Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1943-04-17
Agree With
CONTINUED from page II

he pathway for future cooper
tive efforts and to give assurance
t our sincere goodwill and de-
sire to cooperate in any sound pro-
ram aimed at the Improvement OF
ace relations.
These Negro leaders rightly
placed emphasis In their state
ment on discrimination in the ad-
ministration of our laws on pure
~ racial grounds. We are sensi-
tive to this charge and admit that
II is essentially Just. From the
Potomac TO the Rio Grande there
are some 100000 Negroes. While
al citizens are governed by the
same laws. it is recognized that
Negroes have little voice in the
making and enforcement of the
laws under which they must live.
They are largely dependent upon
the will of the majority group for
the safety of life and property.
education and health, and their
general economic condition This
Is a violation Of the spirit of de-
mocracy. No southerner can log
ically dispute the fact that the
Negro, as an American citizen, is
entitled to his civil rights and Geo.
nonic opportunities.
The race problem in any south
ern community is complicated by
our economic limitations. The fac
tors which have kept the south
tributary section have also kept
1t poor and lacking in sufficient
industry to develop and to pro-
vide enough jobs and enough pub
tic funds for every public need.
Yet the only justification offered.
for those laws which have for
their purpose the separation of the
races Is that they are INTENDED to
minister to the welfare and in
tegrity of both races. There has
been widespread and inexcusable
discrimination in the adrninistra-
ton of these laws. The white
southerner has an obligation to
interest himself in the legitimate
aspirations of the Negro. This
means correcting the discrimina.
ton between the races in the al
location Of school funds in the
number and quality of schools,
and in the salaries of teachers
In public travel where the law
demands separation of the races,
primary justice and simple sense
of fair play demand the facilities
for safety, comfort and health
should be equal. The distribution
of public utilities and public BEN
fits, such as sewers, water, hous-
ng, street and sidewalk paving,
Fairgrounds, public health and
hospital facilities should come to
the Negro upon the basis of pop
ulation and need.
BIAS IN THE COURTS
1t Is recognized that there is
often practical discrimination bv
some peace officers and in some
'ourtS in the treatment Of Negro
prisoners and III the abrogation of
their civil rights. There is no such
discrimination Incorporated in the
laws OF any of the southern states.
raise arrests, brutal beatings and
other evils must be stopped.
In Tho
tionably procedures should be
undertaken to establish fully the
light to receive equal pay for
equal work. To do otherwise
works a wrong to om' entire eco
nomic life and to our self respect.
With so large proportion of our
Wage-earning population belong
ing to the minority race, if we
cannot plan for a well-trained,
Weli-employed and prosperous
Negro population, the economic
future Of the south is hopeless.
Most Of the Negroes in the
south are on farms and in rural
communities. Failure to provide
for them all the facilities for i'm
proving agricultural practices
through schools, county agents.
supervision holds back all of the
south. Fair wages, longer tenures
of leases and increased oppor-
tunlties for farm ownership are
also necessary.
All men who believe in i1stice.
who love peace and who believe
in the meaning of this country
are under the necessity of work
ing together to draw off from the
body of human society the poison
of racial antagonisIn. This is one
right of trial bv p iI1rv and II