St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-01-19

DR.. Tobias, who-while having a
long and distinguished record of
public life and service and whose
educational qualifications are i'm
maculate, has not been identified
with reporting news stories or edit
ing a paper.
The whole thing boils down to
some sort of control of the Negro
press by group of white men who
can select what they think is best
for the Negro to read and set that
up as a standard. Which means
that one would have to watch his
cps" and "Q's" in writing a story
of racial relationships that might
offend the rather sensitive tastes
of the gentlemen of southern ex-
traction who are on the commit
tees. This seems entirely reason
able. In other words, will our
writer's have to "soft-pedal" issues
of vital concern to gain the nod of
approval from the Award Commit
tee?
In the case of Mr.. Etheridge, it
will be recalled that he was the
first chairman of the Presidents
Fair Employment Practice Com
mittee but resigned over pressure
of his southern friends when the
race issue became too hot for him
to tolerate. At the time much was
written, deploring the whole mat
ter and pointing out the weaknesses
in Mr.. Etheridge's newly acquired
armour of racial tolerance. Whether
he has reformed sufficiently in this
wise to sit in as a judge of what
Negroes ought to write in their
own papers is question.
Dabney has done some laudable
writing of his own in the Richmond
Times Dispatch but has yet to be
tested thoroughly on how far he
would go in advocating certain ex-
IRENE measures for racial advance
ment for the Negroes.
The same might be said of Ralph
McGill of the Atlanta Constitution
and Harrington Kimberley of the
Altus Oklahoma Times-Democrat.
Should Have Competent Negroes
While this column has no quar-
rel with the noble idea behind the
establishment of the Wendell Will
kie Awards and sincerely hopes
that all racial members of the craft
take advantage of it, l can say that
it would not be unreasonable to
see such a committee contain the
names of persons of Negro extrac-
ton who have been identified with
the struggle of the Negro press,
who know its aims, who can realize
and respect its approach to current
problems involving the race and
who would, in my way of thinking,
more accurately judge the efforts of
the various reporters at work on
our many newspapers.
For example, there are some Ne
groes and Negro papers which be-
ieve in Negro acknowledgements
ing the building of race pride, race
business and enterprise, race cul-
ture, all based on the idea of the
Negro going to Africa or some
place to establish a national home
land. This line of thinking is preva-
lent to a marked degree among
the great mass of Negroes who, it
will be recalled, made Marcus Gar
vey what he was. Would the Wen
dell Willkie Awards Committee 90
along with such thinking and such
subsequent reportorial jobs?
There are some papers, on the
other hand, that advocate complete
racial Indignation and amalgama-
ton as means Of solving the
American race problem. These
papers are so forward in their de-
mands that they have established
a complete school of thought on
that subject and constantly agitate
for the breakdown Of social bar
riers, as well as economic and DO
itical, to give the race greater
freedom of movement. Would the
members of the Wendell Willkie
Awards lean kindly to such think
ing?
There are some matters that are
handled more or less adequately by
the Negro newspapers that never
come within the ken of a white
newspaper. Negro newspaper men