St. Paul recorder., 1963-03-21
Negro Leaders Urged
To Help Raise
The GROUPS Level

ADMINISTRATOR ROBERT -. weaver
last Friday March y called upon
leaders in the Negro community to
accept the moral responsibility of
raising the level of aspiration and
a ON mpli h m n of Negroes
throughout the nation.
DR.. Weaver made his remarks
during Charter Day assembly OBJ
serving the 96th anniversary of the
founding of Howard University.
He was preceded by Howard Pres
ident James M. Nabrit, Jr., who
called for ever-increasing strides
toward greater academic excel
lence on the part of students.
Both men spoke to an audience
of some 1900 persons in Cramton
Auditorium, where five Howard
graduates were presented alumni
awards for distinguished post
graduate achievement. The awards
went to Massachusetts Attorney
General Edward w. Brooke, DR..
Lena F. Edwards Of Hereford,
Texas, DR.. L. Deckle Mclean of
Jersey City, NJ, Philip ]. Valen-
tine of Los Angeles, Calf, and
Walter E. Washington Of Wash
ington, DC.
In urging Negro leaders to aid in
raising the level Of aspiration and
accomplishment of Negroes in
America, DR.. Weaver declared:
"The Negro middle class seems
destined to grow and prosper. At
the same time, the economic posi-
ton of the unframed and poorly
trained Negro will continue to de-
cline. For the latter group, the
success of a few Negroes will be
no inspiration. Rather, it can and
probably will, become the basis
Of class resentment"
mo American" he continued,
Negro or white, can afford to be
Indifferent to poverty In our socie-
ty." He said much more remains to
be accomplished If the Negro is to
enter the mainstream of the Ma
tons economy.
He urged community leaders as
well as college students to help
alleviate the current situation. He
said the college man and woman Of
today has a moral responsibility to
be concerned with full employment
and realistic training programs for
the unskilled.
1.-The college student has per-
sonal and selfish, as well as a
moral responsibility for being con-
cerned about those who are not as
well prepared as himself" he said.
His security is intimately bound
up with theirs, both as an Ameri-
can and as a Negro. For him, no
less than for them, full employ
ment and realistic training pro-
grams for the unskilled are of par
amount Importance"
DR.. Weaver went on to paint
disturbing" picture about the rate
of unemployment among Negroes
today. Increasingly, he said, there
is found to be a shortage Of quail
flied Negroes to fill positions in in
dustry that were once CLOSED
jobs" to them.
There are many reasons for
this paucity of trained Negroes"
he said. For the most part, the
explanation lies in their depriva-
tions resulting from inadequate
and inferior schooling, exclusion
from apprenticeship and on-the-
job training, and denial Of occu-
pational mobility.
Another reason for this paucity,
DR.. Weaver stated, Is the Negroes
reaction to a pattern Of racial dis
elimination which has made him
skeptical Of assertions that new
patterns are emerging.
THE tragedy Of discrimination Is
that it provides an excuse for fail
ure while erecting barriers to sue
cess" he said.
Labor statistics last fall, he con-
tinued, indicated that approximate
ly nine per cent of the Negro pop
ulation in the us. was out Of
work, as compared to 81 per cent