Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-03
Urban Affairs

Just look at what we are get
ting into.
If such a department is
created for the benefit of the
big city boys, then we farm
hands are going to demand
equal representation and a
Secretary of Rural Affairs to
protect us from the machina-
lions Of urban slickers. And
that is only the beginning.
Wives will protest against
onerous household affairs
and crusade for a secretary
to promote their social af-
fairs. Our offspring want
more understanding and will
lobby for non-interference in
teen-age affairs. Old timers
yearn for a return to Vic
torian affairs, while young
drafteeS grippe about morale
affairs. Our diplomats are
tangled in African affairs,
and certainly could use a
solution to Cuban affairs,
while in Washington we Won
der who runs our community
affairs. And so it goes.
Perhaps what we need
most of all is someone to
straighten out our muddled
affairs. -. e.
Angus Sinclair.
The Kennedy Administra-
ton deserves a vote of con-
fidence for it's noble efforts
to establish an Urban Affairs
Department. National sur
vival may we'll be decided by
how we'll we design our cities.
Since many of our i'm
portant cities are built across
State lines and since many
States have limited re-
sources, it is reasonable to
set this problem aside as a
vital interstate one. BY plac-
ing the accent on low-cost.
comfortable. and SAFE city
living perhaps we can better
discover how and where to
build our future buildings
and the most efficient way to
service all buildings to
satisfy their transportation,
water, and other high cost
service requirements.
1t is high time that the
non-Negro monopoly on
Cabinet jobs be corrected.
The next Cabinet opening
should go to a Negro regard
less of which department
that opening appears in.
Bill Albaugh
There is a depressing at
titude towards measures that
will help raise the living
standards, social and political
status of Negro Americans.
Much of the opposition to
the intended Department of
Urban Affairs is due to the
fact that a Negro will be in
the cabinet. A majority of
Dixiecrats and Byrd-Repub-
licanS will be opposed for the
same reason.
A hard look at the national
scene provides evidence that
1t is going to be impossible
to dam the flow of Negro
progress. Too long we have
listened to the older, uned-
ucated, exploited and indoc-
trined Negro who has been
satisfied with the role of sec
ond-class citizenship.
Col. Muse, writing in 1.-THE
New South" presents the case
for the new Negro: LAS
educational and employment
opportunities are opened to
him, the Negro American is
rushing forward in intel
lectual, cultural and eco
nomic achievement. In
the entire 10Th century fewer
than $500 Negroes graduated
from college in the United
States. In 1880, 27,141 Negro
Americans were in college,
and in 1856, 1885, 900. With in
creaSing Indignation, accur-
ate estimates are no longer
available, but the number
must now have gone over
100000. The image of the
Negro American is changing
all the time and it will
change nightly with each
new class Of Negro college
graduates which enters the
stream of our national life"
E. B. Henderson.
Publicity Chairman, Vir-
ginia National Association for
the Advancement of Colored
Donn1o