Arkansas State press., 1955-05-27
We've Got TO Do Our Part
S. S. Taylor

.. =. y 10
Fight fans have followed with interest the investigation
of fake and dope rumors rising from the Johnson-Mederos
fight in Philadelphia. Harold johnson, light heavyweight con-
tender just a niche below champion Archie Moore, was car
ried from the ring on a stretcher at the close of the second
round of his fight with Julio Mederos on May 6. Johnson
seemed dazed in the first round, unsteady In the second, ana
when he sat down at the close of the second, fell off his STOOL
The attending physician said he appeared "doped.p
A sensational probe lasting several days has been made
into the affair; boxing in the state of Pennsylvania has been
suspended for three months; Johnson and five others connect
ed with the fight were called to appear before the Pennsyl-
vania athletic commission. The investigation was still in prog
ress at the time of this writing.
The businesslike handling of Harold Johnsons case con-
nected with the absence of press emphasis on its racial as
poets and the lack of any public sentiment against the Negro
race because of the race of some of the principals, illustrates
how completely the Negro has arrived in the prizefighting
world. II is Harold Johnson and those associated with him in
the fight who are being tried not the Negro race. There
is no confusion of the issue.
We are reminded that there are two factors in the prog
ress of the brown American. One is the attitude of the white
American; the other is the attitude of the brown American
himself. In prize fighting, both of these have performed well
In major league baseball, there has been a performance equal
ly satisfying, if not more so, although later in arriving. Nom
ination of Dorothy cambridge for an Oscar coupled with other
events in music, TV, and radio, remind us of the expanding
racial horizon in entertainment. In each OF these fleids' Drown
performance has matched step with white democracy.
The theoretical decreed by the Supreme Court imposes as
much practical obligation on the brown race as on the white.
A certain amount of cooperation can be counted on from we'll
intentoned white people, but what will we ourselves do? In
the long run, no race or individual can succeed who does not
carry his own load.
The opponents of the Negro look down the future and
pool and organize their efforts. DR.. Wade H. Boggs of Atlanta,
moderator of the Southern Presbyterian church, commenting
on the failure of the Presbyterian national bodies to unite,
said: 1.-THE union was opposed by a well financed and closely
organized group
The Negro is fast coming to the point where his endeav-
os must also be pushed by a well financed and closely or
ganized' group. The days of total dependence on someone
else's favor, and on voluntary and unpaid workers must slide
into the discard in the face of opposition from a well fnanc-
ed and closely organized group
The Negro has a fair amount of organization. He is espe-
cialy prolific of civic leagues, social clubs declarations
"PTAs", political "auxiliaries", chambers Of commerce, and
SO on with unpaid officials, and small churches with a next
world interest.
All of these organizations must now acquire a well IL
nanced and organized PRESENT-WORLD interest. This does
not involve hostility to any other race or group. But it does
mean that movements such as the Memphis bank provision to
help victims of economic pressure and the Sacramento NAA-
CP credit union described in the May Crisis, must become
general. The Negro must find a way TO concentrate his earn
ings, organize his efforts, and pay his officials.