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The question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice—or will we be extremists for the cause of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill, three men were crucified for the same crime—the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. So, after all, maybe the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here. For more than two centuries, our foreparents labored in this country without wages; they made cotton "king," and they built the homes of their masters in the midst of brutal injustice and shameful humiliation—and yet out of a bottomless vitality, they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands. The main source of Negro discontent is economic hardship. Fortunately, this is the one area where progress seems most likely—more and better jobs for Negroes are on the way. Already, 115 firms' have joined the Plans for Progress program backed by the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. Of 60,000 new employees they hired in the past three months, 25% were Negro. Under past practice the figure would have been only 3%. At least 50 large firms are actively recruiting Negroes. They include A.T. & T., National Tea, IBM, Western Electric, General Electric, Standard Oil Co. (N.J.), RCA. Seven New York companies recently contributed $6,000 each to conduct an eleven-week course in grooming and confidence-building techniques to help Negro secretarial school graduates land jobs. Connecticut's Pitney-Bowes, manufacturers of mailing machines, announced a policy of preferential hiring for Negroes. In the South, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. built a new plant in Winston-Salem, N.C., uses Negroes in supervisory positions over whites. Such firms as Pepsi-Cola, Schenley Industries and McCann-Erickson have Negro vice presidents.