The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1945-03-15

, use Of the o2nd Division as an extra
curricular course In racial agitation.
They rave undoubtedly handled them
selves as good soldiers, and they get
no more pleasure out Of being MANNED
and killed than do the white soldiers.
Let us take The Pittsburg Courier as
an example. This is the nations larg-
eat and most influential negro news
paper. and it has had special cores
pondents with the 92nd Division. Week
after week. black headlines have told
the negroes Of America about the ex-
ploits. alleged and real, Of the 92nd
Division. The issue dated Feb IT was
in the mails the early part OF that
week-before the German counter
thrust. In the issue Of the 18th, The
Pittsburg Courier devoted its main
Page l headline to this outfit. "92nd
In Action Big Scale Offensive Success
full The news story said: Elements Of
the 92nd Infantry Division are now en-
gagged along the coastal flank and last
week saw action on a big scale for the
first time since entering this theater."
The story went on to tell Of the sue
cesses of the negroes against stubborn
German resistance.
In the meantime, came the counter
attack by the Germans, and the defeat
Of the negroes, as reported by the daily
press-and what did the negro press
as typified by The Pittsburg Courier
have to say? Little or nothing-and
this after having played up to h ac-
t~ivities of the 92nd for weeks and
months. The issue of Feb. "a utterly
ignored the end, except for a small
two-paragraph item at the bottom OF
Page / which differed strongly with re-
ports of the press associations, to say:
"92nd Repulses Enemy Attacks" The
news story went on to say how the 92nd
had consolidated ats forces along the
coastal front originally held by the Tan
Yanks at the outset Of the recent push
and has repulsed continuous enemy at
tacks to pierce our lines. "Outstand-
ING" the article continued, "was the
92nd's success in staving off a big
enemy push south Of the Cinquale Ca
nal. Last weeks experimental coastal
push netted no territorial gains for the
infantrymen, but enabled the men to
gather valuable information. During
the week they captured more than 200
Nazis. At the beginning Of this week
elements of the division were being re-
organized while combat troops were CIV
en- a much needed rest" The latest is
- MT C.,rtaN latod March x. 10
even more amazing. 1t just ignores the
whole affair. and turns its attention to
the 93rd Division in New Guinea. The
only thing Of Importance relative TO
italy is a story by one of its CORES
pondents telling how the people OF
Southern Italy might be easily mistaken
for negroes-a case which the anthrop-
ologists have long been citing as an ex-
cellent argument against miscegenera-
ton and amalgamation.
We say, again and again, that the
abortive drive in Italy is no reflection
on the negro troops involved-but II
ought to prove to our authorities In
! Washington that the war should not
be used as q political plaything, as it
has obviously been used in the case OF
the 92nd Division. The pressure OF the
negro leaders, and especially the negro
newspapers, sent the 92nd into action;
along with Henry Wallace, they have
been preaching that there is no basic
difference between a white man and a
negro, and they wanted to prove it in
the military field, for obvious political
purposes, at the expense of these negro
bows in the 92nd. The American army
found in World War l that the negro
was not suitable as a combat troop.
Gen. Billiards records might be con-
suited on this. The negro is capable OF
great acts of bravery-acts as unselfish
and as fine as those Of any white man
out these are almost invariably indivi-
dual acts. His mental processes simply
do not fit him for warfare as we know
it today-perhaps for two mai rea-
sons: First, his inability to plan and
organize and, second, his natural love
for peace except where affronted indi-
vidually. We are not so sure that the
white people of the woodland especial
ly the Germans-might profit by the
negro's philosophy on this matter of
peace and war. 1t would be a better
world.
We are in the midst of a bitter war
and the main idea is to bring this con-
flict to an end satisfactory to us-and
to stop this killing and manning of
young Americans, white and black a.
like-and one way to bring this about
is to face realities. And one of the real
a.. .ro rn,,nt fnno L. Ahnf L. l. s,anron-