Jackson advocate., 1962-11-10
Mississippi And The Challenge
OF History
We cannot escape history.
The frey trial through
which we pass will light us
down in honor or dishonor
"a Alao l<,4o 1.o,,n..o4s i -

The kind of world that has been on trial for
the past four hundred years. or more, the world of
white supremacy may we'll be said to have had it's
beginning in 1887 when Edmund Burke, the great
statesman and lawyer, made his famous argument
in the British Parliament for the conviction of
Warren Hastings, head of the East India Company,
organized to explore and exploit the rest of the
world, after the British conquest of the Span
ish Armada.
The idea of white supremacy, subsequently
adopted to rationaize British Imperial Policy came
into being when the English people became so
aroused by the charges of cruelty, devastation su
pression oppression, and other crimes against hu-
manity against the East India Company made dur
ing the Burke speech that it became necessary for
the prime Minister to appear before Parliament
calming the English people by telling them that the
overseas people, about which they were showing
much concern, were not white but black, brown,
and yellow.
The world idea of white supremacy, whose last
great evil was that of permitting Negro slavery to
develop and flourish in the United States, against
its foundation upon the highest ideals of human
dignity and freedom, already beginning to lose
its force good while before the beginning of the
First World War, and before that war had come
to an end its doom was foretod in speech in Eng
land following tour of Empire possessions and the
rest of the world, by the then Prince of Wales,
the duke of Windsor
BY the middle of the second world war; in the
mid 1940's the doom was further revealed in an
announcement by the British Colonial Office, that
alike with whites, would no longer be Subjects but
citizens of the British Commonwealth.
The world idea of white supremacy was upheld
during it's long tenure by combination of dominant
British and remaining world power, but contempor-
ary world developments, should reveal even to the
most casual observer that there never will again be
such combination of power strong enough to
maintain such an idea in the world
new world is already alive and moving and
is thus presenting the greatest challenge to the
United States in it's history, equal part of whose
obligation and responsibility is shared by the people
of the State of Mississippi
Considering the above as the premsis when we
observe what is taking place almost daily in the
state and by the state to further the disabilities
and handicaps of it's Negro citizens we would pass
on to those responsible some famous words that
seem to fit so aptly the needs of our state.
Great economic and social forces flow with
tidal sweep over communities that are only half
conscious of that which is Detailing them Wise
statesmen are those who foresee what time is thus
bringing and endeavor to shape institutions and to
mold mems thoughts and purpose in accordance
with the change that is silently surrounding them
In the words of Abraham Lincoln, we cannot
escape history. How we of this generation in Mis-
sissippi meet the responsibilities of our times will
be felt by many coming generations. The challenge
of our times rests first upon the white leaders who
command the resources of power and influence and
correspondingly upon the intelligent and influential
Negro leaders of the state.