Mar. 11, 1962 - Mrs. Coretta Scott King urged today that Negroes “at the bottom of the economic scale” be given “better than equal opportunities.” Mrs. King, the wife of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said Negroes had “a lot of running and catching up to do.” Mrs. King addressed an overflow crowd at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. She had been invited on the occasion of today’s “Women’s Day Program,” a yearly event in which funds are raised for the benefit of the church. Mrs. King also urged the Government to subsidize training programs for Negroes. “We have done as much as any other group,” she added, “and we cannot afford to wait much longer.” “America was founded on strong moral principle and prides herself on being both Christian and democratic. The paradox in the treatment of Negroes is that it is neither Christian nor democratic.”
