The Omaha guide., 1934-07-21
Dickens Speaks BRIEFLY at
Spingan Award

DhAfEN ~ AAIO
29-Es the presiding officer On
this Friday night of the NAACP.
Conner nee, when the Spingaan
Medal was being awarded Co ".
u. u. Williams, Lean Of Tuskeg J
Institute, William P;ckens coulj
make only "a lew remarks but ne
pointed out that on Of the chief
Sc vices of the medal award " VI
help rescue colOred Americans
from the "Inferiority Complexes"
into which nearly v e.y Other
thing in America tends to lead
them; that segregation and jim
Grow" tend to mark everythiny
Tor colored people" as inE riol-:
that stubbornly prescott d cases,
like the Scottsbo, 70 Case and the
Code business, and have carried On
Jess Hollins Case Gin Oklahoma)
ARE really persisted in BY the
prosecution, not because of m re
vengence against the individuals
involved, but to rrsyent tn Negro
population from ever getting tho
notion that they can haze their way
aga-ns. tae & eat 1tnte world,
wn1thc. th- Negro II guilty ~ i'll
necan--t0 drive it j to TIL Negroes
nerve system, that ha is really hen
less-thaI he might as well Il
sander whaa the whits men are
opposed to him.
Saie the speaker: "That is tha
principal objective Of segregation.
Acknowledgement lynching without
trial-for tn Negro must neyer
get it into his head that he can
manage white people By any law
or by any constitution III that he
can cope against the sheer will Of
the whites, regard SIS Of the merits
the moral or legal merits Of the
case. There is d main waiting
room at the railway station in
Foft Worth, marked "Main Wait
ing Room" and there y Az infer
Tor small II room at the side mark
ed "Colored Main Waiting Room"
means for }evdry other human:
Whites vi xicans, Indians, Chinese.
japanese, Hindus, and wild South
Sea Islanders. The N gro race
alone is taken out Of the human
family and set aside.
Chat is why there must be n
organization dedicated to the fight
against 5 g%regation and disfran-
chisement with all Of its time and
energies Meanwhile, it is true
that other EXAMINATIONS must do
their best they are doing, to i'm
prove conditions inside the segre-
cation which will last in some de-
gree, for many generations. But
it is fair to say, that out Of thou
sands of organizations, working
oI5oN 9Q4 10 uoH!puoo 9qa I94l9q o.
in one way or the other, there
should be at least n which seeks
the ultimate goal Of unqualified
equality"
"That does not mean that such
organizations need be hostile to the
work or to the more temporary
detectives of the other organiza-
tons. There is an unreasonable
imortance that these organizations
should continue to find and use a
modus vivandi, a living, working
program for the day, for the week,
for the gene alton. That is the
business Of Howard university, of
Tuskegee Institute, of the color d
Masons, of the Colored Women's
Tubs, Of the Negro Baptist Church
Of the Negro Hotel, of the Negro
card party, of the Negro family
all the greater is the need that
ONE organization, like the NAACP
should seek the great end that lies
bcyond the temporary comprimises
with life and prejudices.
"The Spingam Medal has been
one Of the tgreatest levers fbr
raising and keeping up the Amer
lean Negroes self-respect, and in
keeping down the complex Of in
feriority. In America, where ev-
4rything good is labeled white,
and only inferior things and pri-
vileges are labeled colored or Ne
gro, it is as natural for white
people to develop an abnormal
superiority complex, as it is for
Black people to develop an alb
normal inferiority complex. The
/ ordinary individual in both races
will get these complimentary at
titudes in exaggerated proportions.
In fact, when you see an Ameri-
can black man who has no infer
iority complex, it is because he
has extra brains and can think
logically. And when you see an
American white man who has no
! superiority complex, it is also be-
cause he has extra brains and can
a think logically.
After telling a few amusing
stories of how powerful animals
0 can be controlled by Installing into
them an "inferiority complex;
how the elephant can be tied by a
q small chain, and a horse led by a
halter, Mr.. Pickens concluded
d "The only way to make a MAJ
inferior is to make the man him.
self, in his own psychology, &C
cept the idea to make him be
lieye that he is inferior. Becaus,
others believe a man inferior doe
not make it a fact; when the mai
y believes himself inferior, he Ger
. tainly is inferior. To tie a man
d you must lay your chains aroun,
his mind. Against any socia
!. handicap or physical terror, Their
= is always a fighting chance S
U Inn- n- 4Lo w1s- - r.