The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1943-11-13
THE DETROIT NEWS

Sunday on Negroes Progress Since 1870 presents
q perfect illustration Of the widespread need for
greater knowledge Of the facts OF Negro lie IN
America. After recounting the remarkable record
of the race since 1870 the News stated This prog
ress has not been made, we sure, by combative
tactics wasted on social discrimination, largely OF
academic interest, such monopolize the attention
of so many presentday Negro leaders and the Negro
Press 1t is owed rather to the general Improvement
of the Negroes own status to his progress as above
noted in the professions, in land and home owner
ship etc"
To the unthinking and to those who are ignorant
of the facts of our group Development these state
ments in the Detroit News may have the appearance
of good judgment. The Detroit News, however,
ignores the cruel fact that for three quarters of
century the Negro leaders and the Negro Press have
had and still have to struggle with all their might to
open the doors for the Negro masses to obtain the
opportunities to become professional workers, home
owners and what have YOU They have had to go
to court to open schools to members of the race,
and some of them even in the North are still closed
to Negro students. Negro leaders and the Negro
Press have to exert all their moral and legal force
today to make land and homes available to Negro
purchasers.
Does the Detroit News remember the Lloyd
Gaines case in Missouri only three years ago which
resulted in Supreme court decision requiring all
states to provide professional training for Negroes
Has the Detroit News forgotten the Sweet Case?
What about the Garfield school teacher who is won
dering now as this is written whether he will be
able to stay in home he bought two weeks ago? Is
the Detroit News familiar with the struggle of Me-
gro leaders and the Negro Press to open the doors
of war industries to Negro war workers which has
been going on right here in Detroit ever since Pearl
Harbor?
What the Detroit News should have said is
that no race in history has taken better advan
tage of the limited opportunities available to them
than the Negro people. Further the Negro leaders
and the Negro Press have worked heroicaly in CO.
operation with equally courageous white liberals to
bring these opportunities to the Negro masses with
which they have improved the status of the race.
We can agree with the Detroit News when it
states that 'The Negro should insist uncompromis-
ingly on equality of economic opportunity which is
the key to improving his general status" This is
exactly what the Negro leaders and the Negro Press
are doing and this is also the very that both
are so severely criticized by such organs as the
Detroit News today. The simple truth is that as
we press for better jobs housing, educational oppor
tufties ETC., the Klanfascists deliberately distort
the issues to prove that Negroes want to hob-nob
with white socialites.
and limit the opportunities of the Negro people is
segregation or jim Crowism. In the South particu-
lary this technique has been used with success
to keep Negroes out of competition, economically and
otherwise with the rest of the American people, The
Negro leaders and the Negro Press are determined
to prevent the spread of this evil which inevitably
results in gross njustices. The Negro wants fair
and democratic chance in America to do the best he
can for himself and for his country. We con-
WINGED that We cannot have two nations in one, a
black nation and a white nation; and we hold that
there is no such thing as black justice and white
justice There is only justice or injustice and the
whole civilized world today is weary of injustice.
If, as the Detroit News admits, the Negro people
have made record of solid accomplishment, of
which the race may be proud, and which furnishes
a guide to further achievement" why then is it
necessary to put ceiling on his progress? Why
should Negro workers be denied up-gradng or skilled
employment for which they are trained and quail
fled? Why should Negro boys be barred from ad-
vancement in certain branches of the armed services
particularly in the Navy? Why should Negroes who
have the money be denied the right to buy property?
. WHY are Negro girls not accented in the Wayes7