The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-04-26
NEGRO VETS AND
SCOTTSBORO CASE

In the last imperaliSt war AGO. 600
Negro workers, who were called upon
to fight TO end all wars" and make
the world safe for democracy" were
subjected to the worst form OF jim
Grow persecution by the military au-
thorities. Immediately after the US.
entered The war, 13 Negro soldiers Of
the oath Infantry we're legally mas
sacred by U. S. Court Martial be-
cause they had been driven to pro
test against the fiendish Jirn-Croy
persecution Of the military and civil
authorities. During the war there
| occurred more than a hundred lynch
! ings Of Negroes in the United States.
many Of these Negro soldiers in uni
/ form)
After the war the Negro veterans
were further separated from the
white veterans. They we're jim
CroWed in the vocational training
| schools; denied adnittance into Fed
eral Administration, except as
menials; their disability compensation
was either very low or cut off within
a short period after the war. Thou
sands of veterans, especially Negroes.
we're bounded by officials, framed up
and thrown into hospitals for the
insane and into prisons.
Tens of thousands of Negro veter-
ans in need of medical attention in
the South we're either forced to &C
cept treatment in Jim Crow wards
OF white hospitals or were forced to
wait for months to get treatment in
the Jim-Crow hospital at Tuskegee,
Ala. The dependents of Negro vet
Grams are often gyped by various Of
ficials, death compensation checks an
well as other allowances being with
held for months or denied altogether,
CThe Negro Gold Star Mothers were
rewarded for their supreme sacrifices
by being jim CroWed on their trip to
France to visit the graves OF their
sons. They were transported by the
government to France on leaky cattle
boats)
Many Negro veterans have fallea
victim to the present wave of lynch
ing and lynch frame-ups. The most
notorious case is that of Willie Peter
son, tubercular Negro veteran, who
contracted tuberculosis because the
Veterans Bureau failed to certify
him for treatment and compensation.
Peterson was framed-up in Birming-
ham, Ala, in August, 1881, on MUIR
der charge, a raw frame-up for .
crime of which he is innocent.
Following the frame-up against
Peterson, white veterans who de-
Tended him in Alabama we're horse
whipped in prison. In Florida, Al
Mcbride, a white war veteran, WAS
sentenced to 10 years in prison for
organizing tobacco factory workers.
These attacks upon the Negro war
veterans are part of the attack upon
the Negro people as whole. This
is shown clearly in the frame-up Of
Haywood Patterson, one of the nine
Scottsboro boys who has been SEN
fenced to death in the electric chair
The Workers EX-Servicemen's
League has from the very start sup
ported the fight, which is led by the
International Labor Defense, for the
release of the nine Scottsboro boys.
The Workers Ex-Servicemen's League
has as one Of its principles mo jim
Growing or any kind Of discrimina-
ton against Negro war veterans
Action to Take.
In order to actively support the
fight for the release of the Scots
boro boys. Willie Peterson and all
other victims of the lynch gangs the
National Headquarters of the Work
ers Ex-Servicemen's League recon-
mends to all posts of the w. E. S, L.
the following action:
That they approach the Negro
Posts of the American Legion. Vet
Grams of Foreign Wars, etc, with the
proposal for a united front in de-
Tense of the Scottsboro boys.
?. In order to give the greatest Of
strength to this defense. work must
be carried on with the Scottsboro
Defense Committees.
g. Posts should Immediately start
the work Of modifying Negro and
white veterans for the Scottsboro
March TO Washington which takes
place May s. These veterans
should stay in Washington and re-
port to the Veterans National Liaison
Committee. Room 210-1l Maryland
Building, IA and H SITS. Washington.
d. G.