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[pencil note right corner: speech mat.]
Freedom's Journal March 16, 1827 . . . . . . We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us. Too long has the public been deceived by misrepresentations, in things that concern us dearly . . . . . .
That was a part of the lead editorial in the First black newspaper.
It suggested, among other things, what has been the role of the black press since then, to speak, fight, argue and demand for black people.
And since that time the black press has had its ups and downs. We have had our militant press - A. Philip Randolph in an earlier day, daring jail to defy segregation in the armed forces; todays Muhammad Speaks and the Black Panther carry on that tradition today. We have our empires publishing empires. We have our papers which barely manage from edition to edition, and we have had our newspapers which that have been slaves for the most vicious kind of white racist
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We have newspapers that supported Hubert Humphrey, that supported Richard Nixon, and that supported Eldridge Cleaver.
We can be proud that it was a black newspaper that blew the whistle on the CIA's attempt to invade Cuba, and we can be proud that it was a black newpaperman who challenged the State Department's ban on & unrestricted restriction on travel for journalists.
The black press has fought and fought hard.
But there are still many battles to be fought and won.
Within the next three months, the 1965 Voting Rights Act will expire. The black people of the south who braved death to win the right to the franchise, are in real danger of losing it.
Without that act, Georgia would not have 14 black state legislators. Without that act, Charles Evers would not be Mayour of Fayette,
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3 Mississippi; without that act, there would not be 400 black elected officials in the South. We must have that act extended and strengthened for 10 more years at least, to give us time to complete the second Reconstruction of the South.
The black press, in California and New York, in Georgia and Alabama, must help fight that battle. The press must help fight the battle to restrict foundations. Black people are seeing a real wave of racism sweep the country. The elections in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and New York have seen the voters of these cities. rise to the level follow candidates of racism and reaction.
The black press has to act deciscively to insure that we do not lose the meagre victories of the past or fail in the attempt to secure meaninful victories in the future.
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4 At a time when the Federal Government and the little tyrant who runs the F.B.I. feel able to tap anyone's phone with impunity, the black press must stand vigilant.
In this very city where we meet now, the F.B.I. tapped the telephone, the living room, and the automobile of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
We learned they listened to private conversations of Martin Luther King. Did any of you ever call Dr. King on the telephone? Then the F.B.I. has a file on you, too.
Attorney General Mitchell just last week admitted the government has tapped the telephones of the eight people indicted in Chicago for their part in last August's police riots, and has declared that he feels he has the right to tap anyone's phone, to listen to anyone's conversation, if he thinks they endanger national security
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5 Will the black press speak out against this rape of privacy or will you continue to wonder who's listening in on your line?
Over the last few weeks, the F.B.I. and local policemen have engaged in a series of vicious attacks on the Black Panther Party.
Will the black press demand an end to these Gestapo attacks, or will you sit and wonder who will speak out when it is your office that is attacked, your files ransacked.
[circled text in the left hand margin is the following Black Journal? with a line going across page to right hand side of page with circled text as follows 1 hour out of 1800]
When our young people return to the college campus this fall, will the black press provide a useful forum for their legitimate demands, or will you simply let others set the standards for this fine group of young people?
While Senator Thurmond, the Cinderella bridegroom from South Carolina, continues to subvert school integration in the South, will the black press stand up to him?