The southern news. [volume], July 10, 1943, Section 1, Image 1

About The southern news. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1936-19??

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NAACP PUSHES FOfi US. ACTION
PRICE
10 c
VOLUME 7
WAR DEPT. URGED TO ACT NOW
CAUGHT
ON
THE WING
By
EUGENE SMITH
On the way up to Detroit, Mich.,
to attend the NAACP War Emerg
ency Conference, there were a
group of zoot suiters, who board
ed the train at Knoxville, Tenn.
Their conduct was beyond repair.
If we, as a race, expect to enjoy
social justice, we will have to
conquer ourselves. There can bp
no greater victory than victory
over ourselves; over our bad hab
its and moral weaknesses; over
carelesseness and loose manners.
Well, I am going to tell you a
little about the big "Motor City,’’
Detroit. Rambling around Detroit
for seven days, we found all the
people busy. I stopped on E. War
ren Avenue with my friend, Mi.
Walter Carson, a former Ashe
villian, and Mrs. Lena Pie, who
was very- nice to me. We found
the Adams sisters, Misses Theasha
and Anderegg and Esquires Taze
Adams and Fdercik Reese. These
two young esquires are very popu
lar around Michigan in social af
fairs.
The Packard Motor Plant’s white
workers had a strike while I was
theie because three Negroes were
promoted to work beside some
Ku Klux. The Ku Klux calls It
democracy by refusing to work
with Negroes.
On my way back home I rode
the soft cushion of the New York
Central as far as Cincinnati, where
I had a few hours lay-over. On
boarding the Southern train, I
found it very crowded and un
accommodating. The car was very
dirty and people were riding on
top of one another. We do not
fault the Southern Railway for
the crowded condition, but they
could keep the cars clean. An
other thing that puzzled me as
I rode along, looking out the win
dow, was to find so many idle
passenger cars standing up and
down the line. Why they were
standing idle, many passengers
would like to know.
Back in Asheville now. . . .
Negroes are still killing one an
other. There have been three
homicides in the past two weeks,
not mentioning the fighting and
cutting up of one another. One
of the cases: the man was ac
quitted. The other was a woman
shot four times by a man, that
has not been caught as yet. It
has been rumored that this man
is hanging out in and around
Southside. Again we would like
to say to the city officials, that
we recommend that Negro police
men be appointed. As we have
forestated, with such appointments,
Negro hideouts and dives could be
cleared up.
The drive is on to stop loafing
in the city. I would like to know
when a drive will be started to
raise salaries in this city for the
many poor whites and Negroes,
who are employed an many jobs
where they do not make enough
money to live half-way decent.
Some more news around Ashe
ville . . . coming acros sthe Square
the other day, a lady called me
and told me that she had caught
an opossum on her porch. The
animal was caught by Mrs. Hun
ter of 175 J Grove Street. Mrs.
Hunter will not have to use her
ration book for meat for a few
days.
My friend, Mr. Otis Greer, has
bought out his partner’s Interest
in the Greer-Gilliam Funeral
Home. Hereafter, it will be called
Greer’s Funeral Home. Mr. Greer
is still making progress. He has
added to his staff a splendid piece
of personality, which is Miss Viv
ien Bridwell. Miss Bridwell is a
student of North Carolina State
College.
CHUNGKING, July 5 Strong
Japanese forces striking at Chi
nese-held bases In Shantung prov
ince have been thrown back with
losses in a series of sharp en
counters, a Chinese communique
reported today,
Special Correspondents Over North and South Carolina
(£l)e jQciufi
TREATMENT OF CAMP
STEWART NEGROES
REVEALED IN NAACP
REPORT; WAR DEPT.
IS URGED TO ACT
WASHINGTON, D. C. —The de
plorable conditions of Negro sol
diers at Camp Stewart, Ga., as
revealed by a recent NAACP in
vestigation was reported this week
to the war department. Camp
Stewart accommodates some 25,-
00 white soldiers and 15,000 col
ored soldiers.
The war department was In
formed that an investigator from
tho national office of the NAACP
who “has talked with large num
bers of soldiers and civilians in
Savannah and neighboring com
munities and at Camp Stewart
.itself, has found three principal
causes of unrest and tension.”
The first of the causes, the re
port stated, has to do with the
limited quantity and segregated
pattern of recreational service fa
cilities on the post. The second
concerns the inadequacy of trans
portation facilities. The third is
the attitude and policy of certain
ranking white officers.
The report pointed out that Ne
gro soldiers have a service club
covering a ground space of ap
proximately 100 by 200 feet while
the white service club covers a
ground space of 350 by 500 feet.
For white officers, there is a
club, but for Negro officers there
are no recreational facilities at
all. Tt teh camp therrj are three
guest houses and menibers of the
families of white officers may be
accommodated. There are no such
facilities for guests and relatives
of Negro officers. The colored ser
vice club has been without a sen
ior hostess since January, 1943.
There is resentment, the NAACP
report revealed, of the Post Com
mander's excuse that a qualified
Negro woman is not available in
she neighboring community. The
colored service club is supervised
by a white lieutenant, acting as
special service officer although it
is said to be the policy of the
army that Negro officers be plac
ed in charge of such afeilities, the
report claims.
Segregated post exchanges are
provided for Negro troops who are
denied service in the more com
pletely stocked main post ex
change.
Neither Negro officers nor en
listed men are permitted to go to
the several theaters reserved for
white soldiers, the NAACP report
charged.
In contrast to the excellently
managed Negro USO club in Sa
vannah which houses only 50 per
sons, the white USO club is a
large commodious two story build
ing.
Perhaps the most irksome of the
injustices suffered by the Negro
soldiers is their treatment on
transportation facilities. “Separate
buses are operated for Negro and
white soldiers. Buses for Negroes
are relatively few in number and
often operate hours behind sched
ule. It seems a fair estimate that
there are six buses tor whites to
one for Negroes although Negro
soldiers constitute 40 per cent of
the camp poulatlon. Taxi cabs
from Hinesville, the town nearest
to the camp, have access to the
camp but refuse to carry Negro
soldiers."
NAACPCOUNSELSCORES
TIMES LETTER WRITER
ON RACE “SOLUTION”
NEW YORK, N. Y.—Sharply
censoring the writer of a recent
letter to the editor of the New
York Times who declared that
"thoughtful colored people are
frightened by the hurried prod
dings of our white people who in
sist on rapid transportation in the
relationship of colored and white
people," Dr. Milton Konvitz, NA
ACP assistant counsel and mem
ber of the N. Y. University Law
School faculty said this week in
a twenty-inch reply published in
the Times that the Negro’s plight
in America is fully known to all
"thuoghtful colored people.”
Konvitz writes, "As long as the
Negro is disfranchised by poll
taxes and the white primary; as
long as mobs can lynch Negroes
without fear of prosecution; as
long as Negroes are denied edu
cational and industrial equality; as
Ctontinuod to page six
ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1943
HOLLYWOOD TAKES
BACKWARD STEP IN
FILM TREATMENT
OF NEGROES
NEW YORK, N. Y.—Sol Lesser
was asked this week by the NAA
CP to halt the withdrawal from
production of pictures with col
ored performers. Since the riots
films with Negroes and whites
mixing are also being withdrawn
from movie screens especially in
the South according to a recent
announcement in Variety, amuse
ment world organ. It was also re
ported that Public Relations In
vestigator Hal Horne for 20th
Century Fox decided against re
takes on Stormy Weatehr.
In an effort to counteract the
surge of anti-Negro feeling through
out the country the Equity Coun
cil in its recent resolution con
demning riots cited the Negro's
Contribution to the theater and to
.entertainment the Varieaty story
also said.
WALTERWHITEWRITES
LETTER TO PRESIDENT
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
The White House
Washington, D. C.
NAACP emergency war confer
ence now in session here unani
mously voted today to ask you is
sue orders to take over Packard
plant here. Your executive order
against discrimination in war pro.
duction \*Js bding flouted,
ate attempts are being made by
certain officials of Packard com
pany and certain employes to
thwart upgrading of qualified Ne
gro workers. Some agitators are
deliberately attempting to provoke
race riot by saying to white
workers they do not have to work
with Negroes. Others have stat
ed publicly that they would rath
er see Hitler and Hirohito win
the war than to see Negroes get
jobs. Unless this dangerous propa
ganda is stopped by courageous
action on part of government a
precedent will be established
which can and will spread to oth
er parts of country. Only uncom
promising action by government
can avert tragic, consequences.
Walter White,
Executive Secretary.
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N. C. NAACP REPRESENTATIVES IN DETROIT, MICH.— Left to right. Mr. Kelly Alexander of Charlotte, N. C.: Mr. George
S. Schuyler of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Mr. John Willlan s of New York City; Mr. E. J. George of Wilmington, N. C.; Mr. E. Anderson of
Wiltoning, N. C.; Mr. McLean of Winston-Salem, N. C.; Mr. N. L Gregg of Greensboro, N, C.; (front row) Mrs. Hattie Love of
Asheville, N. C.; Mrs. Johnstone of Brevard, N. C.; Mr. Eugene Smith of Asheville, N. C.; Mr. Magum of Statesville, N. C. Mr.
Smith, publicity chairman, announces that plans are under way for t State Association and 2500 members for the State of North
Carolina.
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i
I ;
LEAVES ‘‘CHl’’
Lt. Ruth Freeman, Recruiting
Officer for the Chicago Negro
area of the sixth Service Com
mand. left Chicago this week for
Fort Des Moines, lowa, where she
will report for active duty. Lt.
Freeman was stationed at 4703
South Parkway in the Walker Col
lege where she recruited hundreds
of lasses for WAC service. The
War Department in Washington,
W. C., abruptly halted her activi
ties here, closing the station and
said that all colored WAC officers
were needed luore . Present for
pressing buslr Des
, i Sr':w. ..
Inc.) >-
May Free Coffee,
Sugar From Limits
WASHINGTON, July 3.—Presi
dent Roosevelt has given civilians
the first real hope of relief from
sugar and coffee rationing.
Buried deep in his anti-subsidy
veto message was this statement:
“With the improvement in the
war against the submarine we
naay even be able soon to remove
sugar nnd possibly later coffee
from the ration list."
Improvement in the domestic
sugar supply has been evident for
some months as stamp values
have increased from Ume to time.
CONGRESSMEN REVEAL STAND
ON ANTI LYNCH BILL IN
ANSWER TO NAACP REQUEST
FEPC WHOLLY WITHOUT
FUNDS, NAACP REVEALS
WASHINGTON, D. C. —As of
July 1, beginning of the new fis
cal year, the Fair Employment
Practice Committee is totally with
out funds to operate, the NAACP
pointed out today coincident with
announcement of the new Board
of FEPC by President Roosevelt.
Unless funds are secured FEPC
literally frees extinction.
The proposal to restrict the
President's emergency fund is still
is congressional committee con
ference with the likelihood, be
cause of the bitter opposition of
the Southern congressional bloc,
that the President's emergency
fund will be so restricted as to
make it impossible to secure mon
ey with which to finance the
FEPC.
The NAACP further- pointed out
that as the fiscal year ended on
June 30, no bill is pending in con
gress to appropriate money for the
FEPC. The outlook is exceedingly
dark in that congress plans to ■
adjourn shortly until sometime in I
September. Only last minute and
desperate action, the success of I
which is exceedingly doubtful, can |
save tPa teltrlatlon. 1
“It is Ironic," Walter White of !
the NAACP declared, “that the •
personnel of the new committee j
Should have been announced by
the White House with a great fan
fare of trumpets on the very day
that the committee ceased to have
any money on which to operate.”
Mr. White also scored the fail
ure to reappoint Earl B. Dicker- ;
son of Chicago as a member of :
the committee. “We cannot escape
the conclusion that Mr. Dickerson
was not reappointed because of his :
extermely aggressive position on
the committee,” Mr. W’hite de- •
Glared. i
The NAACP also made public
today a memorandum it had pre
sented to Msgr. Francis J. Haas, i
chairman of the FEPC, follow- I
ing a conference held with him i
WASHINGTON, D. C. —In an
swer to letters sent to approxi
mately 380 congressmen by the
NAACP asking them to sign Dis
charge Petition No. 5 on the Gav
agan Anti-Lynching Bill, H. R.
51 if they have not already signed
the petition, 3 state they are go
ing to sign, 5 are giving it their
serious consideration, 4 will not
sign the petition because they op
pose this method of "interfering"
with legislative procedure, and 12
were out of town or for other rea
sons the request was acknowl
edged by their secretaries.
by Mr. White, Judge William H.
Hastie, and Leslie Perry, adminis
trative assistant of the Washing
ton Bureau on June 16. The Asso
ciation’s memorandum pointed out
that the FEPC could not function
effectively unless it got informa
tion and advice from those famil
iar with teh problem instead of
the “white cabinet”; had its own
wield staff instead of depending
for its investigations on the War
Manpower commission field staff;
took an unequivocal position
against segregation instead of ap
proving it as in the case of the
Alabama Shipbuilding and Dry
dock Corporation at Mobile; had
qualified Negroes on its staff at
the policy-making level; “and im
mediately re-scheduled the can
celled railroad, Latin-American!
and Detroit hearings. Other points
stressed by the NAACP as being
of fundamental importance were
adequate sanctions in the form of
money penalties and liquidated
damages to enforce its foldings as
well as public hearings, and also
giving the committee adequate
staff and budget.
WASHINGTON, July 5 The
senate sent the 3848,295,883 farm
bill to the White House today aft
er bowing to house damands for
abandonment of crop insurance
but farm bloc senators quickly re
vived the campaign for continu
ance of the insurance program
through an amendment to another
measure.
TWO
SECTIONS
NUMBER 14
JEFFRIES ‘WHITE PAEPR‘
SCORED; NAACP PUSHES
FOR FEDERAL ACTION
AGAINST OUTBREAKS
DETROIT, Mich.—Coupled with
voicing condemnation of the De
troit mayor s “white paper" ab
solving the police force, the NAA
CP this week renewed its efforts
to get federal action taken against
rioting.
In a memorandum to the White
House on June 29 concerning the
epidemic of riots throughout the
nation the Association tersely out
lined the causes and reuslts of
these outbreaks and made 13 rec
ommendations for the alleviation
of racial strife in the 17 or more
fever spots in the United States
where rioting is likely to break
out at any moment.
The suggestions, which were
specific respect to the Detroit sit
uation, were also applicable to the
country at large, the NAACP said.
They included:
1. The urging by the NAACP
once again as it has repeatedly
urged for the past two years of a
fireside chat to the people of the
country to refrain from rioting,
pointing out the global nature of
the problem of race and the utili
zation by our enemies of erports of
rioting.
2. Retention of federal troops
in Detroit.
3. Investigation by a federal
grand jury of the city police de
partments.
4. and 5. Federal grand jury in
vestigations of the mayor of De
troit and the Michigan state po
lice.
6. An investigation of reports
that workers in certain Detroit
war plants several weeks ago be
gan to make daggers and other
weapons out of tool steel.
7. The Introduction and passage
of legislation to make violence
against members of the armed
forces and violence to prevent mi
nority groups from performing war
work a federal offense.
8. It was asked too that Navy
department orders regarding the
conduct of sailors at the Belle
Isle training station be enforced
and that an investigation of these
Bailors’ participation in the riots
be made.
The release by the federal gov
ernment of building material for
the construction of houses for
workers in defense areas was also
urged.
Finally the NAACP charged that
the failure of the war manpower
commission to prohibit recruit
ment of workers elsewhere before
all available local labor had been
utilized resulted in an enormous
and increasing strain on housing
facilities in Detroit and led to,
in part, the creation of conditions
culminating in rioting.
The NAACP told the President
that it was gratified by the report
that the department of justice has
summoned all United States attor
neys to meet in Philadelphia this
week to discuss the obligation and
duty of each of them to preserve
civil rights of American citizens.
The NAACP suggested that the
federal government through the
department of justice weed out
from federal, city and state police
forces all members of the Ku Klux
Klan, the Nazi bund and the Black
Legion or any other anti-min’ority
and anti-American organization.
Vigorous support of FEPC was
asked of the President and great
er use of the radio, press and mov
ing pictures by the OWI in the
dissemination of information that
will create a better understanding
between whites and Negroes.
The NAACP expressed amaze
ment at the silence of the Presi
dent who as far as printed stor
ies reveal did not mention the
riot during hie press conference
this week. The most charitable
explanation of the President's be
havior, the NAACP said, is that
he was waiting until he had got
ten his appropriation bill thru the
southern anti-new deal and re
publican bloc in view of the
needs of OWI. PSA, NY A and
other similar agencies.
Riot Pictures Answer Jefferies
The full answer to Mayor Jef
feries’ efforts to absolve com
plete! ythe Detroit police force in
a "white paper,” the NAACP de
clared are to be found in the
more than 100 pictures it has on
file that were taken by newsmen
during the height of the riot.
[ Among these pictuers of white
maiming helpless and hopelesely
(OoatiiHMd on page six)