The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1944-07-08
THE FACTS
m OUR NEWS
By HORACE A. WHITE

PkEJUDl0E great many
people these days are talking and
writing a great deal about the effect
the returning soldier will have on
the race attitudes In this country
They are saying that the common
experiences Of battle on the part Of
Negro and white soldiers will ma
terially change the race situation I'm
America after the war. Such pe0-
pie believe that the democratic
frame of mind which Is approached
by men who face immediate death
together will carry over into civil
ian life. In other words. the atti-
tude of the soldier because Of his
new experiences will help America
to alter her attitudes on race. Some
Of the speeches I have heard and
read i'm the last few months have
spent a great deal of time emphasix-
ing this point. Your correspondent
feels that such thinking Is naive and
wishful thinking.
In the first place, one must re-
member that the general policy Of
the army when il comes TO race and
color is one Of segregation Of the
Negro and white soldiers. The SOL
diers who actually participate In
common physical death struggle
number only about 20 per cent Of
the armed forces. tThis is not an
official figure. but arrived at from
reading newspaper releases) This
being the case. II is easily seen that
Sans army has a change to suffer
and die together. The men who 20
through these experiences may
learn something, but they dare not
attempt 10 put IL into practice in
the army. II must be borne in mind
in this connection also. that many
times the race feelings . person
has are intensified by having to 20
through a very difficult experience
that may have no connection with
his feelings toward race at all.
War and panic bring to the fore
in the psychological framework
many times the manifold and deep
Illustrations. There is a likelihood
then, therefore, that the race atti-
tudes in America will get much
worse because of the experiences
one has had 10 go through in bat
tie. This viii be as true among the
Negro soldiers as among the white
soldiers.
II il important for us to remember
that the total army now assembled
by the United States i'm behalf of
our Allied cause Is less than 10 per
cent of our total population. When
this number OF people has been de-
modified and scattered throughout !
the country to their many commun-
tiles, their influence on the COM
munitieS' attitudes toward race will |
be negligible and sadly disappoint-
ing to the people who are hoping |
for SO much in the way of change
as result of the fact that Negro
and white soldiers have learned to
respect each other and to under
stand each other on the battle field. |
The community will "swaller" up
the soldier. He will look something
like Lillian Smiths Tracy Deem.
You will remember that Lillian
Smith In Strange Fruit" had Tracy
Deem to come back from the war
with some new ideas about race,
half thought out and were about to
take hold of him and probably
would have taken hold of him COM
pletely. were II not for the fact that
he came to Maxwell, Georgia, his
hometown. In Maxwell, Georgia,
was a deep underground OF race
prejudice and race hatred, born Of
fear. that choked and caused to die
his little mental Shoots" of new
understanding about race. Tracy
Deem could not Withstand the great |
community tide that swept him on |
and drowned out his own feelings |
of equality and democracy.
SO ii will be with the returning |
white soldier who may have gained |
a new respect for his fellow citizen. |
the Negro soldier. The overwhelm-
ing tide of community fears and |
Illustrations Will force him to lit |
again into the community pattern
of bigotry and race discrimination. |
The people who are so very much |
interested in changing the race at
titudeS in America had better not |
put too much hope in what the re-
turning soldier will do in this re-
gard. II is we'll 10 remember that |
the soldier who has been away from |
home thinks Of home as the ideal |
place, no matter how unwarranted |
this thinking is, he thinks ii never
thelcss. Because he will be rushing |
back TO his ideal place after the war,
he will not be good material 10 |
work for change with any of the |
new instruments he has acquired |
during the war. 81
If we are to have any real change |
In race attitudes in America, the |
great majority Of the people will |
have to do that job. They will have |
TO do ii because they are the ones |
at home. They are the ones who |
must do II because they are the only |
ones who have the technique by |
which better understanding can be
achieved between the two races -
black and white - In our country. |
Unless we on the homefront ar
rive at some real techniques for
handling our race situation, the re-
turning soldier may have tech
nique that he will attempt 10 put
into practice simply because he finds
nothing better. II he does put his
technique into practice. il is likely
not TO be in terms of democracy and
fair play. 1t is possible. however.
that he will take the Illustrations,
fears and the bigotry Of the COM
munity and handle them TO the
detriment OF democracy. The re-
turning soldier can do this. however,
only IL we present him an America
that has done nothing but talk about
the race situation in this country.
II Is a fair statement TO saw that we
have worked out no practical tech
niques for re-educating the great
masses OF our population for coop