The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1943-07-03
WHO DID 1T?

useless controversy is taking place among ou
leaders over the issue Of who or what was respon
sibe for the racial clash last week that established
new record for American savagery. Any analyst:
of the forces at work in this community and the
most cursory review of the elements of our popu.
laton will reveal enough dynamite to blow us to
bits. To single out any one specific factor and IN
sst that it alone caused the riot is to overlook some
very important aspects of our situation and to be
guilty of undue over-simpl fication
We have long warned that there are active pro-
fascists in Detroit whom you may label Klansmen or
what you will and that these pro-fascist elements
must be routed for the common good. 1t is naive
to believe that this important arsenal has no
fifth-columnists. Hitler knows how important local
war industries are to the Of the United Ma
TONS and, if he doesn't, he is bigger fool than any
of us dare hope at this juncture.
Further we all know that forhundreds of years
before Hitler anti-Negro sentiment has been woven
into the social fabric of American life We know
that one of the worst manifestations of that anti
Negro sentiment is the unwrtten Jim crow law which
serves to Cypress Negroes and to place a wrought
iron ceiling over Negro development and progress
While most of the repressive measures against us
created in the Southland, the North has rapidly
adopted these measures in order to solve the prob
lens created by the influx of coored families from
Dixie
Another important aspect of this picture is the
phenomenal rise of the Negro people themselves
Actually we have made progress faster than the
dominant group has been prepared to expect. The
comforting illusion Of many whites that Negroes
were really inferior has been knocked into a cock
hat and they see today that if the Negro is really
given opportunit es he will take adequate and some
times extraordinary advantage Of them. The truth
is breaking in upon the mind Of white America that
the colored Americans are proving the democratic
axiom that all men are created equal. Many whites
hate to be robbed of their cherished illusions.
Given this state of affairs, we must take note
of the tremendous implications of this great and
how they affect the status quo of relations The
very character of this war war for freedom, for
democracy, for liberation - has of necessity pro-
duced profound changes in our own thinking and
has accelerated the hopes Of all of US for a new
America and even a new world.
Two apparently irresistible forces meeting
in our society and the democratic forces are chaleng
ing the forces Of reaction. This is what is meant
when we refer to the World War as a world revo-
luton. The increased tension between Negroes and
some elements in the white population which results
in rioting is manifestation of the deep conflict
between democracy and fascism. From this point
of view we cannot dismiss the Detroit riot as.
queer accident, as some fluke of circumstance and
common sense alone dictates that we think this
thing through and act with reason rather than
with our natural promptings.
If the democratic forces do not succeed in crush
ing reaction in America it will not be Negroes alone
who will be victmized but rather democracy itself
will be undone. Those white people who sincerely
w sh to preserve and promote democracy, and there
are many of them, must Join hands with the Negro
people in their crusade for freedom and they must
do it quickly If the Negro is pushed off the Amer-
can stage and isolated in American society," the time
will not be far distant when tyranny shall prevail
and this noble experiment called democracy which
was conceived by our forefathers will end in abect
failure.
1t is very difficult to state an unpleasant fact
pleasantly and we shall not even try. The time is
at hand for all of those who want democracy in
America to recognize the enemies of democracy and
to eliminate them forthwith. The great beauty of