St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-07-21
Harlem HOOdlums Threaten
Another Race Riot; Churches
Lose Hold On Congregations

Lose Hold
HARLEM HOODLUMS THREAT
EN- ANOTHER AND GREATER
RACE RIOT - CHURCHES
LOSE HOLD ON CONGREGA-
TONS.
By Dan Gardner
In Harlem last week a youthful
gang war broke out. 1t was short
lived, but lasted long enough for a
17-year-old Negro boy to be riddled
with police bullets; long enough for
the wounding of four teen-aged
Negro boys, and the shooting of a
Negro policeman who was trying to
restore order. It also lasted long
enough to give weight to an almost
universal fear that another riot is
in store for Harlem on greater pro-
portions than the outbreak in 1913.
The problem is national. It applies
to Chicago as well as to Atlanta.
The gang war was among three So
called social clubs" the Sabers,
the Bachelors and the Chancellors.
1t took place in Harlem's largest
park, Colonial Park which stretches
for ten city blocks along a resi-
Dental thoroughfare.
The Sabers, Bachelors and Chan
cellors are but three social clubs"
among hundreds that exist in Har-
lem, Brooklyn, the Bronx and in
Queens. They are but an infnitesi-
NAL part of the huge, though I'M
related network of gangs that are
prowling New York's streets, seek
ing for opportunities to commit
crimes and acts of outright van
dalism - crimes that range from
purse-snatching to deliberately
planned murder. Similarly there
are white gangs that roam New
York and are akin to the Negro
mobs in intent and purposes as
we'll as practice. Thus far, the
Negro gangs have contented them
selves with warfare among them
selves. Inter-racial clashes are
rare, save for isolated instances as
occurred when gangs of white boys
converged on Negro lads in a
Brooklyn park the other week to
avenge the shooting of white man
on a subway train who objected
to boisterous, rowdy conduct by a
group of teen-aged Negro hood
lums.
Social Workers, Preachers
Lose Face.
The preachments of the social
workers and welfare agencies have
so far fallen on deaf ears. The mea-
sures they advocate to cure the ills
from which the Harlem community
is suffering have thus far proven
impractical. They range from the
rather absurd proposition to tear
down all Harlem's old buildings
and erect new ones to shipping all
uncomfortable Negroes to some
place in the deep South where they
can be conveniently forgotten. The
churches have apparently lost all
influence on their flocks for good in
this instance. Respect for preach
ers and pastors is steadily dimin-
ishing. Preachers and pastors are
in politics, in business, in public
office, in everything except the pull
pit and in the hearts and minds of
their congregations. They cannot
command respect from anyone when
they insist on doing the wrong
things with their sacred callings.
The New York Police Department
has rightly been rated as the great
est in the world. It is a tough,
hard-boiled outfit, augmented daily
by college-bred men who also know
how to rough up a hoodlum. Har-
lem has always been the police
departments number one problem,
The reason is simple. There are
nearly 100000 Negroes living in q
small area, packed together like
sardines, hemmed in on all sides by
white communities from which they
are barred by residential zoning
clauses, outright refusal Of white
landlords to rent or sell dwellings
to other than white people. White
businessmen thrive in Harlem.
Whites control over 80 per cent Of
the business places. Few whites,
a scant handful live in Harlem. The
police are thus on the continual
alert to check any manifestation
of unrest in Harlem which might
boil over into an actual race riot.
For the above reasons, Police
Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine
has been constantly requesting
more and more Negro police. This
move has been opposed in the past