Atlanta Daily World

REVIEWING
THE
NEWS
BY
William Gordon
Full Equality And The NAACP
What is perhaps the most basic and fundamental principle
brought out during the NAACP convention in Atlanta is the emphasis
put on the continuous fight for full equality. Without a
country and its citizens being able to enjoy the real essence of
equality, democracy cannot exist. Those who believe in the philosophy
of second-class citizenship, and that a nation or country
can exist half slave and half free, are still living in the dark ages
and are without backbone or background to speak for civilized
man.
The NAACP has made a great contribution during its 42
years of existence.
Not only has it been a credit to the Negro
American, but it has been a credit to America as a whole.
The fact that this fight for equal opportunity for employment,
political freedom and educational facilities, has been one of the
basic programs of the NAACP ever since its inception, make it an
organization far more democratic than many such organizations
which parade in the shadows of what this organization is doing.
The fight against discrimination in the field of employment,
housing, education and the ballot is most significant and the
NAACP should be congratulated for its action in these fields.
Discrimination is bad business: The withholding of jobs and
business opportunities from some people does not make more
jobs and business opportunities for others. Such a practice tends
to drag down the whole economic level of the community. Perpetuating
poverty for some merely guarantees stagnation for all.
True economic progress demands that the whole nation move
forward at the same time. It demands that all artificial barriers
erected by ignorance and intolerance be removed.
No social or economic problem in the United States has received
so much attention as the Negro problem. The work of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has
brought to light many of these American shortcomings while making
some attempt to do something about them not in the interest
of a few, but for the benefit of the American people as a whole.
Atlanta and the whole state of Georgia are proud of the fact
that the 42nd annual convention of the NAACP was held in this
area.
To invade the South by the association was to eliminate
some of the traditions and beliefs of a people so long in the dark
about what is happening right in our midst. It was an educational
job done by the NAACP to come South.
The central theme in our American heritage is the importance
of the individual person. We believe that the welfare of the individual
is the final goal of the group. Our American heritage
goes further to state that to be secure in the rights we wish for
ourselves we must be willing to respect the rights of other people,
regardless of their racial, religious or social background.
We owe our respects to the NAACP because of its work in this
direction. The things which we don't enjoy today as American
citizens are being obtained for us through the efforts of this organization
and sincere Americans who see the decency in fair play
and democracy. These things are not being obtained through
violence. They are being obtained through the legal channels of
our own American institutions.