The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1943-03-20

have chosen more liberal spot for it's first showing
Negroes who have been looking to Hollywood
to portray the Negro as an integral part of Ameri-
can life rather than as zoot-suited clown seem
doomed to disappointment Despite the cooperative
pronouncements of some of HOllywoOds great the
record shows art and realism are still being showed
aside to make room for all-Negro eXtravaganzas
like Cabin In the Sky and STORMY Weather" If
advance publicity pictures any guide the finished
products will Guido any previous efforts in garish
ness and distortion. More than at any other time
Negroes today need to be presented they are, an
integral part of the American scene working and
fighting like other Americans with victory their
goal. There are Negro nurses, Negro WAACS,
there will be Negro WAVES and SPARS now that
the bars have been lifted But in the numerous
war films pouring out from Hollywood there will
be no Negro men and women in the services, none
at the machines of industry But there will be Cab
Galloway in zOot suit to Guido that monstrosity
Rochester wore in "Star-Spangled Rhythm" there
will be Rochester torn between good hard-workng
Ethel Waters and the hussy, Lena Horne.
Hollywood's treatment of the Negro is not con-
fined to these aNegro pictures, of course. We have
the scene mentioned above with Rochester and Kath-
crime Durham who, with masters degree in an
thrOpolOgy and scholars knowledge of folk dances,
is reduced on the screen to tterbug routine. There
was also "Tales of Manhattan which cast Paul
Robeson Ethel Waters and Rochester as ignorant,
ridiculous share-croppers, role against which Mr..
Robson rightly protested There is Tennessee
Johnson" against which there have already been
protests at the way in which the aboitonist Thad-
deus Stevens is portrayed There is white Cargo in
which the white mans burden is emphasized to the
point of absurdity. These pictures and others like
them far outweigh the few roles Negroes have been
given as dignified human beings.
Negro artists are not without blame. They have
been too ready to take any role matter how un-
worthy of them as individuals or representatives
of a race. Whether we like it or not, each Negro
is an ambassador for the race his actions are judged
as typical. This fact places responsibility each
Negroes shoulders, responsibility which is often
irksome, but is inescapable The more famous
Negro becomes the greater his responsibility In the
past Negroes as whole have been very tolerant and
proud of Negroes who have risen to high places in
numerous fields Today the Negro has become
more critical, he knows what is at stake and he is
becoming more impatient with all those who for per-
sonal gain will go counter to his best interests
Hollywood offers propaganda machine I'M
equaled in its scope. At present it's forces are d-
rected, perhaps unwttingly against the best inter-
ests of the Negro. The Negro wants no special
treatment; we have had too much special treat
ment in the past. Segregation, discrimination and
oppression are part of this special treatment. We
want only the right and privileges of American cit-
zenship. Our efforts must be directed to persuad-
ing Hollywood to present the Negro like his white
brother devoting all his energies to defeating the
Axis.