The Omaha guide., 1933-07-22
COURIER JUDAS GETS HIS RE.
WARD FROM LYNCH PARTY

WARD FROM LYNCH PARTI
WASHINGTON, d. C.-The rewar'
of a Judas was conferred by Presiden
Roosevelt July 6, on Robert L. Vann
editor Of the Pittsburgh Courier
when for his services in helping t,
elect the president who wrote tn,
Haitian constitution and imposed /
reign by United States marines OF
the black republic, and for his viciou.
attacks upon the defense of the Scott.
boro boys, he was made special assist
ant attorney general in the depart
ment Of justice.
In making the announcement, it war
said that Roosevelt credited Vann's
betrayal Of the Negro people. in sell
ing out the Courier to the democratic
Party, with much responsibility for
the tremendous switch Of Negro vot-
ers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Vir.
ginia and Maryland, last November.
Vann has consistently fought
against every aspect of the national
liberation struggles of the Negro
people. He has carried on an especial
ly vicious fight against the Internal
ional Labor Defense and the Scots
bor0 defense. He came to the rescue
of the Southern lynchrs following the
second conviction of Haywood Patter-
son last April, with praise for Judge
Horton, presiding legal lyncher, and
an attack upon the /. L. d.
His main guns were turned imme-
diately upon the Free the S~cottsboro
Boys March to Washington, a demon
stration Of mass protest and solidar-
ity of black and white workers which
materially aided in forcing to concede
a new trial to Haywood Patterson.
The Courier has long been known
as the unofficial organ Of the Nation
al Association for the Advancement
of Colored People leadership, and the
official organ of the democratic lynch
party of the South among the Negro
es.
Under 'Vann's editorial guidance, il
has become the leading red-baiter
amorU the Negro newspapers in this
country.
A striking similarity between the
demands put forward by the Courier
in the Scottsboro case, and those of
the Southern lynch press, was noted
throughout the campaign. Recently.
it launched a vicious attack upon
Ruby Bates, the white southern girl
who was chief witness for the Scots
boro defense when she came forward
to repudiate her former charge of
rape" against the Scottsboro boys.
Vann's new job in the Roosevelt adj
m~inistration, it was pointed out by
William L. Patterson, national secre-
tary Of the |. L. d., will put him into
a key position in regard to all the fed
eral activities directed against the
struggles Of the white workers and
the Negro people. In this position he
will be q member of the planning
board which directs the governments
attack and persecution of the militant
leaders of the working class and the
Negro masses.
Another political purpose behind the
appointment pointed out by Patter-
son is the splitting Of the forces for
Negro liberation, by creating the illu-
sion among Negroes that they have a
share in the government.
That this is part of Roosevelt's new
deal system in evidenced by the fact
that vann is the first Negro to hold
such a post under Democratic admin
istration. In accepting the position. it
raj pointed out, Vann accepts form
ally an alliance with the lynchers now
in power in all the Southern States,
with Governor Miller Of Alabama, At
torney- General Thomas E. Knight and
Judge Horton, who are determined to
lynch the S~cottsboro boys, and a
whole array of legal and ordinary
lynchers throughout the country.