This is a challenge to national leadership in all sectors, govern-

ment, labor, business, and agencies such as ours. It means that the

Urban League must be flexible and pragmatic, and that we must

adjust our programs to the very real needs of the people. Our

broad range of programs is indispensable to the millions of black

people who look to us for help, but we must also be prepared to

meet new needs as they develop.

As we examine the structure and the programs of the Urban

League, and as we look at the activities this week and the results

of our conference, we realize that the Urban League is a flexible,

changing institution. We are aware of the need for change—not

for the simple sake of change itself, but to meet the new demands

placed upon us by our constituency. Indeed, as the poet tells us:

New occasions teach new duties,

Time makes ancient good uncouth.

Therefore, in my term of office, in addition to the present and

planned Urban League programs, I hope to initiate new pro-

grams in several areas of major concern to the black community.

Voter registration in the North is one such area. Black Power

will remain just a shout and a cry unless it is channeled into con-

structive efforts to bring about black political power and to influ-

ence the established institutions of American politics. Political

power is more than electing a black mayor long after a city’s tax

base has eroded and the city’s stability has fled across its borders

to the suburbs. Black political power is more than a vague desire

to preside over the cold corpses of once great cities.

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VERNON E. JORDAN, JR.

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