Arkansas State press., 1944-08-11
..EDITORlA s So.
THE NEGRO PROBLEM

No doubt some way will be found Of restoring the
travelling facilities of the city SO that wan production sche
dulles can be resumed. That is important, but there Is an
other aspect to the strike that is much wider IN slgnltl-
canoe. That is the rather frightening flare of race pre-.
JUDGE that might be expected IN Mobile, Ala, but not OIL
MORE IS CONCERNED THAN WAR PRODUCTION
1t is another demonstration of the fact that the Negro
problem is one of the most acute facing this country, on q
par with postwar planning, what to do with Germany, and
all the other tangles for which no one has yet formulated
There are probably two Negro problems in the coun-
try, as far as that goes - one in the South and another
sion of the Negro with the SNUG assurance that I'VE know
how to take care of our darkles; they are happy down mere
and we don't want any interference from you Yankees,
And the Negroes in the South remain the depy suDnerg-
A good many Southern Negroes have moved North in
recent years, especially since the war started, to find more
money and a freer life. 1t is not likely they hay found
much more freedom.
THEIR LOT ISN'T M Better IN NORTH
They do not have to obey jim Crow laws in public
conveyances and that may comfort them, but, all In all,
they probably have found life in the North no better than
in the sout.
icy are confined o segregated districts where rents are
high and living conditions unhealthy. Their chances for en-
poyment are limited to service jobs and generally mental
positions. Their educational privileges may be better, but
they soon find that education isn't much help to them, Many
a college-trained Negro is a Pullman porter or an elevator
operator because he has found that white men will not
give him a job for which he is qualified.
In extreme youth the Negro child may not be aware
of the situation that his dark skin places him in, but as
he moves into adolescence, he sees that he's different, and
that life is going to be hard for him. This, we think, is the
reason why there are muggers and gangs of hoodlums in
Harlem and elsewhere the youngsters are turned bitter at
an early age when they see that the chances are against
them. They develop a what-the-hell attitude because they
know they have little to lose.
Thre are some Is, 900, 900 Negroes in the country. Their
ancestors didn't ask to be brought here. They obviously
can't be sent back to Africa now. And the breach between
the races seems to be growing.
We have heard of no way in which this problem can
be solved quickly if it can be solved at all, without a COM
plete change OF attitude on the part of the white population
which is unlikely.
Gunnar Myrdal, the Swedish social scientist who came
here for the Carnegie Corporation to make a study as an
outside observer of what is called "the least clean corner
of the national household, produced a book called IAN
American Dilemma; the Negro Problem and Modern Demo-
crazy" 1t is a thorough work and we may be presumptuous
in boiling the findings down to this:
American idealism and American practice do not agree.
We proclaim equality but do not permit it to the Negro.
We tell ourselves the Negro is after our womanhood; what
the Negro really wants is a good job.
New York Daily News.