We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a freeborn American, political, civil and social; and until we get these rights we will never cease to protest and assail the ears of America! The battle we wage is not for ourselves alone but for all true Americans. It is a fight for ideals, lest this, our common fatherland, false to its founding, become in truth, the land of the thief and the home of the slave, a byword and a hissing among the nations for its sounding pretensions and pitiful accomplishments. Never before in the modern age has a great and civilized folk threatened to adopt so cowardly a creed in the treatment of its fellow citizens born and bred on its soil. Stripped of verbiage and subterfuge and in its naked nastiness, the new American creed says: "Fear to let black men even try to rise lest they become the equals of the white." And this is the land that professes to follow Jesus Christ! The blasphemy of such a course is only matched by its cowardice.
Unequivocal Demands In detail, our demands are clear and unequivocal. First, we would vote; with the right to vote goes everything: freedom, i
The fight for civil rights, equality, and justice is a fundamental human right. We demand full manhood suffrage, an end to discrimination, and equal treatment under the law. Second, we believe that separation based on race and color is un-American and undemocratic. Third, we assert our right as freemen to associate with others who wish to be with us. No individual has the right to dictate whom another person can or cannot befriend.
Fourth. We want the laws enforced against rich as well as poor; against capitalist as well as laborer; against white as well as black. We are not more lawless than the white race: We are more often arrested, convicted and mobbed, take charge of Congressional elections, teenth Amendment carried out to the lett franchised in Congress which attempt rightful voters. We want the Fifteenth 1 and no state allowed to base its franchise The failure of the Republican Party session just closed to redeem its pledge . ditions in the South seems a plain, delib tated breach of promise, and stamps tha obtaining votes under false pretense. Fifth. We want our children educated. in the country districts of the South is a d towns and cities are the Negro schools v be. We want the national government to st illiteracy in the South. Either the United ! ignorance, or ignorance will destroy the U