The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1943-08-28
FEATURES
nh HHD0 NN Third hstanmen From Pearl S Bucks Book
IL ~ IL DO N ''What America Means To Me"

and clear action now for freedom
for all will make amends for the
denials Of freedom in the past. But
Il must be action and not promise
Of after the war; Even our friends
and allies. the Chinese. are cynica!
about those promises. The truth is,
we have carried promises 10 the
limits OF absurdity. Let US make
no more-let us act 10 make good
our true intention. Only thus can
revenge be forgotten.
But when we have acted, when
we have set free. so far as IS in our
power. the peoples OF the East. need
we be afraid? The white race is in
the minority in the world. Need We
fear the colored peoples am per-
haps the last person 70 answer the
question for l cannot understand
such fear. have lived almost all
my life. sometimes entirely solitary
in great communities OF non white
peoples, all the time nearly solitary.
and / have seen nothing 10 fear
among those peoples. They are
more amaiable. more laughter
owing. more kindly in personal
ways. than the white peoples are
Their minds are not filled with con-
slant thoughts OF conquest. We say
continually TO ourselves as ! heard
an American say the other day tina.
"somebody must be TOP dog. and
We Had better be IT," But the man OF
the East who has his own faults and
cruelties. is not continually think
ing in terms OF conquest and top
dog II he is not more benev olent
than We are, at leas. he is equally
so.
We need these days 70 give Up
our absurd fears OF the Oriental.
Occidental is as fearsome a word
in the East and yet they are only
two words. and colors are only
colors. Human beings in the East
proport!onate.y are as good and as
Just. as human beings are IN the
West. II they have not organized
justice in the way that we have In
our modern forms, their hearts and
practices are the same. see no
better men here in my own coun-
Try than I saw in China or India
and no worse.
And Il is to be remembered that
out Of the East have come our deep
est religions and PHILOSOPHERS.
Christ was an Oriental. even as
Confucius was. and Buddha, and
j, was in the Near East that the
| springs for the Renaissance in Eu-
rope were found. II may be in the
East again that we will find once
more those springs, II today We can
take advantage Of our great oppor-
tunity to convince the peoples there
Of our sincerity in wanting them to
have freedom. freedom from domi-
nation by our race. by our empires
II when our domination is with
drawn they fall into subsection tf
others, that is not our fault and
they must struggle free Of those
TOO. and We ought to help in that
struggle. IL We believe in freedom
Nothing but good to US will come
out of an East that is free. Ruler
and subject. governor and governed.
must not be the human relations
/ between East and West. Coopera-
! ton can be the relation. il We are
willing to make il so. And We ought
/ 10 give the great civilizations OF me
East their chance now. for they are
based upon the primary importance
Of human relationships, a notion
strange TO US. but which for all that
may hold the key to the future.
Our own record for the last three
centuries in the West is damning
enough.
The simple necessity today is to
accept the fact that the real war
IS about freedom ard 10 declare
that freedom is a na;ura, right and
that the peoples shall be free And
what is freedom? Simply ths: al
shall be considered equal as hu'
man beings; that there is to be nc
! further subsection OF peoples by
peoples or races by races. Tha. i:
what the East means BY freedom
The West must mean K, 100.
So simple statement, so s;raiS ht
forward an action, would swing th'
millions OF the East. yes and those
Still not free in the West, 70 on
side. Then Hitler could not Win b,
guile and Japan could not WIN By
arms. The peoples longing FOR free
dom would swarm TO our standard
II We made tina. standard Freedom
And that vast dim shape Of To
morrow-we would Tot need 10 fea
il any more.
But Of course we would have 4
mean what We said, That :, W
must, first, really want a. people
!. to be free.
THE END
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