The Dayton forum. [volume] (Dayton, Ohio) 1913-1949, 1938-09-02
LOUIS WITT
ON THE NEGRO AND
THE WHITE; LIVING
TOGETHER
Dayton Journal)

dayton journaD
The first address delivered before |
the 1885 Sherwood Eddy group in |
Berlin was By leading Nazi, Won
Leefs. After his address, one Of the |
party, Methodist bishop, asked:
Why do you persecute the Jew
Won Leers, as If he was certain
Of logical knockout, smilingly an
sWered What would you do ia
t4melIca Ii the Negroes owned every
thing worth owning and ran every
thing worth running? We treat the
Jews here as you treat Negroes
therer Perfect logic except
thai Tie jews don't own everything,
don't run everything, and we do not
treat the Negroes here as the Ger
mans treat the Jews there.
My comment in my note book was:
Won Leers' premises are cock
eyed! Grant me the premise that a
coekfoach has wings and can prove
that ooeuoach can turn into an
angel Even If it were true that
America, from the president down
to he garbage man, is starving, os-
tracising and degrading the Negro,
it does not follow that Germany is
justihed III treating the jews IN the
same way: one terrible, inhuman
wrong it not righted BY adding to it
another terrible, inhuman wrong
A week later the Eddy party was
on a collective farm in Russia. The
first question the Russians asked
was What about the Scottsboro
case?o Again the Negro! Only this
time it was not by way of justif-
ication but on condemnation. The
effect on the Eddy party was worth
noting. Being nobly sensitive to the
elements Of injustice and inhumanity
in our treatment of the Negro, their
tongues were tied, their consciences
made their defense futile and hypo--
critical and it was received by the
assembled Reds" with very I'M
ceremonious and yociferous horse
laugh!
| was therefore glad when few
days ago, | received letter from
the chairman of the Dayton com
mission on race relations to the eff
feet that q committee of the com
mission had met with Director of
Safety Yendes and Chief Wurstner
and discussed with them athe gen
eral West Side situation and also
ways in which both groups of the
community might cooperate to as
sure fair play and effective law
enforcement.
I was also glad when, few days
later, I read in the New York Times
that ian agreement to end racial
unrest in Harlem by guaranteeing
to Negroes at least one third of all
white collar jobs IN Harlem retail
establishments was announced yes
terday by the uptown chamber oi
commerce acting for hundreds OF
independent and chain stores, anc
the greater New York coordinatinf
committee for Employment, repre-
senting more than 200 Negro orga-
nizations. Its signers cs both side,
proclaimed it as a historic sieI
toward improved relations in dis
trict long regarded as q DANCE
zrr e.
The Negro is here 80. about tei
million of him in the nation, abou
twenty thousand of him in our city
What shall we do with him
We can't exterminate him, a
Germany is doing to the jew by
s'cold program" that is, by reducing
him to the alternative of death b
suicide Or by starvation. We can
initiate Goebbles in saying, as b
did, substituting the word Negr
for Jew)-ssthe Negro is louise an
what right has louise to live? ste
on it!' Happily America, unlik
MARYLAND, still possesses at least
shred OF human decency. We Ga
not regard human being, simpi
because he is black, as "louse!
i We can not live without the Negro
We can not live apart from the Ne.
gro. we must learn how to live Wit
The Negro. Our modus vivendi nee
not be based on an appeal to ideals
snrla ~ the Negro is not an inferiol