St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1939-06-30

lieve the lie that every moneyed
Negro wants to marry white.
The temper Of this nation to-
wards the Negro is gradually
changing for the better and our
pride is being boosted in sundry
ways. There can be no doubt about
it, it is less embarrassing to be a
Negro now than ever in the annals
of this nation. Recognition is COM
ing in ways substantial and ire
futable and the Roosevelts have
played no small part in this
strengthening of the Negroes pride.
Pride of achievement is one of the
criteria of advancement, for hopes
of the future must always be root
ed in the past. The Negro is fast
becoming a proud race Boosting of
its achievements and possibilities.
Pride hath its place in a peoples
program of development but it
must be supplemented with produc-
tion both spiritual and material.
Pride must be rooted in economic
well being if it is to endure. The
great danger today is that our
pride as a race will outstrip our
economic security. The real prob
lem before the Negro is not to
prove his capacity for achievement
but to prove his capacity to for
mulate program of production
whereby he may bolster his pride.
From time to time there are
what we term momentous happen
ings in the life of the Negro, such
as the supreme court decisions, etc.
When Marian Anderson sings and
a nation stands awe-smitten by as
consummate an artistic triumph as
this generation knows, our pride
swells but is there a corresponding
swell in our economic production ?
A race connot go forward on pride
alone; it takes economic planning
and a produetiveness to guarantee
survival. Such recognition as the
Negro is continually receiving is
calculated to beget pride but does
it contribute to the race economic
opportunity? It's a fine thing to
have supreme court decision
handed down in our favor; it is fine
to have the press of the nation
adopt the capital IN" in spelling
Negro; it is fine to have our South
ern newspapers add titles to the
names of our women; it is fine to
have the press of the nation broad
cast our athletic and artistic tri-
umphs and the country to increase
appropriations for Negro educa-
ton. But sad to say, while these
things are fine for our pride, they
make little or no difference in our
economic opportunities. Unless
some way is found whereby this
greater recognition is translated
into economic opportunity we are
still heading for tribulation.
Something must be done for the
Negro masses and from this angle
the farm offers the greatest hope
for succor. The cities of the future
will be for the white man and more
and more the Negro will be forced
out into the rural movement and
the few vocational opportunities
left will be claimed by the lowly
whites. Local and state govern
ments are going to finally evolve a
plan of relief that will preclude in
definite reliance upon charity. I'm
til such time as the Negro is final
ly driven to the farm, Negro bust
ness must hold the fort. Our pride
demands that we disdain the farm;
our productiveness ordain that we
exploit the farm. Our problem is
one of production not pride! Bread
is primary; pride is secondary. The
bread question is always the previ-
Gus question. Hunger endangers
pride. s.... -'