The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1943-08-21
THE FAMOUS REPORT

i The historian Of tomorrow upon examining the
propaganda material of this war period Will 1nd
at least one official document in the archives OF
Michigan which he will be able to place in the same
pieeon-hole with the ant-semitic white papers" of
Berlin. While the Nazi documents prove that
Jews were responsible for the pogroms OF Munich
the Michigan document will prove that the Ne
groes were responsible for the pogrom of June ~
q in Detroit In each instance the victims of disaster
have been found guilty Of their own undong. Fur
Their the official documents serve in both cases to
encourage bigger and bloodier pogroms.
This Michigan document, the report Of the Gov
errors Fact Finding Committee, purports to prove
that Negroes were responsible for the Detroit riot
"A cory array Of alleged facts has been dressed up
in this report to give it that flavor of authenticity
which fools the unsuspectng and confuses the faint
hearted The factual basis of this famous document
is derived from the reports of the police on what hap
pened the day of the riot. Case after case of al
legged Negro aggression is cited until the reader
begins to see leering black monster stalking across
the pages of the report eager to seize the throat
of persons with white skins What about these po-
lice reports? Indeed, what about the police?
The N.AACP. has assembled sworn affidavts
from scores of eye-witnesses which tell far dill
ferent story. They have charged that in many IN
stances the police made common cause with the
white hoodlums. Can we believe without question
the reports of the police the events of Sunday,
June 20 on Belle Isle? Even Commissioner Wither-
spoon will admit that some members of his depart
ment have 'the wrong point of view
The cardinal crime, however, of the Negro
people in Detroit is their insistence on equality,
cording to this report 1t is alleged that some Negro
leaders and the yellow" Negro Press have preached
this dangerous" doctrine and urged the masses to
be militant in the struggle for its fulfillment. By
taking news items out Of their proper context the
committee has sought to prove its case against the
Negro Press. By similar procedure passages could
be taken out of the Holy Bible which would make
the Scriptures equally inflammatory. AS matter
of fact if the committee had read the Bible, their
report would have repudiated the principle of the
brotherhood of man as an Indictment for oppressed
Negroes to riot.
If advocacy of equality is.a crime, our founding
fathers must be the first to plead guilty. We take
our stand with those who wrote in the Declaration
of independence, 1--WE hold these truths to be self
evident that all created equal that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienablt
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the
Pursuit Of Happiness"
But the report of the Governors Fact Finding
Committee will win Immortality not for what il
said but for what it did not say. The fact that five
officials of the state of Michigan should investigate
the riot of June 20 and brush aside the hate strikes
the sums jim crow practices, police brutality the
infringement of civil liberties and the countless
attacks upon our citizenship is beyond belief. The
fact that the Khan, the Black Legion and front or
gan cations which have been active for years in the
business by Systematically robbng the Negro OF hi!
birthright, have all been dismissed as of no conse
uuence in racial tensions in this clearly demon
strates that these officials are either stupid dis
honest
Mr.. Bowling and his colleagues have taken theil
stand. They view with alarm the aspirations Of the
Negro people for an equal break in America Be
cause Klan-minded whites are willing to resort tt
mob violence to keep the Negro lin his place." they
contend that the Negro who wants to advance is
melting to riot We who are moving up the broa6
stream of democracy, living up to all the response
bilities Of citizenship, defending the ideals of thi:
great country at home and abroad know full vel
that Mr.. Bowling and his friends have put the shoe
on the wrong foot.
/ CALL THE DOCTOR