The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1945-07-28
COMMON CHALLENGE

-= The preiudiced antl-democratlc elements III
our population won another round against human
decencv last week AS Circuit Judge Thomas r
Maher ruled that the color bar at the Hamtramck
War Housing project is lawful According TO the
Judge keeping Negro citizens out OF war housing
project built with taxpayers money does not vio-
late the Constitution of the country nor the CIVIL!
rights law Of the state Of Michigan
In unfolding the constitutonalty Of the Ham
tramck color bar Judge Maher dug up Supreme
Court decision which says in effect that jim-crow-
ism is constitutional 1t is wonder that his honor
overlooked the bred Scott decision in which the
Supreme Court held that Negro has no rights
which white man is bound to respect.
The ruling of Judge Maher is an insult to the
intelligence of Americans regardless of color; 1t is
an attack upon the moral principles of the republic;
il is denial of the letter and spirit of the Constu-
ton. and it is threat to democracy and the an
nounced aims of this war. Racial discrimination no
matter how it is dressed up camouflaged cannot
be squared with democracy and the color bar at the
Hamtramck Homes is pure, unadulterated dscrim-
nation
This case should be fought through to the
Supreme Court of the United States If necessary.
America cannot afford to tell the million black boys
in the armed services that their rights AS citizens
have become toy in the hands of Nazl minded
idiots who are masquerading as democrats. They
must not be told that our courts give aid and COM
fort to those who are seeking to destroy the equal-
tartan principles of this freedom loving republic.
America cannot afford to tell six million black
war workers that their sweat is providing nourlsh-
ment for little Hitlers who grow fat and arrogant.
They cannot be told that their war bonds and their
taxes are being used to erect monuments to the very
principles which the whole allied world is pledged to
destroy.
There are many whites in America today who
understand the true menace of racism. None OF
them have been more eloquent than the late Wendell
Willkie who repeatedly warned that this war can
be lost here at home. He was the son of parents
who fled from despotic Germany to find refuge and
freedom in America Wkie knew that the best
guarantee any group could have of freedom lay in
free world He saw that racism in America not
only threatened the citizenship and freedom of Ne
groes but ultimately the freedom of all people.
1t is great pity that so many Americans, some
of the Judges, fail to understand democracy, fail to
understand the Constitution and its mandates. A
few of them do not wish to understand These few
constitute the nucleus for the building of fascist
America They are not merely enemies OF the Ne
gro people, they are the enemies Of all Americans
who want to live without fear.
We believe it is the patriotic duty of liberty
loving whites to join hands with their coored
brothers in common struggle against discrimina-
ton wherever it is found. In raising the color bar
at the Hamtramck project, handful of idiots have
sought to use the funds of the United States Treas
ury to subvert the most fundamental principles of
our government. In upholdng their action Judge
Maher has given aid and comfort to the latent
forces Of fascsm in this country.
This case is challenge not only to Negroes but
to all citizens who are standing guard against the
evils which will destroy the promise of democracy
and the hope of peace in America and the world