Brownsville Weekly News

PAGE EIGHT _

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FLINT BROWNSVILLE NEWS, FLINT, MICHIGAN ~

FLINT-BROWNSVILLE NEWS

830 Pingree Phone 9-7571 Flint, Michigan

Editor and Publisher
Associate Editor

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WILLIAM ENNIS, Jr... Director of Photo

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PUREE UE Lg... cece ccc. Manager of: Circulation
Me OOM TURNER ko. oi cece e, Adv. Manager
~MR. JOHN H. TURNER Adv. Asst.

i | Labor Day 1941
By RUTH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER IN EUROPE~what new hotror will it
unleash? What new nightmare of war will drive hapless,
harried people from their homes, sending them scurrying
hither and yon in search of shelter from the pitiless conquerors whose bloodlust is never sated?

__ Here-in this land of ours the first days of September
~will also send people from home~but for a different cause!
Here the first Monday in September is set apart for the
celebration of Labor Day. In contrast with the panic stricken hordes abroad, here city dwellers will be rushing to the
country, shore and mountains for one last golden playtime,
a fitting climax to a happy summer, while from the countryside and small town, thousands of others will hurry townward to enjoy the pleasures of city life before settling down
to the quiet of their calmly orderd lives.

However, this year the celebration of Labor Day takes
on a new meaning, an added significance. This Labor Day
is not just a day of recreation. It must also be a day of rededication to a way of life, to a form of government in which
each of us has a part and where one of our great holidays
has as its purpose to do honor to those who work~to all the

men and women whose toi} and travail has made the coun- |

try great. /

In the days that lie ahead. even if the war be kept from
our shores, we will all be mobilized for service in some form
or other, for the adequate defense of this country and for
that form of government which we hold dear. There will
be no room for idlers. We will all serve and gladly. Whether

~Wwe serve in positions of prominence or in the humblest ~ca-~

pacity we are all laborers, working for the good of the many,
that the rights and privileges which have been struggled
for and won at such a great sacrifice, may be handed down
to future generations.

Labor Day 1941 is not set apart for any one group. It
belongs to all of us, whether our work is of brain or: hand.
How we do our appointed task is the important thing~not

Soldier Talk ___

By SERGEANT WILL V. VEELY

Well folks, your correspondent in
this issue of the Plint-Brownsville
News, will attempt to give you a
little weekly insight into the lives
of your soldier friends and reiatives. These articles which are
written at the express demands of
hundreds of the readers of this
paper and the associated Negro
newspapers, will appear weekly in
the Flint-Brownsssville News.

Many of my old friends who have
been followers of this column are
wondering what happens to the
average youth who is inducted into the army. We will begin by saying that army life in general] is
something that is to be appreciated. Flint boys who are in the

Ordinance department, are as fol-/

lows: Andrew Burton, Charles
Dyer, Steve Davis and Robert
Cooley, Rosccde Hill and ~Yours
truly. So far, the Flint boys are
doing OK., by themselves and are
working hard. ~

The Flint group has been fortunate in that they have been able
te keep together all the way from
Fort Custer to the present camp
here at Savannah. When the camp
moves in the fall, about October
first, the group will meet with the
first separation since the induption.

Yours truly attended the Ordinance school at Aberdeen. Maryland along with Dyer and _ Hill.
Altough the courses were a little
stiff; the boys came out with flying colors. At this writing Hill has
~een promoted to sargeant and
Dyer is also slated for promotion
from, his rating as corporal. ~The
camp here one of the mst beautiful in the United States. It is
situated at the junction of the Apvle and Mississippi rivers, At present the boys are engaged in small
scale meneuvers which usually take
place at night. This is important
because the work of the Ordinance
department is such that knowing
how to handle vital war materials
at night is. a necessity. The food
is excellent and the boys are reporting various gains in weight.

what that task may be.. We cannot see the end from the begining or what fruit our labor may bear. All we can do is
the best of which we are capable, working conscientiously
and sincerely at the task just before us. It may be great
or it may be menial~but it is work to be done~and it is

-our job to do it well.,

We are all laborers in-the vineyard of the Lord. And
in the end, as in the Parable of the Talents. the reward is
~Well done, thou good and faithful servant.~

Tales Of

(Continued from Page 1).

It was no one. It was too hot. One |
fellow already there tried to. put
his coat over the valve and turn it
but the heat was awful, The host

alongside the Panuco that had a
government cargo when somebody:
yelled about the fire. Me and a boy
named Arthur Daniels got down on
the dock and hurried to where the
fire started hoping to put it out.

was limp.

~Daniels and I ran back to the
deck of the ship and warned the
men in the holds. Then we turned
and just had time to get over the
Side and hopped on a cotton light
er. We figured if we could catch a
rope from the other pier we: could
null the lighter cver. The rope
thrown to us fell short and the tide
was against us. Only thing we
could do was to jump in the river.
By that time there were others and
it was just like a bugeh of rats
the way the men were jumping in

~We all tried to reach Pier ~26
hut you never saw such scrambling
and pulling in the water because
some could swim and some couldn't.
A few of the boys got pulled out
when they reached the pier but the
flames were licking so close that I
had to swim under the pier.to the
other side before I could be pulled
out. Anderson, Watson and Easley
helped me.~

Hilton Anderson~s story packed
all the fear~ and desperation of any
that was told. Not only that, but
it carried an element of heroism.

As he lay in bed at St. Peter~s
hospital, Brooklyn, recovering from
a back injury he calmly told ef his
gruelling experience.

~There were 24 of us working in
the three holds in the forward end
of the ship when we found out
about the fire. We could feel. the
heat but didn~t know how éerious
things were. There was a scramble
among the men to get to the single hatchway, which measured
about 15 inches by 24 inthes. I wes
the third one to come out. When I

$ Do You Want
POWER $

Power to make you vigsorious in all
you undertaké to dof Power to
make people admire you? Power to
earn money? Power to gain popularity? Power to make any one fol.
low you? I will send you information which ts the result of scientific
research by ome holding a degree of
S. 8. With this information and directions in your possession you must
become more masterful and exert
~greater influence. You will be able
to break prevailing.misconceptions.
I GUARANTEE 10 HELP you. if
YOU ARE NOT DELIGHTED YOUR
MONEY IMMEDIATELY REFUNDED. Just send me your name and
address.. Pay postman on delivery
only $1.98 when he delivers goods
and written guarantee. W.ite now.
HARRIS, 18 COLUMBIA STREET,
New York City, N. y., Dept, B-8,

got to the top of the hole it was

ra

~BACKACHE

Caused by my torpid kidneys. +, ALMOST DROVE ME

WILD! seats. t.nen,
Nashville,

Teas.

a) 9

~ BOUGHT GENUINE
GOLD MEDAL HAARLEM
OIL CAPSULES FOR

Exercise is a big part of the work.
Baseball, goal-hi, and volley ball
are among the prominent games
here. At the present time, a few
passes are being given and the
lucky ones are takine a day or two
home. However, the big maneuvers
are scheduled te begin about the
19th. of this. month. Naturally,
leayes of absence will have to be
evjtailed until after the last of
the month. It is honed that a large
number of out of town folks will be
yresent at the bie annual field day
to be held here Labor Day. There
isn~t.mych more news at this
writing, At any rate, watch this
column for more news about the
Flint Soldiers; and in-the-meantime remember the boys by writing
them a letter. You will be surprised how much they will: be apvoreciated.

See vou next week,
W.V.N

Copyright~Trans- American News
Service 1941.

as black as night from the smoke
all around. The wind was blowing
the smoke and the fire over the
hold and made it hard to get out.
There was no way to go. The only
thing I could do was run for the
port side of the boat and jump in
the river.:

~HELPED MEN OUT OF WATER

~One of the other men jumping
Mm behind me struck my back pretty hard. It hurt too, Fortunately
I.could swim, and managed to reach
the other pier about 100 feet away.
I helped some of the men as best
I could and pullled myself out of
the water then dragged six other
men out.

Couldn~t. pull any more of them
up because my neck was hurting
me and I felt chills, so I called for
help. Police came and a doctor
from. the hospital gave me a drink
of whiskey. This made me fee)
more chills~ all over and I got
weaker and sick. I remember them
asking Me Some questions at one
time but I den~t exactly remember
them bringing me to the hospital.
I must~ve been. out.~

~Anderson is married and has &
child nearly two years old. The
Sunday before this disaster, his
wife, Catherine, underwent an operation at Harlem hospital.

line was fastened to the burning
ship and the Panuco was towed
down the bay. This in itself was &
heroic task. The ship continued to
burn for days, particularly that
part below the deck. Gradually investigators from the Fire Marshal's
office have been able to probe if
bit by bit as the plates remained
hot a long while. Not until. they
have cooled off completely wall all
the bodies in and on the Panuco
be moved. Identification 1s still
another question. thap has
become a problem. Other bodies are
finding their way ~o the top of

the river. They, of course, are being more easily identified.

ENEMY!
By LANGSTON HUGHES

It would be nice,

In any case,

To someday meet you
Face to face

Crawling down

The road to hell~

As I come up x

Feeling swell. ee

When firefighters were able to, a~

SS

Seeing and Saying~. By William A. Fowlkes |

Awake, America!

The bus slowed down about ten miles from a

South Gecrgia village and an old

ly looking face got on. Bumping his bag of potatoes through the narrow isle, he dropped down
on the the back ~jim-crow~ seat.

~Got to go up here and meet
Tom Smith. He got killed the
cther day.~

~How?~ I queried., ~He~s drowned -out at the army
Lamp somewhere in Arkansas.~

~What was he doing, swim.
ming?~ I asked further.

~From what I can hear, they
~was builfing over a big, deep
place for Uncle Sam and it fell
yreconcrgy i the relator answered.

~That~s too bad,~ I comforted.

BELONGED TO UNCLE SAM

~Of course he belonged to us~lI~m his uncle on
his ma~s side-~but he also helongéd to
Sam. They~re going to bring him home tonight
on the limited. The sergeant, lieutenant and some

more are gonna bring him in.

~His pa fainted when he got the telegram
down at the gin. They cried whole lots at the
house when they first heard it, but now we
all feel kinda proud that he's sérved his counthey feel

enough about him to send him home and send

some officers with him. Yes, maybe his little
service helped to get ready for that man Hitler.

~Lock here, that fool driver ain~t gonna stop

2. try nine months and that

at Amilatch. Let me out. Hey-~

And the old man~ went his way to prepare to

bury his country~s dead.

I rode on, reflecting that here was a plain
black American. A citizen proud of the opportunity his nephew had to serve Uncle Sam~a little. Proud of the ability to contribute somethinz

against the Hitler they~ve heard

boy was Uncle Sam~s and that a military esccrt
down in the cotton field areas. Proud that the dead
Was accompanying him to his home

resting place.

There are hundreds of thousands more of

these plain black Americans,

opportunity, but ever more often kind of shy
to show their patriotism in the land they love,
I was thinking. Brow-beaten and intimidated,
hindered and often cheated out of their opportunity, they remain, nevertheless, capable
of ~showing their teeth~ and willing to pay
dear prices to serve their country.

THERE IS DISTURBANCE

Then I thought of Fort Bragg and Arkansas
and a number of other locaticns where it is reported that riots, near-riots and

man with a kind
and wood, the

~-FOWLKES

Uncle

good

about ~way back

and final

proud of the

befcre its very

instances of

scendants of proud warriors of Africa. Of black
z men, ready, bee.
eee pow

and specifications into the reality of President
_Roosevelt~s dream, ~arsenal of democracy.~
~black men and women at home~the forebears
of whem protected with ~tremendous might the
= | white women and children left on the plantations: |~during the Civil War~who dare not now he in+] cluded too much in even the home defense program headed by Mayor LaGuardia.

It didn~t make sense,:

So many times, over and over again, it has
been asked why ruling Americans continue to attempt to ignore the greatest potential gold minz
cf all time~the black man of America, particularly
the South. I répeat that question for emphasis..
WHAT SAID MR. HITLER?

Months ago when Hitler let fall
warning to the United States that it would be almost needles for this country to oppose his march,
he laughingly pointed to the nation~s division because of racial lines and potential and active antagonism. He said that elements ~of his~ in this
country would see to it that America would socn
be completely slowed in its tracks while the Germans conquered the world, so to speak. |

Strife in the Army camps because of race;
strife. along the production lines because of
different colors; strife among the home guard
certainly do us no good. Hitler is being
ed while we hinder ourselves. No wonder those

gentlemen of the Azis jeer at us and our.

~aims.~ No wonder they say the talk of de
mocracy is ~small talk~~mainly for foreign

consumption~not for workin

There is no small strife in the
Americans of all classes and races need to realize
their enemies, of efficiency and
-it. The fight of righteousness and justice against
against unhappiness, as attempted guaranteed by.
the governments cf peoples of the earth, is OUR
fight. (Let none be fooled that it
benefits to be gained from the downfall of totalitarianism cr so-called democracy or the ills that
may follow are OUR benefits or ills. Men cannot
be segregated from or to total benefits or ills
no matter where they occur. It is simple futility
on the part of any group to forever hope to keep |.
another down and yet hepe to stand up as men
and reap all the benefits of decent living. Democracy was intended for all the subjects of the
state and none will enjoy it while others pale

Wake up, America!

and able to work the me~al
ers and paints, the blue prinis

Of

| words of.

help.~

at home.
world tcday.

of happiness

isn~t.) The

practice.

WALTER CHIVERS SAYS:

Answers Holley

By WALTER R. CHIVERS
Last Sunday~s edition of the Atlanta Daily WORLD reproduced
under the caption ~What ~Our
Readers Say~ an open letter to
the editor by a young Negro soldier
in reference to President Holley~s

publicily expressed philosophy of
education for Negro youth. The
fundamental significance of this

letter lies in
the fact that it
is a. Negro
youth~s answer
to an educator
of youth. It is
to me the most
m eaningful

statement that
I. have read
about this entire unfortunate

The letter reveals how far apart
modern educated Negro youth and
educated Negro Educational administrators can be and too often are.
This is particularly true of those
aged Negroes in leadership positions who assume that they have
worked out the correct prescription
for all racial problems. There are
to my knowledge several such men
and women occupying strategic positions in reference to the future
of Negro youth. They have convinced themselves that any thinking on
racial problems which differs from

(theirs is dangerous, even communistic.

These leaders, of course, have the
approval and assistance of certain
powerful people in the majority
racial group who erroneously hbelieve that the best interests of
themselves and the South are served by forcing Negroes to live
continuously, year after year, in a
non-changing societal structure. The
Negro educators, which I refer to
here, are largely responsible for
this illogical attitude. You see these
Negro men and women carry the
authority of age and gray hairs.

The South by tradition, is peculiarly prone to regard age and
gray hair as sacred. This has value
when the aged are characteristical
~ly honest, mentally alert and dy
namic personalities. The wisdom of
such aged people has through the
ages served valuable ends.-However.
the type of aged Negro leaders, to
which reference is made here, act
so much at variance with the accepted prevailing philosophies of
life of modern educated Negro
leaders and the aged Negro traditionalists. He says that ~we want
an equal opportunity to live and not
exist~. These aged Negro educators, judging from their actions ~ as
well as 8 peeches, fei)
that old age entitles Negroes
live rather than exist. |

And believe you me they live
oftentimes their palatial homes
are the most imposing and completely equipped buildings orf the
campus. Their expensive -high
powered automobiles would do a
bank president proud.

The pleas of these educators for

~ people who hold lucrative positions

Negro youth to live different lives
than other American youth are
sickening. How can the United
States maintain its unity and support and active democratic government if it must perforce harbor a
variety of cultures based upon
color? The best one could hope for
would be a hodge-podge society at
odds with itself. et ~

| men can~t shoot you if you ain~t there.

| white prisoners are more intelligent than the

ae

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a7 /7T. we

a

-~ ~EGLORED SOLDIERS in the South are catching
0. tT) a ne i. -: sem.A Negro soldier on a downtown street gets-more stares~
than a convict riding a prison truck. Ae
Windy Hill, S. C., has a bloodless record so far. Police
officers over there don~t allow Negro soldiers in town. Police.

But up in the sister state, just a little bit North of
South Carolina, Fayeteville, N. C., has seen blood. It happened on a bus. i iS

Prescott, Arkansas, has really put the pressure on the
colored soldiers. Uncle Sam~s Negro stalwarts are forced to
walk in ditches along the highway.

_ No wonder the boys in camp tell the ~unfits~ and ~old
men~ they should be glad ~you ain~t here,~ ~:;

GEORGIA IS about to set another record. Prison officials are going to establish separate camps for colored and
white convicts. The officials have hit upon the idea that

darker brother
and are apt to ~lead and influence~ him. ~ ' 2
| Now ain~t that something. Rut, it goes to prove that
the Negro who is as intelligent as the white prisoner. has
sense enough to stay out of jail.

a Mississippi senator isnt all. he is cocked up to be. He~s
the man who advocated sending all Negroes back to Africa.
He got scared the other day and backed out of a speaking
engagement in Harlem. He was to have spoken in connection with the hirthday celebration of the late Marcus Garvey.
Bilbo copied the back-to-Africa jive from Garvey. The senator from the ~lynch state~ must have heard of Harlemites~
plans to stage a demonstration, should. he appear on the
scene.:

IN MEMPHIS. Tenn., where some Negroes have been

~catching ~H~ in the ninth degree, Ralph Millett, associate

editor of the Prezs Scimitar, says:,

~A Memphis woman was fined $3 for double parking
because she dared to tell a policeman that she thought he
was unnecessarily rough with a Negro he was hustling into
a patrol wagon. ~

~If our democracy lasts it will be because of women.
We men folks are afraid that if we speak up we~ll lose an
opportunity to sell a few dollars worth of stuff to city,
county or state. Sane Mees

~We are willing to die for our country, but for a few
cheap dollars labeled PROFIT we will let democracy rot and -
dictatorship thrive.~

~Rutledge, Georgia, woman dozes while smoking pipe.
Result: She dies of fatal burns; house destroyed by flames.

bacco can be an evil influence.

I am convinced after years of experience in the fields of social work
and education that the only Negroes

who are worried about racial in- |

termingling are these staticminded,
self-centered, defeatist age. Negro
educators. Modern educated Negro.
youth are rather inclined to be
highly race conscious. They are
fighting for a chance to live rather
than exist. This makes them increasingly apprehensive of white

that might be filled by Negroes.

The rapid displacement of Negroes from traditional jobs and
the obvious effects to keep them out
of new and remunerative vocations
is forcing them to become not only
race conscious but black conscious,
Increasingly the effective leaders of
Negro youth are persons who are
distinguishably Negroid in color. ~

Private Peeks issues a stinging rebuke to President Holley when he
tells him that, ~it is discouraging
to the many young Negroes who are
in line with the defending forces
when vent is given to race
spleens, bigotry and stupidity~.

Private Peeks has the philosophy
of American life which should make
him a soldier of which his country
might well be proud. ~

~Columbus, Georgia, man arrested for stealing several
bushels of shelled peas.~; 7 eae
- Which goes to prove that man prefers his peas already

shelled.

~Louisville, Kentucky, white youth shooting at rats on
city dump, kills aged colored women. Accidental] death, according to a coroner~s jury.~: a:

Shooting Negroes down like rats is old as the hills.

~Birminghgam, Alabama, man opened his. mouth. and
yawned the other morning. Then something happened..
couldn~t close his trap. At the hospital, doctors said his
jaw was dislocated.~ ne hoes i ~> ie

Now, why couldn~t something like that happen to Hitler,
or, to some of our American would-be digtators? = ~s
operating a lottery.~

That~s one way of getting around serving in the army.

~Farmers warned against trying to raise silkworma: because there is not sufficient cheap labor to make silk production profitable in this section.~ é cept

Was a time when men and women toiled from sun-up
to sun-down for crust of bread and rags to sleep on. But
days of slavery are gone forever, we hope. ae

a: aes
| BETWEEN THE. LINES By Gordon B. Hancock

~~~_
Fooling Folks

Within the last five years 1t has
been my. rare fortune to attend
three great religious conclaves. The
Oxford group which met in Oxford,
England, four years ago attracted
delegates from the four corners ~of
the earth. This group impressed me
as one of great intellectual calibre
and: composed of the best neoples.
More recently I attended one of
the great meetings of the Seventh
Day Adventists at their camp ground
in Michigan and what a meeting it
turned out to be! Tne groyp impressed me as belonging to a hard
representation of intellectuals.

~
Last week while visiting in. St.
Louis I ran into the annual conclave of Jehovah~s witnesses led by
Judge Rutherford. I spent a whole
day following up every lead that 1
thought would help me to under
had found

working farmer class with a good ||

stand this great movement. At the |

all their messages is the subtile inference that Jehovah~s witnesses

are right and all the other people

are wrong; there is the assumption
that they have a monopoly on the
Bible and its teachings; there is
always the fundamental assumption
that all who are not of their group
are their ~enemies~. They use the
term. ~enemy~~ frequently.

Of course it was intriguing to
watch the Negro ~witnesses~ who
were ~in the ring even if they did

not make a thing~ O and it is safe |,

to conjecture that they did not.
These dark skinned ~witnessess~ did

55
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SEGREGATION IN BAPTISM ~
On Sunday there was a__ great
baptizing of some isd new ~witnesses made during: the conclave
in St. Louis. The new Negro wit-.

were baptized in the gréat pool |
Jehovah's. Witnesses declined to let * colored

| he had not been shouting victory

GOEBBELS ~EXPLAINS~ ~
VICTORY SILENCES is |

' to his
anxious German people just why;
ri:

TT
se:

a

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|

ay i
~|
lial

i

rr

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4

This should stand as a warning to young people. To- |

By ROBERT M. RA is

ee...

~

i

BILBO (~The Man) who made his way to Washington as.?.,

i COR

4

~Fayetteville, N. C., soldier given 12-month sentence for