The Ohio Daily Express

Virginia NAACP
To Map Civil
Rights Fight

STAUNTON, Va., Aug. 31. (AP)- The annual session of the
Virginia State NAACP conference here October 1 to 3, will be
the most important in the history of the conference, according to W.
Lester Banks, executive secretary.

The aim of this session is "to survey the field of battle and plan
our attack," he said.

Banks declared in announcing the forthcoming session that "a
challenge has been flung in the face of every Negro in the state
of Virginia," adding that the group plans to "survey the field
of battle and plan the attack."

"The NAACP accepts the challenge," Mr. Banks said and he
appealed to members to "come then, let us reason together at the
convention, lest we lose that which we have gained."

The delegates, leaders and visitors attending the sessions will be
entertained and welcomed by the Staunton branch of the NAACP
which will be host to the convention. Arrangements will be made
locally by the Rev. T. J. Jemison, president of the branch, and persons
appointed by him.

Banks resorted to Virginia history to bolster up the fighting
spirit of the NAACP, recalling that it was a Virginian, Patrick
Henry, who said "Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased
at the price of chains and slavery?" Today Banks asserted, the self
same question must be faced by every Virginia Negro, and added.

"Are we willing to continue to support a dual citizenship society
that advocates first and second class citizenship, a type and pattern
of thinking that was conceived and nurtured solely for the purpose
of fastening the yoke of impropriety about the neck of every person
of color?

"Already the lines of battle are clearly drawn. The NAACP, through
its broad school facilities program, has succeeded in focusing wide
attention on the educational abuses, as practiced under the dual
citizenship regime. Activities in a number of school divisions is
progressing as planned.

"Today, we are voicing the conclusion which was reached many
years ago, that is, 'There is no such thing as separate but equal'.

The history of the Negro and his struggle toward complete citizenship
dictates the validity of this conclusion not only on the educational
field, but in all other phases of our daily lives: housing, recreation,
employment, health and other fields of endeavor.

"This program is presenting a 'new Negro' with a completely revised
pattern of thinking. This new Negro is no longer afraid of requesting,
yes demanding, that which is constitutionally his,"

Banks concluded.