The Omaha guide., 1945-12-01
Plain d|k...
POLICE IN NEGRO COMMUNE
TIES HAMPERED BY STAR
CAZERS"
BY DAN

thinking we nave DeOIi IuIluIcO UPON
over the years by the professional
"do-gooders,' "star-gazers,"" etc., is
seen in the crime situation in Harlem.
While the crime problem of New
York City isn't confined to Harlem
alone, but is greater in proportion in
other communities that are not white,
the situation in Harlem perhaps mir
rorS that in other communities where
our people live in great numbers.
There are around 800 colored
members of the New York Police De-
partment which has a total of around
$4,000 depleted from a full compile
ment Of $4,000 by the selective serv-
ice, retirements, etc. Mayor-elect Will
liam O'Dwyer has said that he in
tends to boost the force to $4,000
members. Thus, it can be seen, that
police protection for the worlds larg-
est city is definitely inadequate and
that serious consequences can and are
developing because of a lack Of per
sonnet.
The situations in Harlem has been
regarded as explosive for years.
Through no fault of their own Tor
maybe it is really their own fault
over a half million heroes are cooped
up in a black belt and forced to live
in it because of a lack of living space
elsewhere, plus, of course, restrictive
covenants creating lilywhite commune
ties. Harlem was originally built to
accommodate around 10000 citizens.
That was back in the early twenties.
1t is now 1915 and buildings fairly
bulge with overcrowding by colored
tenants who have nowhere else to
live. 1t is so bad that many cases are
reported of people sleeping in door
ways, in the parks during the sum-
mer, or on the subways.
Thus taxed, the social agencies have
been loathe and actually afraid to
stir up the simmering resentment of
the people against such conditions by
giving their sanction to police methods
which are universally accepted as
standard in dealing with large num-
bers Of people. The fear Of rioting
has silenced many outspoken foes of
crime and crime-breeding conditions.
1t is a known fact that one out of
every two Negroes in Harlem carries
a chip permanently on his shoulder
for any white person.
To them these whites are the ones
responsible for the plight Of the Ne
gro. They represent members of a
race that lynch, burn, despoil women
and exploit persons unable to protect
or help themselves. When you bring
in hundreds of Negroes fresh from
southern cities and towns where they
had to live for years under an outright
system of Jim Crow, segregation, and
discrimination because of color, then
the problem takes on magnitude.
In many of these Negroes is crys-
talized the pent-up hatreds Of years
against the system that makes them
second-class citizens permanently, yet
which calls upon them periodically to
sacrifice life, limb and mentality fight
ing to keep such a system alive. They
are touchy about whites, but are di-
vided into classes, one of which will
go out Of its way to get even" with
a white man, directly or indirectly,
and which is still afraid. The for
mer class constitutes the roots of the
! present evil in Harlem.
The Negroes new to New York
from the South or elsewhere where
they have encountered trouble living
with whites, are the first to fall vic
tim to loud-mouth propaganda from
the soapboxes and the pulpit about