European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 27, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse Ralphal Grathy America will be sorry it got rid of ilium up from a and up Blunt angry. Tending toward the militant. These Are words being used to describe the Man who has taken Over the american negro cause from the late or. Martin Luther King or. The new Mentor to the nation s unhappy negroes is the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy a Long time King aide. Hews named president of the Southern i Christian leadership conference Sulc immediately after King s death. In Many ways Abernathy is a contrast to the Man he followed. He is less polished and articulate and lacks King personal magnetism. His emotions show More. He is a Short Stocky Man witha neatly trimmed moustache and heavy eyelids which make him appear sad. But he is like King in his Devotion to civil rights. The bus Boycott in Mont Gomery ala., in 1955-56 was jointly engineered by Abernathy and King. The Boycott was virtually the Start of rights movement. Since then he was constantly at King Side but out of the limelight. He is regarded As a Force which helped sparking and the Sulc on. Now lie has the wheel. It May mean that things will change. Quote from Abernathy after press comment that he was inadequate to step into King s shoes any White person who thinks me in capable of leading will soon find quote from Abernathy on the King assassination America will be sorry it got rid of from him to a group of negro followers remember you have Aleader that s a rough boy Ralph Aber 1 he Hough boy has a Tough warn ing to americans unless the govern ment does something about our Pov erty our cities Are going to be but neither Abernathy nor his follow ers intend to do the burning. Like King he is a deeply religious Man and abhors violence. He Hopes to Ward off the violence by his own kind of Militancy using any lactic Short of Force to attain a confrontation with the government. He refuses to talk about exactly what tactics he has in mind saying Tirol s getting too deep into our followers and sympathizers Are massing in Washington As part of then or people s March. By May so Aber Nanny anticipates an influx of perhaps million sympathizers in the City. But what happens after memorial Abr Natii does not Kay and May not know to let will happen if con serbs does not enact the programs lie a but if Congress does not mov Abernathy will have to decide Arry on with conventional Demontra Nous or illegal , us trying to monday May 27, 1968 Block traffic in the capital president Johnson has made it Clear he would not stand for the Latier. He has put Federal troops on standby. No matter what happens Abernath will carry on his crusade. He makes this Clear by saying Congress has Neverdone anything for negroes or poor peo ple except in response to cannot afford to relent for Amer Ica s Sake As Well As our own. If this nonviolent Campaign fails it will bring out the More militant groups who Are just waiting for us to fail. They re the ones who want to Burn the in his cluttered Atlanta ga., office earlier he talked in a Low voice during an interview re living the numbing min utes of april 4 outside room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tenn around like a firecracker the anguished of he and then King s crumpled figure. He looked up at me and at tempted to say something. His lips the words did not come. Abernathy believes King did speak silently with his eyes seeking out his companion of More than a All i could see he was saying was Ralph i told you so. Don let me Down " so to Abernathy at 42, came the time the place the duty. He was bequeathed the most ambitious and difficult undertaking of the nonviolent civil rights movement at a time of testing of the nonviolence philosophy which he and King helped launch 13 years earlier in the Boycott of segregated buses at Montgomery bequest was the poor people s Campaign which King had planned an which Abernathy now vowed to carry is this Campaign enlisting negroes Whites indians mexican americans another ethnic groups that seeks action by Congress to provide jobs or Guaran teed annual income for the poor Job less or underpaid. A March out of Mem Phis May 2 launched the Campaign which climaxes May 30 with an All out Effort for the invasion of Washington. I will not eat bread until i am thoroughly satisfied and convinced that i am ready for the task at hand Sai Abernathy staunch Baptist stolidly non violent and pragmatic disciple of even As he fasted those nine Days Abernathy took up the Sulc leadership helped make funeral arrangements for King conducted the Day Long services marched at the head of the mule drawn farm Wagon bearing the casket and we Are going to be free in this generation or report to god in person. The stars and stripes then said the last Farewell before col lapsing at the cemetery. He was Back on the Job the next seems to be gaining strength marvelled an associate. Abernathy took no solid food from the Day of the assassination until easter morning and lost12 to 15 pounds his weight dipping be Low 180. Slow and deliberate in speech Ala Bama born Ralph Abernathy tends to Ward a practical direct approach. He talks More militantly than did King responds less diplomatically to an use of the vernacular of the masses is effective. If you mess he would say to Whites in Albany ga., we re not going to it often was his Job to warm up King s audiences a Good indication of his ability to identify closely with the masses. That was a conscious role. In employed the wit and humor the turn of phrases that turned on the crowds i be Learned he said in Bir Mingham in 1963, that the state of Alabama is the Cradle of the confederacy. The new negro that has come on the scene is rocking the Cradle and we re going to Rock it As it has never been rocked at his Church West Hunter Street Baptist he is an All around stomp Down Good pastor in the words of his82-year-old Board of deacons chairman j. R. Butts. the new Leader of the negro non violent movement one of his first act was the calling of a staff Retreat. If there is anyone Here who is not committed to the principles of nonviolent technique said Abernathy. I want youth Tell me none responded All pledged King s last staff meeting the Day he was killed a decision was made task for the resignations of three Sulc workers who had been talking in terms of violence As a tactic said the Rev. Andrew j. Young executive vice presi Dent of Sulc. They were asked to re sign Young said and they described them As lower Echelon workers in the subsistence category of pay but declined to identify them. Young 36, probably expresses King philosophy and approach More than any other staff member. He is very close Tours. King and in recent years was King s right hand was asked about reports of Dis Putes or splits within the staff follow ing King s death. We re More close knit now than before he know we depended on or. King to keep us together and to sort of referee our disagreements. Now Well have to do that , born in new Orleans and trained As a United Church of Chris minister has been with Sulc since 1961. There s a new urgency now said the Rev. Wyatt tee Walker of new York a slender Goatee minister who continued on Pur 12 Page u
