I Have Always Felt It Was A

I Think Personally, I've Always Felt That The Association [naacp] Got Itself Hung-up In What I Call Its Legal Successes. Having Had So Many Outstanding Legal Successes, It Definitely Seemed To Have Oriented Its Thinking In The Direction That The Way To Achieve Was Through The Courts.

When I Went To The Association [ National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People] I Learned A Few Things By Observation. One Of The Things That Used To Strike Me Was [walter White] Need To Impress People, Even Just People Who Came Into The Office.

I Think That Walter's [white] Whole Career Is Indicative Of A Large Degree Of Egocentricity. Perhaps To Be Generous, You Would Have To Say That He Was A Product Of His Period, Which Was That Of Self-projection In The Name Of Organizational Interest.

I Began To Feel That My Greatest Sense Of Success Would Raise The Level Of Masses Of People, Rather Than The Individual Being Accepted By The Establishment. So, This Kind Of Personal Thinking, Combined With, Say, Even The Little Bit More Radical Thinking - Because At One Time The Pacifist Movement Was A Very Radical Concept.

From The Cooperative League, I Suppose, With The Depression Lingering As Long As It Did, The Next Step In Terms Of, As You Call It, Professional Relationship, Was To Go To The National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People [naacp]. I Went There As An Assistant Field Secretary, And So Forth. So, I Suppose That Was The First Organized Step.