The Detroit tribune. (Detroit, Mich.) 1935-1966, 1943-04-24

conditioned by the striyings OF
science and civilization We must
dear here with the long trailing
black sense OF guilt stemming
from that wrong a sense 81 guilt
which sclf-interest and fear would
ROT let us atone. And we must
deal here with the hot blasts OF
late engendered in others by that
first wrong and then the mon
sirohs and horrible crimes flow
ing from that hate. hate which
has seeped down into the hearts
and nodded the deepest and most
delicate sensibilities OF multi
tudes.
We must deai here with dis
location OF life involving millions
Of people, dislocatlon so vast
rs 10 stagecr the imarInaiion SO
iraughf with tragic consequences
IS 70 make US rather MT want 10
look az II or think % IL: so old
that We would rather try to view
y ms an order Of nature and
strive with uneasy conscience and
false moral fcrvor 70 keep It so.
We must deal here on both
sides OF the fence. among whites
as we'll as blacks, among workers
as we'll as employers, with men
and women In whose minds there
Icon good and bad OF such height
ehd weight that they assume pro-
portions OF abnormal aspect and
construction. When situations Ike
this arise. instead OF men feeling
that they are facing other men,
they feel that they are facing
mountains. floods. seas; forces Of
nature whose size and strength
focus the minds and emotions 10
degree 81 tension unusual IN The
culet routine OF urban life Yet
this tension exists within tho lin
its OF urban life. undermining II
md supporting II in the same ges-
ture OF being.
ALLOW me. Your Honor. before
proceed TO cast blame and ask
mercy. 10 state emphatically that
| do not claim that this hoy is a
Victim OF Injustice. nor do I ask
mat this Court be sympathetic
with him That IS not my object
in embracing his character and
his cause II IS nor 10 tell you
only OF suffering that stand
here today. even though there are
frequent lynchines and flogeines
Of Negroes throughout the coun-
Try II you react only to that
part 81 what say. then you. are
caught as much as he in the mirc
OF blind emotion. and this vicious
game viii roll on. like bloody
river TO bloodier sea. Let us
Danish from our minds the thought
that this is an unfortunate victim
~ Injustice. The very concept Of
Injustice rests upon a premise
Of equal claims. and this hoy here
today makes no claim upon you
~ You think or feel that he does.
then you too. are blinded by a
feeling as terrible as that which
YOU condemn in him. and without
a. much Justification. The feel
ing OF guilt which has caused all
Of the mob-fear and moh-hysteria
IS the counterpart OF his own
bate
Rather, I plead with you to
see mode Of life IN our midst,
mode OF life stunted and dis
sorted. but possessing rs own
laws and claims. an existence OF
n,en growing out OF the soil pre-
pared by the collective but blind
will be a hundred pillion people.
I beg TO recognize human life
draped in q form and guise alien
10 ours. but sprineing from a soil
plowed and sown by all our
Lands. ask you TO recognize the
laws and the processes flowing
from such condition. understand
them, seek TO change them. II we
dc none OF these. then We should
not pretend horror or surprise
when thwarted life expresses VI
SELF in fear and hate and crime.
This Is life. new and strange;
strange. because we fear IT, new,
because We have kept our eyes
turned from Il This Is life lived
I'm crampcd limits and expressing
Itself not IN terms OF our good
and bad. but in terms OF its own
fulfiIment. Men are men and life
Is life. and we must deal win
them as they are: and II we want
10 change them. We must deal
with them In the form In which
they exist and have their being.
"Your Honor. | must still speak
" general terms, for the back
around OF this boy must be shown
background which has acted
powerfully and Importantly upon
his conduct. Our forefathers came