Where I Stand — Classic Hank: Civil-rights advances mark NAACP’s 50th anniversary

Friday, Aug. 17, 2001 | 4:25 a.m.

Note to readers: Sun Publisher Hank Greenspun, wo died in 1989, was a prophetic, hard-hitting columnist who butted heads with world giants and demagogues and zealously defended the rights of the little guy.

Every week the SUN will run one of Hank's Where I Stand columns, recalling his finer moments as a chronicler of the late 20th century. We call this feature "Classic Hank."

TODAY: Longtime civil rights leader David Hoggard died Aug. 8. He was president of the NAACP from 1955-59. In this Sept. 12, 1959, column Hank writes about the importance of the NAACP on its 50th anniversary:

Happy Birthday!

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has reached its golden anniversary. Founded in 1909, it has struggled for 50 years to make effective such things as brotherhood, kindliness, tolerance, human decency and freedom of opportunity.

The NAACP is an American organization. Its philosophy, its program and its goals stem from the Constitution of the U.S. -- the nation's hallowed democratic traditions.

Its goal for the future -- the fulfillment of the American dream of equality of all mankind.

The NAACP has set as its target for 1963 the complete elimination of all vestiges of second-class citizenship under which Negro Americans still suffer.

The year 1963 was chosen because Jan. 1 of that year will mark the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the decisive step toward ending nearly two and a half centuries of slavery and bondage for a large segment of our population.

No decent person will question the inherent right of Americans to enjoy equal opportunity in every field -- to secure decent living conditions -- adequate provision for the moral and spiritual development of our children and free association with their fellow men as equals under the law and equal in the sight of God.

These rights can be safe-guarded and advanced only where men may think and speak freely.

This afternoon at 3 I have been given the honor of speaking before the NAACP in celebration of their 50th anniversary.

I cannot tell the members of this organization anything which they do not presently know, feel or have suffered for in the past.

If any words of mine are to be effective, it should be told at a forum of citizens who do not feel the inequalities nor experience the humiliation and heartaches of a people who have long been relegated to second class citizenship.

Perhaps, if enough people with open minds and decent hearts could know and be made to feel that intimidation, discrimination and segregation are evils which threaten our way of life, the goals of the NAACP will sooner be realized.

Our government is in danger if fellow citizens of different backgrounds are denied rights and privileges guaranteed to then by the highest law of the land. To prevent vast numbers of Americans from exercising their rights of citizenship is rejecting a fundamental principle of democracy.

The future of America is safe. Our future is good because progress in the field of civil rights is being steadily made.

Only a blind fool will not admit that there are some inequities which must be eliminated, but of this we can be sure: our government has operated for a longer time with more good for most people than any other government in history.

We must therefore believe in democracy. We must view any kind of bigotry and discrimination as a dangerous threat and a terrible menace.

We must believe and strive for the innate dignity of the individual because people in the main are as we choose to find them.

Reason can overcome prejudice just as knowledge can defeat ignorance. Love can overcome hate and goodness can conquer evil.

Wisdom has given us our homes, factories, medicines and all the best which a good society has to offer. Wisdom has given us our faith. Wisdom brings us hope and trust in the future along with pride in our past.

With wisdom we flourish and live. Without it we wither and die. With wisdom we can be strong and know no fear. Without it we become frightened and weak.

With wisdom we can all go on to greater achievement. Without it our government, which makes all these things possible, can be destroyed.

These things which all people should know come easy to a people who enjoy without restrictions the rights and liberties guaranteed by our constitution.

It somehow loses its meaning when spoken to those whose liberties are restricted -- whose rights have reservations.

We all jump to attention and feel rightfully proud when "The Star Spangled Banner" is played. It's our song -- a song of freedom and liberty.

It will soon be world series time. Our national anthem has been played at the start of every major league game since baseball began.

How different was the emotional feeling of Jackie Robinson, when he stood at attention while the band played "The Star Spangled Banner" at the start of the world series of 1947?

I'll bet Jackie never heard it played so thrillingly. It took on a new meaning. It was being played for him as much as for any other American.

A Negro in organized baseball where formerly only prejudice took the field.

As long as free minds and human hearts are at work, there is the probability of improvement.

Jackie Robinson must still look at his children and know and prepare them to meet the obstacles of racial discrimination. But he can also know that the ones he had to face are in the past for his children.

He has paved the way in some small measure for decency and hope.

Jackie's fight was against the barriers that kept Negroes out of organized baseball. This was the area where he found imperfection and where he was best able to combat it. And he fought because he knew it was not doomed to be a losing fight.

It couldn't be a losing fight. Not when it takes place in a free society.

Many of today's beliefs will have vanished when our little ones reach adulthood. We will all be able to say to our children -- there is a chance for you. No guarantee but a chance and this chance has come to pass because free people move forward.

A free people in a free society. This is the hope -- the promise of the future as the NAACP looks forward to its second 50 years of glorious achievement.