The Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1931-1952, 1939-11-17

1t has been the policy of this
writer to refrain from the use of
the words white man" in this
and other columns of this paper.
However circumstances have been
known to alter cases, and in this
case the circumstances are suffi-
GENTLY altered to justify slight
deviation from our set policy.
Occasionally, some white person
who knows little, and cares still
less, about the problems of the
Negro, will offer some absurd sug-
gestion alleged to solve the social
problems of the Race. The most
recent offer to help solve a Sc
rious social problem" was made
last week when Attorney John N.
Sylvester filed a petition with the
city council for the issuance of
dance license to Ira F. Norris.
Sylvester, who has never been par
ticularly famous as a social work.
er, has suddenly become CONVEX
SAINT with the problem of the Me-
gro, so much so that he told the
council that colored people are
faced with a serious problem when
it comes to the question of dane
ing. He admits that Gin order to
participate in such activities, it is
necessary for these people to go
below the line" He further adj
mits that other people in whose
communities a dance license has
been refused ARE able to frequent
regular dancing pavilions which
are denied to colored people"
If Mr.. Sylvester really wanted
to "solve serious social problem"
such desire could be no better
manifested than in an attempt to
break down the bars that prohibit
the use of regular dancing pavil-
ions" by Negroes.
Sylvesters letter to the council
states that the petition has the sig
natures of lib people of the Negro
Race" AS an attorney, Mr.. Syl-
vester must know that the law re-
quires that such petitions must be
signed by property owners. We
doubt whether twenty-five per cent
of the signers own property. In
order to read the petition we signed
it, and our property consists of an
extra pair of sox, two lead pencils,
and the second mortgage on a
portable typewriter, and even if
we owned property our address
would invalidate our signature, The
same is true of many others who
have signed the petition.
Two weeks ago we talked at
length with Police Officer Claude
Norris concerning the problem of
delinquency in the district in which
the dance place would be located,
| provided the council gives the pet
ition the nod. Officer Norris, at
that time, was interested in a So
luton to the youth problem and
offered the suggestion that ath-
letic and other worth while organ
izations, under the supervision of
trained social workers, would do
much to insure the good name of
the community and the young
people. We passed the suggestion
on to our readers, but for some
strange reason, the parents of the
young people have not as yet Of
fered to look into the situation
Now, Sylvester offers a petition
which, if lawfully signed, would
bear the names of the same people
who have refused to offer help to
carry out Officer Norris sugges-
ton to eliminate delinquency.
We admit that the people of the
community in question should have
a place to occasionally trip the
light fantastic. But what Sylvester
and Ira Norris have seemingly
overlooked, is the obvious fact that
a dance pavilion in conjunction
with a tavern would do little to-
wards solving even the dancing
problem. For most of the chronic
jitterbugs in the community are
minors and it is still against the
law to admit minors to taverns.
NOTE: Word has just reached us
that a petition designed to kill
I