The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1943-08-21


column, The Commentator in the
Detroit News last Thursday.
FACT FINDING COMMITTEE
The Governors Fact Finding
committee was directed by Gov
Kelly TO answer three questions
II has answered them in accordance
with the available evidence. and in
the light OF that evidence il has
answered them correctly.
The committee was not asked
however, TO 60 behind the evidence;
and insofar as it did so, in the third
part OF its report, it directed its
main attention TO three factors
none OF them basic. This probably
was due TO the fact that the four
members Of the committee are all
peace officers. II the committee had
included a historian and a sociolo-
gist. the tone OF Part III might
we'll have been quite different.
The three nonbasic factors men,
toned by the committee are:
/ The attitude OF the Negro press
2. The attitude OF the National
Association for the Advancement
Of Colored People.
3. The proportion OF crimes COM
mittcd in Detroit by whites and
Negroes.
UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS
The attitude Of the Negro press,
charged by the committee with
beating the drums OF racial pre-
JUDGE, inequality. intolerance and
discrimination, is due simply to the
fact that such prejudice. inequality
intolerance and discrimination
exist. The white press has been in
clined to ignore the existence Of
these things They are uncomfort.
able questions. 1t adopts the same
attitude toward them which it for.
merly adopted toward the labor
movement. The Commentator re-
members coal strikes in Kentucky
and West Virginia and steel strikes
in Pennsylvania in which inquirinG
reporters were told TO get to he'll
out OF there, because the owners
were going TO handle affairs in
their own way; and the press took
il lying down, in the most coward
~ fashion. A few courageous
weeklies OF small circulation dared
tell the truth. The attitude Of
The white press on the question Of
color is. not so pusillanimous: Il
does discuss the matter from time
to time. But its general policy Is
to prefer to let sleeping dogs lie
until open strife develops. and i
is compelled 10 think about the
situation.
When a lynching occurs, thC
white press reports it in few
lines; it is an inflammatory topic
likely to arouse not only Negroes
but Northern whites against South
ern whites. But the Negro feel!
directly concerned; it is another
instance Of inequality and intoler'
ance. and therefore the Negro pres!
reports il in full. Similarly witt
instances OF police discrimination
and other examples OF unfair treat
mcnt., The Negroes feel they have
a good case. and they build il uE
with recurring evidence. Nobody
else Is going to do il for them. They
are the people Immediately con
cerned.
The charge is that the Negro pres!
no: only reports such incidents. bu
takes an inflammatory editorial az
ti.ude. That. the Commentator sub
mits. is natural. But il is also un
wise. The Negro can accomplish
nothing by force. in countr'
where he constitutes but one-.cntl
OF the population. An attempt e
do so merely solidifes the white
against him. not only because o
the racial line OF separation. bu
because the use OF violence is con
;rary TO law. and the majority Il
in favor OF the law when il is or
he majority's side.
The Commentator finds, TO hi
surprise, the Pittsburgh Courier
mentioned with two Detroit Negro
newspapers. He knows little sbou'
the local sheets, but he is familiar
with the Courier. II the commit.
ZEE had studied it, it would have
found that its writer's constantly
denounce hoodlumis.l and holligsn.