Arkansas State press. [volume] (Little Rock, Ark.) 1941-1959, 1943-07-30
EDITORIALS VIEWS REVIEWS

business district OF Atlanta and Baltimore and Philadelphia
ana bullMo aud Cleveland and birmingham and Detroit
ana Los Angeles and Montgomery and Pttsburg and Co.
uabus, ONO III other Words II looks like hell For the
most part Tie establishments down, dlapIdated
thPAhled, III bad repair with atrocOus lettering on un-
washed windows, ana within Il you see through the
windows the same condition exists.
Is the Negro inferior! Or not not potentially
bGt the Negro too often acts INFERIOR lives inferior and
piles up on his own accord tremendous burden so that
1t difficult to reduce the shock OF difference by which
white people defend their prejudices,
know that Negro business as rule is not highly
prosperous but certainly it is prosperous enough to seek
the improvement which little paint and soap and water
can give it. In the City of New York there is Board of
Trade and suppose there are similar organizations
posed Of coored business and in every large
American city And to these organizations offer the out
line of plan for the improvement of the appearance of
business establishments IN the so-caed coored Of
our cities realize the plan cannot be put in operation
until after the war but its preliminary phases be start
cd now.
My plan for New York City is a mass renovation for
Seventh Lenox and Eighth Avenue between 125th Street
and l35h Street committee from the Board of Trade
could secure pledge from each stable business which has
bsen IN existence three or more years that Immediately
after the war he will renoyae his place of business. This
committee should confer with the landlords banks hold,
ing mortgages and the Post War Planning Committee o.
the city, state and federal government in order arrange
TO help the business man or woman who cannot afford the
cash outlay for complete renovation that he might
range to pay the cost in insalments.
special committee Of architects should be organized
to make plan plans for this wholesale renovation so
that each merchant will have the benefit of advice to the
most economical and effective way improve his business
establishment 1t should be possible to secure the coopea-
ton of contracting firms pledged to employ Negroes give
overall figure of the cost of painting plasterng
plate glass windows and modern fronts under the drec-
ton of this committee And then the windows of some
of the vacant Seventh Eighth and Lenox Avenues
there should be placed sample window displays changed
every week so that the merchant on the Avenue be he
Jew, Italian Negro be instructed how to display
his wares artisticay and effectively.
There will of course be some bull-headed ones who
won't cooperate and who want their establishments look
like pig sty But they won't be able to survive and conf
pete with the establishments that dress up and are ara
i've in appearance This committee could go to te
operators of the Hotel Teresa in the City of New York
which sadly in need of renovation and attempt to per
suade them to do sand blasting job and painting of the
balcony and the window trim the outside although hoy
to keep of the guests from sitting in the windows
their underwear might prove difficult problem.
What will happen to us after the is a question
hear everywhere Well you don't have to guess The answer
is mystery We will be discharged from defense jobs
by the thousands will also be discharged from most
of the other jobs able to get because of the W
There will be hundreds of thousands of out of work!
We sing the blues and look for Relief but Relief
won't be good before the war Or we can sit
down and plan to do something that will not only help
absorb the shock of unemployment but will raise us in the
esteem Of those who shun because different.