St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1960-11-25

lySville, ). G., president OF the
led the South the Prodigal Son,
tient might become the shining
light of the United States.
Dabbs, a foe Of segregation, one
Of the few strong voices among
the white leadership of the South
against race discrimination, traced
the pattern of race discrimination
in the US.
Effect On The US. International
Position
Dabbs stated. In the present
international picture, it is the en-
tire nation that is on trial, not just
South Carolina or Minnesota, not
/ just the South or the Midwest.
/ Whether the rest of the nation
wishes to be concerned about the
South or not is besides the point.
1t is involved The South is part
of the nation; internationally the
acts of the South are not regional
but national acts. When l report to
/ you on the state of the South, then
report to you also on the state
of the nation, especially in its in
| ternational relationships.
Southern Acts Bring National
! niScredit
| Mr.. Dabbs added: The South is
part of the nation internationally,
the acts of the South are not
regional but national acts, bring
ing to the nation credit or dis
credit"
Race Prejudice A National
Problem
Mr.. Dabbs said all Americans
have responsibilities to other Am
orleans. We are meeting here
tonight under the auspices of the
CSt. Paul Minnesota Urban
League, an organization working
for equality of opportunity for all
Americans, especially for Negroes,
and primarily in the economic field
Jobs, and housing"
Dabbs asked Why should there
be any need for an Urban League
in this far northern city, a thou
sand miles from the deep South,
where as everybody knows, race
prejudice is rampant"
Race Prejudice Common
characteristics OF Whites
You know the answer, the
speaker said, I'm merely under
scoring it. Unhappily, race pre-
JUDGE and the accompanying dis
! elimination is a common CharaC-
teristiC of white Americans; gen
orally more evident in the South
because more colored people live
there, but existing everywhere.
Mr.. Dabbs- tracd the history of
| NegrO-white relations in the US.
from slavery times until the pres
ent He said the first Abohtionist
societies flourished in the South
and not in the North until the
cotton gin was invented and more
slave labor was needed Then he
said the societies for abolition of
slavery moved North to Philadel-
phia and Boston.
Dabbs quoted Eli Ginsberg's
book The Negro Potential" to
prove his point that Negro pro-
gress in the past few years has
stemmed not from the decrease in
race prejudice among whites but
by economic pressures.
Ginsberg's conclusions quoted by
Mr.. Dabbs were: The first per-
haps most significant finding from
this study is that Improvements
in the position of the Negro oc-
Cured primarily as the direct out
growth and consequence of forces
released in the market place. They
were not primarily a result of al
teratiOns in our social and political
thinking and behaviour . THE
Negroes higher standard of living
since 1910 has been in large part
a direct growth of the growing
demand for labor in American
towns and cities"
Fourteenth Amendment &
Supreme Court Decision
Dabbs stated however that men
do not live by bread alone. "A
high standard of living, he added,
without ideals and dreams, will
choke us as surely as hard bread
without water. The ideal of equah-
ty of citizenship for all, which our
Constitution found its first great
statement in the 14th Amendment
found its strongest implementa-
ton in the Supreme Courts de-
segregation decision in 1854"
Effected Entire Nation
Mr.. Dabbs pointed out the far
reaching implications of the court
decision in stating: That decision
affected the South in a more re-
evolutionary way than it has the
rest of the country. Nevertheless,
its impact, together with the i'm
pact of other decisions declaring
equal rights in public accomoda-
tons, travel, etc, have affected
Continued on Page A.