Evening star., 1949-01-11

II,
Secretary, The Federal Poets
A Negro Girls Views
To the Editor Of The Star:
suppose that I am the only person ever
to come to bat with four strikes against her
Cd I am q girl. ca am a teen-aged girl.
90 am q Negro teen-aged girl, and % I
am Washingtonian by birth. AS William
M. Weber SO aptly puts it. I am a member OF
minority So suppose that my ideas of de-
mocracy in action If put into effect, would be
an infringement upon him and upon others
OF the freedom loving majority.
But I wish that some one would explain
to me why the fact that my skin is black or
brown, whichever you WILL should be basis
for democratic discrimination. I am sure Mr.
Weber would not exclude q fellow citizen from
q movie because his eyes were blue Why all
OF this nonsense about the color of my skin?
The few people who happen to have red hair
are not showed OF into group, into inadequate
facilities, branded as apes, idiots, mistakes OF
nature because their hair is red. cannot
seem to understand. I assume that 1t is be-
cause am Washington Negro teen-ager of
the feminine sex that don't see why can't
60 to a movie along with red-haired, blue
eyed persons. What's my color got to do
with it,
I am friends with persons whose intel
lgence, opinions, etc. are the same or similar
to mine. I do not look at girl and say she
is darker than I, therefore dirtier, denser, not
my social equal, I find out. do not say that
all carpenters are on q social level lower than
mine because intend to work with my brain
while they work with their hands. But then,
being who am, could not possibly take the
democratic view of Mr.. Weber
Since his parents never were turned down
when applying for jobs for which they were
qualified only because the prospective en-
ployers found they were colored, he would not
understand my childish view. He never could
see why think it undemocraic because see
Negro families crowded into slums-the word
"hovels" Is not adequate to describe where and
In what they must live. His children never
have been run of . playground because other
children might be contaminated by playing
beside them. He never has been denied en-
trance to the college Of his choice solely be-
cause Of his race. He never has had his
relatives lynched or raped or beaten into con-
fessions by policemenis clubs. He never has
been rape suspect, because q Negro sup
posedly is known to have animal passions and
the brutality of gorilla. He never has been
forced to sit in the back of bus or the Jim
Crow section Of . train. He never has been
forced to step Of the sidewalk or yield right
Of way because Of his color. He never has had
TO stand and give q white person . seat. He
never has seen women Of his race beaten or
been called bad names without returning the
insult or fighting back. He and his can go to
any second-nake school, and that school will
be adequate. Neither would he have to go
to Q French class Of beginners with 40 pupils
in the class with only 36 chairs and six Of
them without desks
No, Mr.. Weber can afford to suggest peace
full waiting for Improvements because he is
treated as human. not as some brainless
animal.
I believe that Mr.. Weber has the wrong idea.
I would not be friends with him. if I could.
I do not desire it and I am sure that most
Negroes feel similarly. Contrary to his ap-
parent belief, we do not deem it a privilege
to sit next to him in q movie eat or talk
with him. do not look up to him because
he considers himself my superior. am capable
Of being his mental equal. do not think that
discrimination.
But then am . Washington Negro teen
aged girl. GLADYS GRAY, 16.
Euthanasia Movement Opposed
According to . news report Q group Of
some 800 leading Protestant and Jewish min
listers Of New York State have petitioned
for q law to legalize q combination of suicide
and first degree murder-they call 1t mercy
killing
This so-called mercy killing is sponsored by
an organization whose high sounding name is
"Euthanasia Society Of America" 1t is not
surprising from time to time to hear OF some
do-gooder proposing something Of this nature,
but when Protestant and Jewish ministers,
who are supposed to preach the word of God
back such a movement, 1t Is time something
were done to combat them
JOHN J. sAUBER.
Civil Rights Advocates Criticized
To the Editor Of The Star:
An item In The Star Of January caused me
to indulge in sardonic grim This is the
account of the group of Negroes on the Capitol
steps, praying for "brotherhood civil rights and
world peace" and ut the same time announc-
ing that appeals had been filed by them with
leaders of both the Senate and the House to
deny seats to newly elected members who voted
States Rights"
In other words, while asking for civil rights
for themselves, for brotherhood and for world
peace, they are seeking to destroy the civil
rights Of large segment of citizens whose
hnA ~ in,