I just returned from The Greater New Haven Business and Professional Association press conference held with brother and sister organizations in support of the upcoming Oct 2, march to be held in Washington DC. Much of US history can be gleaned by just reading about the various marches of all stripes, colors, hue and persuasions that have taken place in our nation's capitol. There have been motorcycle marches, poor people's marches, violent peace marches, army veteran marches, flower child marches, million man marches and more.
But there is something about the march that did not happen that still strikes me as the most profound. Read below about the the tactical vision of A. Phillip Randolph. Reflect upon the tension of fighting for freedom abroad and fighting for freedom at home. This false dichotomy of international versus domestic affairs was very real in times gone by. This day of one world and global finance and global products tends to obscure the previous reality of geopolitical and regional tensions. Spheres of influence and regional pacts, but I digress. In the age of Randolph black people were still being terrorized and in jeapardy.It was no Monday to Friday popular TV game. The daily plight of Black People was being spun like a wheel, stopping on jim crow, lynch city, share crop place and get out of town by sundown estates. Their is always a new day dawning, but somehow the legacy of A Phillip Randolph rings in my soul- Freedom must ring!
http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_classroom/classroom_9-12-pressure-defense.html
By late 1940, Randolph had a National March on Washington Committee with branches in eighteen cities. Black newspapers started spreading the word; the NAACP, the Urban League, and especially the porters began to publicize and secure financing for the project. In January, Randolph issued his call for a march. The date was set for July 1, 1941. He told blacks, "You possess power, great power," and he laid out the specifics in a bold statement:
In this period of power politics, nothing counts but pressure, and still more pressure, through the tactic and strategy of broad, organized, aggressive mass action behind the vital and important issues of the Negro. To this end, we propose that ten thousand Negroes MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR JOBS IN NATIONAL DEFENSE AND EQUAL INTEGRATION IN THE FIGHTING FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES.14
By January the president had been alerted that Randolph planned to march on the capital. Despite all of the obvious planning activity in black communities, Roosevelt did not express any outward concern and refused to have another meeting with Randolph in the spring. The message from the president’s staff had read: "The pressures of matters of great importance is such that it does not seem probable he will be able to comply with your request for a personal conference."15 Randolph sent letters to the president and other government officials asking them to make speeches at the Lincoln Memorial, where the marchers intended to gather. The fact was that, even though sympathetic to the issues raised by Randolph, the president thoroughly opposed the idea of 10,000 blacks marching through the streets of Washington.16 Randolph had made it clear that the march would be blacks only, and that seemed even more threatening and ominous to the president. Roosevelt worried that people could be hurt or killed and that it set a bad precedent for other groups.17 As historian Paula Pfeffer points out, the Roosevelts feared the march could "prove an embarrassment to the country that held itself up as a model of democracy."18
Comments