Peace Mission Extension, Washington, D. C.
'I was working as a rewrite man in the United Press Washington Bureau in 1952 when I got wind that something was going on about the military's racially segregated forces. I thought there might be a story brewing, so I talked to the civilian assistant for racial affairs to the Secretary of Defense. He gave me a 'wink and a nod,' but evidently bound to secrecy, would tell me nothing.
'I finally got a major in the Army's personnel department to recommend that I visit Fort Jackson, South Carolina. He refused to tell me why--just said I should go there. I took a week off from my job and drove to Columbia, South Carolina, site of Fort Jackson.
'When I got there I found that this big Army training base had been racially integrated--for two years! This was known to the local population and to anybody who visited the base, but nobody in Washington would tell me so.
'The commander at Fort Jackson, advised by his superiors in Washington to cooperate with my inquiry, told me how it had come about. Shortly before America's entry into the Korean War, Fort Jackson had been beefed up as a major infantry training base and had received a substantial influx of B---- soldiers. Under then-current rules of segregation, it would have required two complete training organizations to handle the B---- and W---- soldiers.
'The commander, Brig. Gen. Frank McConnell, told me he had requested permission to put the B---- and W---- soldiers together. His request was bucked up to a certain level from where the word came back saying, in effect, 'Don't ask.'
'McConnell took this to mean, go ahead but don't say anything.
'Realizing the possibility of a public outcry if his intentions became known in advance, McConnell met with editors of Columbia's two daily newspapers and asked them, as a patriotic service, not to publicize the action unless forced to. Their newspapers maintained silence. Fort Jackson was integrated quietly, smoothly, with a minimum of trouble. I saw B---- and W---- soldiers eating, sleeping, and training side by side. There had been and were continuing problems with on-base social clubs and off-base activities--problems that reflected longstanding social mores. But the basic integration had taken place and was working.
'After having seen this miracle of integration performed at Fort Jackson, Nichols had a hunch that the same miracle was going on elsewhere. He stated further:
'I drove to the Army base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the Navy base in Norfolk, VA., and the Marine Corps training school at Quantico, Va. Racial integration had been ordered and put into effect--not only in these bases but throughout the military services, the Air Force having been in the forefront.
'But nary a word in the media about these proofs that GOD 'hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.' (Acts 17:26) Nichols then asked:
'Why the secrecy? Military authorities explained their fear that, if the integration program became front page news, many Southern Congressmen would feel compelled to object and try to stop it. Military officials informed key members of House and Senate committees, chiefly Southerners, of what was taking place. They said it was in the interest of 'military efficiency' and urged the lawmakers to maintain silence. They did.
'By the time I got into the picture and began accumulating what to me were astounding facts, the process was sufficiently well along that the military leadership evidently concluded that there was no longer any great danger in having the story broken.'
Nichols then wrote an article which appeared in the Freeman Magazine in 1953, which was later reprinted in the Reader's Digest and the Congressional Record. He wrote a book also, 'Breakthrough on the Color Front'. His story continues:
'Military officials supported their program of racial integration with the argument that it was solely in the interest of military effectiveness. But my research showed there were, carefully hidden from the official process, high officials--military and civilian--who had religious and philosophical beliefs in the equality of all people.'
FATHER DIVINE has often said that HE has entered in where the door was shut. Here was an example of HIM putting His Mind and Spirit in the high military and civilian officials, causing them to be convicted of the equality of men.
Nichols concludes:
'President Truman's executive order of 1948, calling for 'equality of treatment and opportunity' in the armed forces, played a major role in pushing to completion the already-begun integration effort. It was well known that Truman took the Bible and the Constitution literally in his belief in the equality of races.
'In the summer of 1953, when I was working on my book, I asked him in a personal interview what he thought of the successful military integration.
'Truman replied, 'It's the greatest thing that ever happened to America..''
On October 19, 1952, President Truman spoke in Harlem to 50,000 people at Dorrence Brook Square on St. Nicholas Avenue. Said he: 'Now many people have wondered how I came to have such a deep interest in civil rights. I want to tell you about that. Right after World War II, religious and racial intolerance began to show up just as it did in 1919. There were a good many incidents of violence and friction, but two of them in particular made a very deep impression on me. One was when an Afro-American veteran, still wearing his country's uniform was arrested, and beaten and blinded. And, not long after that, two Afro-American veterans with their wives lost their lives at the hands of a mob.
'It is the duty of the state and local government to prevent such tragedies. But, as President of the United States I felt I ought to do everything in my power to find what caused such crimes and to root out the causes. It was for that reason that I created the President's Committee on Civil Rights. I asked its members to study the situation and recommend to the whole country what we should do.
'Their report is one of our great American documents. When it was handed to me, I said that it was a new charter of human freedom. Congress refused to act on this report so Truman went into action within his executive powers as President.
'First, I acted to stop racial discrimination in the armed services. The Navy and the Air Force have now eliminated all racial distinctions. And for over two years, every soldier coming into an Army training unit in this country has been assigned on the basis of his individual merit--regardless of race or color. All troops in Korea are now integrated, and integration is going forward elsewhere overseas.
'I also had a Fair Employment Board set up in the Civil Service Commission. Today, every Federal agency has a fair employment practice program that is working. Any Federal employee, or applicant for Federal employment who feels he has been discriminated against because of race, can now ask for and receive justice.
'At my request, the Solicitor General of the United States went before the Supreme Court to argue that Afro-American citizens have the right to enter state colleges and universities on exactly the same basis as any other citizens. And we won that fight.
'At my request, the Solicitor General again went before the Supreme Court and argued against the vicious restrictive covenants that had prevented houses in many places from being sold to Afro-Americans and to Jews. It was a great day in the history of civil rights when we won that case also before the Supreme Court.'
These excerpts from Truman's speech were taken from an article in THE NEW DAY of November 8,1952, Pp. 5-6, as reprinted from the PANAMA TRIBUNE.
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Just a week after President Truman gave this speech, a Review of FATHER DIVINE'S Marriage to His Spotless Church was held at the Unity Mission Church in New York City on October 26, 1952, FATHER DIVINE, in His Sermon for the Celebration, spoke about President Truman being caught up in the spirit of desiring to fight against prejudice, segregation and brutality, as follows:
FATHER DIVINE
'For this cause I have drawn all nations, languages, tongues and people together, and for the benefit of all mankind I came! Aren't you glad!
('So glad, ALMIGHTY GOD!' exclaimed the multitude.)
' I thought of the last speaker saying, 'Go down and tell old Pharaoh to let MY people go!' In the modernistic day and of a most recent event, I did say, Go down in Germany and tell old Hitler to let your people go'! For this was an issue as an expression of aggression and savagery and brutality; little did they think or know at that time that it was possible to put old Hitler down! But oh, how glorious it is to realize, GOD in the midst of you is actually putting aggression, and savagery and brutality down as never before!
'To bring about the Universal Brotherhood Of Man, I came to America that I might be called an American, as though being on American soil, the land of the brave and the home of the free, to set the people free from all inequality and division! For this cause it was essential for ME to present MY BODY even as did JESUS in the Sonship Degree, as a LIVING SACRIFICE, for the Redemption of mankind! But little did you think--I mean the general public think--that I would bring about the desired aim and purpose, especially those of the under-privileged, and as the last speaker mentioned, the minority groups. But I said, I shall break that line of demarcation and bring an end to localization and establish your going in the land of the living, where a man is a man, and not a color, or creed or a race! Aren't you glad!
('Yes, GOD ALMIGHTY!' came the eager response.)
' It looks something like it today, does it not?
('Yes, LORD'! sanctioned the masses.)
'I Am bringing all nations, languages, tongues and people together! I have broken that line of demarcation as afore said, and I AM bringing an end to that Mason and Dixon Line! After a while we shall have it all over this wide, extended plane just as I have it at MY right and at MY left Hand! This shall be accomplished, for the Mouth Of GOD has declared,'Let there be no division among you'! I will not permit there to be any division among you, for Americanism, Christianity, Judaism, Democracy and Brotherhood are synonymous and I shall establish it to that end; but it may seem to be as if though there are many opposing forces, as I said through our Chief Executive the other day according to this article published in the PANAMA TRIBUNE, He had a great urge at a certain time to try to bring an end to intolerance, to savagery and brutality,' after the experience of a man in the Armed Forces at that time, still in his country's uniform, because of his color or complexion whichever, he was beaten savagely and they plucked out his eyes, or words or acts to that effect.
'That impressed President Truman so greatly to the extent, when I sent that Message, he was moved volitionally even as one who is a follower and a member religiously! Aren't you glad!
('So glad, GOD ALMIGHTY'! came the tumultuous shout.)
'He said he would bring an end to it, and he could not institute laws to bring an end to it through the Congress of the United States since they were in great power, in a way, but with MY SPIRIT and MY PRESENCE, he was impelled from the within to be persistent in his ambition to endeavor to bring it about! Therefore, he introduced, in other words, organized a Civil Rights Committee and sent them out to gather all information necessary to bring it about!
'As one of the speakers said a little while ago, those things did not happen until I CAME! But being persistent in his ambition and determined in his resolve, he has made for himself a great name, yea, the NAME of GOD! Aren't you glad!
('So glad LORD'! shouted the masses.)
For I made him a MINISTER Of GOD to thee for good, according to Romans 13:4! . . .
'It is immaterial to ME whether President Truman ever mentions MY Personal NAME or not! It is immaterial to ME whether any of them mention ME as a Person or from a Personal point of view or not! I AM going to carry out MY PLAN and PURPOSE to the letter! There will be no more divisibility among this nation, for they must come to that place in consciousness and live and express it even according to our Pledge of our Allegiance to our Flag! One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all! Aren't you glad!
('So glad, FATHER, GOD'! came the happy response.)
'As I thought as we came down the highway, the turnpike, and when we got to the station where they pay off, the toll gate, one man said--one of them said, 'Is this a parade or what?' We were just going to Church last night, but I thought as I said, 'Had it not been for ME, and MY WORK in President Truman instituting Civil Rights in the Army and the Navy and in all government forces, he would not have had his position he has! Just think of the drudgery and the hardships thousands have undergone until now, all because of previous condition of servitude and because of racial abstraction and national origins! But I have come to bring an end to all such savagery and inhumanity and brutality such as that!'
These excerpts were taken from THE NEW DAY of November 8, 1952, Pp. 3-4.
Four months earlier, on June 19, 1952, at the Circle Mission Church in Philadelphia, FATHER DIVINE spoke also about our Chief Executive, President Truman, bringing about integration in the armed Forces.
FATHER said: 'It may sound somewhat fanatical and as an expression of an ignoramus, but oh, how glorious it is to see, these compositions as inspirations and predictions made years ago are being fulfilled in your very midst! Little did you think that a few years ago--you did not think these things would be fulfilled in our midst and especially in the deepest parts of the South! Uncle Sam has copied after the fashion of FATHER DIVINE, through our present Chief Executive, where it was not possible ordinarily to institute Civil Rights in all of the states of the Union and make it a law, yea, a Federal law; but GOD, in our Chief Executive has truly instituted Civil Rights and integrated in the Army and the Navy and in the Air Corps; all that were under his personal jurisdiction, he has instituted Civil Rights and integrated different individuals of different complexions and of racial or national origins! Aren't you glad!
('So glad, ALMIGHTY GOD'! shouted the happy assembly.)
'This is the copy--the sample and the example I have long since portrayed! And I have long since declared, we shall have it all over this wide, extended plane just as I have it at my right and at my left hand, where there shall be no divisibility on account of a race, a creed or a color! There shall be no more division among us, for we all shall live in peaceful and quiet resting places from shore to shore and from land to land! Even if the Dixiecrats don't want it, I Am putting it through anyhow! This excerpt is from THE NEW DAY of October 15, 1960, P. 3.
FATHER DIVINE is threshing the mountain. HE is turning and overturning--as has been seen especially during the past year--and HE will continue HIS regenerating until everyone knows that it is FATHER DIVINE--also known as GOD ALMIGHTY--Who is doing the regenerating. HE is adamant in HIS indictment of those who do not believe that a man is a man, and who plot to divide themselves from those who look a little different. FATHER exclaims: 'The brutes of humanity have striven to destroy all humanity that is not of their respective racial abstraction or national origin or complexion, all because of the lack of human Divine intelligence! They should know that they cannot expect to succeed and continue to have access and progress in the land unless they Unite together with all mankind!'
This ends the excerpt but read the entire sermon delivered by FATHER DIVINE at that time. THANK YOU, FATHER AND MOTHER DIVINE!
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