St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1942-07-24
Nine Thousand Cheer AS
Willkie Vigorously Attacks
American Race Prejudice

comes the contribution of every
one of it's citizens irrespective of
race, creed, color, or national
origin"
He scored those who cling to
their prejudices and thereby help
the enemy when he said, "Those
who will continue their prejudices
as usual, serve the cause of the
Axis as effectively - sometimes
more effectively-than the soldiers
of Hitler and Hirohito."
Mr.. White deplored the fact that
it is necessary to have such an or
ganization as the N. A. A. c. p,
when he said: "It is a sad COM
mentary on our nation that such
an organization as the N. A. A. G.
P. is necessary, or that meetings
like this one to protest against in
justice need to be held at time
like this. There are those in this
country who would rather see
America defeated than to surren-
der their bigotry.
"There are those who still would
bar thirteen million citizens be-
cause of the color of their skin
from helping America save itself.
There are those who ignore the
fact these thirteen million Ameri-
cans have never produced traitor
or saboteur. But the Negro main
tains, and will continue to main
tain, his faith in America and his
unquenchable belief in the ideals Of
democracy even though almost
daily he sees those ideals fouted
so far as the Negro himself is
concerned. It is our duty, and one
we will not shirk, to keep alive
that faith, while at the same time
we work to narrow the wide mar
gin between the ideal and the
practice Of democracy in the land
we love-"
After making a resume Of what
was being done to colored peoples
in other parts Of the world and cit
ing some recent incidents along the
color-line in America such as the
lynching in Texarkana and the
beating of Roland Hayes, interna-
tionally known singer, in Rome,
George, last week, Mr.. White
spoke about the faith and loyalty
of the Negro as follows: 81 some
times wonder why it should be so,
but, thank God, the Negroes faith
and loyalty continue to rest in the
American ideal of human decency.
Despite all the temptations to syn
icism and revenge the Negro has re-
sisted every attempt of Japanese or
other anti-American propaganda to
capitalize on the Negroes discon-
tent. The few exceptions have
been an infnitesimally small num-
Der of Negro racketeers whom we
of the N. A. A. C. P. repudiate and
condemn without reservation. We
continue to buy war bonds and we
are going to invest every penny we
can in them. We continue to fight
for the right to fight for democ-
racy. We loathe Hitler because
we have known in our land for
three centuries and more what ra-
cial bigotry like Hitler's means. We
hate the imperialism Of Japan just
as we hate that of the white ma
lions from which we have SUI
fered."
In strong and feeling tones the
speaker gave the battle cry of the
Negro and the N. A. A. G. p, in
the following words: eve are go
ing to. continue to raise our voices
and to use our organized strength
against Hitlerism in Nazi Ger
many, in Tokyo, in Mississippi land
he could have said Minnesota), in
Washington, D. c., and in Los An
geles, California. We are going to
continue to work with the forces
of enlightenment in the desperate
struggle to overcome the head start
the forces Of greed and intoler-
ance have gained"
In his closing remarks, Mr..
White showed that he had not per-
mitted himself to become bitter
nor pessimistic over the outlook
when he declared, "The picture is
not all dark. Many of our branches
have doubled their membership
during the year, as in Detroit
where they have to date more than
$4,000 members. Some of our
faint hearted friends have, under
pressure, gone back on their brave
words of the days Of peace. But
their loss has been more than COM
pensated for by the raising Of
strong, clear voices like those of
Wendell Willlie, Pearl Buck, Mrs,