Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Sept. 25, 1943, edition 1 / Page 4
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CaraiLi 9^0 rOBIilBV) WEBKLT BT IHK caxouna times PUBUSEING OOMPANT U7 K. PmMjt Stiwt Dvriwa. N. G. Itetcrvd M weond claw in»tf r M tfa* Poet Office m Onrhui, N. 0. undtr the Act of March Srd, 1879. L. B. AUSTIN WILLIAM A. TUCK W. G. RHODES Busin«M Miinairer Publisher Mtnaffins: Editor SUBaCRIPTU^ RATES; 1 PLAIN TALK BT EMSE OABTiat The 8t;itement of Lieuten ant Colonel Davis to the preta «orre?’ mdents in Washington is a rtateiuent of a superior in ! dividual and a real soldier. All of the reports from the ncws- I paper correspondents on the [fighting front are pale in com parison to the more or less de- j tailed and comprehensive stat3 ment of the Conimding Offic er of the First Negro Pursuit Squadron in the history of cs. It is couched in simple but effective English. It has ^ THE PLATFORM OF . . . I • THE GAROUNA TIMES fNCLUDESs I Equal nlaries foi Netro Tafteliert. | N«ffn> policemen where Netroei are inTolrtd. | Banal educational opportunitiee. j Neffro juiymen. - j BUtber wages for domeetk lemints. Foil participation of Negroes in all branches of j the National Defenae. | Abolishment of the double-standai^ wage scale in I industry. | * Greater participation of Negroei in political af- | fair*. * t Negro representation in city, county, jtate and national 'govemmanta. Better housing for Negroes. not the function of the Negio their country’s defense, soldier and sailor to attempt The battle against discrimui to change the diseriminatoiy otion, against segregation, a- laws- of the South. I realiT* gainst injustice must be fought that for a northern boy who not by the enlisted or officer sees Jim Crow for the fir«t personnel but by the citizens time that it is something of .. on the outside of the armed shock. And it may be a long | forces through their organiza* time before he can recover \iU tions such as the NAACP, the equilibrium. But he must re- j Urban League, the Council of cover and prove that he can bo Churches and other similar or- a good soldier - or snilor, n* ganizations and by the Acting marine, whatever the case may Civilian Aide to the Secretary SPANISH BLOOD M BT LANOSTOK HU0HBS In that amazing city of know I don’t understand.*’ Manhattan where, before th«| “0. K., mama,” Valerio crash, people were foreTer Mli, "Yo voy a trabajar.” building things anew, there. “Yofi batter trabajar," his livsd a young Negro called J mother antirered “And I mean Valerio whose mother was a work, too. I’m tired o be. of War. For neither the soldier nor the sailor nor the marine can And a good Soldier or sailo terseness of the military ordor of marine obeys orders, re- and the clarity which one rare- spects the laws of the stiitj^ ^ hope to change these things ly finds in writing these days, and cities even though he ginpg ijg is always subject to Xiicutcnsnt Colonel Oavis hss knows in Jiis lissit thut thos** Tni]itflr3^ or nnvsl discipline And proved in a highly difficult laws are a travesty on dcnM hecome the object of pro-j popular, he knew how to do field that he is an inspiring cracy, and a mockery of th-? ^ ggcution sooner or later. it in the real Cuban way that made all the girls afraid to colored washer-woman but whose father was a Porto 'Rican Sailor. Valerio grew up In the streets. He was never moeii good at school, but he w4s swell at selling papers, pitch* ing pennies, or shootinfr pool. In bis teens he became one of the smoothest dancers in the 'Latin -American quarter just north of Central Park. Long before the rhumba became leader and a competent sold- ideals for which he has be in; ^ York boy ler. He has followed in tho,called to face death, l^j. gjj Ohio boy - or a Michigan The }^egro soldier or aailoi North of Of marine must strive to be the- Mason Dixon Line who living proof of his equality it himself in the heart of not his superiority to those Texas, in “snnny Carline ’ or who would make the color of footsteps of a worthy sire. The record of the colored men un der Lieutenant Colonel Davia will do more to break down tho color line in the United States than all of the speeches, anl ^ j- u ,, . .. \ II nis skm a badffC of dishonor, all of the committees, and all Saturday, September 25, 1943 of the pleas that can be direct ed to the War Department, And it will require racial anti pathy to the most virllent sort now to-justify further Restric tion of* colored boys in the Air Corps. As to the conduct of the Negro soldier, sailor ov marine when he faces raci'il prejudice and discrimination, he might well take a leaf fro.n the statement of Lieutenant Coldnel Davis. In my humble oplniorr if I lie must acquire all the mili*’- j ary or naval technique which ; is available for him to learn, lie must keep alert, and buckle down and grasp everything ho can whether it be the firing of a rifle or the repair of a truck. in Alabama I would say, “Soldier” - ’^^iilg it to th? man,” “Give niMll you have.” Show your superior officers that “you can take it when the going is rough.” Thi, doesn’t mean that you shouid take insults, or epithets. If you have to submit to these go He must attend his dass?3 ' through channels and protest dutifully, develop a military | it. You will get a hearing, al. hearing, look his officers in the eye and give them the pro per recognition Tvithout hesit ancy and without cringing. To civilians he must be courteou?, so that, whether they be black or white, they ■n'ill feel safe IBal such men as you are though it may take some timi. You leave the solution of tho race problem to those best fitt ed to attack it. This procedure I believe is best in the long run. E. A. C. Buy War Bonds — dance 'vith him. Besides, he was very good-looking. At seventen, an elderly Chilean lady who owned a beau ty parlor called La Plor, hegm comm liome every night from thit Chinese Lanndry and findin’ you gone to the dogs. I’m gonna move out o’ this here neighborhood anyhow, way up into Harlem where some real eolored people is, I mean Amer* icid Kegroei. There ain’t no body lettin* a decent example for you down here ’mongest lil these Cubans and Porto Bican? and things. I ^on’t care if your father was one of 'em, I never did like ’em real well.” “Aw, ma, why didn’t you ever learn Spanish sto;) talking like a darkie ** don’t yon darkie me. t'nl your yonng hound, you! 1 won’t ■tand it> Just became yoa’r oat of life. His mother’s mov ing up to 143rd SCreeet didn’t improve things any. Indeed, it just started the ball rolling faster, for here Valerio became what is known in Harlem as a big timer, a young sport, a hep cat. In other words, a man a- bout town. His sleek-haired yellow star rose in a choeq^^te sky. He was ■een at all the formal inviti- tional affairs given by the ex- elusive clubs of Harlem's young ” er set. He was seen at the mid night shops stretching into th > dawn. He wa even asked to Florita Sutton’s famus Thurji- day midnight at homes wher^; visiting dukes, English authors, eolored tap dancers, and dinner coated down^towneri vied for elbow room in her Sugar Hiil apartment. Mattie, Varlerio’4 mama, still kept her job iron ing in the Chinese laundry — but nobody bothered about hts mama. to buy him neckties. At eigh-' teen, she kept him In pockJt money and let him drive her car. At nineteen, younger and prettier women — & ceftaia comely Spanish widow and one Dr. Barrio’s pale wif« —■ be gan to see that he kept well dressed. You’ll never amount to noth ing,” Mattie, his brown skinned mother said. “Why don’t yoa get a job and workf It’S thi*. foreign blood in you, that’* what it is! Just like your fa ther,” “Que vaf* Valerio replied, grinning.^ “Don’t you speak Spanish to me,” his mama said. ‘You THE SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE; At Salerno, Italy, it is reported 10,000 American soldiers inade the supreme sacrifice defending the landing our troops had made in that small city and drove the enemy back in defeat Those men died that those of us back home might have the right to continue to live unfraid Between The Lines A SION FEOM HEAVEN BY 0£AK (KtRDON ^HANCOCK selves for better manners and 1 fcctly clean linen suit. words in a democracy. And, mind you, they ARE disccl- minntory, and of themselves jgwell." creating bad feeling and pi'e- judice,; Majorities feel their very number entitle them to sup- got that foreign blood in you, dn’t fon darkie me. I’m yon* mother and I won’t stand for it. Yon hear met” “Yes, ma’am. But you know what I mean. I mean stop talking like most eolored folks, just because you’re not white you have to get back in a cor ner and stay there. Can’t we live nowhere else but way up in Harlem, for instance? Down here in 112th Street, white and colored families lives in the same house Spanish apeiak- ing families, some white sOm‘> hlaek. What do you want to move further up in Harlem for, where everybody’s all black Lots of my friends down here are Spanish and .Italian and Argentine, and we get along in his struggle for survival in ..... Au *• ..XI. ... country that his literary ^ong the nations of the earth. It was their firm belief emanations are necessarily bur that those of us left behind *ere worthy of their noble dened with protests. So multi- sacrifice and that should the hour ever come when it ap- tudinous and multiform are the pears that the sacrifice they made was not enough, that that tend towards his their countrymen to the la^ man would step forward without hesitancy to take their places to offer their lives in the cause for which they so nobly died. The Negro is so hardpresse 1 generally improved public be havior. Theirs was the belief of free men—of men who possess faith In the destiny of this nation, and .the principles for which its government was established. Theirs was the belief of men who cherish the right to worship God as they please, to pursue life, liberty and happiness in our own way, subject to our own laws, made by our own officials, aelected by our own citieens.” Theirs was a crlnrinna HA«tH I® North Carolina 5,000 Negro teacheni continue to meekly submit to a most humiliating salary differential that robs them of their health, efficiency and the chil dren they teach of adequate educational instruction. In •pite of” this not a one of that 5,000 has had the courage to itep forward and offer his miserable little teaching job as a sacrifice for a cause that Involves questions as mo mentous as those for which their fellow Americans are of fering their lives all over the world. ' It cannot be that all of these 5,000 Negro teachers be lieve in the wili-othe-wisp salary equalization tale which continues to be told them by certain strategically situat ed Negro leaders in this state. It cannot be that among that 5,000 Negro teachers there is not one who can tune in on freedom long enough to catch the spirit that is Am erica's—-the spirit that made 10,000 American soldiers give j their lives. At Raleigh the state treasury is bursting with an over- surplus of money. The millions now piling up have be come embamissinR to the present administration, that, is iearching for some legitimate way to spend some of the tUte funda. This ought to present a challenge to the Ne gro tnehers of North Carolina to throw off the shackles that ha^e bbund them for lo these many years and they should a stand now once and for always for the im mediate aboliihmiint of the teacher salary differential. They ought to go into court anifseek the remedy which thiiy have failed to get through patiently waiting for the fulfiltlbent of empty promises made hem more than 10 7#tra ago. IJnlefa thay are willing to do this they ought to hide tlMlf faeaa in ihame as traitors to those men who died countrymen at Salerno. They . * admit thft they are a bunch of cowards who are teach American youths who are now and will be npon t« sacrifice more than a little two-by-four . to preserve their nation’s place among re- the e»rth. undoing, that he must ue ever ready to defend himself against those who would con sign him to economic and social death. Protest then has place in the Negro's scheme of things; and woe unto the race when it fails to produj’t able protestants who are like watehmen on the Tvall telling what of the night. Within recent weeks thera has baon a aotioeable and de finite attempt on the part oi’ the Negro press to sound a not3 of introspection for the Negro race. More and more attention is being called to what Negroes can do to advance their own cause. The idea is being gradu ally forced upon us that al though the injustices and pro scriptions of the anti-Negio white man must be rcsiste'l and resented, there are certaia fundamentals of racial advance ment that are in the keeping of Negroes themselves. The “Hold-Your-Job” move ment is illustrative of thi.s introspection which the^ Negro sorely needs. Only Negroes can urge upon Negroes to hold their jobs and that Negroes Lave as sumed the responsibility fo- promulgation of this all-impor tant doctrine is salutary to sa/ the least. But it is not merely in the field of employment that we find this introspection, but in the field of behavior in general. The Negro press for, some months in subtle Avay.=t has been urging upon Negroes more comely behavior. .This is a good sign — even a Sign from Heaven — when Negroes We may write classics on It was definitely up to me to move or take what he had, “That's just what I’m talk Ing about,” said his mother. “That’s just why I’m gonna reme power, that their inte*- I can’t keep track of ests as a group must comc mnnin’ a*oiyid^with a fast « first. Minorities too bright red sash, Valerio danced nightly to the throbbing hand- drums and seed-filled rattles of the tropics — accompanied i>y Valerio was a nice enough boy, though, about sharing his income with her, about pawn ing a ring or something some one would give him and help ing out on the rent or the in surance policies. And maybe, once or twice a week, mama might see her son coming in a> she went out in the morn ing, or leaving as she came in at night, for Valero often slept all day. And she would mutter, “The Lord knws, cause I don’t what will become of you, boy' You’re just like your father!” Then, strangely enough, one day Valerio did get a job. A good job, too — at least, it paid him well. A friend of his ran a night club on upper Lenox Avenue. Gangsters owned the place, but they let a Negro run it. They had a red hot jaz!^ hand, and a high yellow revue, and bootleg likker. When the Cuban music began to hit Har lem, they hired Valerio to in- ' troduce the rhumba. That av.is Something he was really cut out to do, the rhumba. That Wasn’t work. Not at all, hoin hre! But it was a job, and hia mama was glad. Attired in a yellow silk shirt, white satin trousers, and a which was grease and dirt for j place the privilege of theu* ^ith every what-eha-may call . . my clean suit. I elected to sit , group before the rights of al! lettin ’ a shades all the injustices heaped upon u? him | citizens. In both cases far too,«'o«en you money. BesH- by the white man. We may j j frequently those rise to tho «> matter where you move, portest unto death about th'^ j 1 top, to positions of power who or ^hat language you speak, handicaps that stand astrido ^^^^ ruined so thoughtto e.x-| seek personal aggrandizement ^ ®till colored less’n our upward way. We may | pio^g ^he situation for further i and who by their octions hurt your i* white.” i-selves with a mournful pity I j gp^j^g soft | the group which they claim io l__ the weather. as we stand last in the line of those SQfiking full citizen- ! ship in this country. But the fact remains there is no sub stitute for good manners and comely behavior,r Having goo l manners is not the same thint; as being sub.servient and ob sequious. Good manners anl “Uncle Tomism’’ are not syn- youDgstera" ohymouS aS Some and “oldsterfl” seem to believe. inclined When we therefore advocate good manners and when they are stressed in the Negro press Ave mean not alone good man ners around whites but good manners among Negroes also! No amount of abuse and crit icism and resentment of tho white mean will atone for a Negro’s lack of good manners. That our press is alive to thos problems is one of the best signs that we are growing in these turbulent times even as we should grow. THAT EVIL rEEUNG Some ■neeks ago I was rid ing a street car In a certain city. I called myself all dress ed up, having on my newly cleaned and pressed linen suit with Panama hat and white shoes. A colored man boarded the same car. He was dirty and greasy and smelly. The whites saw him coming and cleared the way. He pressed on to the rear of the car and found the only vacant seat be side me. He appeared to ,e evil in his mind; for he tried developments ly to him about He grunted back indifferently. I switched to the war and he grumbled back gruffly. vAfter riding several blocks I evidently cohvrheed him that I was not a high-hatter, and he lessened up for good. He represent. I Valerio, “I’m American, a La- . Itin-Ameriean.” The majority looks upon the] “Hugh!" said his mamn. minority as not quite as they^i.xt’s just by luck that yoa are - as something from the herd - and like that. Minorities for their ^ Americanf’ part too often have a chip on j „jghty lot,” said ^i^f®re*l’: J have even got good hair.’’ they don’t I Whtt’s that go to do with his finnllv «>xnrpaspd rearets that ’mama, “in America.” W had Mited m Halt, lr"”* fiMmed dmipated onj «■“? atr.«, ill IBt v«r>' hfl nroved to be a fafrly intelli force which is often irriS | American Harlem. Jirrrl on^ mad^ And ,Th,„ H.tti, OutUrm w.n thp world '^cause his Called frequently both sides happier — for in her youtht the world .forget that they are Americans u-j Tonps ot for greasy clothes Negroes I her name iirVin .Inn’f pjirfi what thev sav 4. -..-w i^utierrez, 'OUt jnsi piavin coior subject to the same responsibi- ^^d she had com- ^ (from Virginia, not Latin - This is true whether the diP-®*>e had met the Por- ference be of political party, Rican seaman in Norfolk, had lived with him there the orchestra’s usual instru ments of joy. Valerio danced with a little brown Cuban girl in a red dress, whose was mat of darkness, and whose hips were nobody’s business. Their dance became the talK of the town — at least, of thnt part of the town composed ot . night lifers for Valerio danced the Hiumba as his father had taught him to dance it in Nor folk when he was ten years old, innocently — unexpurgatei, happy, funny. hut beautiful. begin to canipai^ among them to sit all 6vor me and my per and what they wear on the pul - lie carriers cannot help destrjoy segregation. They help to per petuate it. . ' I was in Chicago a few days ago and riding the crowded cars. It was Sunday morning and church time. A colored wo man boarded the ear with five small children and each had an ice cream cone and she threatun ed to whip anybody who ap parently feared that the child ren that thebi ya ren would soil his clothes. Kvery two or three blocks some body was threatening to whip th^^ld conductor who was patently stroke-proof or else the ordeal Would have wrecked him. IT IS A GOOD SION TO SEE NtJGilOES ADDRESS THEMSELVES TO SOME OF THBIK OWTN SBORTCX)M- INGS — it is even as a sign from Heaven! - Buy War Bonds — « Majority Or Minority BY RUTH TAYLOR I wish it were possible r.) eradicate those two word-J from the English language — - but un^rtunately, if one'couid do this, other words would be thought up to express tb:; same idea. There should place class, religion or color - and.®**^, in each of those groups there|«nd in New York fdrisome ten are minoritiej and majorities. [^r iwelve years, working hard Sumner Welles called t h i:, *o keep him and their house ia term "racial or religious Min- *tyle. Then one winter he just ority” accursed. And he was disappeared at sea, probabli^ right, though he eould avR 1 h_i® boat In 0Om6 far off added class to the list. It Is the Port-tWn, settled down with whole idea of segrcftfttion and {'‘nother woman, and went on Separation of people Into his rhumbas and drink groups, treating them generally j ing his rum without w’orry. not individually, that we are Valerio was a handsoma fighting toda.y. In the^ brave , child, not quite as light as his new world which we hope willj^®ther, but with olive-yelloiv come after this war, let us skin and straight black Span- guard against group thinking, ish hair. He looked more fore- Ijet ns remember that we are than Negro. As he grew all citizens of a nation, and «P. he became steadily taller citizens of a world of United and better-looking. Most of his Nations. For as Mr. Welles al- friends were Spanish - speak- 80 said, “It is inconceivab'c ing, so he possessed their lan- that the people of the Unit^l guage as well as English. He Nations can consent to the n- was smart and amusing out of establishmant of any iysten*--whool. But he wouldn’t work, where human beings will still That was what worjied his be regarded as belonging lo mother, he just wouldn’t work, sueh mlnoritifB,” jThe long hours and low wages Let us - majority and minor- : moat colored fellows reeeved ity - work together as individa- /during the depression never als regardless of the group appealed to him. He could live from which we come. Let us aP’ without struggling. FDR Curtail spending. Put your savings into war boada every cept onr personal responsibiii* ties and fulfill them before we start fighting about our rifcfht'*. Let us prove what we are, fqr- getting whether we be minor- He liked to dance and pla^ billiards. He hung out around ti^ -Cub&n theatrtc on 110th Street, around the pool hall? a'fld gambling places, in th? too — like a gay aweet longing for flotnething that might be had, sometitme, maybe, some place or other. Anyhow, business boomed. Ringside tables filled with peo ple who came expressly to ane Valerio dance. “'He’s marvellous,” gasped ladies t»ho at the Bitz any time they wanted to. “Thot boy can dancc,” said portly , gentlmen with officers full of (lawyers to keep track of their income tax. “He ca;i dance!” And they wished they could, too. “Hot stuff,” said young rum runners, smoking reefers an l drinking gin, for those were prohibition days. “A natural born eastman," cried a tnn-skin lady with r diamond wrist-wateh on. “He can have anything I got.” That was the trouble! To > many peple felt that Valerio could have anythng they got, so he lived on the fat of tho. land without making half an effort. He began to be invite 1 to fashionable cocktail partiv^ downtown. He often went out to, dinner with white folks. Ur; his Biam still kept her pob in the Chinese laundry. (To be continued next week)
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 25, 1943, edition 1
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