Sunday Chicago bee. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1925-19??, 1940-09-01
RESULT
OF LAST WAR,
RIGHT TO VOTE
Must Discontinue
Discrimination
BY ESTHER v. COOPER

BIRMINGHAM, Aug. 29-(AN
P)-"We didn't get anything out
Of the last World War, and there
isn't any use Of us going to this
one. My husband went over and
when he came back he couldn't
even march in the parade down
town-they even tore the buttons
off his uniform; sure, that peace
mobilization is a good thing in
Chicago, here's quarter you can
put me down for" said a Negro
woman, gray-haired, slow in
movements but quick in thinking
and knowing what she believes
will help the Negro people in the
South.
Her reaction is typical Of the
way in which we Of the Southern
Negro Youth congress are receiv-.'
ed in carrying peace petitions
from door to door in Birmingham,
in speaking to groups OF miners
in Lewisburg, Pratt City and other
mining towns near Birmingham,
in speaking to steel workers, So
cial clubs, and church groups.
No Statement on Discrimination
"That Consumption bill would
be one of the worst possible
things; there isn't anywhere in
it statement that there would
be no discrimination because OF
race, creed or color, there iSn'te
anywhere in it that we would
have a chance to be officers, that
when we came out of training we
would have an equal chance at
jobs without Jim-Crow,' said q
Negro mine worker At 2 discus
sion following debate On the
transcription bill.
A young woman rose swiftly. TO
her feet at this same meeting and
said that "our job is to get democ-
racy here in the South, to win the
right to vote by supporting the
Right to Vote campaign Of the
SNYC, to support the anti-lynch-
ing bill, to win the right to edu-
cation, to jobs, and recreation,
and when we have these things
she declared, land only then
should young Negro people be
ready to take up arms to defend
the democracy Of the United Stat
eS."
The door to door petitioning on
the Peace Mobilization and the
Right to Vote campaign has been
successful. A domestic worker,
hardly making enough to pay for
the small rat-infested house in
which she lives, listened intent
~ as I described the meaning Of
the peace meeting, and the i1npor-
lance of her signature, and told
me to wait minute as. she went
next door to borrow dime so
that her signature might be on
the letter to the president. -
Young Only Hope est
Fred Witherspoon, ill in bed,
who served in the last war, called
lime into his home when knocked,
listened to me and finally said,
"You young people keep on strug-
Cling, it's our only salvation. War
won't help anything, I'm for that
Chicago Peace rally. look under
my dresser scarf and take 10
cents, and wait a minute, come
back next week and III have an
other dime for YOU"
Negro students, ministers, So
cial workers, miners, steel work.
ers, domestic workers, are backing
the Chicago Peace mobilization,
realize its Importance, and have
been talking it up in their meet
ings, from the pulpit, in the mines,
and at social gatherings.
The Southern Negro Youth con-
gress is carrying on its Battle for
the Ballot" distributing thousands
Of leaflets on the Right to Vote,
selling Abolish the Poll-Tax But
tons and working on the Peace
Mobilization at the same time by
securing a signature for Peace Pc
titionS.