My Theory Is, Strong People Don't Need

Martin [luther King] Wasn't, Basically, The Kind Of Person - Certainly At The Stage That I Knew Him Closest - Wasn't The Kind Of Person You Could Engage In Dialogue With, Certainly, If The Dialogue Questioned The Almost Exclusive Rightness Of His Position.

The Major Job Was Getting People To Understand That They Had Something Within Their Power That They Could Use, And It Could Only Be Used If They Understood What Was Happening And How Group Action Could Counter Violence.

I Believe, The Naacp Began To Try To Organize Parents Of Negro Children To File Petitions With The Boards Of Education Regarding The Integration Of The School System. You Had Some Very Severe Economic Reprisals Against People In Mississippi And In South Carolina. So, In Order To Try To Help To Meet Some Of The Physical Needs And The Economic Needs Of People In Clarendon County [sc] Who Had Been Displaced From The Land, And Otherwise, And In Certain Sections Of Mississippi, We Organized In New York City Something Called "in Friendship".

In '32 We Organized The Young Negroes' Cooperative League And Had Some Degree Of Success In Terms Of Establishing Stores And Certainly Buying Clubs In Various Sections Of The Country. I Was Designated As - I Don't Know What Exactly - I Believe It Was Director. I'm Not Sure What It Was, But It Had To Do With Getting Out The Necessary Mail And All Of That - Organization.

I Think The Reasons For Not Selecting Persons Like The Reverend Borders And John Wesley Dobbs Were, In My Book Rather Obvious Reasons: Because They Were People Who Were Basically Oriented In The Direction Of The Established Method Of Not Confronting The Power Structure, But Trying To Elicit Concessions By Various And Sundry Means Of, Well, Let's Call It Accommodating Leadership.