Arkansas State press., 1953-07-17
Robson
Continued from page one)

Der Nl the Nplllliluillal BaA y Ni'NlA
7 wrote the book Was | a mem
Der now? Under the protection
given me by the 5th and 18th
Amendments Of the Constitution
of the United States, | refused
to answer these questions
The 18th Amendment stopped
them cold. 1t had never been used
before in these hearings. They
said 7 couldn't use it. I said the
committee was very white, and
am a Negro: therefore, need the
18th Amendment
The chairman carefully explain
ed TO me that all citizens who
testify before this committee were
equal, white and black, Catholic
and Jew, etc. etc, etc, you
Rnnu. that old American party
Hfne. But I insisted that as a Ne
gro in these United States I was
Disseminated against and treated
like a second class citizen, there
fore. needed the 18th as well as
the 5th Amendment.
The chairman said the commit
tee was was all white because
there are no Negro Senators. l
said that is part of the discrimi-
nation. The chairman said no, 1t
was because the voters did not
elect Negro Senators. | said the
1vlk of the Negro people are in
the south, where force and vio-
Ience prevent the Negro people
from voting freely, or at all.
The committee asked me II 1t
was not true that my husband
and had stated that we wanted
our son to be educated in the
Soviet Union. I said We had both
said that we would try to give
him the very best education we
could get from everywhere, and
we had tried to do so. He has
spent most of his 81 years here
in the United States, II years in
England and on the Continent,
and IN years in the Soviet Union.
1h out of 81.
They asked me il we had taken
out citizenship papers in the So
Wet Union. Never.
W yru NOD nxyop -,tl
he'd rather live in the Soviet
Union than anywhere else in the
world said, why don't you
ask him?"
They asked me if I thought the
Soviet Government was better
than the United States Govern
rnent said thought the Consti-
sutton and Bill of Rights Of the
USA are simply marvellous and I
had been working most Of my life
TO nave them supplemented for the
Negro people.
They asked me If I do not
think the Communist party teach
es and advocates the overthrow
Of the United States Government
by force and violence. I said as a
Negro 7 knew a lot about the
force and violence used against
rny Negro people in this country,
ard that I never knew of any
Communist who used it.
They asked me If | did not
think there were some white peo-
yle in this country who wanted
&c help me win my first class
citizenship. I said yes, and I APP
preciated it very much, but
Thought there were too few Of
chem, they were not effective e.
nough, and it wasn't going fast e.
nough, because Negroes are still
all second class citizens.
The chairman then asked me
IL ] would not agree that Negroes
had made progress since slavery.
Z said No, I thought they had
gone backwards, in comparison
with progress made by other peo-
pies in the world.
Way back in my grandfather's
time there were Negroes in the
United States Senate; now there
are none During that period
sgaeTS were % Negro Congress
men and now there are two
Grandfather himself was Secreta-
wy Of State and Secretary Of the
Treasury Of the state Of South