St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1946-03-08

an lhbtlHaNAOlAaA hpiiAtidAAh ~ oiSo-
tine, or Indignation. Hitler started
a world war by appealing directly
to the natiOnalistic instincts Of Ger
mans, whether native or foreign
born. The Irish are afflicted with
a division on integrationalism. So
are the Scotch, the Poles and other
hyphenated groups comprising the
polyglot mixture in the American
melting pot.
Seeks Legislation Of Rights
Integrationalism seeks to acquire
its aims through the passage Of
laws ordering, commanding, and
forcing the bad actors to drop their
prejudices, hatreds and suspicious
based on color, race and creed and
to accept those they do not want
as equals, whether in politics, bust
ness, general society or religion.
Nationalism, in our case, would
either seek an ultimate homeland
somewhere in Africa, or in failing,
develop an intense pride Of race
among us here in the United States
that would create black belts
throughout the land in which Ne
gro businesses, Negro churches,
Negro institutions, Negro schools,
Negro this and Negro that would
be a goal, the fountainhead Of
the idea that there is no inferior
ity in color, but equality, if not
superiority.
Pride Of color, this school con-
tends, and as was pointed out by
Marcus Carney and earlier propb-
cts, is as important to the Negro in
his development as pride of color
Is to the white man. To allow the
propaganda to be spread that there
is inferiority in being black or any
Of the various hueS which identify
us, is fatal to us as a racial unit.
This school points out that inter
marriage is as fatal to the lon
gevity Of the Negro as a racial
stock in America, as well as in
the world, as il is to the white man
and would have US arm ourselves
against it.
Goal of IntegratiOnalist Mainly
Political
70 The Integrationalists want no "a
cial identity. Theirs is a goal
which is largely, If not wholly, po-
litical. They want to be identified
as citizens. The color designation
is to them, a vulgar manifestation
Of a knowledge Of our racial his
tory in slavery and to eliminate
such a designation, they advocate
intermarriage, and social equality.
necessarily they labor in the vine
yard, busily hacking away at the
trees which block out the sky. In
the South they chop the trees Of
ballot denial because of color and
in Texas and Georgia have won
important battles before the United
States Supreme Court which out
lawed the Texas White Primary
law and forced Georgia into line in
the admittance Of Negroes to the
polling booths.
They are busy hammering away
at the poll tax which bars Negroes
from voting in most of the southern
states. They have pressed for anti
lynching legislation, and lately, the
fight has been shifted to the enact
ment Of federal law outlawing
discrimination in employment be-
cause Of race, creed or color. The
idea is to force those who by in
clination or by training discrimi-
nate against Negroes to drop these
practices and to accept us as equals
in the matter Of earning a liveli-
hood upon penalty Of fines or i'm
prisonment. The Senate filibuster
which successfully killed tn e
FEPC is an instance Of the state
Of mind that exists on the matter
Of legislation for racial equality.
The proponents Of the theory of
Indignation seem not to have con-
sidered seriously that the white
man is being asked to pass laws
to force himself from doing the
things he wants to do-the things
he has trained himself to do to a
minority group. Where n few, as
in the Senate, were willing to go
along ION this thing" for various
reasons, some noble, some purely
political, the Bilbo, Eastland, Con-
nally and Ellender crowd provided
the extra weight to control the
status quo-which they obligingly
did, thus preventing the unprece-
dented to come to pass.
Somewhere, a happy medium
must be reached on the question
Of lntegrationalism vs.. National
ism as the proper manner to solve
our dilemma. There must be merit
in each, because the majority Of
our school and college trained per
sons are squarely in the integra-
ton camp, while the great masses
Of us cling consciously or uncon-
sciously TO nationalistic viewpoints.
This is seen in the fact that the
greatest fear Of an integrationalist
is that some mountebank Negro, or
for that matter, a sincere prophet
Of the people, will get on a soapbox
and rally millions Of neglected, yes,
scorned little Negroes" into an
overwhelming movement as demon
strated by Carney. Our approach
should be flexible enough to alb
sorb a tremendous defeat like that
encountered in the FEPC fight and
yet, tolerate the normal, natural
aspirations Of a people committing
the common sin of not wanting to