Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1925-10-03
N. A. A. C.. P. SEES SEGREGATION
AS BIGGEST ISSUE FOR
NEGRO.
Secretary J. w. Johnson Warns Of
Increasing Menace.

Segregation constitutes one of the
gravest dangers confronting the Ne
gro in America today, and the menace
of it is spreading throughout the
North, according to a warning state
ment issued by James Weldon John
son, Secretary of the National Asso-
citation for the Advancement of Col
ored People, SO Fifth Avenue, who
calls upon all colored citizens to aid
the N. A. A. C. P. in the fight it is
making in behalf of the race.
"Colored people of America are not
awake to the danger which threatens
them," says Mr.. Johnson's statement.
$50 long as the mob is not at their
door ordering them to- move into an
other neighborhood, threatening them
with death, if they do not give up
their home and sell their house, they
seem to think the danger distant
one. But the menace of segregation,
whether by ordinance, by agreement
among white property owners, or by
the anarchy of direct mob action, is
one that increasingly looms over every
Negro home in America.
ALREADY the n. A. A. c. P. has
segregation cases on its hands orig
mating in all parts of the country.
The fight against segregation by prop
erty owners agreement in the Ma
tional Capital, will probably be heard
before the United States Supreme
Court this Fall and similar cases in
many States are awaiting its outcome.
In Louisiana the N. A. A. C. P. is
fighting State and municipal segre-
cation ordinances passed in defiance
of the Supreme Courts decision in
the Louisville Case of 1917. In Stat
en- Island, n. Y, the N. A. A. c. P.
is backing up Samuel A. Browne. the
colored postman who stood his ground
against the mob. In Detroit, the N.
J A. A. C. P. will throw its entire
/, power to the defense of DR.. o. H.
Sweet, his wife, two brothers and six
friends, who, surrounded by howlin
mob, defended DR.. Sweets home and
are now facing trial on charges of
murder.
! "There is not colored man, wo-
man or child in America, no matter in
what city or town, whose status will
not be affected by these segregation
struggles. The N. A. A. c. P. in
tends to fight them all and whatever
others may arise, as vigorously and
unrelentingly as it's means permit.
But it can only be effective if backed
- by the united and solid support of
colored Americans.
"The case before the Supreme
Court in Washington alone will prob
ably cost upwards of $4,000. These
cases must be fought by the very best
lawyers and those lawyers must be
paid as well as the heavy bills for
legal printing and other charges. Any
one case may cost from $1,000 to $3,-
900 and if there are appeals to high
er courts, the cost rises proportion
ately.
"It rests with the colored people of
the United States whether they will
provide the munitions of war. For it
lis war and it will be fight to the
finish if the N. A. A. G. P. is given
the means necessary to properly con-
duct that fight. Do you want to be a
segregated race? Do you want the
Jim-Crow system extended to the res
idential streets of Northern cities? Or
will you fight residential Jim-Crow
through the courts and before the
tribunal of public opinion? The an
swer rests with colored Americans.
The N. A. A. C. P. stands ready to
carry out their mandate. 1t is already
embarked upon this immense strug-
gle with shamefully inadequate funds.
JAMES WELDON JOHNSON,
Secretary, National Association for
the Advancement of Colored Peo-
ple."