Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1939-01-27
Here And
There
By w. n. Saith

SaIneFeO IN the rOOnS OF TIE 0aLuG
day Lunch Club at the West Hotel
Minneapolis last Saturday.
This iberal-minded association
has on many former occasions lis
tened to outstanding Negro speak
ers discuss the Negro problem. We
recall among them w. E. B. Du'
Bots, A. Phillip Randolph anC
George Schuyler.
In the final analysis, however,
am wondering if there must not b
an end of academic discussion anC
a more practical effort made tC
work out a solution,
1t is fine thing to have the op.
portunity to tell of our distressing
situation to men so understanding
as the membership of the club
After all, it must be recalled that
there has been no improvement in
the employment of the cOlored
group in the years that elapsed
since the days when Dubois star
tied his hearers with his impas-
stoned eloquence.
True it is that during the years
of the still continuing depression
the wall of separation that keeps
our people from lines of employ
ment open to white groups as a
matter of course has been some
what broken down. Under govern
ment supervision our people have
been given opportunities heretofore
denied them.
But after the depression passes
and we all hope to see an end to
it sometime we shall find our
selves just where we were before,
relegated to the commonest forms
of labor and given as little of that
as possible.
l should like to see this business
community circularized by organi-
cations like the Saturday Lunch
Club and told of the situation fac
ing the people here, both white and
Negro, when without proper en-
ployment there must be accepted,
by the community at large, the bur-
den of supporting a large percent
age of the colored group by relief
and for these the humiliation of
the dole.
The Urban League, through per-
sonal appeal by its representatives
to business executives, is seeking
to surmount this all but impossible
barrier. But of necessity its prog
ress is slow and unsatisfactory. 1t
needs a more vigorous attack. An
attack in which interested citizens,
with an intelligent comprehension
of just what is involved in forcing
a large group of people to accept
relief in place of work, will support
the Leagues demand for fairer
treatment.
Businessmen declare that the I'M
ions practically run their business,
telling them whom they may en-
ploy, for what periods and at what
pay; therefore they can't employ
colored workers unless these come
with union recommendation.
This statement is true in par
but only in part. Laws which give
to union labor such a large meas.
ure of protection are not intendec
to hogtie business so that it cannot
function to its own advantage. Bust
ness can insist that the unions in
clude in their membership all thu
various groups who form the work
ing people of the city. In view o.
Importance of the buying power o.
the people to the success Of bust
ness it can logically insist that al
classes of workers be admitted Il
union ranks. This will not be dom
until there is a more forceful de
mand from those who must supper
an idle group not permitted to ear
living by working. I am convincet
that the unions faced with such |
demand would not only admit Ne
gro workers but would adopt meas
ures to "constrain them to enter it
fold"
Therefore / submit that the tim
is at hand when every business
community must be told that citi
zens who have the interests Of THU
city at heart urge upon them
more generous attitude toward thu
Negro group, anxious and willing
to join with others in the future
development of the Twin Cities
The unions should be similarly in
formed.