Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1946-01-05
Truman Gibson
Says Principle,
Plan Confused
Both Protestant,
strategist Needed,
He Points Out

COLUMBUS, Ohio (NNPA,
Making a distinction between
system of universal military Tram
mo and the method of accomplish
ing such training, Truman e. CID
son. Jr.. formerly civilian aide 10
the Secretary of War, last Ihurs-
dqv night charged opponents on
such a system with confusing
principle with a plan"
Addressing tn e public meetlng
of the thirty-fifth annual con-
clave of the Kappa Alpha PSI FRA
ternitv at Shiloh Baptist church
Mr.. Gibson said he favored uni
versal military training but Is OPP
posed to Segregation in the carry
ing out of such system.
He said he was distressed at
the direction in which coloreo
leaders were moving. Most OF
them are skilled in the art OF pro-
test" he said, but their every skill
often times constitutes seriously
limiting factor that retards rather
than accelerates racial progress"
VALUE OF PROTEST
Continuing, Mr. Gibson said:
what is lost sight Of by these PEG
nile is the rather obvious fact that
cur race needs both the protestant
and the strategist II h e substan-
tial results accomplished by the
Negro press during the war years
certainly attest to the value OF pro-
test. / have often seen high rank
! inc officials in the War Department
Quake and tremble at the headline
blasts in our papers. These blasts
have made it much easier to DIS
cuss with them ways ana means
of extinguishing racial contlagra-
tons.
'sThis is, of course, the reason
have at all times worked closely
with the Negro press. Much good
was accomplished by comparatively
working on many projects--11ot the
| least of which was the establish
ment of a newspaper pool that sent
Negro reports into several foreign
theatres that otherwise would
have gone uncovered.
THANKS JOURNALISTS
"The Negro Newspaper PUBLISH
ers Association deserves the thanks
of all of us for working out many
details that greatly expanded the
coverage of their member papers
during the war. AS a result OF their
efforts a majority of our people
were kept fully informed of the &C
tivities of our soldiers and to a
lesser extent our sailors.
DESPITE the unquestioned value
of protest. it can never be an emo
in itself" The improper extern
sion of the protest technique can
sometimes pervert thinking with
disastrous results.
FOR MILITARY TRAINING
"A case in point is the current
argument over universal military
training. At the outset let me state
| that I believe in the necessity for q
system of training ALL youth.
could not have any other opinion
after viewing at first hand the
terrible results of the lack of prop
erly training many Negro soldiers.
"When say I believe in such
system, certainly do not state a
belief in q Jim Grow plan of put
ting such q system into execution.
The two certainly don't logically
follow. They have been needlessly
confused.
"How have the opponents among
Negroes handled this issue? (And
by opponents I now mean the Or
flanizers of opposition as distin-
guished from minority of individ-
uals who oppose IT'D
"After paying q passing lip SER
vice to the international situation,
they say first majority OF Ne
groes are opposed to such a sys-
tenn and next that the Army is
bad. rotten institution that Will
perpetuate segregation and disrlm-
nation. Therefore, they say the
whole plan should be fought. ....
THINKS ASSUMPTION
WRONG
81 believe these people are wrong
in assuming the way in which the
plan will operate. The Army Will
very shortly make an important
announcement Of policy. ASIDE
from this, it is a dangerous argu-
ment that bad things will necesssri
" continue. There have been many
changes in the Army since 194O.
To assume that we will slip back
to q pre-194O level. is to suggest
course of action to our opponents.
ssSuch suggestion would. have
consequences far beyond military
training. Whether we do or do not
have military training, we Will
have an Army. This Army will in
clude thousands Of Negroes--both
officers and enlisted men. None OF
us can callously disregard them by
Struggling of their fate on the
ground that our Army always has
Disseminated against Negroes and
always will"