Newspapers / Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / Aug. 18, 1938, edition 1 / Page 1
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VOL. LEL CHARLOTTE, N. C., THURSDAY. AUGUST 18, 1938. NO. 33. NEGRO CITIZENS ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT HOSPITAL (From The Charlotte News, August 11). Dear Sir: Will you be good enough to print the attached open letter to the Members of the Initial Board of Trustees of the pro posed Charlotte Memorial Hos pital? We think it poses some questions that should be of in terest to the public at large. JOINT COMMITTEE OF THE VOTERS ALLIANCE AND THE NEGRO CITIZENS LEAGUE. Members of the Initial Board of Trustees, The Charlotte Me morial Hospital, Charlotte, North Carolina. Ladies and Gentlemen: The Colored Voters Alliance and The Negro Citizens League have appointed a joint commit tee to confer with the Initial Board of Trustees of the Char lotte Memorial Hospital to find out just what hospital facilities will be provided for Negroes un der the new plan for establish ing in Charlotte a more modern and up-to-date hospital. It appears that none of the Negro civic organizations have been fully informed of the plans that have been proposed for en abling Negroes to benefit equal ly with other citizens. Only within the past few days have Negroes been asked to con tribute. In view of the fact that Federal funds are to be re quested for this hospital, and all Negro citizens will be taxed for its support, the Negro cit izens should be informed fully concerning the benefits which they are to receive. This is all the more important because Ne gro citizens are already taxed forthe-support of pubhc serv ices which they cannot enjoy. For example: they are taxed for the support of public parks and playgrounds. There is not a single park in Charlotte for Negroes. The Negro citizens are m full sympathy with the laudable ef fort to furnish Charlotte with modern hospitalization and-de sire to be a vital part of any en deavor to bring about modern hospital facilities for all the people without regard to color, race or creed. Now, since nothing is assur ed in the pamphlet entitled, “All the Facts About the Char lotte Memorial Hospital for All the People of Charlotte,” (the Negro citizens feel that they are entitled to have informa tion on such points as follow: 1. There is no definite assur ance that the Good Samaritan Hospital will be enlarged. It is merely stated that the “expec tation is that it will be enlarged from time to time as the need arises.” The white people are assured of facilities now, from the present money being solic ited, granted, and taxed. 2. What amount of the re quested PWA appropriation and the proposed taxation will be set aside for the improve ment of hospital facilities for Negroes? ? 3. It is stated that all of the members of the Mecklen burg County Medical Society are members of The Charlotte Memorial Hospital Association. Negro doctors are not members of The Mecklenburg County 1 Medical Society. Will the mem bers of the Negro Medical So ciety also be members of The Charlotte Memorial Hospital Association? How will Negro doctors be represented? 4. Will Negroes who con tribute to the $100,000 fund be given the same privilege of voting as are other citizens who contribute? 5. How will emergency cases which are treated in the Memo rial Hospital that cannot be moved immediately be cared for? The two organizations rep resented by this joint commit tee have found that the interest of Negroes of Charlotte has be come more intensified since they have learned from the papers that The Memorial Hos pital will be made possible by taxing of all the people and by a supplement granted by the PWA. Clarification on such points as the foregoing will enable the Negro citizens to vote intelli gently. JOINT COMMITTEE OF THE VOTERS ALLIANCE AND THE NEGRO CITIZENS LEAGUE C. E. Moreland, J. S. Bowser, Mrs. H. L. McCrorey, T. E. McKinney, Henry Houston. Charlotte. QUESTIONS BY VOTERS AL LIANCE AND NEGRO CIT IZENS LEAGUE ARE AN SWERED. (Charlotte News, Aug. 14). Answering a communication of last Thursday which request ed specific information as to plans for the expansion of Ne gro hospital facilities under the Charlotte Memorial Hos pital set-up, a committee, in a prepared statement, has assur ed its interrogators that the Good Samaritan Hospital will be an integral unit of the new institution, and that its facili ties will be extended to meet the hospitalization needs of the City’s Negro population. The statement is addressed to a joint committee from the Voters Alliance and the Negro Citizens League, organizations whose spokesmen propounded the queries in Thursday’s pub lished article. The reply was as follows: ^J!*Xws.is. to acknowledge_re ceipt of your letter of Aug. 9, 1938, addressed to members of the initial board of trustees of the Charlotte Memorial Hospi tal, as fully as we are able to do, concerning the benefits which the Negro citizens of Charlotte will receive from the new hospital, and the consolida tion with it of St. Peter’s and the Good Samaritan Hospitals. Part of New Hospital “It is the plan of the Char lotte Memorial Hospital Associ ation to make the Good Samari tan Hospital an integral unit of the community hospital, un der the same management, with proportionally equal pathologi cal, radiological and laboratory facilities as those of the white unit. “It is expected that the Ne gro doctors will serve on the staff of the Good Samaritan unit, and that colored nurses and internes will be trained there. At present the question of how many or what proportion of beds will be assigned to the va rious units of the Memorial Hospital, or what amount of money will be expended for providing facilities for Negroes is undetermined. You express concern about paying taxes and not receiving benefits in propor tion. The City and the govern ing board will have the same re sponsibility for providing hos pital service for both races and we believe they can be trusted to see that the proportion of benefits received by the Negro citizens is not only equal to but is in excess of the propor tion of State and Federal taxes and subscriptions paid by them on account of the cost of the hospital. “At present the Good Sama ritan Hospital property is own ed by the Protestant Episcopal Church, and cannot be used to match PWA funds, but the board of managers of that in stitution have agreed to parti cipate in and become a part of the Memorial Hospital Associa tion and, upon completion of the new memorial hospital, to convey and transfer its assets to the association upon certain conditions, among others: “That ill addition to the hos pitalization of Negroes the in stitution shall at all times con tinue the training of colored student nurses, and so far as possible shall incorporate the training of doctors by intern ships in the Good Samaritan unit of the Memorial Hospital. Enlargement in Future “As goon as the transfer of the Good Samaritan Hospital property shall have been made to Charlotte Memorial Hospital, Ine., the directors of the Me morial Hospital Association shall provide for such enlarge ment of the buildings and facil ities of the Good Samaritan unit as will adequately meet the hospitalization needs of the Negro population of Charlotte, both as to number of hospital beds and the character of equipment and service to be provided. “The plan is to provide an out-patient department for Ne gro as well as for white patients at the new hospital. As for emergency cases, colored pa tients will be treated at the Good Samaritan Hospital, where a 24-hour service will be main tained, with adequate laborato ry equipment and graduate in ternes constantly on duty. “Membership in the Char lotte Memorial Hospital Asso ciation is not restricted to race, creed or color. Meetings of the membership will be open to all members, and each member will be entitled to one vote on any question that Comes up. All members will be represented at meetings in person. No proxies are allowed. Negro contribu tors to the #100,000 fund will be given the same privilege of voting as other citizens, and their names will be enrolled on the roll of original donors. “This is a cause for humani ty, from which all will benefit. It merits the support of all our people, regardless of race or creed, and the board of directors of the Memorial Hospital As sociation are deeply apprecia tive-~df the eo-operationrof the" colored citizens of Charlotte in this movement which means so much to the health and happi ness of all of us. “Yours very truly, “Mrs. E. C. Marshall, “Wm. Allan, “Ewing Hall, “P. C. Whitted. “Committee representing Charlotte Memorial His pital Association, Inc.” THE WRECKING CREW Two classes of people mani fest themselves in almost ev ery church. Some are construc tive and others are destructive. Some are positive and others are negative. And what a dif ference their attitudes make in the work of Christ! The immediate occasion of this homily is the following which has just come to my at tention: “A good thing to remember And a better thing to do, Is to work with the construction gang And not the wrecking crew.” The wrecking crew is usual ly present in church business meetings. If a proposal is made by the board or by an individu al, the members of the wreck ing crew are on their feet to op pose the measure. They never analyze a proposition construc tively, but simply assume that the plan is to be resisted. They are “born in the objective case and kickative mood.” They are like the deaf brother who used to cup his ear in a business meeting and call out, “I didn’t hear what the brother said, but I’m against it.” To be sure, there are times in which we must oppose propositions and resist individuals on scriptural grounds, but there is no neces sity for opposing everything and resisting everybody.—The King’s Business. Conversion is a melting pot out of which new life processes and ideals emerge according to the conversion experiences in volved. Thus, according to one’s faith in conversion, so it will be unto that one. “So live with men as if God saw you; so talk with God as if man heard you.” “TIME TO DISCARD NIGGER ” DECLARES WELFARE WORKER jL Columbia, S. C., Aug. 6— (ANS). In a letter to The State, a liberal white daily newspaper published here, Mod jeska Monteith Simkins of Col umbia, outstanding woman wel fare worker in the Southeast, seeks reasons for certain ref erences to Negroes in the pres ent campaign for senator and governor which closes in this State on August 30. Mrs. Sim kins’ article which appeared in the Wednesday issue of The State follows. Tcf the Editor of The State: Because I wanted to note the effect of it, I have waited until now to thank you for publish ing the editorial, “Time to Dis card ‘Nigger’ ”, reprinted in part from the Southern Chris tian Advocate, and published in’The State of June 30. Where as probably a limited number of ^Negroes read the Advocate art4 therefore would not have seA that very splendid article, hundreds of them read The State as South Carolina’s lead ing daily. I have read all press reports of the Democratic campaign and I have discussed them with many persons. When the un necessary and distasteful ref erences to Negroes are recalled, I find that many of us have taken time to analyze impar tially and impersonally the campaign issues of these va rious office-seekers. I find Ne groes deeply concerned about the state of affairs in South Carolina just as our intelligent and farseeing white citizens must be. 1 find that Negroes are ashamed to note that so much mere slush and filth is thrown into the faces of the citizens of -South. Carolina J«l the name of State government! and statesmanship. And one would be surprised to learn that many Negroes are big and intelligent enough to try to overlook the unchristian refer ences to our people. Moreover, they are utterly ashamed be cause the name of South Caro lina is so besmattered and dis graced by certain of the 1938 senatorial and gubernatorial aspirants who dare expect self respecting and respectable South Carolinians to desire them as leaders. And, too, we as Negroes, wonder why any white man, any exponent of white supre macy, and who therefore deems himself a superior being in ev ery respect, would so miscalcu late the Negro’s political status as to make that group a cam paign issue. A being of such in telligence should know that Negroes who comprise 45 per cent of the State’s population cannot cast one vote in the Democratic primaries accord ing to the rules of that party, and that, therefore, it is little and foolish to make Negroes the butt of their campaign ha rangues. Yet, at least three of our “leading” office seekers ex pect to poll a larger number of votes by simply catering to the emotions of an unthinking, un stable part of our public. Why should those unnecessary, hackneyed, and nauseating statements concerning “white supremacy,” “keeping Negroes in their places,” and so on, be used as smoke screens in an ef fort to anesthetize the think ing white citizen, or to arouse the highly emotional and therefore unthinking white man? Why won’t political as pirants let us alone? Why won’t they discuss issues and plans vital to the welfare of South Carolina and either try to be elected on merit as shown by a high degree of statesman ship and good breeding or, fail ing on that, return home and acquaint themselves with the chivralry that is supposed to grace Southern gentlemen? Again, we wonder if some of these aspirants are using this flimflamming and windbeating to hide the fact that after all they would not mind using a few pinch-hitting votes that Negroes, if voters, might sup ply. We even wonder if the good Colonel Blease would mind that imagined 8,000 to 10,000 Negroes being regis tered in South Carolina if he thought some of these votes would fall to him in his inevi table pinch. Such could not happen, however, for the Ne gro who would be as foolish as to vote for one who has used every possible chance to humil iate Negroes would not have gray matter enough to even try to register. There is no stench so vile in the nostrils of a Negro as those old gags about Negroes wanting “social equality,” or “I am for white supremacy,” or such hy pocritical and dramatic climax es as “I place the love of the fair State of South Carolina second only to the love of my God.” Such smoke screens thrown into the faces of South Carolinians do not blind Ne groes. They often embarrass us more as citizens of South Carolina than they infuriate us as Negroes. Southern white people know what Negroes want and they know it is not “social equality” as some of j our demagogues interpret it to their constituencies. Relative to “white suprema cy,” Negroes know that there can be no such real thing as group supremacy or group in feriority. White men know that, too. We know that the mind and the character are the measures of individuals which make groups. We know that many whites are superior to other whites; that many Ne groes are superior to other Ne groes; ana mat some whites are superior to some Negroes and vice versa. Our exponents of “white supremacy” know that all they can actually make of the expression is two words. Negroes are not worrying about anybody being superior —only as they act as superior beings. We teach our children that. Why all this exaggerated phobia of something that think-1 ing Negroes do not even con sider? All Negroes want is the chance to live wholly and in peace as Negroes. They want the right to work, to live, to properly educate their children, to enjoy the protection that any government should offer its citizens, to be men in a world I that belongs to no one group. We have gone far, trudged long, and made bridks without straw to prove this. Yet we are continually browbeaten be cause we have lived through it all and made a few little bricks. The men who feel the need of doing this in order to get votes are unfit to serve any South Carolinian. .Negroes cannot vote in South Carolina, but those of us who think know just who the next governor of this State should be. If the thinking Ne groes of South Carolina were eligible to vote in the primaries, they would be in as great a di lemma relative to the next sen ator as the thoughtful white citizens are. We agree with our good friends of the Southern Chris tian Advocate and The State that it is high time to discard ‘‘Nigger.” May we add that it is also high time to discard “darky,” “coon” and other dis tasteful references to Negroes during speeches. A better and more gentlemanly choice may easily be made. Moreover, we suggest that it is high time that South Carolina stir the dry bones in the valleys of her illustrious dead in an effort to raise up men who are sufficient ly just and conscientious to serve our State, and gentleman ly enough to grace the legisla tive halls of our State and Na tion. There are many such men in the flesh in South Car olina, we know, but they eith er “do not choose to run” be cause of the filth through which they must wade and the little minds with which they must bicker, or they realize the futility of seeking really to -f— serve a people the majority of #hom are satisfied to accept a rock for a biscuit or a snake for a fish. Thanks again, and may you live long and mark well the footsteps of your venerable pre decessors. MODJESKA MONTEITH SIMKINS Columbia, South Carolina. PSYCHOLOGICALLY SPEAKING Dreams and visions could be understood and made helpful in our lives if we recognized that they come to us through the subconscious mind while the conscious mind is at rest, and are for our enlightenment. The subconscious mind does not sleep, it acts as a reservoir receiving and giving out sym bols which come to us even when we are not aware.. The spirit often sends its ideas through a universal language known as symbolism. We do not always understand, because of our inclination to be literal —to take things as they are presented and not look for their symbolic meaning. Many peo ple scoff at dreams and visions and yet the best things of life come to us that way. When Pharaoh told Joseph his dream about the fat kine and the lean kine, he expected an answer from Joseph, but Joseph said “it is not in me, God will give Pharaoh an an swer of peace.*’ Pharaoh could not understand his dream be cause he looked no higher than these kine (the old plural for cow). The future of his King dom meant more to him than the kine. Read Gen. 41 ch. In Gen. 40 ch. the future of both good and bad was made known through the baker’s and butler’s dreams. Saul was converted in a vision. The church started from the erection of a stone to designate the place where Jac ob felt the'pfes§rifee in a vision, which marked the turning point in his life: and it was in a vision that Peter on the house-top was shown that the Gospel is intended for all nations. . We will have visions, dream dreams and hear voices as long as the unfoldment of life is in progress. Man always finds an explanation for any problem if he applies himself to the uni versal mind. Seventeen year old Mary—that is not her real name—woke up a few nights ago frightened and out of sorts. “A large bear,” she said, “is in my room mother, and I can’t go back. She shook my hand, seemed friendly, had no claws and I could see she had no teeth, but I am just afraid of a bear.” She spent the rest of the night in her mother’s room. Another girl and Mary had been close friends but this girl was wicked and dangerous when angry. A misunderstanding oc curred over something that was said and Mary was blamed for it. The other girl threatened to get even with Mary as she had done other girls in the town, but was called to a dis tant State before carrying out the threat. It happened that a big re vival was going on in this dis tant State, large numbers be ing converted, and the people the other girl stopped with were attending. On the night of Mary’s frightful dream the other girl was converted and was begging Mary to forgive her—hence, the supposed bear was robbed of her claws and teeth. Instead of running to her mother, Mary might have found out the meaning of her dream by consulting the Uni versal mind. She would have been wise and unafraid when the other girl really appeared for pardon a few days after wards. J. J. SHEPPERSOft. Bristol, Tenn. The Bible is a book of faith, and a book of doctrine, and a book of morals, and a book of religion, of special revelation from God; but it is also a book which teaches man his own in dividual responsibility, his own dignity, and his equality * with his fellowman.—Daniel Web ster.
Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.)
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Aug. 18, 1938, edition 1
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