The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1944-04-29
IN THE LOOM OF WAR

We feel sure that this year of 1914 will become
for historians Of tomorrow one of those great dra-
matte turning points in the long struggle of mankind
to win the things which have come to be believed
as necessary for peace and progress. Great issues
are begging for settlement and not the least OF these
is freedom, for ourselves and for men OF goodwill
everywhere However bombastic Patrick Henry may
have sounded when he said, Give me liberty or give
me DEATH" the sentiment he expressed is funda-
mental driving force among all peoples today and 1t
is the pivot upon which turns peace and war
There are two roads to freedom and liberty for
a people nation may attain freedom for itself,
as the Nazis had hoped to do, by conquerng the
world and bending all other peoples to their will.
This is the freedom of the master in world of slaves
The other road is built upon the conviction that no
man can be really free until all men are free, and
this is the way of democracy In America we believe
that the democratic road to freedom is right and that
those who would attain their freedom by the en-
slavement of others are eternaly wrong.
1t is strange thing, however, that we Ameri-
cans can add and 2 and get when it comes to the
big world issues, yet when it comes to matters at
home we lose this ability and revert to form OF
indescribable idiocy Let us look for m IN nj
at the crisis in the South where our war aims are
being negated by the very people who passlonatey
profess their belief in democracy.
Today the white South is up in arms over three
things, the T. S. Supreme Court decision on the
Texas primary, the Presidents Fair Employment
Practice Committee and the move to abolish the
pol-tax All three of these issues directly concern
the status and stature of the Negro people. They
represent democratic approach to the solution OF
a problem and the correction Of basic injustice.
The last vestiges Of slavery being attacked and
the same leaders who are ready to give their lives
to crush fascism abroad or equally eager to make
every sacrifice to defend system which is fascist
at home.
Here is the heart and core of the American
dilemma The artculate leadership of a vast section
of our country seems defiantly opposed to granting
freedom to Negro citizens and yet on an lnterna-
tional plane all of us subscribe to the democratic
doctrine that no man can be free until mankind is
free By word and deed we Americans abhor tyranny
on one hand but on the other willing to coun-
tenance and maintain tyranny at home.
The current revolt of the South is symbol of
decay and defeat and it is a menace to the healthy
growth of our republic and threat to any demo-
cratic world order which may be built upon the ashes
of the present global conflagraton. This is year
ofecision for us in America, and the issues which
are in process Of settlement affect all peoples of all
colors AS we storm the Nazi fortress to deliver the
European people from oppression we are setting in
motion forces which must not stop until every YES
tige of totalitarianism is abolished. The South will
not be permitted to check the wheels of progress and
southerners must be made to know that the fabric
of freedom of black men in America like that of
white men in Europe or yellow men in China is today
being painfully woven in the loom Of war.
HITLERS HELPERS