The Omaha guide., 1934-01-27

the relief bureaus Of Alabama were
q storm center during the last few
weeks because a Negro case-worker
Nelson Jackson, like all the other
case-workers, was giving dictation
to a white stenographer. Every agent
of the Jim-Crowing, lynching ruling
class got on Jackson's neck. The
state and city officials. The burea-
cracy Of the A. F. of L. In spite of
the fact that the white stenographer
said she had "no objection" these
people howled for Jackson's remov-
Keene, the relief official who had APP
pointed Jackson. And who was in the
front ranks of this bowling pack?
None other than John Altman, n
of the "fine legal talent hired by the
N. A. A. C. P. No wonder the ode
tense" of Peterson was such a farrell
The history of Roderick Beddow is
pretty involved, because he switches
SO easily from one side Of the fence
to the other. Beddow was one of the
attorneys put forward by the N. A.
a. c. P. for the S~cottsboro boys. In
the hearing Of the Southern district
organizer Of the |. L. d. Beddow said
he had been offered $4,000 to prose-
cute Willie Peterson, but wouldn't do
it because he thought the man was
inn9cent. a few months later we read
chat Beddow was in court to defend
Dent Williams, white lawyer who
had shot Willie Peterson through the
bars Of the jail, while the sick Negro
stood unarmed and helpless. With an
appeal to the basest lynch passions,
Beddow got Williams off-free.
That wasn't all. The next thing,
Beddow went to court as special pro-
secutor against Peterson - the man
he had declared unquestionably inno-
cent! And this week, when the fury
and Indignation Of the masses have
forced a stay of execution for Peter
son, Beddow has announced his in
tention Of fighting bitterly against
any mercy for the framed Negro
veteran.
And this was the man to whom the
N. A. A. G. p wanted to entrust The
lives Of the Scottsboro boysl
The trump card of the N. A. A. G.
P. in its fight against making the
Scottsboro case part of a great strug
gle for Negro rights, was that I'M
crowned head Of American liberal
ism, Clarence barrow. Darrow's
actions are always unexpected, but
the gyrations of this Flower Of legal
talent" in the past couple Of years
have been a surprise e to the
heads of the N. A. A. G. P. After act
ing as the spearhead in the attack
against the |. l.. D. Darrow proceed
ed to Hawaii, where he defended four
white lynchers of the u. S. Navy.
These navy men had introduced an
old American custom into the islands,
and had murdered a native accused
Of rape" In his appeal to the jury
which he tried unsuccessfully to keep
t~all-white" in accordance with the
best Southern traditions - barrow
didn't miss a single one Of the Gus
tomary arguments of the lynchers in
these cases. "The purity Of white
womanhood," the "unwritten law
the old phrases of the lynch-law
South echoed thousands Of mile away
in Hawaii-from the lips Of the n.
A. A. c. P. finest lawyer"
Only a few months ago, Thomas
Knight, chief prosecutor of the SCOTS
boro boys went to Washington to ask
that the ban be lifted against the sale
Of Alabama's prison made goods.
The Alabama rulers pocket about a
million dollars a year out Of the pro-
ducts made in her hellish prisons by
driven convicts. And arrayed on
Knights side was lone other than
Clarence barrow!
Is it an accident that in recent
years at least three of the n. A. A.
G. P.'s Outstanding lawyers" have
followed the path of the lynchers and
the Klansmen? 1t is not! The N. A.
A. G. P. is pleged to uphold the sys-
tenn that prevails today - and part
and parcel Of that system are jim
Crowism, lynching, and segregation.
The N. A. A. c. P. says clearly that
its policy is not to offend the South
ern ruling-class. 1t hires attorneys
pledged to kow-tow to all the pre-
JUDGES of Southern judges. And in
so doing it must select it's legal tai
ent from the ranks of those not too
far removed in spirit from the Klans
men and the lynchers.
I