Meet the late Dr. John Oliver Killens - that man below on the left & right; novelist, social critic, screenwriter, playwright and essayist - was the founding chairperson of the legendary Harlem Writers Guild, a workshop that strongly influenced such writers as Maya Angelou, Sarah E. Wright, and Nikki Giovanni, among others. Dr. Killens is probably best known for his first two novels, Youngblood (1954) and And Then We Heard The Thunder (1962), the latter of which was nominated for a Pulitzer Pr
ize. His work I am particularly fond of? "Long Distance Runner":
ize. His work I am particularly fond of? "Long Distance Runner":.
"It is an interesting phenomenon that we black folks, as a people, have produced some of the most magnificent athletes the world has ever known, but have produced very few long distance runners. We've raised a whole lot of hell in the hundred yard dashes. You watch the Olympics and you see nothing but black brothers up there at the finish tape in the sprints. We have the fastest get-away known to man or womankind. At the same time, we have produced very few long distance runners. Long distance running requires planning, pacing, discipline, stamina, and a belief in the ability to win everything over the long haul. Lasting power is the na
me of the game... We mush evolve a generation of long distance runners - men and women - prepared to pay some dues for their children's children. Our people have paid some terrible dues for us to have come to this place and this moment in time and space."
me of the game... We mush evolve a generation of long distance runners - men and women - prepared to pay some dues for their children's children. Our people have paid some terrible dues for us to have come to this place and this moment in time and space.".
This again is another reason as to why I am profoundly disappointed in Tony Reed & The National Black Marathoners' Association. Having no actual runners to dignify our heritage is unfortunate, but no scholars as well?....an inexcusable shame. They've never heard of Dr. Killens - and from all I've seen take pride in being "insular" and ignorant about Black American distance running (from every angle - including in literature). Is there any valid reason that the work of this Black scholar is not acknowledged, available, and shared with the Black Marathoners' by Tony Reed? Should it not be their very theme and cornerstone foundation - proudly published on the front page of their website? It's appropriate, fitting, educational and inspirational; all the right reasons they should herald and share this work - but they won't. Former Black College President & Scholar Delores Cross and her book (the only Black authored book on marathoning and life) is not acknolwedged on the Black Marathoner's website,....hence... Dr. John Oliver Killens' work has no chance to be exposed to the members of the Black Marathoners. This is how Tony Reed works, he successfully preserves the communal ignorance of the Black Marathoners by keeping them less enriched and exposed to black scholars on matters marathon....when he so easily can. Congratulations Tony Reed.
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''My fight is not to be a white man in a black skin, but to inject some black blood, some black intelligence into the pallid mainstream of American life, culturally, socially, psychologically, philosophically.'' - Dr. John Killens
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Thank you John Killens. Tony Reed & The National Black Marathoners' Association is a collective fraud and I'm here to inject some Black blood and intelligence, planning, pacing, discipline, stamina, and a belief in the ability to win everything over the long haul - in this Black American distance running game where "Lasting power is the name of the game....". I will bring dignity and voice to the heritage and legacy that Tony Reed & The National Black Marathoners embarass and shame. Have a terrific day!
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The Negro now stands at the cross roads of human destiny. He is at the place where he must either step forward or backward. If he goes backward he dies; if he goes forward it will be with the hope of a greater life.
The illiterate and shallow-minded Negro who can see no further than his nose is now the greatest stumbling block in the way of the race.
Those of us who are better positioned intellectually must exercise forbearance with the illiterate and help them to see the right. We must be sympathetic, we must be forgiving, we must really have forbearance, so that when the ignorant and illiterate fellow who happens to be a member of your own race stands up, to block the passage of some cause that you believe would be to his benefit and to yours as a people you will be able to overlook him, even though he fosters his opposition with the greatest amount of insult to your intelligence and to your dignity.
We must work together. If the illiterate man tries to embarras you, do not become disgusted, but remember that he does it because he does not know better, and it is your duty to forbear and forgive because the ends that we serve are not of self, but for the higher development of the entire race.
Nevertheless, I say there is a limit to human patience, and we should not continue to provoke the other fellow against his human feelings for in doing so we may be but bringlag down upon our own heads the pillars of the temple.
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