Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-05-18

It is more appropriate to say that
the experiment in the use of Negro
soldiers in mixed infantry units
was begun too late. Despite the
loud acclaim for the accomplish
ments and performances of these
mixed units, the Army still con-
siders it an experiment.
AS a result, there is little likeli-
hood that the practice will be trans
ferred to the operations in the Pa
cific. Despite our graduation
from the first grade" in Europe,
we will have to begin in the kinder
garten in the Pacific.
That, of course, is extremely I'M
fortunate. While the war in the
Pacific is not race war, it is being
fought in the land of colored peo-
pies. Both our enemy and our al
lies are colored. Among a few Of
our allies or sympathizers are the
Burmese, Chinese, Filipinos, In
dams, Indonesans, Javanese, Ko-
reans, and Siamese.
Of course, most Of them are CO.
lonial, dependent peoples, who like
the mass of American Negroes
have been denied full educational
opportunities, adequate pay for
their labors, and opportunities to
develop industry and amass a finan-
cial structure of their own. Maybe,
right now, we feel we don't have
to impress them much.
But there are some military men
who have fought against the Japa-
nese who look for long, hard war.
They have seen the Jap technique.
They know that the Jap does not
surrender in large groups as did
the Germans. They know that to
kill off the approximately 1000, 900
Jap troops yet to be faced, the cost
in American lives will be great.
They know that storming the Jap
mainland will be no picnic because
they have seen it cost almost 10000
American lives to take the 10-mile
square island of Two Jima (1sth the
size of Washington, D. c. even
after our planes and ships had all
but sunk the little hunk of land.
In such a fight, despite our power
and strength, we will learn all over
again as we did in Europe, that
segregation is not militarily prac-
teal. The problem of requirements
will plague our Armies again and
again. Eventually, we will "con-
descend" to use white and Negro
troops in the same units-as an
other experiment.
Isn't it tragic that a nation
which can soar to such pinnacles of
democracy as to elect to its highest
office one President who was a
rail-splitter and another who was
a farmer and an unsuccessful hab-
erdasher, should yet hold tena-
ciously to archaic customs of racial
separation?
Isn't it tragic that nation which
is so humane that it is willing to
tighten its own belt while it feeds
the starving millions throughout
the world, should risk the lives of
a few more of its Towering man.
hood in stubborn refusal to break
with patterns of racial segrega-
ton?
Isn't it foolish for a nation to
presume that it can lead in the
solution of the problems of the
world-where three-fourths of the
people are colored-and yet be I'M
willing or unable to solve its own
trace problems" where only one
tenth of its people are colored?
And isn't it one of the marvels
of history and civilization that the
Negroes who are the butt of these
illogical prejudices, separations,
and determinations, still love
America, as I do? Is it because
of what America can be-of what
we hope to help her be-truly the
land of the FREE and the home
of the brave?