Arizona sun., 1953-04-17
Long Way 70 Top
Spots, Preparation
Must Begin Early
By OLIVE A. ADAMS

the most important things to learn
in any battle for recognition, is
that if you move in too soon, you
| can set yourself back further than
you were when. you started. The
| impatient boys move in like.
|. cloud of smoke and burn up, the
world for time, but then they
peter out and become. completely
ineffective, thus spelling whatever
chance they may have had for
real advancement.
In our fight for recognition, we
have often been guilty Of having a
great deal of fervor and not
enough of the good, hard common
sense it takes to gain and advan-
tage and keep it. For instance, a
year or so ago, a brilliant and
wealthy lawyer in New York who
has long been active in race rela-
tionS work, heard much talk in
his contact with Negroes, about
the fact that not many Negroes
were occupying executive positions
on clerical staffs of private con-
Germs. He prevailed upon his part
ners to let him install a young col
ored secretary in the secretaries
pool. They agreed, and he con-
tacted the organization that had
made the complaint, and asked
them to send some young girls in
for interviews. He hired one who
served about a month and was,
for one reason or another, dropped.
He hired a second, and took her
under his wing, so to speak, in or
der to give her the best possible
start. She simply did not have what
it took to hold down the job. He
has since tried several others, but
none have worked out.
This is not to say that no one
could qualify for the job. 1t, is to
say that, before viocing any COM
plant about the jobs Negroes
ought to have, we ought to first be
sure there are qualified Negroes
ready to take the. job.
Somewhat. the same type of err
ror: has beeI1e committed by some
pressure groups here in the East,
who have been seeking for years to
get some of the Adoption Agencies
to take colored children. These
blank questions: do you take
Negro children?" The answer, of
course was mo" The agencies had
little contact with Negro commune
ties, but not wanting to be put in
an unfavorable light, many of
them have taken on Negro chill
dren. The result? They have an
abundance of Negro children
whom nobody wants, and. the situ-
alton has become rather embar-
RAISING.
How much wiser it would have
been if the groups that started the
agitation had first made some sort
of study to find out where there
were homes in which these chill
dren would be welcome before any
pressure was, brought to bear upon
the agencies to take them.
Another case in point: Just re-
emily, group of Negroes were dis
cussing the possibility of a Negro
Cabinet. When one remarked that
there were many Assistantships
still open to be filled, a disgruntled
member of the group said sarcasti-
cally, "Are we still assisting?" It
apparently never entered his mind
that perhaps there might be a
standard of performance to which
a Negro ought to attain before
seeking such high position.
In speaking of qualification. one
might easily reply, There are
plenty Of qualified Negroes" And
this is probably true if one speaks
of qualification only in terms of
education or training in a particu-
lar field. But qualification means
more than that IT means Vaarc of