The Omaha guide., 1946-01-05

f
York to buy some shoes. He couldn't buy the kind
Of shoes he wanted in Washington because the plac-
es selling such shoes are owned by reactionary
whites and other whites who abide by the strict Jim
Grow pattern upon which the seat of American
government is operated. So, to keep from going
barefoot, he caught the Congressional Limited and
spent the three and a half hours needed to bring
him to Penn Station travelling to get some shoes
when he, had he been white, or had he put his educa
ton to some practical use, could have used that time
in owning and operating a business that would
place the products he desired within reach after a
five minute walk.
He had to come all the way from Washington
to New York to get a pair of shoes because Garfink-
els IN Washington won't sell to Negro consumers!
The war is over now to all practical purposes, al
though much could be said about the fighting now
going on in China and in the Dutch East Indies; but
as far as Negroes are concerned, the war is Just
starting.
All the talk we have done, all the blood we have
shed in five major wars in which this country has
been involved doesn't as yet entitle us to purchase
a pair OF shoes in the capital Of the nation we call
our homeland and where we hold citizenship rights
of a sort.
All the sacrifices we have made, all the taxes we
have paid doesn't get us the common respect any
efurgee from any of the Nazi-ridden countries Of
Europe receives as a matter of course. Perhaps
there is something wrong in the way we approach
our problem; instead of degrees written in Latin we
should be seeking emblems attesting to our courage
in graphing with concrete problems that have to do
with our fundamental right to live.
Such degrees and scrolls should be written in
blood. They should be based on the fact that we
are doing first things first. With all his degrees,
his Phi Beta Kappa Key, his position in the Negro
White world OF interracial relationships, with the
money he earns, my friend form Washington is still
a Negro pronounced the way they do it down
South. Garfinkle's and other fashionable stores ia
Washington are for white folks and my friend from
Washington recognizes this as a fact since he does
not do anything about it there, but comes here to
buy his shoes.
The same goes for other Washington Negro dig
nitaries. They have to come to New York or some
other city this side of Philadelphia to eat in any res
taurant they choose; to see the shows and plays they
read about down there but are barred from attend
ing because they belong to a subject people.
And a main reason for this sad state Of affairs is
the fact that our leading Negroes in Washington, as
well as elsewhere, haven't done anything to make
the white man respect us enough to give us our
rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
And Negroes in Chicago, Detroit, New York.
Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Boston shouldn't be
too happy about it because the same things that
take place in Washington can very well be the sit
uation in their home cities.
1t wouldn't be too presumptuous to observe that
the reason things are better for Negroes in New
York than in Vicksburg, Miss, is because the white
man in the North has schooled himself to tolerate
us. He certainly isn't afraid Of us. physically, eco
nomically, or otherwise.
Until we can develop to the point where we can
inspire fear or respect, our leading Negroes in
Washington and elsewheer in the South will have
to keep on coming to New York to buy a pair OF
shoes.