Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1942-10-09
FIGHTING FOR WHITE FOLKS?
By Horace R. CaytOn in the Nation for Sept. 26
Concluded from last weeks issue)

NSoncIuded 1fOr
Last year, in an article in Oppor
tunity, the writer made the follow
ing prophecy concerning the prob
lem of building Negro morale:
The problem of maintaining Ne
gro morale will increase in impor
lance as we move closer to the &C
tual war situation. 1t will doubt
less be met by the development Of
propaganda rather than by any
fundamental attempt to change the
Negroes social and economic posi-,
ton. The attempt to propagan,
die the Negro will be fumbling. II
will be fumbling because, to my
notion, it has not been necessary
before for Americans to spend
much time and energy meeting the
discomfort of large racial minor
ity.
This prediction has been pretty
we'll carried out. Some concrete
gains for the Negro are on record
the appointment of the Presi-
dents Committee on Fair Employ
ment Practices, the establishment
of an aviation unit at Tuskegee and
of a naval unit at the Great Lakes
Training Station Though they are
Jim Crow. These achievements,
however, have not done much to
improve Negro morale, for tradi-
tional American race feeling, plus
the fact that the national Admins
tration is supported in its foreign
policy by Congress controlled by
Southern politicians, has not only
maintained the Southern pattern of
rigid segregation but extended it to
many fields of social life in the
North. Rules of segregation have
frequently been enforced as a war
emergency where they did not OBJ
tain in civilian life before the war.
In the armed forces and to a
large extent in industry the Admin
istration has taken the position
that relaxation of the color line
would destroy the morale of the
majority group. What might be
considered the realistic white point
of view was expressed in a letter
from William A. Krauss, published
in Common Sense" last June. Re-
plying to an article by A. Clayton
Powell, Mr.. Krauss wrote:
think that very few white
Americans are made happy by the
knowledge that they-the major
ity - are discriminating against a
Negro minority. They will agree
up to the hilt with Mr.. Powell that
the condition is lamentable, but
they will not agree to what he
seems to be driving at: that is,
free, full, and cheerful social equal
ity for the American Negro.
Full social acceptance of the Ne
gro is an idea that simply doesn't
occur to the white majority. And
social acceptance means far more,
of course, than having the Negro
in for dinner or inviting him to join
the club. &. Whether in a model
world or model army this should or
should not be so is, obviously, I'M
profitable for me or for Mr.. Powell
to argue-the fact is that in the
United States today it is so. It can
not be otherwise, it will not be 9TH
erwise, while the majority see the
Negro as different.
The very acts which will insure
morale for one group may, it is
thought, destroy it for another. A
large group of white persons in
America do not wish to change the
position of the Negro. Just as
there is a feeling in the non-white
world that things are changing
that this is the time to press fol
gains, so there is a feeling among
whites that their position of domi.
nance is being challenged and that
they must resist any encroachment
on their prerogatives. The problem
of building Negro morale, there,
fore, is one of maintaining the col.
or line-which is considered neces.
sary for the morale of white sol.
diers, workers, and civilians-while
appeasing the rising Negro public
opinion with verbal and token gains
whenever the tension becomes to-
great. This difficult task is compli
Gated by the conflict between thos'