The Enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 192?-1930, 1928-09-27
A Jim Grow Argument

A Negro who runs barber shop
in st. Louis down in the white section
for Whites Only, ran into real ar
gument the other day when he went
into conference with whites of that
city who objected to the erection
of home by this Negro i'm their
feighborhood. Wilkerson. the barber,
pointed out that he should be per-
mitted to live in the neighborhood be-
cause another Negro had been per-
mitted to live there for number of
years.
The whites, of course, had their
time-honored stock argument that the
presence of Negro in their neigh
borhood deprecated values of prop
erty, yet, Wilkerson was adamant
and stubborn. He believes he had
the right to live in the neighborhood
and was determined to stand his
ground. 1t was just at this time
during the argument that one of the
white conferees delivered a solar
plexus. He said to the colored bar
Der, would You Shave a Negro In
Your Shop7" Wilkerson countered
with the argument that what he did
in his shop had nothing to do with
the argument in question.
The truth is that in that one state
ment the white man had snatched
every scrap of reason out of the
hand of the colored man who had
moved into his neighborhood. Here
was a black man who was arguing
against segregation and Jim Grow,
and yet he was guilty of practicing
the same principles when he tackled
the game of life.
From the white mans point of
view, this Negro in his barbershop
was doing the same thing that the
white man sought to do in his neigh
borhood. The Negro would not per-
NIT another Negro to be shaved in his
Jim Grow barber shop Because II
Would Chase The White Folks Away,
and therefore depreciate the value
of his shop in that particular neigh
borhood. The white man did not
want Wilkerson in his neighborhood
and his reasons were identical and
the same. The question of the shave
had a great deal to do with the ar
gument, even though the black man
wanted to rule it out.
There Is another side of this con-
troversy that needs exposition. Will
kerson thought he should be per-
mitted to live in the white neighbor-
hood because another Negro was al
ready living there. He lost sight en-
tirely of the fact that there could be
difference between Negroes, and that
may be he was not as desirable as
the one of whom he complained.
Again his white brother had the best
of the argument. ANY NEGRO is
better than black man who prac-
on his own people. The man who
can open place of business and
announce to the world that members
Of his own race cannot enter there,
has dome of reasoning beyond the
ken of our comprehension. There is
no way possible for white folk with
whom he is acquainted to have the
self-respect for him that they would
in their heart have for other Negroes
who made their living in more self
respecting way.
When a Mexican, Chinese, Japan
csc, Indian, or the member of any
other race or nationality in this coun-
try opens a place of business, HE
OPENS ITS DOORS WIDE FOR
THE MEMBERS OF HIS OWN
RACE. it remains for Negroes to
bring from the slave quarters of
Dixie an idea that should shame free
men. -
THE ENTERPRISE, is ., long way
from giving its endorsement to seq
regation and Jim Crowism. We OPP
pose it at every turn of the road
but even so, Ito use a slang express
sion) WE KNOW BIG WOOD
FROM BRUSH, and we know also
that certain white man in st. Louis
had an unanswerable argument for
certain Negro in st. Louis when he
qucried: would you SHAVE A
BLACK MAN IN YOUR SHOP7"