St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1962-02-09
Bias In NeighbOring State:
Nd. Jury Agrees
Thar SIS Too High
For Cocd-SoIo

Grand Forks, N. D. (ANP) -
There are many ways of discrimin-
ating against Negroes other than
putting up a sign, and no one
knows this better than the average
Negro.
He can smell out discriminatory
techniques as fast as they can be
invented. Many a merchant more
concerned about race than service
discovers to his amazement that
his clever device for excluding Ne
groes is as transparent as his plate
glass show window.
Take the case of the bartender
here who was given a 3O-day Jail
term and fined 500 for selling
Coke to a Negro serviceman for
IS, like it was Chanel No. 5.
For the Negro airmen and Of
ficers and their families here who
are surrounded in a frozen pool |
of segregation and discrimination,
this was the first breaking of the
ice.
The bartender was convicted |
under a 6-month-old state anti
discrimination law similar to the
one passed in Ohio last October
"a making it a crime to discrim- |
mate at hotels, restaurants, barber
shops, public conveyances, theaters
or stores because of race, color or
national origin.
The HIGH-PRICED Coke was
sold to T/Sgt. Joseph McClendon,
Jr., in the presence of 1t. Theo-
dore Johnson and four faculty
members of the University of !
North Dakota.
The white professors entered the
bar and ordered Cokes. They were
charged 10 cents apiece. But when
McClendon and Johnson ordered
the same soft drink the price shot
up SO times that much. The name
of the bar? The Dixie!
Defense attorneys cried "entrap-
ment", saying that the bartender
had been "set-up".
But the Judge took the edge off
this lament stating that it could
not be entrapment if the witness
(McClendon) merely furnished an
opportunity for the bartender to
commit crime where the intent
was already present"
The all-white jury dehberated
only 10 minutes, to find the bar
tender guilty before packed gal
lery.
The irony of Jim Crowism in
Grand Forks and surrounding areas
is that it does not exist, according
to city and Air Force officials.
IT'S awfully hard for me to
conceive that people here would
not judge a person on his own
merits" the city's mayor once
stated. I'm sure the people of
Grand Forks are not prejudiced."
And one of the base commanders
was quoted it'll wsaying,
There is no serious problem of
discrimination here. We had al
little trouble with colored troops
but now people have accepted
them. When we do run into prob
lem, we find the townspeople sin
cerely interested and ready to
help"
And why should prejudice be so
strong in a town where so few Ne
groes live? (There are less than
800 in a population of 100000 in
the state).
A.U.N.D. sociologist explains:
IT'S a common mistake to think
that the object of prejudice has
to be present for prejudice to exist.
Actually a person rarely learns
prejudice from first hand contact.
He usually picks it up from other
peoples attitudes"
In this Western states battle for
first class citizenship a unique
group has emerged - National
Association for the Advancement
of Colored People made up entirely
of military personnel and their
families.
Until last year 1t. Johnson, who
helped test the new anti-discrimin-
alton law, was president of the
branch. However following the
trial he was shipped to Greenland
for a years duty.
NAACP officials are hoping that
the new law will help eradicate
some of the feelings which the air
men have met when in town look
ing for housing and entertainment.