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Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

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An Open Letter to<br />

Black Students<br />

in the North<br />

NEW CREATION<br />

OR FAMILIAR<br />

DEATH?<br />

BY VINCENT HARDING<br />

A letter nf the greatest urgency "u;ritten in<br />

the spirit o f black ecumenical concern as we<br />

move towards a new humanity"<br />

DEAR Brothers and Sisters,<br />

This letter may touch on sensitive and painful areas, but it<br />

is based on the assumption that every contradiction within<br />

our struggle must be examined with relentless care and discussed<br />

with total cardor throughout the brotherhood of our<br />

blackness . On the other hand . i t must also be clear that I do not assume<br />

that those of us who work out in the academic halls of the South are any<br />

more free from powerful and ironic inner confusions than v~u who operate<br />

in the North . Nevertheless, there are certain current developments<br />

among you which appear dangerous-indeed disastrous-from our perspective<br />

. We are convinced that no meaningful building of the Black<br />

University can take place unless at least some of these issues are resolved .<br />

So I have taken it upon myself to try to articulate our general concerns,<br />

especially as they are directed to those of you who study and teach on<br />

northern campuses .<br />

Let me get to the point in the most brutal manner first, and then attempt<br />

to elaborate with greater precis~on as I go . The center of our concern is<br />

this : Do the black student (and faculty) brothers in northern schools<br />

NEGRO DIGEST March 1969 5

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