The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1944-12-02

angle premise. And this reason will
membership in every organization
in our country. from the church
down. persists in injecting the ele-
ment OF race or color in everything
II does.
We shall never eliminate this
basic reason for the racial complex
among Negro leaders until we first
eliminate the race complex In our
Negro and white members alike. To
do this we must remove everything
which is likely to create even a
suspicion that a given position our
union proposes TO take is based not
upon merit but upon a desire to
hold a certain group in check.
There comes to mind only two
JAW locals where appreciable
progress has been made along this
line. One Is Local No. SAT, al
where. according TO information
received from Bill Beckham. a
member is out OF order IL he simply
refers TO race or color as a dis
tinguishing feature Of anything.
The other is Local 500 here in De-
troit where shelton Tapes Is CIV
ing a splendid example of leader
ship by insisting that every issue
be approached from the standpoint
Of whether il is good or bad for the
union and not whether II has pri-
mary significance for the Negro,
Polish ,r any other segment OF the
locals membership.
The other basic reason for this
minority complex from which Ne
gro leaders in the labor movement
suffer is TO be found in the manner
bv which they are selected. Unlike
their white brothers, Negro- union
members have very little to say
about who among them Will be ele-
waited to positions OF leadership
The accepted practice is 10 appoint
or recommend for appointment to
a position OF leadership, any Negro
who can obtain endorsements from
sufficient number OF white leaders
who have influence with the APP
pointing power when the Negro is
appointed, however, the appointing
power does not look upon him as
a representative of the white broth
ers who engineered his appoint
ment; rather, he is regarded as a
representative or leader Of the Me-
groes who had nothing whatever
to say about ! is appointment in the
first place.
Another inconsistency about this
appointing procedure is that, al
though Negro support is not neces-
sary 10 the creation OF Negro lead
ership, the Negro leader soon finds
that he cannot maintain his posi-
ton without Negro support. He
must gain and hold the confidence
OF the Negro membership or he is
lost.
And this places him in the
middle.
The appointing power looks TO
him for advice on what the Negro
wants (instead OF assuming that
all the Negro should want is what
ever all labor wants and needs).
The Negroes look to him to protect
what they enormously presume to
be their peculiar interests. Both
ends thus require that he think,
speak and act, not as labor leader
but as NEGRO labor leader. And
so he continually strives TO become
the last word; the sole repository
Of what Is best for Negroes In the
labor mivement.
Is there any wonder that all Of
our gatherings-and to some extent
each Of our unions-is shot through
and through with Negro politics!
Each Of these Negro leaders wants
TO he not only THE Negro In his
local or In his International Union:
he also wants to the THE Negro In
the whole CIO and In the whole
American Labor Movement. And
anyone who refuses to accord him
-