St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1938-10-28
Here And
There
By w. NJ. snith

A Minneapolis business man, fol
whom l hold the highest personal
regard, spoke to me last week OF
his great disappointment at the edi.
torial comments of our paper upon
the Ray Chase booklet, "Are They
Communists or Catspaws." He ad-
mits himself to be conservative
Speaking from that point of view
he says he holds it unfortunate that
We should defend Communism even
though it involves the defense of
the Negro people.
Of course my friend has taken
the wrong angle of our stand in
this matter. A careful reading of
our editorial discloses no defense of
Communism, for we are not Com
munists. We protest the race bait
ing of Ray Chase's booklet as have
many of the papers of the state.
This businessman asserts that it
is high time that Minnesota replace
the present administration with one
that has sOunder business basis
and will do something to reduce the
unemployment situation.
The colored people of this state
hope with all their hearts that
such result will follow if and when
the conservatives of Minnesota win
in the coming election.
Our memories, however, are not
too short to recall that under for
mer conservative administrations
Minnesota business did not give the
Negro people as fair a break in
employment as they now enjoy. We
feel that the Chase race prejudicial
presentation offers little to Offset
this fact. ~
We are especially interested in
the economic condition of our peo-
pie and we feel, as our editorial
clearly sets forth, that this is not
helped by setting ap man of
straw Tin this case, a famous
American poet), who happens to be
Negro and Communist, to shoot
down with poisonous arrows of
race hatred all of our people.
Our people want work. This is
the central point in our editorial
contention. If Mr.. Chase in his
booklet had recognized this truth
and had promised to do what he
could to break down the b ,r.iers
erected by conservative Minnesota
he would have done the needed
thing in arOusing the sympathy and
securing the help of our cOlOred
citizens.
Instead he reprints a full page
of southern paper which shows
how little sympathy it has for
Negro aspirations for full liberty
and a mans chance, and cites the
Communistic thinking of one Negro
as if it involved the trend of the
whole race.
The vicious effect of such prOpa-
ganda is reflected in an incident
Sunday in the sermon of one of
our Minneapolis pastors who sought
to review the Chase booklet.
Admitting he knew little of the
political background that has in
spired the Chase propaganda he
seized upon the one thought that a
prominent Negro poet had written
scurrilOus attack upon his loved
Christ and proceeded to read to his
astonished and dismayed cOngrega-
ton the excerpts of the verses
quoted in the book as the personal
opinions of LangstOn Hughes.
Apparently he did not know, and
we are surprised thereat, that
Hughes was protesting in the bit
terest language he could command,
the hypocrisy and selfish attitudes
of white Christian America in fol-
lowing the teachings of the lowly
Nazarene as Peter did-a far off.
A teaching that has made possible
the rank injustices of the South, a
teaching which the Christian North
accepts with SNUG complacency.
This is the effect sought by Ray
Chase, an effect the pastor unwit-
tingly abbetted as it is intended
others shall do who are no better
informed.