The Detroit tribune. (Detroit, Mich.) 1935-1966, 1936-05-16

another day, ashamed that my sto-
mach Tevolted from this food which
was the daily fare of my hosts for
most of the year. Ashamed that l
was able to go on down the road
and buy a can of sardines from a
country store while the family
which l had just left probably won
dered where the next days meal
would come from. | did not sleep
the mex night on my comfortable
bed in Memphis.
All Bound Together
These articles are the result of
that trip. They are my effort to tell
to Negro America, through the AS
ISOLATED Negro Press, my own i'm
preston Of the fight which Negro
and poor white families of Arkan-
sas and neighboring states are
waging to pull themselves out of
an existence which is more dread
full than anything that l have ever
before seen in my Journeys about
these United States. They are an
attempt to convince Negroes in
Northern and Southern cities that
this is their fight, and a fight which
must be won by their support.
While black America has watch
ed with tense interest the gallant
struggle made by Ethiopia against
the murderous advance of Musso-
lini, these Arkansas sharecrop-
pers are carrying on without at
tention an even more gallant and
dangerous struggle The Ethiopians
use their primitive weapons to fight
and retreat, fight and retreat, fall
ing back after defeat into the COM
parative safety of their native hills.
The sharecroppers have no wea-
pons, other than a desperate cour-
age, and they cannot retreat. Once
the battle has begun they cannot
quit, but must fight until they win,
or are wiped out
Negro farmers fought once be-
fore in Arkansas-and were wiped
out. The Elaine Riots of 1919 were
caused by the efforts of Negro
sharecroppers to organize against
outrageous robbery practiced upon
them by their landlords. Discover
ing the organization, the landlords
formed vigilante bands to stamp if
out. The Elaine riots resulted; a
town was put to flames; unarmed
Negroes, men, women and babies,
were shot down in cold blood.
Grand juries refused to indict; the
federal government was silent; the
union was smashed, and Arkansas
plantations were kept safe for
landlord robbery.
Robbery Nothing Else
Today that robbery is more out
rageous than ever. AAA crop-re-
duction has forced thousands of
families off the land Some of them
stay as laborers at starvation
wages. In cotton picking time last
year a strong man must work at
top speed for ten and twelve hours
a day to earn as much as $3.50 to
$500 a day. Children of tender age
worked the same hours for fifty
cents or less. The federal govern
ment winked an eye while AAA
checks were stolen from tenant
farmers. Landlords ran, and still
run stores at which their help must
buy their supplies-and charge
double prices for rotten stuff.
Malaria, pellagra and similar
sickness abounds. When these fami-
lies take sick most of them simply
stay sick until they get we'll or die,
for there are no physicians who
can treat patients without money.
To reach one cabin / walked
through mud to my ankles, for the
cabin stood in pool of water
which had drained into the de-
preston and stayed there, stag
nant and ill-smelling. Inside a mo-
Their sat with an ailing baby that
was covered with dirty rags. Their
drinking water came from a we'll
a hundred yards away, down a
slope from a neighboring cabin,
where it was certain to be infected
with typhoid germs.
The man in that household had
worked hard all the year previ-
Gus. He had made" four bales of
cotton, of which two belonged to
the landlord. lie ended up the year
with not quite enough to settle his
debts, owing "the boss" a triffle
greater debt. On the next planta-
ton his white neighbor was in ex-
actly the same situation. These
families are not exceptions. They
are the rule, except for one thing.
Both men belong to the Southern
Farm Tenants Union.
Next week / will tell what the
union is, and what it is doing.