St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-08-18

white man is ever willing to chal-
lenge his own government, even in
wartime, when he knows the pen
atty for such challenge, then the
cringing attitude of the Negro be-
comes all the more deplorable and
disconcerting. The attitude of the
Government, its hesitancy to step
in at once with the means at it's
command to halt such demonstra-
tons of defiance of law and order
as the 5000 white Philadelphia
Transit Company workers exhibit
ed, makes it all the more plain that
the Negroes must be prepared to
pay even the supreme penalty as
an example of his desire for free
dom and equality of opportunity.
When the government hesitated for
one hour, for one day to step in and
put halt to this defiance of au-
thority it showed clearly that it
feared that the hate-strikers would
actually fight soldiers and other
representatives of constitutional
authority. And by the same token,
the failure of the government to
enforce the law promptly and give
the Negro relief, points out that it
also realizes that the Negro is the
lesser of two evils and consequent
ly the least to be feared.
Randolph Forced F.D.R. to
Create FEPC
The case is strictly one of the
federal governments own making.
Had not A. Philip Randolph, mill
tant, farsighted leader of the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Por-
tiers, threatened President Roose-
welt with a mass march of Negroes
on Washington unless something
was done at once to end discrimina-
ton in war jobs, the Fair Employ
ment Practice Committee would
still be Pigment of the magma
ton.
Lilywhite jobs like those on the
buses, trolleys and subways here
would remain ilywhite. Since the
FEPC is an agency of the govern
ment, however, the latter is obliged
to support and uphold it's decisions.
The government has shown little
disposition to do so when chal-
lenged by white violators of the
FEPC creed and when Negroes are
involved. 1t appears then, that the
unwillingness of the government
to risk embarrassment by its white
majority which is, in reality, the
United States Government, might
be changed somewhat if the Negro
showed willingness to fight, actual
ly fight and shed blood, for that
which the law says is his to have.
James McMenamin, chairman of
the strikers committee, and mem
Der of mistreated minority, him
self, came out of the strike bigger
in stature than even the Federal
Government. In Jail and out on
bond for a grand jury hearing, Nc
Menamin has heroic proportions
not shared with the Negro leaders
and experts who rushed to the
scene, and in some instances, there
merely to get their names in the
papers. In fact, out of the whole,
regrettable six-day strike which de-
Iayed war work, crippled industry,
business and civilian life, the only
Negro who showed half the stature
of Irish McMenamin was the So
year-old Charles A. White, an
ordinary" Negro, who rang the
liberty bell in Independence Hall
to "let the world know my people
aren't free" On the other hand,
McMenamin, secure in the knowl-
edge that Negroes seldom fight
back (they vent their ire upon each
other-see criminal statistics in
large cities), gave as a reason why
the strikers resented having Negro
car operators that they breed bed
bugs. Said he: "Due to low health
conditions, their inferior education
and their general economic condi-
ton, their standard of living is very
far below the standard of opera
tors. We have a condition here
where every man swinging between
runs gets a rest on a bench in the
depot. This would require a colored
man to lie beside white man, or
white man to lie where a colored
man had been. The colored people
have bedbugs. These benches are
wood, and wood benches breed bed
bugs, and I don't want any bed
bugs"
We Are Content to Skulk Away
If such a blasting insult had
been delivered to any other group
of Americans, somebody would
have paid for it, and dearly. But
being Negroes, we accept these
things as though they were saved
expressly for US. Being afraid to
challenge the McMenamins, where
ever they are, we are content to
wag our tails between our legs, say,
Eyes sab, mistuh white boss" and
hope and pray for some other white
man to step in between and stop
the other from kicking US around.
White people rule the world be-
cause they have been willing all
along to fight their way to the top
and rule. The Negro is on the bot
tom of the ladder because he is