Newark rebellion | IMG Archive

The scan: The Week v8 no4.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive, opens at this page)

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(Cont'd) I remarked to someone that I was surprised that it would happen to a colored-owned place, He said: "I ain't". Someone else said: "Those niggers down in City Hall think they're better than us. They've been taking us for years", Practically everyone could see this thing coming. But when it came no one could believe it, that it was really happening. And people reacted in ways you couldn't expect. One fellow I know called me up. He was a charter member of CORE but dropped out because it was too "conservative", He was always talking about Black Power, Black Action, direct action with gun in hand, When he called up he told me the people are "only hurting themselves", On the other hand people who you would think of as completely brainwashed - who you would expect to consider direct action and riots as "self-defeating" have been showing reactions that would do credit to Marxists, Sunday morning I walked down to the corner of Alpine Street and Elizabeth Avenue where a group of people were talking about the latest happenings. A couple of guardsmen were posted there. A late model Cadillac came down the street with some Uncle Tom preacher blasting through a loudspeaker against opponents of peace and Christianity. A fellow said, "He's right. Rioting don't get you no place", A couple of people nodded wisely in agreement, The speaker was putting it on for the benefit of the guardsmen, But one little guy couldn't take it, even that way. He glanced at the soldier boys and said: "It's not a matter of whether you're for or against rioting. Hell, who wants to get shot by a bunch of peckerwoods!". He glanced at the guardsmen again and went on: "God damn it, what else can we do! We've prayed, preached and protested long enough, It ain't done no good, And finks like that Tom in the Caddy help them, If there's any snipers around, I hope they get him too!", Black people have been delivered into the hands of landlords and leeches, There is cruelty, degradation and death, The responsibility for Newark and all the other Newarks rests squarely on White America.