Powell, King Speak on Negro Problems

"Either let us practice the democracy we are preaching or shut up and admit that we are the Western Hemisphere counterparts of the Union of South Africa," Rep. Adam Clayton Powell (D.N.Y.) challenged a predominantly white audience in Lowell Lecture Hall last night.

The controversial Congressman from Harlem ranged from the American Revolution to the current filibuster as he hammered home his message that "the United States is finished as a great power unless it rapidly solves the civil rights problem to satisfy the minimum demands of the Black Revolution."

Powell was pessimistic, declaring the "United States is spiraling downward at such a momentum that I doubt whether it can be saved." He blamed the situation on the large number of whites who, he said, would rather see the country destroyed before the Negroes achieved equality.

Because of its national and international significance, Powell emphasized that the civil rights struggle is one for all Americans. Nevertheless, he said, it must be led by Negroes. "It is as ridiculous to have a Negro on the Board of Directors of the Polish-American Society or the B'nal B'rith," he stated, "as it is to have the national Negro organizations led by whites."

Although the Negroes seek the assistance of whites, Powell continued, they have "come to the conclusion that the white man has 'given' all he is going to 'give,' and that what he needs now he must fight for." Because of this, he predicted that the number of demonstrations would continue to increase.

Powell explained that demonstrations in the North and the South have fundamentally different aims. In the South, he said, the Black Revolution is an upperclass movement for admission to public accommodations, and, secondarily, the right to vote. In the North, however, it is the mass of Negroes who are seeking employment, job retraining, aid to school dropouts and pushouts, and increased political patronage.

The aims of Northern Negroes, he continued, are not met by the civil rights bill now bogged down in the Senate. Rather, they will be helped by the various unemployment measures and education bills, and especially President Johnson's War on Poverty.

As for the civil rights bill, he said that passage will require so much watering down that it will "fall short of the minimum needs to guarantee our country's future.