Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

Broken down, here is how I see this : On the West Coast (and Pacific
Northwest), California has the largest concentration of black people .
This concentration is primarily in the Northern and Southern parts of the
state . Within the northern and southern parts of the state, the black
population is dispersed in such a manner that to speak of an educational
endeavor expected to affect all of them is to speak of at least two sites
in both the northern and southern parts of the state . Say, two in or
around the Los Angeles area and two in or around the San Francisco
Bay area . On the East Coast, the black population is concentrated primarily
in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania . Here, any action
expected to affect a majority would probably require three sites, possibly
four, because of the unusually large number of people in this case .
I cannot guess about where these sites should be because of my limited
knowledge of the areas involved . I merely wish to convey that an expanded
effort will be required in this area. In the Midwest the folks are
primarily in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio . Again, the action should
probably be triple . Then, of course, there is the South, where more than
half the souls still are . As I have already related, many of us feel that
this is where we should attempt to do our main thing : the mother campus
of the Black University. Other than the fact that you have already made
a notable start there, which probably exceeds anything that we have done
in integrity, I am inclined to believe that there are many more reasons
for this decision that are rather obvious . I am further convinced that
the South is the place when I look and see not only beautiful potential
sites for the mother campus but so many beautiful sites for extension
programs of all kinds! !
Now, what I am saying here should not be construed to mean that
we ought to undertake the establishment of nine universities, at least not
at this time . I am, instead, suggesting that we attempt to create ONE
university and eight "catch"/related to/type actions to support it . I mean,
this is my vision of your consortium, ideally constructed . We name the
sites/the schools, choose the people, see that the money is pooled, recruit
the students and faculty, and send the kindling down South!!
As we have seen so many promises swell and fail to gain the crucial
burst needed for an overflow of success, I fear for the ebbing but yet
unborn and contained Black University . Pray to all (Damballa, first)
that we do not fail this time . But there must be something that we can do
to lessen the possibility of a failure? One thing that we have not done in
the past is to be specific enough-both in terms of our interest and our
commitment . We can think, talk and write about everything, but we
can only AC°T (effectively) on one thing at a time . Nearly everyone
among us can recall attending meetings, conferences, etc., where we dealt
with so many things ; we were told so many things to do that we seldom
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March 1970 NEGRO DIGEST