The Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1931-1952, 1941-03-28
Protest On Byrnes
for Supreme Court

dunn on the conduct of Senator
James F. Byrnes, of South Carroll
ma, on questions affecting the Ne
gro was filed with President Roo
sevelt here March II because of
the strong rumor that Senator
Byrnes is practically certain to be
nominated for the vacancy on the
United States supreme court.
The protest and memorandum
were delivered to the White House
in person by Walter White, Sec
rotary of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People.
Announcement in the press of
Sunday, March 16, that Senator
Byrnes' name would probably be
sent to the Senate early this week
caused Secretary White to send a
telegram of protest to President
Roosevelt which cited Senator
Byrnes' long opposition to the as
pirations of Negroes, his contin-
uous battle against the various an
ti-lynching bills.
The telegram stated that fur
Their study of Senator Byrnes' re-
cord on racial and religious bigot-
ry particularly against Jews" was
being made, and that a supple
mentary memorandum would be
submitted.
In the memorandum taken to
the White House March II by
Secretary White is the paragraph:
where an individual has been
active in public life for many years
his record is the best evidence of
his social attitudes. Examination
of the record of Senator James F.
Byrnes shows clearly that his at
titude towards the efforts of Ne
groes to secure the rights of cit
liens of the United States Is such
as to preclude the possibility of
his being capable of acting with
calmness and dispassion in any
matter affecting the rights of this
depressed minority. Throughout
his career he has demonstrated his
determination to thwart the ef-
forts of those Americans who have
sought to achieve for Negroes the
equality guaranteed to all persons
in the United States by the Fed
eral Constitution"
The memorandum asserts furth-
err: Never during his public life
has he deviated from the position
he took more than twenty years
ago."
The document cites a speech OF
Mr.. Byrnes in Congress August
25, 1919, in which he said: eff the
/ two races are to live together in
this country, it way as well be
understood that the War has in nc
way changed the attitude of the
white man toward the social and
political equality of the Negro. If
as a result of his experience in
the War, he does not care to live
in this land without political and
social equality, then he can depart
for any country he wishes, and his
departure will be facilitated by the
white people of this country who
desire no disturbing factor in theil
midst"
The N. A. A. G. P. issued 6
statement saying that because
most South Carolina citizens, col
ored and white, are disfranchise6
by the poll tax and other methods
Senator Byrnes and other south
ern senators have been free tt
launch the "most filthy attacks
against Negro Americans on the
floors of Congress without fear Of
reprisal from the voters bach
home.
The N. A. A. G. P. is pressing
it's protest on Senator By1nes be
cause it believes that the citizen!
in other parts of the country
should not be subjected to thu
kind of supreme court decisions
likely to come from a man will
the record of Senator Byrnes. Thu
| Association believes that the typ
of political democracy and undem
ocratic Bourbonism exemplified b.
Senator Byrnes should be rebuke,
and rejected when it seeks a fed
leral appointment.