St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1943-11-19

groeS | have received swift
reply from Mr.. Ernest Edwin
Carter of Atlanta in the fol-
lowing letter:
Dear Mr.. Carter:
"Had your ideas for your column
deserted you, and you called upon
fancy to supply you in the guise Of
truth with something to write? Or
do you have some feeling of in
adequacy that you had to cOmpen-
safe for by striking down your
brother who is in a much less con-
spicuOus calling than yours? We
would have an affirmative answer
to these questions rather than to be-
lieve that your ignorance would be
so pronounced after all of your con-
facts, travels and exposure to ed
ucatiOn. 1t is hard for us to really
get the real purpose back of your
article.
"Have you strayed by reason Of
a few advantages from the herd
(yOur race) that you feel compelled
to crush rather than uplift by your
influence. There could be a moral
in your story but it is 50 obviously
fabricated that the moral is lost
and the mass of unsupported evil
dence.
"Now, Mr.. Carter as a group of
Negroes we resent the attack that
you have made upon the Red Caps
of Atlanta. Granting you that there
are Red Caps incompetent as there
are writer's of columns who do the
Negro more harm than good. There
has never been a car No. 314 lower
berth No. l leaving Atlanta for
New York. You lent color if not
truth to your description of the Ne
grO's dialect Wizard you git dat
ticket?' Your response was heated
enough according to your account
but if the ignorant Negro of whom
you write placed your bag without
a retOrt certainly shows that if he
did not have dignity he had self
control.
'There is nothing, now, about
you Mr.. Carter so different from
the many Negroes that ride pull
mans every day that would cause
one of these ignorant Red Caps to
run to white man and point at you
with awe? Or is there? Probably
your friend would have done you
an added favor if he had secured
for you by magic along with your
lower berth a little information
about the segregation laws and At
lanta. Don't mistake us we are not
approving the law and neither do
we feel called upon to break it.
Not even for you.
eve like column writer's who so
forget self that they try to build
up and stimulate the Negro to bet
ter ways of living rather than de-
strOying what little moral a Negro
has in meeting his every day prob
lens.
by (signed Ernest Edwin
Carter,
Red Cap No. 22)."
I have it that Mr.. Carter is hot
under the collar. am sorry that
he is hot at me rather than the
condition which I described. It may
be that since the particular incident
which I related occurred type of
red cap mentioned has been elimi-
mated from the service. If this
is true I am gratifed. I forgive
Mr.. Carter for his personal attack.
He is like many people who indulge
in discussions. In the absence of
valid argument they resort to viii
fication. One thing about his letter,
however, gives me great concern
and that is the sentence Probably
your friend would have done you an
added favor if he had secured for
you by magic along with your
lower berth, little information
about the segregation laws in At
lanta."
I might say that one doesn't have
to invoke magic to learn about
segregation in Atlanta or anywhere
else in the South and many places
in the North. It hits you right
smack in the teeth when the train
pulls out Of Washington, or Gin
cinnati or st. Louis. The purpose
of segregation is to perpetuate in
the Negro the sense Of inferiority.
And segregation achieves that pur-
pose when the Negro himself feels
that he must treat other Negroes
differently than he treats white
people. That is its greatest danger.
I have ridden in Jim Crow Cars in
Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Ken
lucky, Arkansas and outside of a
little discomfort was not much the
worse off physically. But if Ne