Evening star., 1948-07-23
New Secession Deplored
To the Editor Of The Star:

The attitude Of the Southern States at the
Democratic convention In Philadelphia Is bigger
than mere sectionaEsm or race af1iliation; 1t is
a question as important as the Secession move
ment Of 1861. The Nation must decide whether
our Constitution is q scrap of paper or means
what 1t says about establishing justice, pro-
noting the general welfare and securing the
blessings Of liberty to ourselves and our. pos
terity. The Negro citizen is entitled by the
Constitution Of the United States to equal
rights with every other American. To deny
him his rights is not only un- American; it's un-
constitutional
At Nuremberg, Germany Attorney Thomas
J. Dodd and the other attorneys of our Allies
tried the Nazis for vicious crimes against
humanity and convicted them. In our own
country the Negro is subjected to the same in
human hate and brutality that the Jew and So
called non-Aryan were subjected to by Hitler.
The Ku Klux Klan and the Gestapo are one in
method and in guilt. What difference is there
between concentration camp, the chain gang
and prison camps? What difference is there
between the lynchings, burnings and Jim Crow
ism of the South and the administration OF
Heydrich the Hangman? There is not one
Lidice south of the Mason Dixon line; there
are many. In Nazi Germany the Jewish people
were obliged to wear a star to denote their
membership in Judaism. In the South the
blackness of their skin denotes the Negroes as
pariahs to be exploited, abused, yes, and even
murdered by some so-called Americans whose
hearts are as black as the Negroes skin.
The Negro did not ask to come to the South
He was torn from his home in Africa thrown
into reeking slave ship and brought to Amer
lea to be sold like a horse or sack of wheat.
If the South considers the Negro a problem,
let it remember that 1t created that prob
lem. BY our trial and execution of the Nazis
at Nuremberg we have established the principle
that any exploitation, mass murder or brutality
anywhere in the world is our concern. Where
there is injustice there are no States rights.
No State of the United States can claim the
right to nullify the Constitution Of the United
States or to deny to any citizen his rights as
human being. This is America; this is DEM
ocracy; and upon the shoulders Of the entire
Nation rests moral responsibility before
Almighty God to whom all men are answerable
to prevent the usurpation Of rights which are
derived not from men, not from governments
but from God himself AS Christ Our Lord
has said: whatsoever you do unto the least
of them my brethren, you do unto me-
We cannot champion and lead the cause of
free men abroad while we permit the denial of
human rights in this republic. Either we be-
lieve in human liberty and justice or we do not
We cannot compromise with liberty; we cannot
shackle the hands of justice The millions of
our soldier dead in all of our wars call out to
us to honor the pledges for liberty that they
have written in blood on the battleflelds of the
world. Our cause is not the cause OF the Negro
alone, of State or Nation alone. 1t Is the
cause of mankind everywhere to be free.
We must replace ignorance by education,
prejudice and bigotry by love and understand
ing injustice by justice inequality by equality,
dictatorship by democracy, and un-American-
ism by Americanism.
A Negro with education decent home,
job and the right to walk in the sun without
fear is not detriment to the South. He Is its
salvation. As one who has been in every
Southern State and who wishes the betterment
Of that section of our country for the benefit of
all its citizens, regardless of race creed or
color, feel that when corporation and hope
replace repression and fear, the South and the
entire Nation will benefit not only economically,
but spiritually.
This Nation cannot walk out on freedom or
divide itself into sections. We are one Nation
under one flag; and we are all Americans.
EDWIN JAMES SCEERY.
East Hartford, Conn.