St. Paul recorder., 1945-01-05
Unit I''cai 1 Society
UncOvering
Washington
By Harry S. McAlpin

ington." For the first time since
he began a weekly column for this
paper nine months ago, his stint
did not arrive at our copy desk by
press time.
So, we looked around for some
thing to fill up the space and dis
covered in the debris on our Uttered
desk an editorial from the DES
MONIES REGISTER, which had
been clipped and sent to us by
former Minneapolis Postmaster
Edward Deacon Purdy on Monday,
the day of the heart attack to
which he succumbed.
The editorial has in it much of
what the realistic and intelligent
is thinking about one of Americas
most pressing problems.
Here it is:
"Do you think Negroes have the
same chance as white people to
make a good living in this coun-
try?" the Denver poll asked ma
tional cross-section of white Amer
leans. 1t is notorious that they do
not, but 55 per cent of the scientific
sample polled said they did!
This is a psychological fact of
the first Importance in dealing with
this, our gravest social problem.
Democratic America has a race
complex, yet most Americans do
not even know they have it.
Only in the South is the master
race system openly proclaimed and
championed, and Southerners in
sist that they do better by the Ne
groes in a paternalistic way than
the cold, capitalistic North does.
Where in the rest of the country
81 per cent answered eyes" to the
Denver poll takers, &c per cent an
swered Eyes" in the South! South
erners explained that "good liv-
ing" was different for Negroes
and whites-both had the "same
chance" to make a good living
suitable to their station.
This is no hypocrisy: They real
ly believe it. Where master-race
taboos are not involved, they are
kindly, sincere, democratic people.
1t is their education, not their hu-
manity, that is at fault.
If Southerners fail to see the
beam in their eye, Northerners are
just as blind. Most of them think
the South is the only section that
denies Negroes their rights. Actual
ly, the North gives Negroes a bet
ter break in education, politics, and
civil rights, but in some respects
treats them worse in employment
and recreation. And the shifting
and uncertain caste rules of the
North cause more grief to some
temperaments than the harsher but
definite caste rules of the South.
There is a constant two-way mi
grafton of Negroes seeking to bet
ter their lot. Educated Northern
Negroes go south where they can
get teaching and skilled jobs; Des
Moines Negroes go to Kansas City
where they can live in nice neigh
borhood and have access to fine
restaurants, night clubs, and beauty
parlors; Southern Negroes come
north for higher cash incomes and
more personal freedom.
On balance, more Negroes come
north, but the comparative wealth
of the North counts for as much as
the difference in caste rules. White
Southerners come north for the
same reason.
Thoughtful people of all persua-
sions fear more rather than less
racial friction with rehabilitation
and reconversion. Time was when
Negroes took master race practices
for granted. Those days are ended.
The draft and war industry migra-
ton have greatly speeded up the
longtime growth of consciousness
among Negroes that this is free
country, that they have rights and
are not getting them.
Yet the slight concessions made
to them in the armed services and
in employment came only after
great pressure, and seem likely to
fade away with peace unless some
thing is done to prevent it. These
slight concessions and the Negroes
new awareness of their rights have
aroused the unreasoning resistance
of the master-race minded to a
fever pitch.
Whites who are unconscious Her
renvolk are actually more so than
they were year ago, when only
At per cent of white Americans
told the Denver pollers they
thought Negroes had an equal
chance, as compared to 55 per cent
today. They have heard the rum
blings of discomfort and mistaken
them for progress.
Once many reformers hoped that
if only people knew the facts about
racial injustice, that alone would
end it. Few now think that will be
enough. But it remains one of the
essential steps, nevertheless. Until
more people realize how far our
practice falls short of our laws and
our principles, it will be hard sled
ding for those who seek to bring