The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1943-05-08
HITLER OPENS SPRING OFFENSIVE
IN DETROIT

srlt the New York Times in its April %, 1913, issue
editorialized as follows: Beaten, cornered ana
thrown on the defensive the military 'front.' Hitler
has displayed an often underestimated versatility by
opening up spring offensive on anotner 1roht =
the propaganda front 1t is the only front on whlch
he can still move freely and it is on this front that
he is now concentrating in the frantic effort TO stave
off defeat Moreover on this front he has just been
able to score an important victory.
The stooges of Hitler in America no less than
the minions of der fuehrer in Europe must drive
wedge between the peoples of the democracles now
or face utter ruin in The near future. By the simple
trick of Wrestling the allegiance of the American peo-
ple from the basic tenet of the democratic faith
the right of every citizen to lfe liberty and the pur-
suit of happiness - the enemy can conquer us from
within while the nation remains impregnable from
without Hitler is using his in the hole to de-
stroy this democracy and that is racial prejudice
The Double-Cr0ss
On Thursday, April %, 1913, the Negro and
white liberal leadership of Detroit appeared before
the Detroit Housing Commission and pettioned that
body to drop the color bar in local war housing prof.
ects and adopt policy of first come, first served
Because of the absence Of two commissioners, the
housing body voted to have second hearing before
the full commission and invited the petitioners TO
return with additional facts to support their appeal
On the scheduled date April 49, 1943 the petitioners
appeared for the second hearing before the full com
mission. AS the first order of business communi-
cation was read which revealed that the Mayor OF
Detroit and majority of the Common Council the
supreme heads of our municipal government, had
voted in secret meeting, four hours prior to the
hearing to instruct the Detroit Housing Commission
TO reject the plea Of the Negro citizens, With one
dissenting vote, the Housing Commission imme-
dately voted to concur in the recommendation OF
the Mayor and the Common Council The die was
cast The Negro leaders and the liberal whites who
had come at the invitation of the Commission to
present their case stood as if before closed door,
deceived and double-crossed.
The Motive
Why did our city fathers pass this brazen reso-
luton to defeat the ends Of democracy? They know
well that racial barriers in public housing violate the
Constitution of the United States that these bar
rers repudate the aims of this world war, that they
deny the rights of man. They know that the walls of
the black ghettos of Detroit must crumbe before the
determined upsurge of people fighting to be free.
They know that those who oppose the full citizen
ship of any minority in this democracy are playing
into the hands of the enemy. They must know too
that this war can be lost in Detroit well as in
Berlin. Can it be that they fear the ends for which
this war is being fought for which the sons OF all
of us are facing Nazi cannon?
The Voice of Munich
In lame defense of the position of the city gov
ernment the Detroit Free Press in an editorial on
May /, 1913, echoes the warning of Lincoln that
house divided against itself cannot stand The Negro
people ask who is dividing the house today? The
editorial states that "these not normal times"
and indicates that the time is not ripe for democracy
in Detroit. Lincoln heard such specious counsel in
1864 but he freed the slaves to win his war. If we
continue to extend and perpetuate evil what hope
is there for the sanctity of the future? In world
wide against fascism, asked to stand still
until it has taken firmer root on native soil?
Shall we leave the blazing fire upon our own thresh
old to wait until have put out the flames in the
house of our neighbor?
Freedoms Voice
The Free Press suggests that we Negroes ask
ourselves what our heroes of the past might do in
this impasse today. We take that suggestion
and listen again to the immortal message of Crispus
Attacks on Boston Common, of Frederick Douglass
and Soourner Truth, of all the heroes the black and
white ones too, who fought for the freedom that
enabled Carver and Booker T. Washington to live
and work beyond the pale of chattel slavery. Yes
hon Lofn L. Al