The Omaha guide., 1946-08-03
OUR
GUEST i
Column /
Edited by Verna p. Harris
Even in
Jail
BY James p e k, Editor,
News Service.
Workers Defense League

During OUR anti-jimcrow pick
citing of the American Prison AS
sociation's convention last fall in
New York, n passerby stopped,
scrutinized our signs, shook her
! head and said: You mean to say
they discriminate even in prison 2"
We nodded and answered yes.
Some of us IN that in~terracial pi-
ckett line were speaking from ex-
perience, as far as federal prisons
are concerned, since we had served
time Is conscientious directors
and had observed, first hand, the
white supremacy behind bars.
Some Of us, including myself.
had been locked in solitary at Dan
bury Comm four and a half
months for going on strike to end
jimcrow in the prison mess hall.
Using the same phoney arguments
employed to- defend racial segre-
cation in the outside world, U. S.
Prisons Director James v. Ben
nett and the warden had warned
that the inmates would not stand
for abolition of jimcrow, that a
bloody riot would result and that
such changes cannot be made all
at once.
Yet, following our strike, non
segregated seating was put into
effect without any incident. And
within a few days it was taken
for granted even by the handful
of southern-minded whites who
had said they would never sit next
to a Negro.
Following the Danbury strike,
segregated seating was eliminated
as a result of protest actions by
prisoners in Tucson (Ariz.) and
New York City. And since that
time additional progress has been
made, even in the south.
At Ashland (Kentucky), where
last year IA men including three
Negroes and a Japanese-American
were locked in solitary confine-
ment for opposing jimcrow. The
Prisons Bureau tried to break this
strike by transferring some of the
strikers to other prisons. But the
strikers held out.
AS on the outside, there is job
discrimination in federal prisons,
most Negroes being relegated to
mental jobs. At Lewisburg (Pa.)
such discrimination became so fla
grant that on one occasion 80 Ne
groes refused to eat. Two of them
were thrown into solitary and
some time thereafter another was
transferred to Atlanta (Ga.), at
which place he received rough
treatment.
But meanwhile a couple of the
Ashland anti-jimcrow strikers
were shipped to Lewisburg and
the drive against job discrimina-
ton continued. AS a result orders
arrived recently from Washington
that hereafter at least 10 percent
of the prisons white collar jobs
are to go to Negroes. Previously
Negroes had been barred complete
ly from such jobs.
At Milan (Michigan) similar
protest actions by inmates ended
segregation in some of the sleep
ing quarters as well as in the
mess hall.
The Red Cross blood segrega-
ton policy, as practiced by the
prison collection units, aroused re-
sentiment among many prisoners.
Refusing to give their blood to the
Red Cross 40 Negroes and whites
at Danbury in 1943 donated it in
stead to a local hospital which
does not segregate blood. At Mi
Ian a Jewish inmate handed a
/. Red Cross official a letter criti-
cizing the segregated blood bank
policy. Claiming that this consti-
tuted smuggling, prison officials
deprived him of a years time off
for good behavior.
An outstanding feature of these
prison struggles for Negro rights
was the solidarity of other min
ority groups. Jewish and Oriental
prisoners took leading parts in the
various anti-jimcrow strikes.
Recognizing the Importance of
the anti-jimcrow struggle behind
prison walls, the National Associ-
alton for the Advancement of Col
ored People at its recent Cincin-
natl convention adopted an am
nesty resolution saying: "espec-
tally do we wish to commend on
scientious DIRECTORS who have been
instrumental in breaking down ra-
cial barriers in several federal pri-
-1--g