Evening star., 1962-11-25

aderShip Conference on Africa
wants something done about
it." commented A. Philip Ran
dolph, a vice president of the
AFL-CIO.
James Farmer, national di-
rector of the Congress on Ra-
cial Equality, said there are 19 |
million American Negroes who
have an emotional understand
ing of African problems that
white Americans don't have,
and for this reason they should
be involved in this country's
policy determinations which
affect the African continent.
These are some of the basic
reasons the American Negro
Leadership Conference Of Afri-
ca met at the Arden House
Campus of Columbia Univer-
sity IN the ancestral home of
w. Averell Hartman. atop a
13,000-foot peak in the Rama
po mountain range.
The l00-room baronial es-
tate. built at the turn of the
century by the late railroader, |
Edward Henry Hartman, is
so miles up the Hudson River
from New York City. 1t was
given to Columbia University
in 1850 by former Gov. Harri-
man. The estate is the home !
of the American Assembly. /
Seek to Sway Policy
Ways in which the Negro |
community can influence poll
cy toward Africa were dis
cuSSed here against a back
ground of six position papers
on that continent. The con-
ference also seeks to mobilize
Negro interest in Africa.
One of the papers was writ
ten by st. Clair Drake, a pro-
fessor at Roosevelt University
in Chicago. He described the
conference as: "a meeting of
responsible American Negro
leaders to consider the problem
of how 16 million people of
African descent in the United
States and 200 million Africans
can coordinate their efforts"
to correct the stereotypes and
change the derogatory images
which Americans often have of
Africans and which Africans
sometimes have of American
Negroes.
Despite traditional interest
in Africa, Negro involvement in
African affairs today is very
unimpressive, Mr.. Drake said.
The number of American
Negro missionaries and schools
and hospitals in Africa is pitt
fully small for a group which
as much money and
as Negroes do upon re-
ligion and which claims nearly
eight million Baptists and
Methodists," the paper charged.
Mr.. Drake pointed out that |
no Negro institution has a ma
jor top-flight African studies
program: that there are less
than a dozen competent Negro
scholars on Africa and not half
of them are internationally
outstanding students of Afri-
can affairs, and that there is
only one American Negro or
ganization devoted to cultural
contact with Africa and the
education of the American
public to appreciate African
culture. Very few Negroes, he
said, belong to or support fl
.nancially the one interracial
organization devoted to back
ing up Africa in its struggle
for liberation"
"MOral Offensive"
In an unscheduled evening
talk, DR.. King said the struggle
to win the minds of men and
nations to the free world will
not be won with military might, |
but with "a moral offensive for
freedom and Justice"
America must come to see
that this is the most powerful
weapon she can use to defeat
the Communist attempt to win
the minds of the colored ma
tions Of the world" DIR. King
said. UNLESS our foreign policy
toward colonially dominated
nations in Africa is draStically
changed. we will not be able to
use our moral influence along
with other political and eco
nomic strategems towards the
inevitability Of the blood bath
in the sub-Sahara African
nations.
"A strong functional attitude
on the part of the present
administration against racism
at home will consequently evolve
the strong functional attitude
against racism in our foreign