St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-09-15


just. The British Empire sends
one white colonial governor into the
depths of the African jungles and
he rules with unquestionable, de-
spotic authority thousands of big,
strong, and otherwise (when they
are killing each other) ferocious
black natives. Not one dares chal-
lenge the ford, bilious, water-eyed
white ruler. To do so would mean
death at the hands of a black man
commanded to kill the rebel by the
lone white man.
What White Overseer Can Do
One white overseer in Missis-
sippi, Alabama, Georgia or in
Tennessee, rules hundreds of black
sharecroppers, cotton pickers, and
Negro farmhands armed sometimes
with only one pistol, one big bull
whip, heavy pair of hobnail boots
with hard toes. The Negro share
choppers, cotton pickers and farm
hands know, in some cases, that the
nearest white persons are some
times as far as 30 miles away, but
the one white overseer rides hard
over them without fear of reprisal
or uprising.
He may shoot down those who
defy his authority; he may kick and
beat those who fail to scurry to
obey his merest whim, he may cuss
out, rape and revile the black wom-
anhood that appeals to him at the
moment and the worst he can ex-
pect is silly grin or a quick bob
of the head from the husky, strong
black males who watch him.
One white face behind a counter
in grocery store or meat market
is enough to entice every other Ne
gro in the neighborhood to patron
ize the place in preference to the
store where the Negro does the
selling and ringing up the change
on the cash register. Even Negro
clerks working for white employers
in grocery stores and meat markets
are viewed with distrust by the Ne
gro housewife who smiles in relief
and childlike contentment when the
white clerk or owner calls her by
her first name, or such terms as
"dearie," "baby," "dimples," "cutie"
or slaps her on the body playfully
or runs his hand over her arms or
hair.
White Papers Ranked Higher
If a white man says it, it's so.
One highly intelligent observer on
Negro psychology once said: "One
inch in white daily newspaper is
worth more than two full pages in
a Negro weekly. Don't ask me why,
but Negro would rather get one
line in the Daily Who's Who than
five full pages with pictures in the
Weekly Negro Champion. Maybe
it gives him the push in ego he so
sorely needs to find daily news
paper mentioning his name in the
body of some story or quoting him
in some manner so long as he is
not a suspect in a rape case in
volving woman or hasn't been
caught stealing chicken or water
melon"
A Negro orchestra leader or one
of his musicians teaches a white
musician how to play swing music
on the order of the so-called Negro
conception of jazz or jump music.
The white musician soon organizes
his own band, plays the same songs
the Negro orchestra features, but
draws more Negro listeners to his
radio broadcast or theatre appear
ances than the Negro who taught
him. More Negroes back up the
New York Yankees than those who
follow up Negro baseball clubs.
More Negroes rave over Lillian
Smiths Strange Fruit" than will
ever read, let alone rave over, ].
Saunders Redding's 'No Day of
Triumph" More Negroes vote for
white political candidates than
those who vote for the white mans
Negro opponent in most instances.
More Negroes buy insurance with
white companies than they buy
from Negro-owned and operated
enterprises.
Makes Lackey Negro Leader"
There are many cases where a
white man wishes to reward a
faithful Negro servant or lackey
and does it by setting up this Ne
gro with the background of a hotel
dining room for years of service in
the "gent's room" of some lilywhite
club as his only qualification, as a
"1eader" among his people. The
white man announces in his press
that "his Negro" has been made
this or that and Negroes swarm all
over themselves getting to the
stooge. There have been extreme
examples of this, especially in the
case of the southern white man who
made his Negro yardboy ''bank-
er" in the Negro community of the
small town where both lived. The
Negro was handed $1,000, given an
old deserted Office, and told he was
a Banker" Soon many So and $40
loans were being made all around
to Negro patrons and the Negro,
who turned out to be shrewd, al
though unlettered, made a hand
some profit before his death.
The white man hicks ont fba No