The Detroit tribune. (Detroit, Mich.) 1935-1966, 1943-08-28
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT

Say Mr. White American with the superior race
phoba. how many OF your great-ereat grandparents
can you name? Have you got list OF these IL peo-
pie who your ancestors four generations
ago say about 1923. allowing 80 years to genera
tion? II you can't get line on all &c. how about
u or 10 even eight
And among those you canf account for how do
you know one or more weren't black people Tor is
it not true that what you call Negroes have been
living in America long before the Revolutionary War.
often Ilacticng misgcgenation openly than is
customary today? And is 1t equally true that
Negroes lived In Europe for centuries, that black
Africans conquered and settled in Spain and the
Mediterranean nations and Influenced the culture
and civilization OF those countries hundreds % years
ago?
In other words what proof have you got that a
mere 100 years past you didn't have black ancestors
eihnooeically kin TO the people you Try to throttle
today2 How do you know. wise guy tina, you are
not jim growing your cousin?
And to you who proudly trace your ancestry to
adyenturer who came across the Mayhower
what about ar 1923 other ancestors OF the same
10 generations ago? Don't tell US you believe this
lone foreparent outweighs the jabirds cut
hroats, pirates, rapists towards and pcryeris who
bound 10 be among the than 900 9TH
ersi And OF OF these people we're stran-
gers TO each other. dreaming they would share
equally in string you.
Keep figuring on the basis OF doubling your an
each generation. and the totals become as
Economical No more than 20 generations or ap-
proximately 900 years ago. each OF had l0is.576
forebears That would be around the year 1913
Consider also that this is hardly than moment
OF the hundreds OF thousands OF years humans have
roamed this globe. And consider further that l.
0is576 ancestors for 1sis applies equally to each
single individual among the billions who now in
habit this sphere and that the earhs population is
today AZ It's height
In other words, since this globe 500 years ago
could never have supported a million different anccs
for each OF the two and half billion descend
ants. Many OF your ancestors only produced
you, Mr.. White American with the superior race
phobia, but the guys are also responsible for
assorted IIottentots Japanese. Swedes and Eskimos
SO when you get down TO II. when you face the
fact that human each OF his
1921 ancestors around when the Pilgrims landed on
Plymouth Rock when II is realized that few OF us
can list even his Is greatgreat grandparents. that
nobody knows how many Africans or Italians or
Chneses or FIJI Islanders he had among his fore
parents. the whole idea OF race breaks down into
shambles OF Stiffness.
This ought to be enough to make every human
tolerant OF all other humans But unfortunately the
man OF mind 10 the contrary. And that's why
even In nation which needs 100 per cent support
to win costly war. In land where one man with
lighter skin takes time on from hghting the ruth
less enemy abroad to attack his darker brother here
at home who wants to fight the common foe beside
him, It 10 necessary to move in every conceivable
way 10 gain this tolerance
Currently there IL an organization At work called
the Association for Tolerance in America The
brainchlld OF George 8. Schuyler eminent author and
lecturer, n has been formed since Christmas Il ~
dedicated TO making the white American more toll
Grant sf Me rixhs and priviissw u ths solorsd