Bronze Reporter [Volume: 1, Issue: 18]

THE BRONZE REPORTER

Saturday, March 20, 1954: terest

fou...
our Union...

our Community
| By EDGAR HOLT

It| is very: gratifying to:me as
a reporter for ithe ~Bronze Reporter -to~ see the large number
of people supporting the Bronze
Reporter week after week. Sometimes the paper has peen on the
stand two or three days, the
news is| not old to. them, they
still] want to see the: Byénze Ieperter stories and) pictures and
they buy it. Rightly /so too because the Bronze [Reporter serves
you ps no other papér dares. That
is why {this week I am appealing
to you |jto use your
building up a continued high inin. the. paper.. Though the
~Brdanze. Reporter~ is a -Reflec+
tion jof Negire Thought~ it serves
all the people. ~

The demccratic function
minority press is to use. its influence| to narrow the gap betwe practice and

en democratic
democratic ideals., The. particular

of 8

~democratic function of the. Negro; press is) to work for

tne removal
of the~handicaps imposed upon
the |black. minority. This~ is ~ essentially ~a fight > against race
prejudice, segregation afd discrimination in most areas 02
American life everywhere. Inso-}
far as this minority press can
climjinate. differentials, it~ helps
America toward the goal of real
izing its democratic idea). It
tries to) increase the number of
those persons in | the. dominant

majority who believé in the dem
ocratic ideal and to reduce the
number of those in the minority
who | despair of making progress
towatd the democratic goal.
If.|we are to discover a function |fot a minority press in-a
cemacracy, we. must recognize
that democracy is a gréwidg sort
of thing. The ideal is - always
many steps in front of the reality, but that does not. render the
ideal} any less valid. Democracy

For Real
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~ Ine

Jeleose From the Cour; ~House
| Or Our Lot
1920 N. DORT ~HWY.~

influence ig!

dany unfair~

a

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presumes an enlighte ned citizen. |
its |

ry~ which, working ~through
elected representatives, will stay
on the alert to see that the blessrings of liberty are denied to none
and that the resources of, the nuatien are shared by all. It is to
these. people, that tne minority
press appeals. For one, it appeals
to the sense of fairness of members of the dominant majority.
Perhaps nearly as many as 25%
of the so-called race problem
stories and expressions of opinion
are aimed to strike the white
man at his sense. of fairness. This
is a weak spot in the armor of
the prejudiced white American.
From his youth up, he Is schooled.to an interest in sports and to
thé principle of~ fair. play; is
taught that he should not take
advantage. Then he
learns through~ the Negro press
that he IS=unfair. Another vulnerable point attached by /our
press to make more friends for
democracy is the white American~s sense of shame. They must
be shown up as fakers,/ as the
strong who take advantage of the
weak, as the ones who make the
rules of the game and break
them, as men who may have conquered the world with weapons

but are losing~ the: fight over
themselves, Negro newspapers be
lieve the cause of democracy is

aided. by forcing whites to Face}:
up to their consciences.
Of course, another way to in
crease the number of friends for
democracy among the majority is
to appeal to the sense of pride.
Negroes must concede that whites
have made much. progress during
their short period on,the world~s
stage, It does ~not hurt where
they have made single contridutions to pat them on the back for
doing so.

In its second objective, to
guard against the loss of faith
among Negroes, the Negro press
accepts the responsibility of help
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Negro Americans

ing~ to. /retain
their faith in ithe ultimate
triumph of demoeracy. /As with

| whites, it appeals td the pride of

Negroes. They are (challenged to
close the gaps between themselves
and the white man in many fields.
But in the area oi/conscience and
human relations they have the
opportunity to make an enduring].
contribution to the fabric: of American life. It comes with small
erace for the Negro to point the
accusing finger at the white man
and ignote the practice of such
idea himself. Through appealing

Check the |
spread of |

CHECK YOUR CHEST
Get an X-Ray Today! ~:

Women of the / Korean island of
Cheju for centuries have proved
themselves better divers than the
men, who in some instances take
over domestic tasks. Cheju women
make shallow sea dives for pearls,
shellfish, edible seaweed and other ocean products.

There are some 44 names for the
large-mouth black bass, ranging
from ~green trout~ to ~bride
perch,~ ~~growler~~ and ~~Speckled
hen.~~ The: small-mouth black bass
has some 36 names, depending
upon locality.

On an average day at the Milford (Mich.) proving grounds, drivers will cover 30,000 miles in testing GM and other ~ars.

An average home~ may contain
from 1,000 to 2,000 pieces of lumber, large and smail

L

In Hiroshima, target of the first
atom bomb, shops sell photographs
and salvaged souvenirs of the 1954
blast.. |

Federal expenditures during the
year ending last June were 74.6
billion, or more than four times
the amount spent in-the entire nineteenth century.

A single quart of sea water may
contain.as many as 100,000 plankton, the microscopic ocean organisms on which fish feed.

to the pride of Negroes, the Negro press. challenges them to set
an example of moral leadership
and moral living in this nation.
Negro newspapers also seek to
reinforce faith in democracy
among Negroes. by keeping before them the measure of their
own progress despite the odds.
Sometimes they seem to go. too
far in boasts about the achievements of Negroes. If this is a
failing, it is suffered in the name
of making Negroes feel that they
count, that they are winning success and that the success which is
theirs is a result of ~the democratic way of life in America,. imperfect though it may yet be.

Negro newspapers are engaged

in the not. too pleasant task of.

trying to wash the dirty face of
American democracy -so that it
may stand clean ~before the rest
of the world. Those who do not
appreciate the role which these
newspapers are playing condemn
them as agitators, alarmist and
falsifiers. Such name calling is
the retort of guity persons ~and
consciences. Negro writers conceive it to be their duty to get
the message of.democracy over
to the dominant majority and
their own people. They know that
the peoples of the democracies
niake many mistakes and_ that.
there must be a constant job of
educating them so that they can
properly govern themselves. The
area of education whieh the minority press has staked out for itself is that of education in human
rights. Only watchfulness, protest and proper,demands from
the minority press can give any
minority,. suffering from any ill
in a democracy, the hope that
evil will be destroyed and some
progress toward the ideal made.
From this viewpoint, it is the
democratic function of the minority press to create hope among
those who despair in a democTacy..

This represents my random
thoughts on my responsibility to
You, Your Union, and Our Com
munity. Write us and let us have

yours.

Frankly
Speaking...

By ARTHUR J. EDMUNDS

This week in New York. City
the National Urban League
awarded to International Harvester Company the League~s ~Industrial |Statesmanship~. Award
for the jcompany~s uncompromising policy of | non-discrimination
in employment.

The League -took
pleasure|in making this: award
because | International Harvester
not only) gives Negroes equal opportunities in| its 19 | -Northern
and Western plants but it has a
very definite policy against. discrimination in its Southern plants
~also. Harvester has found that
Negro workers in general are as
good as white workers. |It declined to conform to the local policy
of discrimination when it opened
plants after World War II. in
Memphis; and Louisville, The Na- ~
tional Urban League said _ that
the results of this experience are
an ebject lesson for United States
Industry.

Harvester took the ~precaution
to prepare the South for this
~new look~. They sent advance
officials. When they began. interviewing for employment they told
white prospective eniployees that
the company ~did n; diseriminate
and if they had objections about
working |with Negroes they ~ had~
better go some place etse. ~Whena
lone Negro showed up among a
group of white welders in Memphis, the whites stalked off the
job. With the backing of the
UAW-CIO the company merely
told them to go back to work or
be fired. The company and the
union were firm~ in this matter.
The men returned.

There |}are Negro lab. technicians, crane operators,. drafters,
welders, and ~assembly.men. Ana,
there is|no trouble.

In accepting the Award, Ivan ~
Willis, -Director of Personnel for
Harvester explained their policy
in the kind of hard, sensible terms
businessmen understand. He said
~Harvester is not running a
crusade; a fair~employment policy
is nothing more than good busi,

extreme

ness... It is our belief that if,
this poli~y is not followed, our\
company) and the. nation are \
losers.~~

Why can~t this happen in Flint
with our big businesses?

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OPTOMETRIST

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