Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1929-05-11
sEcREcArIoN-THE NEXT STEP

r,or Jrdoe Groner's well-matured
o,,;rion in the, segregation case,
TIbo+eyer that opinion may be, appeal
Win III of course be taken me SUI
nreme Court of the United states
win ultimately pass on the Klchmohu
FINANCE and, in the present favor
shle condition of the docket, may ac'
within a year. -, o,,
" No segregation ordinance has ever
,.o+ stood the scrutiny of the court
- last resort. The cunning have
GONE down with the crude, ana the
eonrt has never yet admitted the
,;obt of anv municipality to deny
apy citizen the right to live wherever
he can buy, rent or procure the guar
ters he desires. The Supreme CourI
has always held that such restrlct,ve
,measures invade the equal rlghts
guaranteed citizens of the uniteo
The News Leader cannot persuade
;+salf that the clever gentlemen Oh
The city attorneys office have drawn
an ordinance that will stand where a
score have fallen. The approach IS
novel, but the intent Of the law IS
so obvious that the court Is APT 70
give the usual answer: "ltma
eighteen months, the Negroes OF
Richmond probably will have re-
stored to them the right of free
movement that was theirs before the
ordinance was signed in February
If nothing more were involved than
q return to conditions as they eX-
isted prior to February, then the u,
innate decision of the court wouio
affect only the few unfortunate
neiphborhoods where the residential
lines of the two races meet. But the
"if" does not hold. There has ,crept
into the question, which is always
troublesome, a new element OF re-
preston on the one side and of re-
sentiment on the other, and this man.
ifestlv is bad for Richmond.
Those who believe in racial coop
Grafton have done what they could
to reassure the disturbed Negroes OF
Richmond. Enough has been SAID TO
convince the Negro leaders that
while the council passed the ordl-
nance almost unanimously, large
element of citizens does not believe
this the right way to solve PROB
lem that gives as much concern 10
Negroes as to whites. These white
men and women are working on the
assumption that the ordinance Will
certainly be declared unconstitutional
by the Supreme Court, and that the
city will then need the help OF Negro
leaders in working out some plan by
which the two races will have decent
living quarters without clashes. This
help will be given Of that The News
Leader is sure. But something more
should be done to show the average
Negro that Richmond does not in
tend to treat him unjustly and, at
the same time, something should be
undertaken to persuade the white
resident of a declining neighborhood
that il is no humiliation to move
into a better home on the approach
of Negroes.
What The News Leader is asking
for may be nothing less than a
state of mind. But that IS
not unattainable. If the rights and
the wrongs of the present situation |
be frankly canvassed; if both races
can be shown that there is justice !
and an expediency to which whites ,
and Negroes alike should hold, The /.
News Leader does not believe that !
the extremists Of either race will be ;
able to lead the community astray.
One very definite means to the de-
sired end is for those to speak out
who believe better way of racial
can be found than that
of angrily enacting an unconstltu-
tional ordinance. Whites and Ne
gloes of moderate mind have de-
ferred too much to eXcitable ele-
ments in their respective races. The
whites have kept silent, in the main, |
because they had sort of lurking
dread that opposition to an impossl-
BILE ordinance might be construed as
racial disloyalty. Some of the Ne
groes have seemed to think that a
conciliatory attitude might be re-
garded by the other Negroes as un-
to assert plain rights. 1t
is time for every man who believes
in fair play and in the right sort of
racial separation by consent to let
his voice be heard.