The Omaha guide., 1955-11-25
The Importance o. NAAcP
Legal Defense Fund

By A. Maceo Walker, President, National Insurance Association
United States?
Are Negroes free to attend all public schools and colleges in all
sections of the United States?
Are Negroes free to enjoy all recreational facilities supported bv
public funds?
The answer to these questions is an emphatic mo.
The United States is the greatest democracy on earth. Yet, in
many areas (the State OF Mississippi is an example), Negroes are
denied the right to vote.
The right to vote is the inalienable right of all citizens under a
democratic form of government. Until all qualified Negro voters
ae granted this right everywhere in the United States. we are in
need of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
All AMERICANS who love Democracy, White or Negro, and most
certainly all Negroes, should contribute to the Legal Defense Fund.
The May IL, 1854 decision and the May 81, 1855 implementation
order of the Supreme Court are great and unprecedented victories
Many of us are under the impression that there was al absolute final.
IL mVolVeo is 10 true. This is only the starting point Some
of or Southern governors have pledged to fight to the last ditch.
In some instances, it will be necessary that the NAACP Legal
Defense Fund press suits county by county and city by city. This
will be not only a long but a very costly project. Many thousands of
dollars will be required to press these suits. This IS why it is so
vitality necessary that we rally to the support of the NAACP Legal
Defense Fund with our gifts in money, large and small. The Fund is
In need of money Lip service will not accomplish the job.
It is a sad and lamentable fact that the Southern governors who
have pledged to fight in behalf Of segregated schools the hardest have
provided the poorest school systems for Negro children.
Inferior education has been largely the means (along with job
discriminatory of keeping the Negro a secondclass citizen. That is
the reason why segregated school systems must be abolished. A seq
gregated school system will always be inferior. This has been true
for ninety years. There is no basis of fact to support the statement
that we can have separate but equal"
Our children must have equal education.
The time has long since passed when a child, poorly equipped in
formal training, can compete in our advanced civilization. 1t is be-
coming more and more difficult to pull ourselves up by our own boot
straps unless we have the proper educational background. We can
not fail. our children now.
The fight for full citizenship has not been won and will not be
won as long as Negroes and other minority groups are Disseminated
against in any phase of our democratic way of life.
While the NAACP Legal Defense Fund can proudly point to a
long line of continued success in cases in its struggle for equal JUS
te under law" our old man Jim Crow" is not yet dead. The
NAACP Legal Defense Fund and none of us can afford to relax until,
with the help of God, we see the end of segregation and Jim Crow.
Let us all contribute to the NAAcP Legal Defense and Education
al Fundl Send your contributions today-now. The address is LOT
West 43d Street, New York SO, N. Y.