thus lose sight of <v Carl Rowan>their common destiny. <v Carl Rowan>I'm Carl Rowan saying thanks for watching. <v Carl Rowan>And I hope you were really listening. <v Carl Rowan>Good evening. [Song: Lift Every Voice and Sing] <v Narrator>Major funding for this program was provided by this station and other public

<v Narrator>television stations. Additional funding was provided by the Quaker <v Narrator>Oats company. [Outro music]