Askov American., 1943-07-08
Respecting One
Another

Negroes have been in the United
States nearly as long as have the
white people. They constitute about
10 per cent of our entire population
and they are here to stay.
Only 78 years removed from slav-
cry, they have, with the understand
ing and help of others, done Won
derful job of swinging themselves
up. They have great educators,
scientists, poets, orators, singers,
musicians, and often they excel in
athletics and other endeavors. Given
the opportunity they advance like
others. Their strides from slavery
and illiteracy to their present day
status is nothing short of marvellous.
Serving America as citizens, they
desire to be regarded and treated as
such. They do not want to be just
"tolerated"-though that is some
thing when race prejudices runs to
riot, it is protection-but as all in
dividualS they desire respect for what
they are and who they are, respect
for their feelings, for their hopes and
aspirations.
Mobs do not think. Let us all put
ourselves in the place of the helpless
minority and remind ourselves of
what must be done to prevent such
disgraceful clashes as those in Texas,
California and the most recent one
in Detroit, Mich.
Cecil E. Newman, editor of the
Minneapolis Spokesman, a colored
peoples newspaper, penned an ex-
cellent editorial under the heading
of "America Must Face the Issue
which is reproduced here in part:
"The lessons of the disgraceful
Detroit race riots are many: but the
chief lesson is that America, with
all its great accomplishments, has
not yet evolved realistic solution
of the problem of race relations.
Every government agency which
has attempted constructive plan or
established a race relations bureau
has been made target of the rotten
bunch of domestic fascists of the
south who practically run our ma
tional law-making bodies. These
poll-tax beneficiaries say that the
Negro is satisfied with his status
why should either the military or the
civil authorities spend money on race
relations programs? Departments
faced with budget slashes from such
sources capitulate and remove from
sight Negro advisers, and with them
goes constructive interracial planning
Unified strength which should be
directed towards vanquishing our
common enemies, the Nazis and Japs,
is dissipated by interracial misunder-
standings. The foreign fascists laugh
as American whites and Negroes riot
and fight with one another Civilian
treatment of Negro soldiers in south
ern communities is still bad and
clashes between civilian police and
colored soldiers increase. Singularly
the most recent outbreak between
white and Negro soldiers at Camp
Stewart, Georgia, resulted in the loss
of lives of white soldiers.
Failure to face the issues squarely
by the leaders of the country, not the
Vaccinations of Nazi agents, is the
real cause of the series of recent
outbreaks which were climaxed by
the bloody Detroit disorder. If the
practice of racial discrimination, per-
secution, lynchings and beatings had
been dealt with by state and national
governments long ago, the Nazi agents
would have no vulnerable points al
which to strike.
''If the wartime government hao
insisted that war industry open its
doors to all instead of closing them
to Negroes, riots like the one ir
Detroit would have less chance o1
occurring. If every effort of Negroe:
to become good, reliable citizens hac
been encouraged rather than dis
couraged, if governmental authority
had moved along the road to full re-
sponsibility for the enforcement o.
the constitution, much of the anarchy
in Detroit which law abiding, decen
men and women deplore, would no
today be shouting at us from the
headlines and pages of the newspa.
pers. Detroit has shown conclusively
what may happen when intolerance
fed by repression and bigotry art
allowed to run rampant.
"The United States of Americ;
must face the unalterable fact tina
along with winning the war it mus
safeguard it's domestic existence by
solving the so-called race problem