Vel Phillips Papers (Radio scripts, Box 2)

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STATISTICS SHOW THAT, NATIONALLY, SEVENTY PER CENT OF ALL NEGROES ARE REJECTED FOR MILITARY SERVICE BY WHAT ONE MAGAZINE CALLED "GHETTO-BRED ILL HEALTH OR NON-EDUCATION." IT IS SAFE TO ASSUME THAT A LARGE SHARE OF THIS LACK OF EDUCATION COULD ALSO BE TRACED TO LACK OF FOOD, BECAUSE A CHILD WHO IS HUNGRY IS NOT INTERESTED IN STUDYING.

THE MOST DRAMATIC AND SHOCKING EVIDENCE OF THE ABJECT POVERTY IN WHICH MANY NEGROES LIVE WAS CONTAINED IN A REPORT ISSUED RECENTLY BY SIX EMINENT PHYSICIANS WHO TOURED SIX COUNTIES IN RURAL MISSISSIPPI TO STUDY THE LIVING CONDITIONS OF NEGRO CHILDREN.

THEIR REPORT, ENTITLED "HUNGRY CHILDREN", WOULD BE UNBELIEVABLE IF IT WERE NOT TRUE. IN EVERY COUNTY THEY VISITED, THE DOCTORS FOUND HOMES WITHOUT ANY OF THE BASIC NECESSITIES, SUCH AS ELECTRICITY OR RUNNING WATER, AND CHILDREN WITH SEVERE MALNUTRITION. IN CHILD AFTER CHILD, THE DOCTORS FOUND VITAMIN AND MINERAL DEFICIENCIES; SERIOUS SKIN INFECTIONS; EYE, EAR AND BONE DISEASES RESULTING FROM POORT DIET, AND SEVERE ANEMIA.

THESE CHILDREN, SAID THE DOCTORS, "ARE OUT OF SIGHT AND IGNORED. THEY ARE LIVING UNDER SUCH PRIMITIVE CONDITIONS THAT WE FOUND IT HARD TO BELIEVE THAT WE WERE EXAMINING AMERICAN CHILDREN OF THE 20TH CENTURY. WE SAW CHILDREN WHO ARE HUNGRY AND WHO ARE SICK. WE DO NOT WANT TO QUIBBLE OVER WORDS, BUT "MALNUTRITION" IS NOT QUITE WHAT WE FOUND. THEY BOYS AND GIRLS WE SAW WERE HUNGRY-WEAK, IN PAIN, SICK; THEIR LIVES ARE BEING

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SHORTENED; THEY ARE, IN FACT, VISIBLY AND PREDICTABLY LOSING THEIR HEALTH, THEIR ENERGY, THEIR SPIRITS. THEY ARE SUFFERING FROM HUNGER AND DISEASE AND DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY THEY ARE DYING FROM THEM-WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT "STARVATION" MEANS."

THE DOCTORS SUMMED UP THE TRAGIC CONDITIONS THEY SAW IN THE WORDS OF ONE NEGRO MOTHER: "THESE CHILDREN GO TO BED HUNGRY AND GET UP HUNGRY AND DON'T EEVER KNOW NOTHING ELSE IN BETWEEN."

ONE OF THE SIX DOCTORS-A NATIVE SOUTHERNER, BY THE WAY-INSERTED THIS OBSERVATION IN THE REPORT:

"FREQUENTLY THROUGHOUT THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA, WE HEARD CHARGES OF AN UNWRITTEN BUT GENERALLY ACCEPTED POLICY ON THE PART OF THOSE WHO CONTROL THE STATE TO ELIMINATE THE NEGRO MISSISSIPPIAN, EITHER BY DRIVING HIM OUT OF THE STATE OR STARVING HIM TO DEATH. AT FIRST, THE CHARGE SEEMED TO ME BEYOND BELIEF. AND YET REVIEWING NOW ALL THAT WE SAW AND HEARD, IT BECOMES MORE AND MORE CREDIBLE."

DESCRIBING MISSISSIPPI AS A "KIND OF PRISON IN WHICH LIVE A GREAT GROUP OF UNEDUCATED, SEMI-STARVING PEOPLE," THIS DOCTOR DECLARED: "THEIR STORY NEEDS TO BE TOLD NOT MERELY FOR THEIR SAKES-BUT FOR THE SAKE OF ALL AMERICA."

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I WOULD HOPE THAT THIS STORY WOULD BE READ BY EVERYONE IN MILWAUKEE. PERHAPS THEN OUR COMMUNITY WOULD BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEGROES COME HERE FROM MISSISSIPPI AND -- AS SOME PEOPLE PUT IT -- "LOAD UP" OUR WELFARE ROLLS. IF EVERYONE KNEW THIS STORY AND REALIZED THE TRUTH OF FATHER GROPPI'S STATEMENTS ABOUT HUNGRY NEGROES, PERHAPS THIS COMMUNITY WOULD BEGIN TO HAVE COMPASSION AND TO HELP ITS NEGRO NEWCOMERS INSTEAD OF TURNING ITS BACK ON THEM AND IGNORING THEIR PROBLEMS.

THAT IS ALL FOR TODAY. GOODBYE FOR NOW, AND THANK YOU FOR LISTENING.