St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1948-11-19
Town Hall
Hears Debate
On Segregation

Town Hall was packed to ca
pacity last week to hear four
speakers on its Americas
Town Hall Meeting of the Air
program, discussing the sub
ject what Should We Do About
Race Segregation7" Selected 10
give their views on the question
where Raymond Sprigle, staff
member Of the Pittsburgh Post
Gazette who disguised himself
and lived as a Negro in the south
for four weeks; Holding Carter,
editor-publisher Of the Democrat
Delta Times, Greenville, Miss,
Henry AShmore, executive editor,
Arkansas Gazette; and Walter
White, NAACP executive secre-
tary.
Moderator and producer Of the
show for some IA years was
George B. Denny, Jr. Mr.. White,
recently returned from the UN
meeting in Paris, was the only
minority group represented on the
panel.
First speaker was Sprigle, who
indicated that his approach TO the
problem Of race segregation was
that taken by southern Negro
leaders who welcomed him into
their homes.
ITO the southern Negro, segre-
cation Is not merely the legally
enforced separation Of the races
In hotels and restaurants and the
like. II is the whole vicious and
evil fabric Of discrimination, OPP
preston, cruelty, exploitation, de-
NAL Of simple justice, denial Of
the right to full citizenship, the
right TO an education which the
white south imposes upon the
Negro"
Discussing the inadequacies of
education and the lack Of the right
Of franchise, he declared, Either
the Negro is a citizen OF the
United States or he isn't. The con-
stitution and the supreme court
say that he is"
Holding Carter cited the find
ings Of George S. Schuyler, who
recently returned from a tour of
IA southern states, In his Pitts
burgh Courier article of Whats
Good About the South2"
ut strikes me-" Carter quoted
Schuyler as saying. that the big
gest handicap the Negroes have
are themselves. Most Of what is
being said about the south is I'M
true. Today 1t is not a place OF
terror and persecution, nor has it
been in many decades"
Carter attacked the civil rights
program Of President Truman as
mot putting first things first" He
outlined federal programs which
would Improve human relation
ships more rapidly and effectively
than would the present propos-
ais"
"A federal aid to education
would create better citizens than
the repeal Of poll tax in seven
states, A national housing pro-
gram would add far more human
dignity to the mass OF American
Negroes than would a ban on resi-
Dental or other public segregation
In the south. A broader public
health program would save more
Negro lives in an hour than would
an anti-lynching bill in 10 years"
he said.
Walter White followed with his
conviction that there are two
major aspects Of this question Of
racial segregation-the first Is its
effect on those segregated and
those segregating. There can new
er be equality within the frame
work Of segregation"
He asserts Our enemies today
broadcast to the world that the
United States talks about de-
mocracy but separates and dis
eliminates against its own citizens
because Of race, color or creed"
The final speaker, a Nieman fell
low Of Harvard university, who
served in World War II as lieu
tenant colonel, believed:
Segregation has been with us
as long as we have had people OF
different races living in close
proximity. The south did not in
vent Jim crow nor does it hold
monopoly on it.
The problem as I see 1t is not
what to do about segregation, but
what to do about those injustices
and inequalities which have &C.
companied IT,"
Ashmore said that the south
was making material progress in
eliminating the "injuStices and in
equalities." He cited the example
presented during the recent cleo
ton when ''the people Of the south
went to the polls and buried the
Dixiecrats under a tremendous
landslide Of Democratic votes.
With their ballots, the southern
voters declared race a dead po-
litical issue in the great majority
Of southern states"