The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1943-08-28

groes are like children who may be petted or spanked
as the occasion requires. They knew all along that
shiftless old Sambo had mellow voice and all Ne
groes can sing, but it is shocking to them to learn
that these Negroes can also think. Carver and
Booker Washington are regarded as freakish ex-
ceptons in the Negro race and the fact that hundreds
of thousands of Negroes are following in the wake
of these heroes is disturbing no little.
1t is only to be expected that those whites who
know very little of Negro life should become alarmed
over the questions raised by the Negro Press. They
know that in our democratic system the Negro is
entitled to what he asks for They know that stories
Of injustice headned in the Negro Press are true.
They know that there is no justification for the OPP
preston of the Negro people either in the tenets of
democracy or in the principles of Christianity. They
know that the Negro is the victim Of pure racial
prejudice This knowledge gives them a sense Of
deep moral guilt
These whites may salve their conscience by CIV
ing Sam few crumbs from their table or vow to
end this injustice by joining hands with the Negro
people in an effort to make decent America. A
few of them may decide that white supremacy should
be maintained because it is profitable and they give
their support to the Ku Klux Kan and other organ-
cations which racketeers found for the purpose Of
thwarting the advancement of the Negro. This lat
ter group are most alarmed by the Negro Press be-
cause they recognize that until it is destroyed, the
Negro masses will be made constantly aware Of the
inequites in the social order The ant-Negro whites
know that only an ignorant people can be kept in
slavery.
The clever campaigns directed against the Negro
Press bypass the editorial demands for working
democracy in America No attempt is usually made
to answer the questions raised about Negro rights
Rather they seek to prove that the Negro Press
exploits crime and sex news for profit and that the
newspapers are morally degrading. They overlook
the fact that crime and sex are staple news in the
vast majority of American newspapers and popular
magazines Stories of incest, rape, intimate divorce
testimony and pictures of near nudes which appear
in the dailies and magazines are dismissed without
question. A similar story in Negro newspaper,
however is used as proof that the Negro Press is
Ia sordid thing. incidentally, no Negro newspaper
in the history of journalism has ever carried crime
and sex to the lengths Of Mr. Hearst in his American
Weekly which is Sunday supplement for all Hearst
papers and boasts circulation of seventeen million
every Sunday.
Negro publishers have been the first to admit
that crime stories are overpubliczed and they share
with all the American press responsibility to clean
tnem up. ANY regular reader OF tne negro news
papers will admit that Negro publishers have adj
vanced considerably faster in this regard than many
of the multmillion circulated magazines and news
papers published by the majority group. 1t is ex-
tremely interesting fact that not single Negro
periodical has had its mailing privileges revoked
by the Post Office censors for obscenty while
ten white publications have been suspended this year.
In real democracy there would be no need for
minority group press. When Negro sociates
make the society pages of the daiies, when stories
of Negro achievement are given the same treatment
as others, when Negroes become an integral part
of the community life without prescriptions against
them because Of their color the mission of the Negro
Press and its only excuse for existence will have
been fulfilled.
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