By Tamara Shiloh

It was the spring of 1964. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were preparing to launch a campaign to end racial discrimination in St. Augustine, Fla. King hoped that the “demonstrations there would lead to local desegregation and that media attention would garner national support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was then stalled in a congressional filibuster,” according to Stanford University’s King Encyclopedia.

A sit-in protest at a local Woolworth’s lunch counter that ended in the arrest and imprisonment of 16 Black protestors and seven juveniles sparked the pickets. Four of the arrested, JoeAnn Anderson, Audrey Nell Edwards, Willie Carl Singleton, and Samuel White were sent to reform school for six months. No effort was made to release them until their case was publicized by Jackie Robinson, the NAACP, and the Pittsburgh Courier. They were later dubbed “the St. Augustine Four.”

It was Robert B. Hayling, advisor to the Youth Council of the city’s branch of the NAACP, who led these demonstrations. Protesters were met with violence as the Ku Klux Klan responded to their presence. Hayling and three other NAACP members were severely beaten at a 1963 Klan rally. They were arrested and convicted of assaulting their attackers.

The NAACP asked for Hayling’s resignation, but not before reaching out to the SCLC for support.

Hundreds of students from northern colleges recruited by the SCLC participated in demonstrations and sit-ins during Easter week of 1964. Most were jailed. “Some were made to stand in a cramped outdoor overflow pen in the late spring heat, while others were put into a concrete sweatbox overnight.”

When King visited St. Augustine that May, the house the SCLC rented for him was “sprayed by gunfire.” The day after the Senate voted to end the filibuster of the Civil Rights Act, King, Ralph Abernathy, and several others were arrested when they requested service at a segregated restaurant. Meanwhile, despite the violence, the SCLC continued to lead marches.

On June 18, a Grand Jury pressured King and the SCLC to leave St. Augustine for one month. The so-called goal was to “diffuse the situation, claiming that they had disrupted racial harmony in the city.”

King responded that the request was “an immoral one, as it asked the Negro community to give all, and the white community to give nothing . . . St. Augustine never had peaceful race relations.”

As the Senate debated the Civil Rights Act, SCLC lawyers began to win court victories in St. Augustine. The SCLC was encouraged to bring cases against the Klan. On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, into law.

Blacks in St. Augustine continued to face violence, intimidation, and threats, as healing took its time.

Help young readers understand the struggle for equality and a time when American laws were unfair to Blacks. Share with them Shadae Mallory’s “The History of the Civil Rights Movement: A History Book for New Readers.” Purchase at https://www.multiculturalbookstore.com

Sources: https://www.britannica.com/event/American-civil-rights-movement

https://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/Historical-Essays/Keeping-the-Faith/Civil-Rights-Movement/

https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/civil-rights-movement

By Edward Henderson, California Black Media

The California – Hawaii State Conference National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (“NAACP”) NAACP and Conference President Rick Callender have taken legal action against California Secretary of State Shirley Weber asking that a statement included in the Argument Against Proposition 26 in the ballot pamphlet for the Nov. 8, 2022, statewide general election be removed.

Prop 26 would permit federally recognized Native American tribes to operate dice games, roulette and sports wagering on tribal lands. On-site wagering at privately operated horse-racing tracks in four specified counties for betters 21 years or older would become legal as well. The proposition also imposes a 10% tax on sports-wagering profits at horse-racing tracks and directs portion of revenues to enforcement and problem-gambling programs.

The lawsuit is challenging a statement from the “No on Prop 26” opposition using a quote from Minnie Hadley-Hempstead, former president of the NAACP’s Los Angeles branch. Hadley-Hempstead’s opposition statement read as follows:

“‘We oppose Prop 26 to protect young people from developing lifelong gambling addictions that often lead to ruined finances, relationships, even homelessness and crime.’ Minnie Hadley-Hempstead, retired teacher and President Emeritus of the Los Angeles NAACP Branch.”

The lawsuit claims the quote gives “the false and misleading impression” that the NAACP opposes Prop 26. The NAACP endorsed Prop 26 in February 2022. In addition, the Los Angeles branch of the NAACP has not endorsed the No on Prop 26 campaign. The NAACP bylaws prohibit local branches from taking positions contrary to the state branch. The lawsuit also raises concern about how the quote was obtained.

“The NAACP is proud to stand with Indian Tribes in strong support of Prop 26 to help further Indian self-reliance,” Callender said in a statement given to California Black Media (CBM). “We are outraged that the card room casinos and their No on 26 campaign would deceptively use the NAACP name in its arguments despite our strong support. We are suing to have these dishonest statements removed from the ballot arguments so it does not mislead voters.”

Callender’s lawsuit further points out that the position ‘President Emeritus’ does not exist within the NAACP and the only branch that can clear use of the trademarked term NAACP in support or opposition of any legislation is the state branch of the organization.

A declaration in support of the lawsuit from Hadley-Hemp. stead describes how she believes she was misled or misunderstood when she was asked to give the statement by Betty Williams, former President of the Sacramento Chapter of the NAACP.

Hadley-Hempstead declared that she was under the impression that Williams still worked for the state branch and believed that her statement against Prop 26 was in solidarity with Callender and the position of the state branch.

In her declaration, Hadley-Hempstead says “If I had known that Ms. Williams wasn’t working on behalf of NAACP, I would have said no right away…… As a long-time NAACP member, I would not agree to lend my name to a public document that took a contrary position to the official NAACP position and would not knowingly violate the NAACP’s bylaws.”

“The card room casino operators responsible for the deceptive No on 26 campaign have a well-documented and deplorable track record of flouting the law,” Callender told CBM. “They’ve been fined millions for violating anti money-laundering laws, misleading regulators, and even illegal gambling. We are suing to prevent their misleading statements from appearing in the voter information guide sent to tens of millions of voters.”

The Elections Code provides for a 20-day period to review the ballot materials and file any legal challenges. Because all legal challenges to ballot materials for the November 8, 2022, statewide general election must be completed by August 15, 2022, the lawsuit was filed on August 1.

NNPA Newswire

Since the first issue rolled off the press in 1971, the Westside Gazette newspaper has maintained the professional, insightful and reader sensitive reporting that has gained the trust and respect of South Florida’s African American community.

In its relenting effort to empower the community with information, the Westside Gazette newspaper has remained sensitive to the special needs of its readers.

Publisher Bobby Henry said the newspaper’s belief is that the most potent tool with which to face the challenges and opportunities of this new century is the dissemination of information.

As Broward County’s oldest and largest African American-owned and operated newspaper, Henry said it’s the newspaper’s responsibility to inform, education, and reinvest in the Black community.

In observing the 195th anniversary of the Black Press of America in 2022, Henry described the mission of his newspaper and the Black Press as a spiritual one.

He offered the following:

We are forever indebted because of God’s grace and mercies as He protected, provided for, nourished and put in place that which we needed to continue over these 51 years.

For those (Levi and Yvonne Henry) to whom God granted the vision to plant the seed (Westside Gazette) and those who work in the vineyard (everybody that ever worked, wrote, lend a hand, offered an encouraging word, even the naysayers) to the ones who offered fertilizers (advertisers) that kept us going and all of the benefactors, we thank you with all of the promises that God has given to us and ask for your unending support!

That which is worth having is worth fighting for.

As I look back over the 51 years of our involvement in the dissemination of information to our readers, I am overwhelmed and bursting with joy of how the community has supported us and how God has shown us favor.

It is not always a pleasurable chore to serve and to be a servant.  What appears to be a joyful moment of basking in bliss quickly fades away faster than a snowflake over an open campfire.

Be that as it may, we are honored to be in the business of ‘Pleading our on cause’ as ‘Soldiers without swords.’

We vow to continue to be a preeminent example of the Black Press of America no matter how ‘Stony the road we trod’ or having feet no less beautiful than those who preach or print the gospel.

Throughout our 51 years, one thing has been for certain:  The loyal commitment of our readers and advertisers to support this publication.

There was not a whole lot of advertising in Black newspapers, so they were able to stay in business because Black people supported them literally by buying the papers off the streets.

Now is the time when every Black organization, like churches, NAACP, Urban League, Fraternities, Sororities, Lodges, Orders, Clubs, Associations, must come together to support each other and their causes.

Relationships, which have been the cornerstone of the Black community and the Black Press for 195 years, have always been its messenger in cementing that bond.

Thank you all for everything that you have done. It has made us who we are. We embrace and affectionately cherish these 51 years of mutual respect, admiration and responsibility to our readers, supporters and the advertisers that understand and welcome the true spirit of reciprocity.

‘And the Lord said, who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?’    Luke 12:42 (KJV)

Yes, we have been blessed for 51 years and counting. Therefore, we must be a blessing to others, and we will as long as God sees fit to be in the blessing business.

From the family of the Westside Gazette, those who come by blood and those who may have come through the backdoor, those born and yet unborn may we always remember, understand, and appreciate Deuteronomy 8:3:

‘And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word[a] that comes from the mouth of the Lord.’– (Amplified Bible)

The post 195 Years of the Black Press: Westside Gazette Publisher Bobby Henry’s Spiritual Journey first appeared on BlackPressUSA.