St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1940-11-29
Anti Semitism and
the Negro
By Len Zinberg in March Opinion

that refuses to hire Jews!-al-
though the agent has no control
over the matter and is merely
following the banks orders, the
Negro sees only the Jewish agent
and again mutters: damn Jew!"
There is a terrific shortage of
decent apartments in teeming Har-
lem, and John Doe has a tough
time finding another apartment.
Instead of moving by the end of
the month, he moves on the first
or second of the following month.
He's overstayed only day or two,
but legally he's responsible for a
whole months rent-if he's still
living there on the first of the new
month. If there is any possible
way of collecting that months
rent, the bank-through the agent
will do it, as would any bank or
agent. But John Doe feels that he
is being cheated and bounded q.
because he stayed day over his
rent, they are asking for a whole
months rent. And who is doing
the actual asking - the Jewish
agent! When he moves, John may
write vile anti-Semitic slogans on
the wall and the Jewish agent will
wonder why. go
*f*
We are not trying to whitewash
the Jewish merchant who certainly
is not any better or worse than any
other merchant >. but all these
business methods" be they just or
unjust, are the usual business prac-
tees used every day by merchants
of every faith, creed, and color,
against people of every creed and
color.
Unfortunately, in Harlem, the
Negro comes into contact mostly
with Jewish business men. Harlem
and this is true of the majority
of other "Harlems" found in cities
throughout the North - Harlem
used to be a Jewish neighborhood.
In time the neighborhood changed,
the Jews moved out but the
storekeeper, the apartment house
owner, they are the last to move;
they can't pack up and move
overnight. Most of them remained,
stuck to the little shops in which
they were doing business long be-
fore the Negro moved into Har-
lem. ..
A man and his wife usually run
one of these SMALL stores both
of them working long hours for
a small profit that just keeps them
going. If necessary, a son or some
other relation helps out the
same set-up is found among all
petty shopkeepers, whether Jewish,
Catholic, Quaker, or whatever the
faith. But the Negro not only finds
himself Disseminated against in
the big business houses downtown,
but in Harlem, where the popula-
ton is SO per cent colored. He can't
get job in the very stores in
which he is a patron! And most of
these stores are run by Jews. The
situation of no work and no money,
was responsible for the March riot
of several years ago, which was
not a race riot, but a sharp pro-
test against economic conditions
;. as were the riots in Chicago's
South Side, years ago. The "riot"
was successful, for you now find
some Negro help (but not nearly
enough) in all the big stores of
Harlem, and in any small store
that can afford it. And the Negro
should be employed in the various
big shops downtown +. employed
as statesmen and salesgirls and not
as porters!
1t is interesting to note that
Negroes move into Jewish sections
because these sections are usually
the poorer working class districts
| which shows the deliberate lie