5

5

We are told that when black people did not magically leap from the back of the bus to ownership of the bus company, it was because they were deficient or the system had been too good to them - white benevolence had made them weak.

To believe that is the victory of self-delusion over common sense.

Let us call white supremacy by its name and call it what it is: a massive system of racial preferences, a vast affirmative action program for whites. It has one name and one aim: to crush the human development of an entire population. It began with slave-catching in Africa, and it continues to the present day.

It is only by acknowledging the name, the nature and the scope of the problem that we can measure the magnitude of our success.

It has been our refusal to compromise on the fundamental issues of justice and equality that has led to these victories.

One of our founders, Mary White Ovington, described how the early NAACP resisted compromising its principles:

"... the effort was continually made", she said, "to induce it to side-step the main issue, to unite with the conservatives, to relax a liite in its uncompromising tone."

"Had it done this, however, it would have slipped into oblivion. Its refusal to compromise brought it steadily increasing Negro support, and while it has never won over the great majority of the white friends of the Negro, it has held its original group together and each year has added a number of important, whole -hearted white men and women."

Far from slipping into oblivion, the NAACP has become the largest grass roots civil rights organization in the Untied States, overwhelmingly endorsed by black Americans as the most effective organizatin working in their interest." ³

We welcome all whole-hearted women and men - of whatever race, age or religion - to join us. We know that colored people come in all colors in this country. We know we move forward fastest when we move forward together. We know we cannot afford