Brownsville Weekly News

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_ PAGE EIGHT

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Phone 9-7571 Fliat, Michigan
HENRY G. REYNOLDS.................. Editor and Publisher
BESSIE ANN REYNOLDS......... Te:..+ Associate Editor
~WILLIAM ENNIS, Jr..............-.- Director of Photography~
Bem CLARE oo. ie cece eee Manager of Circulation
MRS. CORA L. TURNER...... eee seeceeseee Ady, Manager
MR. JOHN H.~TURNER Adv. Asst.

BROWNIES NEWS

The Sikeston Lynching And Negro Morale
~ UP IN SIKESTON, MISSOURI the other day a Negro

-. was mobbed and burned, as the aftermath of his having

been arrested as a suspect in the crime of attempted rape;
and according to the daily press and the radio, the ~scene
can well rank among the most gruesome, brutal and frightful in all ~the long annals of that most damaging of all the
crimes against Christianity and Democracy.~

Following close upon the affair when Negro soldiers and
civilians were fired upon and beaten, during the rioting at
Alexandria, Louisiana, it is urgent that these incidents be
considered in the light of their affect upon the morale of
Negro Americans in all sections and segments of the United

States.
_ Coming at

such a time in the life of the Nation, when

there is a most urgent need for complete unity of morale
and spirit among all its people, when thousands. of Negro
youth~some of whom having already made the supreme
sacrifice~are joining the armed forces of the Nation, in
order to assure to all the world-the Christian democratic
ideals, as embraced in the tour freedoms~cardinal] among
which is the right of trial by jury~in the Sikeston incident
so ruthlessly cast aside; when Negro citizens everywhere

_are contributing in work and effort;

in buying Defense

Bonds and Stamps, and clamoring for a still greater opportunity to serve their country in the name of loyalty and
patriotism, untarnished in all its history, cannot have failed
to add immeasurably to the bewilderment, fear and concern
cf an already bewildered and frightened people; and no incident or condition in which the: Negro was concerned during the present war period has so solely affected Negro

morale.

Booker T. Washington, the great Negro educator and
philosopher, great among the great of the South and the
Nation, is said to have remarked.on one occasion that ~NO
MAN CAN DO ENOUGH TO ME TO MAKE ME HATE
HIM,~ and despite everything done against. him in the past,
in spite of the rioting at Alexandria, and the lynching at
Sikeston, the Negro of the United States still thinks and
hopes ine the spirit and wisdom of that sagacious remark,

though frightened and bewildered, though his

morale is

reaching a ~new low~ he is not harboring hate; in his bewil~derment and fear, his morale is being affected because he is
unable to understand how so much hatred can be shown to
exist against him among those for whom he cherishes neith
cr malice nor il] will

According to the press, the Governor of Missouri has
ordered a sweeping investigation, and in an effort to obtain
punishment of the guilty parties, certain organizations have
Taised a reward fund of five thousand dollars, which is al)
very good,-but, frankly, the trial and punishment of a few
individuals would have little or no effect upon the latent mob

spirit, and the trial~and punishment of a few
would have very little effect upon Negro morale,

_What is most disturbing to the Negro mind under the
present circumstances is the almost studied silence regarding his present conditions among those with whom he lives,
and bélieving in the doctrines of Christianity and the:prin
ciple of democracy as interpreted for him by the leaders of,
the Church and State, he has been waiting
years now for the Church, the spokesmen of Christianity,:
and the press, the author of democratic public
turn to his aid in times like these. |

seventy-five

~The Sikeston incident succeeded in its general purpose
of creating fear, uncertainty and bewilderment among the
Negroes of America, although we believe, coming at this
time, it was a greater shock to the whole nation and the rest
of the world, revealing as it did such a lack of. unity of
spirit and morale among all the nation~s people. -

In conclusion, we believe that if the Church and _ the

Press, in the sections where Negroes are most often subjects of such actions, would begin now to say more in behalf
of the Negro, who harbors no hate, whose patriotism is tried
and proven, and against ~this evil practiced against him, it
would, more than any law, or action of law, raise to a ~new
high~ the spirit and morale of the Negro, and be of immeasurable. help to the unity of spirit and morale of the whole

nation. '

~From the Jackson (Miss.) Advocate.

Negro And White

(Continued from Page 1)
day by:
coment meal Gn the btie
ers..and they
are dying ona gallantly and

Normandie Burns
In New York Pier
EW YORK- ~SNS)~The huge
former _ Frentn aher erea
afire in ver
7 Teg haval officer

that the ~shin would
of the amount cf

day beside their Filipino |

iE

pie
+:
exes
Po
s

throughout the area.

Shortly after the fire was reported a large group of agents
from the Federal Bureau of Investigation was dispatched to -the
scene to investigate the possibility
of sabbotage. |
JAPS UPON SINGAPORE
ISLAND et

WASHINGTON~ (SNS) ~ Th ~
Japanese stood upon Singapore island in menacing force Monday
night and the imperial British de
fenders were at the counterattack |

in an urgent effgrt to prevent a
grave extension Of ~the invader~s
lodgment. The Japanese apparently were still held in check on Luzoneand in the Burma theater.

View Stage For

~(Continued from Page~ 1)
if they talked back.

sp Reee
ei

wr

individuals |

days when local citizens had. the

Houston and was told that
Smith,-who was in charge had gone
to Beaumont and would not be
back until the next day. Authorities
at Ellington field when contacted
said Maj. Smith was the party to
talk to about the case.
CITY ON DYNAMITE

Houston is once again on dynamite. Negro soldiers being trained
in camps near here are for the
most part, from the north. Most
of them are intelligent boys, reared
on the doctrine of democracy. They
-resent being kicked around by white
MP~s and local white police. Their
attitude was eloquently expressed by
one lad who said, ~Since I am in
the army for the duration, I would
much rather die fighting for my
race here in America than to
fight and die for my country in
a foreign. land.~ This seems to
be the concensus of opinion of most
ee soldiers talked to by
correspondent.

To the best of this writer's
knowledge there are no Negro MP~s
in Houston though a large number
of colored soldiers: come into the
city when on leave. White MP~s
travel: with the police squad cars
when called to the Negro districts
and usually jump out of the cars
with their hands on their pistols.
All are ~armed with pistols. and
billies. Civilians resent their inter
ference with their pleasure. But
civilian police countenance any
action by the MP force

when in a

Negro section, *

Strict orders have gone out in
this section to all Negro tavern
owners not to sell any beer to
Soldiers under 21. White naval recruits have been fed in the kitchen
of a.Chinese restaurant until this
week when they were given food at
a Negro restaurant.

Democracy is being given ~a beating here in Houston.

Finally getting in touch with
Maj. Smith over the phone, who is
in.charge of Military police

in
Houston, he told. this reporte:
angrily, ~The army policy is to

permit civil authorities and police
to treat Negro soldiers as they see
fit.~ They may talk to them in any
way they wish. This case has been
investigated by military authorities
and it is settled. Negro soldiers.
when off military. reservations are
subject to civil laws and authorities
Tt is not the policy: of the army to
have white MP~s call Negro soldiers
~niggers~. I do not mean to be
cross-examined by you on ~ this
case and it is best that you do not
stir up any trouble over it.~

opinion to

Whites Protest

\(Contisined from page 1)

country. We have nothing against
Negroes getting housing; we jus:
don~t want them out where we
have ~our~ homes...Colored people
worked with us in trying to block
this project. One colored man went
to Washington with us. There are
a mumber of Negro families already
in the community, but they are
nice) people and from the professional group.

CHARGES JOBS DENIED

Inadvertently deviating from his
So-called undemocratie deals the
~whites were getting, Buffa: stated,
~Why do Negroes want defense
homes anyway? They have no defense jobs. I~ve found out that
Hudson Naval yards, Packard and
all other plants in that vicinity
don~t hire Negroes on defense jobs
and: white workmen refuse to work

on machines next to a colored
workman.~
Outside the city hall, a picket

line was drawn up with the marchers bearing signs criticizing the
action of the mayor because of the
letter he wrote to Charles F Palmer, defense housing co-ordinator,
last week, and also the common
council for their endorsement of
the letter. oe ae
Such signs as ~A White Project
for a White Neighborhood~; ~This
Neighborhood was White Keep | it
White,~ were in evidence..
Last week Negro pickets marched in much the same fashior ~in

of the white picket distributed
printed circulars to white passers
MAYOR DEFENDS ACLION

2 ee.

The mayor, in response to atcks made against him by Buffa,

| selection of the project

at the peril of white? 3

this |

selection |

the start. It wouldn't be right to
say, ~Boys, you can~t live here;
you've ~got to go outside the city cf

Detroit,~ ~

Meanwhile, praising the stand
taken by the mayor and council,
Atty. Goodman, Civil Liber
for Negro tenants. The Rev, WilTtam H. Peck, pastor of Bethel A.
M. E. church, decried the controversy, declaring that the principal
issue was the right of American
citizens to have good homes.
Race Relations
(Continued from page 1).

ville, Kentucky, who as Chairman
of the - President~s Committee on
Fair~ Employment Practice has
proved again that a ~Southern
gentleman~ can make an ~all-out~
fight for job opportunities for

Americans, irrespective of creed,
color or national unity.

service to the Ntional Urban League and for her splendid letter to
The New York Times, November 15,
1941, on the Harlem crime news
stories, ap
CARL VAN VECHTEN for his
encouragemen! to young Negro
writers and for establishing at Yale
University the James Weldon
Johnson Collection of Negro Literature,

THE JULIUS. ROSENWALD
FUND, under the direction of Ed~win R. Embree, author of ~Brown

America,~~ for aid to education | in

Georgia~despite adversity.
Great Increase

(Continued from page 1)

Montano.......-.--.4eecees 1,120
BAGGG oe. oe LL ces 595
Wyoming........--- ecco eens 956
Colorado........... ce 12,176
New Mexico...... Pees ass 4,672
APIECE (2. Nia eee lee 14,993
Wie aN ee cis peices 1,235
Wanda ood Niientolcig ces 664
~Washington...........---- 7,424
Oregon....... 0s eee e neers 2,565
California..........--..- 124,306
Total 12,865,518

While there are Negroes in the
territorial possessions of the United
States, Alaska, Peurio Rico.and the
Hawaiian islands, they are not included in the figures given above.

Two Millions
For Air Force
Set AsGoal

Output of Negro
Pilots May Be
~Stepped Up~

* WASBINGTON ~-(SNS)~ The
war situation looked like this Satrurday: ae ye

1. United States Army air force
announced plans to expand to a
million officers and men this year
and ~double that number later on.~

2, Japanese took a second air and
naval base in the East Indies after
Dutch defenders sank an- enemy
Qruiser and damaged another
cruiser and 2 submarine,

3. The United States Navy revealed that an American submarine S-26 sank off Panana with 2
Joss of all but - 2 of its crew
colliding with another naval vessel the night of January 24.

4. Shells fired from British batteries on thé north shore of Singapore halted what might have been
an effort on the part of the enemy
to invade Singapore.

5. Major General Walter C.
Short. and Rear Admiral. Husband
E. Kimmel, commanders in Hawaii
at the time of the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor, asked for rétirement.

The War Department in announcing plans to expand to amiljon officers and men its air force
led some observers to believe that
mote colored youths would be admitted to that department. In a
recent announcement, it was pointed out that cadets expected to be
graduated soon from Tuskegee
would be used to train other colored youths interesting in joining
the American air force.

In invading the Dutch naval and
air base at Amboina, the Japanese
lost a crusier and were forced to

To date, the Dutch claimed to
have sunk or damaged 59 Japanese

|~ ATLANTA, Ga.~(SNS)~

| If you have lots of money to disomeone be sure you can
just in case any ~

+

a).

MISS. PEARL 8. BUCK for: her |

~~ {PLINT BROWNIES NEWS, FLINT, MICHIGAN

~THE RAPID CHANGES, in -the

| sense of stability. It was habitual to

think of generations in terms of a
quarter of a century. It was satisfying to be able to -measure

terms of years, -
Then World War
I came along and

his equinine dignity with a woman
riding him astride;
women wore pants: in public; began
CHIVERS to play tennis in
shorts; appeared on beaches in
what almost amounted to naught.
Cigarette advertisements boldly and
audaciously displayed women encouraging men, to smoke in their
presence, then they represented men
as enjoying the company of ~cigarette-smoking~ women. Cirgarette
smoking for women was at one time

the sign of social privilege and individuality; today it is simply a
wealthy addition for the couponclipping shareholders of the titanic
tobacco industry.

MANNISH PATTERN WRONG

The female combination of short,
bobbed hair, rouge-tipped cigarettes, stiff collars with bow ties,
strictly tailored suits, black oxfords
and long stride arrived at the status
of a direct induStrial and_ political

Status Of ~Women In fragt
A Changing World: social |
changes with ~rough accuracy~ in

disrupted society~s

| @ horse}

WALTER CHIVERS SAYS: ~ "7+ cma |
ie | able to find work and lost much: off
m by the tens of ||

bread

by women was probably a natural
reaction to assuming a new role in
the world of tennis players, lounge. Or

~was not ~omfortable, It meant
~inconveniences as being cursed by the
~boss, punching the clock on the
dot, standing up in the street car,
~paying for one~s own lunch and going dutch treat to the theatre. The
~business girl soon unconsciously re~sented the role of ~bachelor girl~
~which grew out of her ~male front.~
You see ~old maid spinster~ entitled
/women to certain homage that car~Tied compensations a male or ~man~nish~ female can never experience.

BEGIN TO FIND THEMSELVES

So Women in the business and
professional world began to find
themselves. They probably unconsciously reverted to feminine wiles.
'This they found to be the man~s
unconquerable weakness. The business and professional woman who
turns on the ~feminine wiles~ can
usually displace the male competitor. Women have often worn the
smile that made them millionaires,
~political victors, and successful
salesladies.

The depression of early

1930~s
gave male ahd female

~relations

} another shock. Men were no longer

ie

tening,
| _belfs and open

face cream, nail
bright
shoes. |

e role of a human being after war and attempted to become permanently civilized.

However, women now must go to
war in ever increasing hordes~first
behind the lines and then in the
lines. Wart is still such a man~s
game until women who become soldiers must take on again and in
more ~serious forms the roles of
maleness. The machines of war are
hot susceptible to feminine wiles.
The prospective horrible death dispersed by) fire throwing tanks, machine guns, and bayonets mocks so
terrifyingly at smiles until smiles on
the battle field become only sacreligious mockery,

War is hell if for no other reason
than it tends to destroy the humanizing fortress of men~that is womanhood. | ie

nt

BETWEEN THE LINES

| By GORDON B, HANCOCK

Pearl Harbor-ism
A FEWcSUMMERS ago while at
tending the summer sessions at Oxford, I chanced to engage in con
versation with a highly cultured
white -woman. whose husband was
@ dean in one of the most noted
southern universities. After casualNase ope ae ot
the sépanese question; and 1 was
startled to note her unmitigated,
bitter and unrestrained. hatred for
the Japanese. My interest chus
awakened, I set about. ~sounding
out~ Americans who constituted
more than 50 per cent of the students..at their summer session. I
found this vitriolic hatred general
among the Americans.

I returned to this country convinced that war with Japan was
inevitable and that war is now upon
us. Just how people who hated the
Japanese with such bitter hatred
could be surprised when the Japanese reciprocated in terms of Pearl
Harbor is hard to understand. Just
how this country could blame the
Japanese for taking advantage of
our blunders at Pearl Harbor is even
harder to understand. Why call the
Japanese ~treacherous~ and other
bad names for doing what we would
have done? It does not make sense.
The shame at Pearl Harbor was on
our egotistic hard-headed army and
navy leadership, rather than upon
the Japanese. Let~s ~forget. Pearl
Harbor~ and get down to the more
serious business of winning _ this
war.

*

RFGRETTABLE FACT

It is most regrettable that it
takes Pearl Harbors to stir demo
cracies into determined defense of
their liberties. Only the far-sightedness of Stalin, whom we have
abused and accused, has saved the
critical situation. Pearl Harbors are
not necessary to Russia~s fight for
survival. The extent to which it
' takes Pearl Harbors to blast a nation
into intelligent defense of its freedom, is the extent of that nation~s

Pearl Harborism is committed
to the proposition that eating, drink
i: 4 3
+s ines

i

i

FE:

Among Negroes
his trained band rather than in his
we are lost at the beginning. Now

abideth, detest, protest and contest, |

but the greatest of these is the contest! We may as well face the ugly
fact that we are not prepared for
the economie contest of tomorrow.

J
et

be

Hy

Snatching a seriously wounded
man who had been accused, not of
Tape, but of stabbing a white woman, from the jail, a gang of three
hundred beliegers in their American
way of life tied the colored
to an auto and dragged
~him thru the streets and while he
was still alive, poured gasoline over
his body and set him afire, ~

- Tuesday~s News York Times blushed editorially. ovo: the ~unholy
netoriety~ which Sikeston~s Main
Streeters had given their fair (+)
city, saying...... ~an American
community was disgraced, and the
old hideous. crime of mob murder
had another advertisement......A
dogen armed men....could possibly have stopped the mob in its
tracks.~~ ~ see

We are surprised at the Times
rmaking such a naive statement,
Since experience has shown that
white men, armed or ~not, never fire
upon or engage in a fight with a
mob of white men who are. intent
upon lynching a Negro.
MORE NAIVETE
~One wonders what effect,~ says

the Times, ~the tragedy. will: have

must be as law-abiding and selfas their white neigh
8

8

what effect it
The effect will be

&
8

ra
as?

~Hitler In Sikeston
-._. ByL., BAYARD WHITNEY ~
THE LITTLE JERK-WATER to

on a lynching party in the KKK and ~

Sunday, exactly seven weeks from Pearl Harbor Blues, giv
Gents of Sikeston, mostof- whont~

m of ~Sikeston, Mo., put
uthern tradition on a

ing Hitler and the Japs a chance to say something!....

age citizen; but the race problem
is different, wherein the overwhelming majority of whites in a
town ALL FEEL THE SAME WAY
TOWARD THE NEGRO. Naturally,
it would be a mighty sorry town if
it did~ not have some white people
in. it who were against lynching
and other atrocities against the
Negro, but even here they often
condone attitudes against us which

same road to violence.

| | f
~What aces it do to schoo] children?~ the Times wants to know.
It does little| more then keep them

which their PARENTS TAUGHT
THEM, for did not the members of the lynch mob learn race
hatred at their mothers~ knee?
Otherwise, how could they act so
unless it were born and bred into
them? |

of modern literals of the white
race, isn~t every white child taught

from the cradle to the grave? The
effects of generations of miseducation are not to be overcome in a
~few generations. As horrible as
war always is, the colored races

hope that thru it the whole world | mer

will be purg? ed of the false dectrine
ness and arTogance,

7%,

Do You Want Power?

lates to the employment pr
of Negroes that was 50 get
human and fair that one ~

vestigation in Chicago.
was its failure in this

several. groups

that not only raise d
ultimate effectiveness of
mittee but of its inte

do in two days what probably |

the ~candit ion of ~the; e ba

are unfair and which are on the |

in the same) race-hating attitude |

With the God-blessed exception.

~white supremacy~ and lilywhiteism |"

of wnite supremacy, selfish-~: nen
Despite the foregoing, it would ~

ore annie tions
the com- ~

as wells,
The committee attempted to

SUMIMNOINEe

ne aie ean Nite ahha we REE TR SN te i~