Appendix - Matrix - Michigan State University

composed of active and former black athletes and will
be structured along lines as shown in the diagram on
page 113.
To date, the federation is well on its way to becomlgg
a reality. Potential officers have been contacted, a number
of prominent athletes have been approached to serve
as possible charter members of the federation, and existing
organizations have been contacted about the possibility
of taking on the work of contract negotiations,
business counseling, and so on. Under such a working
relationship, the federation will funnel black athletes
into such an organization which will then perform the
services indicated or implied in Section "E" of the diagram.
The federation will call strikes, boycotts, and
demonstrations to correct injustices with the consent of
three-fourths of its voting members. The organization
in Section "E" will be responsible for negotiating any
contracts-business, athletic, or otherwise, that the athletes
may desire to make-and will grant business loans
from the union's treasury at negligible rates of interest.
(It is almost impossible for any black man to obtain a
business loan today at any rate of interest.)
Before getting underway with the actual establishment
of the planned federation, the O.C.H.R. checked
out and approved or disapproved potential officers, investigated
the feasibility of establishing field offices and
decided the idea was sound, and selected sites for such
offices. Our search for an agency to fill slot "E" of the
diagram took one funny turn, although at the time we
didn't exactly break up over it. Our investigations of
one Washington, D.C.-based organization disclosed
certain information which indicated that the organization
in question was not really all it claimed to be. In the
process of trying to get one of his lieutenants out of a
Louisiana jail, the agency head wrote to the judge in
charge of the case verifying that the man was indeed a
member of his organization and then went on to add
that the job and mission of (the employee) was to
The Revolt of the Black Athlete • 112
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
Organizational Structure
Federation of Black Athletes
President (Elected by Constituency)
Vice-President (Elected by Constituency)
Secretary (Elected by Constituency)
AGENCY EMBODYING CONTRAcr NEGOTIATIONS
Black Professional Athletes
LOAN STRUcrURE ETC
I Director I
Attorney Attorney Attorney Attorney
Financial Counselor I Accountant I Business Consultant
t
Black Amateur Athletes
Mexico City, 1968 • 113