Sunday Chicago bee. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1925-19??, 1942-08-02
Does A. p. Randolph
Intensity Racial Bias?
BY GEORGE F. McCRAY
Labor Editor, Associated Negro Pre-


Labor Editor, Associated Negro Press
Perhaps the March-On-W Washington move
ment' is not as seditious as many people in
Chicago are saying it is; perhaps A. P Ran
dolph is the strong leader editorials in the
Negro press describe him as being; however,
the methods which the March On Washing
ton crowd is using to organize Negro COM
munities to protest our legitimate grievances
constitute grave menace to the interest of
Negro labor. This is the only conclusion to
draw after hearing Randolph's reckless eve
don't give-a-dam" speech before $4,000 Chi
cago citizens.
In that meeting in Chicago, Randolph and
Walter White and drama written for the oc-
casion, accomplished at least two things.
The first is an intensiication Of racial an
tagonisms and suspicious thus making inter
racial labor cooperation more difficult at
time when we need it most. Second, the
meeting will undoubtedly weaken the Negro
workers desire, as well as that Of other Ne
groes, to give enthusiastic support to the war
effort. These two effects are the inevitable
results of the narrow racial bias upon which
the March On Washington crowd is recruiting
members.
HAMPERS WAR EFFORT
In spite of the hurried qualifications and
slight exceptions which were sprinkled
through the major speeches, the sum total
message was that undemocratic elements here
in the United States are far more dangerous
to Negroes than is victorious fascism. Only
passing reference was made to the supreme
task Of defeating Hitler and winning the war
However, quite a point was made of "the
crackerisrp" Of men like Congressman Ran
kin Yet, Hitler represents Rankin "crack-
erism" magnifed a thousand fold. Not a
word was said to point Hitler out as the
worlds champion Negro hater and that Ne
groes in self defense like other American citi-
zens should direct all Of their energies toward
his defeat
Does this omission mean that Randolph and
White are axis agents? 1t most certainly
does not The very idea is perfectly ridicu-
lous. However, their over-emphasis or bet
ter, disproportonate emphasis on our domes-
tic i'll would blind Negroes to the greater me-
mace of Hitlerism
WHAT WE ARE FIGHTING FOR
Walter White touched the core Of our prob
lem when he stated we must fight for the right
to fight for democracy. In spite Of Randolph's
eloquence, maximum use Of the military and
productive manpoWer represented in Negroes
is not mainly or exclusively the problem of
Negroes. 1t is the problem Of all our citizens
white black, and it is our duty, since we
understand the problem better, to convince
our fellow citizens who are white of the ur-
gent need to remove all barriers to the full
participation of Negroes in the war program.
In this later undertaking it is destructive Of
national unity to argue that we should not
welcome the support Of all our citizens who
wish to lend hand in this fight whether he
be Jew, Catholic, yellow, white or brown.
After all, is it not from various members of
these groups that we are seeking some recog-
milton of our claim for equal participation in
American life. Are we to reject the recogni-
ton when it is offered to us?
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IN ACTION
While Randolph called American democracy
miserable failure, his associate. Milton Web
ster save a report which convinced me that
in spite of our national shortcomings, serious
as they are American democracy is still the
most vigorous democracy in the world today.
One could not think of such meeting at
which all this talk was going on being held
anywhere in continental Europe where Hitler
has established his power.
The only positive statement of what we
have at stake came from Webster, who as a
member of the Presidents Committee on Fair
Employment Practices gave an impressive &C
count of what the committee has been able
to achieve. To me this speech meant one
thing; that in America a minority can make
tremendous gains toward equality if organiz-
ed and led by men with sense enough to ex-
press the interest Of that minority in terms
Of the interests of the whole nation. How
otherwise can minority cease to be a mi
nority with special problems?
GRAVE ERRORS
Thus think the March, On Washington
leadership is guilty of two grave errors at
a time when grave errors become disastrous
errors. They are failing to make it clear to
Negroes that their greatest enemy is Adolph
Hitler who thinks Negroes are sub-human
beasts; they are failing to emphasize our
stake in American democracy; they are fail
ing to point out that as minority group we