The Detroit tribune. (Detroit, Mich.) 1935-1966, 1943-05-08

but denied the objects and chan
nels evolved through long centuries
for their socialized expression. ev-
cry movement of his body is an
unconscious protest Every desire,
every dream, no matter how init
mate or personal. is a plot or a
conspiracy Every hope is plan
for insurrection Every glance OF
the eye is threat. His very ex-
istence Is crime against the state:
IT so happened that that night
white girl was present IN bed
and Negro boy was standing over
her. fascinated with fear. hating
her blind woman walked into the
room and that Negro boy killed
thar girl to keep from being disco,-
cred in position which he knew
we claimed warrants the death
penalty. But that is only one side
Of lt' He was impclled toward MUIR
der as mach through the thirst for
excitement eNuliaiion and citation
az he was through fear, II was his
his way OF living!
Your Honor in our blindness
we have SO contrived and ordered
The lives Of men that The moths in
their hearts fluiter toward ehoul-
ish and incomprehensibl flames
~ have not explained the rela-
iionship Of Bessie Mcars 70 this
BOY. ! have not forgotten her.
omitted TO mention her until now
because she was largely omitted
from The consciousness OF Bigger
Thomas His relationship to this
poor black girl also reveals his re-
lationship to tho world But Bigger
Thomas is not here on trial for
having murdered BESSIE Mears
And he knows that Wha, does this
mean Docs not the life Of Ne
gro girl mean as much in the eyes
OF the law as the life OF white
girl? Yes. perhaps in the abstract.
But under the stress Of fear and
flight, Bigger Thomas did not think
Of Bessie lie could not. The atti-
tude Of America toward this hoy
regulated his most intimate deal
ings with his own kind After he
had killed Mary Dalton he killed
Bessie Mears 10 silence her. TO save
himself After he had killed Mary
Dalton The fear OF having killed a
white woman filled him 20 the ex-
clusion OF everything else He
could not react 10 Bessie's death:
his consciousness was determined
by The fear that hung above him.
But one might ask. did he not
love Bessie was she not his girl?
Yes she was his girl tie had TO
have girl, so he had BESSIE But,
he did not love her Is love possi-
Bile to the life OF man I've de-
scribed 10 this Court? Lei us see
Love is not based on sex alone. and
that is all he had with Bessie. lie
wanted more. but the circumstances
Of his life would not allow Il. And
the temperament OF both Bigger
and Bessie kept e out Love grows
rom stable relationships. shared
experience. loyalty, devotion, trust.
Neither Bigger nor BESSIE had any
of these what was there they
could hope for? There was no com
mon hope steering their feet I'm a
common path Even though they
We're intimately together, they were
confoundingly alone They we're
physically dependent upon each
other and they hated that depen-
dence. Their brief moments to-
ge,her were for purposes OF sex.
They loved each other as much as
they hated each other: perhaps
they hated each other more than
they loved. Sex warns the deep
roots OF life it is the soil out OF
which the tree grows. But these
were trees without roots, trees that
lived by the light OF the sun and
what chance rain that fell upon
stony ground Can dsembodied
spirits loye2 There existed between
them fitful splurges Of physical
citation: that's all
'Your Honor. is this boy alone
in feeling deprived and baffledg
Il he an exception or are there
others? There are others, Your
Honor millions OF others, Negro
and white, and that Is what makes
our future seem a looming image
OF violence. The feeling OF resent
ment and the baked longing for
some kind OF fulfiIment and exul-
tation-in degrees more or less in
tense and in actions more or less
conscious stalk day by day
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