North Carolina Newspapers

PAGE FOUR EDITORIALS TOE MAJESTY OF THE LAW * It may seem cynical to say so, but the failure of a Bertie County grand jury to indict the .sheriff accused by a Negro Woman of breaking and entering and as sault did not cause the CAROLINIAN any surprise. There is plenty of reason for re gret, but in view of the past performances of grand juries and other representatives pf the majesty of the law in Tarheelia, ffnd especially in the eastern part of the it,ate, it would have been wishful think ing to expect that the sheriff would not be “vindicated,” if not by the grand jury, then somewhere along the road short of Conviction and punishment. In an excellent editorial the News fm and Observer summed up the .situa tion left by the grand jury’s action, when it asserted that somebody is guilty. Either the woman is guilty of the grossest slander against the character of the sheriil, or the sheriff is guilty of crimes against a lone woman. So far nothing has been dom openly to determine which is true. It goes without saying that the mere failure of the grand jury to indict does not answer the question, nor establish, the innocence of the sheriff'. North Carolina justice has come in for some teriffle heatings in the past, year ot so Two grand juries in the same section of the state in which Bertie is located refused to indict a confessed mobster and others whom he implicated. Two Gaston County juries exonerated a whittle man who shot down a Negro allegedly armed with a head of cabbage after the latter was attacked by the white storekeeper, enraged that a Negro should question his prices. These are just a few examples ol how the law is used as one more wea pon, and a powerful one. to maintain the unquestioned ascendancy of t h e white caste over the black one. Ihe whites have enough advantages as it is. It is despic ably cowardly to take advantage of the machinery of the criminal law, supposed ly the inviolable sanctum of impartiality, as another weapon in the arsenal of the white supremacy legions FULL JUSTICE WANTED The XA A< P is eminently right in not abandoning the Ingram case in Georgia because a judge has vacated the death sentences of the mother and her two sons. They were- to die because the boys did w h a t would have been regarded as a praiseworthy thing, or at the very least a justifiable one, had it been done by any but black boys. The should have been freed outright, and ir taking the case to the State Supreme Gourt to seek a new trial, the NAACP lawyers have served notice that a compromise which saves the lives of their clients is not by any means acceptable. The case should be fought ail the way to the i . S. Supreme Court if necessary, until something approaching real justice is accomplished in the case. PARTIAL VICTORY The decision of the C. S. Supreme Court- on the constitutionality of restric tive covenants was not a clear-cut victory for Negroes and other minorities. Restric tive covenants were not specifically out lawed as unconstitutional. But. the unan imous decision by the Court that neither federal nor slate courts can be called on to enforce an agreement whose purpose is to bar minorities from the privilege of acquiring property obviously goes a long v ay toward undermining th c status of THE CAROLINIAN Published by The Carolinian Publishing Co. Entered as second-class matter, April 6, 1940. at the Post Office at Raleigh, N c.. under the Act of March 3, 1875). P. R. JERVAVk Publisher C » HALLIBURTON Editorials Subscription Rate? One Year, $2.50; Six Months, $3.75 Address all communications and make all checks payable to The Carolinian rather than to individuals The Carolinian expressly repudiates responsibility foi return of unsolicited pictures manuscript, etc., unless stamps are sent. 118 Hargett §4. Rsleigh, N, 0. such discriminatory agreements. Heretofore many courts have issued and granted injunctions and other orders the effect of which was to bind a ooven ater to the agreement. Hereafter such a contract will be enforceable only on a voluntary basis, with no resort to the courts to make it slick. That in itself is an important modification of the status of agreements not to sell property to Ne groes or other minority groups. BIRMINGHAM’S SHAME Birmingham and the State of Alabama had an opportunity to redeem themselves to some extent. When Senator Taylor’s case came to trial they conk! have repudi ated the unconscionable action of ‘‘Bull’ Connor and the policemen of Birmingham in arresting a n d manhandling a U. S. Senator on a ridiculous charge. The court could have tacitly acknowledged the ab surdity of a law or ordinance which pur ported to make it illegal for a white man to go through a certain entrance to a Ne gro church building. The inane and vic ious implications of such a law, or such an interpretaton of a law. are almost be yond comprehension, and must certainly shock ail sane and decent people, for many churches have only one entrance. But instead of seizing the last oppor tunity to prove that there was some de cency and some sense left in Birming ham’s law enforcement, the court, went out of its way not only to uphold but to praise the Gestapo tactics. It reduced the status of a United States senator to that of a hum, so far as Alabama and Bir mingham are concerned. It served notice on the world that upholding a fool and vicious ordinance, which at best repre sents an extremely depraved interpreta tion of the “necessity” of segregation, is more important to the police and that particular judge of Birmingham than is common decency, the dignity of the Unit ed States, or any other consideration that might be expected to appeal to men with any sense of justice or even of the fitness of things. ’The judge made it clear by his state ments, dignified in the press.- dispatches as a “lecture,” that his main considera tion was not the merits of the c ase, but the fact that Senator Taylor was a for eigner, a man not horn and reared in the morally stunting atmosphere which pro duced such laws and law enforcers and interpreters as Birmingham prefers. He punish upheld a charge against a reput able and distinguished man which includ ed assault, and battery on a group of armed officers. He underlined the opinion that a white man who believes that Ne groes are people and not a suh-human species deserve no better than they g--t, and that he is due to get the works. He could not refrain from introducing that old fraud that southern whites and Ne groes could get along beautifully if only “outside interferers” would leave them alone an idea which presumes that all the people in the world except southern whites are either fools or crooks or both. But in this case the police and that Bir mingham judge have done something more than uphold patent injustice in the name of white supremacy. They have ov erreached themselves. They have drama tized in a most vivid way the evils of the American color-caste system. They have revealed to all thinking people the depths of the vicious absurdity to which that system can descend. They have demon strated how the minds of people can bo warped by it not only the minds of dumb cops: but those of intelligent peo ple. They have shown how a community can lose its conscience and its senses over pigmentation. They have dramatized the disease that is preying on the vitality of American democracy. Good and decent men in the South as well as elsewhere may be shocked into an awareness that some things are wrong, and how wrong those things can be. They may even be shocked to the point that they will realize that something must be done to cure this disease; that ignor ing it or explaining it away treating it, with soothing syrup is too dangerous. THE CAROLINIAN “BEING SILENCED!” »™| Jeccnd llioii&iits | jl C. D, MALLIBUftTOM 8 —•— 1J m A very intriguing Setter-to the-editor appeared in the News and Observer stunt- time ago. It was written by a gentleman who had some very positive opinions on the subject of pro posed legislation to bring about fair employment practices, m other words the so-called Per manent PE PC The arguments usually raised by the embattled South against President Truman’s proposed civii rights program center around the point that the vari ous measures would involve the violation of states* rights: but againist FEPC it. is the right of the individual to hire and fire as he pleases, a strongly en trenched tenet of our system ot free enterprise, which is th c main argument. Others include bureaucratic meddling with pri vate business and the difticulty of enforcement. But this letter-tu-the editor brought out some additional points v hieh are seldom record ed in print. The writer gets yjf*h+ ru.-.vn to the point arid calls a spade a spade. His can - dor is refreshing ns well a- "o vealing, and you may be sure that his sfrdetva-nL reflivt the SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON By Rev. M. W. Williams S .i . Mu! chi !). ))i„rA ce>\ Red mien. - Munch: 1:1. 6-9. 7:13 14- ?,:7-12 Ki • V :Win. •••!! ye toe. Lord. Lord and do on the thng.; a ■.if' 1 ;y ’ t.ukf fi:4t: We study today a porn 1 it. Is tad's history in .which imm une- and a di>-:o* *ed -mm of value- had almost engulfed them. G u tin ouch 7a r.ibbabel NVhc- D'l-ih and Ezra had brought tnern back into Judah. n<r led them to build the '( npie. .*< bni* ihe vi.ilL >•- .Urusalem and pm them back on : rm religious, bases Instead at . :..;:i■ they p: ctend ait a\>..- e of any love shewn n«-:<. !n a- her.ni-ty wMh ■a* a-- .ah"! and even sobbed Gob. d "lac.hi. in: no.-fcne: t f Jes, vyb a ,•<>:.:< myoi'.irv of it o poet Lull ni 'os and *hi historinv Ho--:Us>:u deii-.an.ds >t the pne: is and people ’ ■ reive God in sme'-rety ana truth. KAI.SK RELIGION The Israelites went to worm ip \\i)VA\ LWYER TO lf-n;represent*. 1 the co’.tn .:i as •he W«n{‘ii's World FeJ’.>\e conference m Parzs, following whch -he visited in seven coun tries tit Europe ob.-.’C’ving eouui t i on* Mrs Carlo is a former assistant oi-tncl attonny in N. v York, .-mu within '.u.' p.ts* yt-ai joined will: Ernest E. Johnson in .he estabiish inert of Oatter-Joiuison assoc iv.c» ttie Fifth Avenue public relations firm. PLKbIE HEALTH gram for progress. In that pro grant 1 would place very high the necessity of increased eciuca„ t tonal opportunities for nil re gardless of race color or creed, of improved .facilities for health facilities for health end medical can?, of better housing, of equal pay to i equal work, of fairness in th" ex< -vise of franchise with out poll taxes, and for just op portunities in accordance with ability and ambition. sentiment.-: of many others, not all of whom live below the Ma son-Dixon line. He is an em ployer himself, which adds weight, to i iic importance of his attitude as a factor to be rec koned Ailh. We quote Iron) the letter: 'lt is never going to work out. right in the South to; the Ne gro to have equal rights on jobs. Wnot 1 mean is to put him in line tor promotion and have some of our white boys work ing for him. "I ■.ovc woi k,-.■;! colored io.eor foi 30 years and I find them to bo the happiest and most care live people I ever saw. "The Negro d>>es not want social equality and there is just a few of them who want equal rights. When a white man juris a Negro on equal with him the Negro puts the white man be low him right then . . . "So 1 beiievr if you will let the colored man alone and not try to promote him to where he will ! e ovs i s >me of the !< ,s fortunate whites we will have less trouble.” So the who!-- nrnhierr. is neat ly disposed of. It would be bad for everybody fe: Negroes to y> did the priest? ■ .vent throuh the Jewish ritual aceoi-dir.g to eus t i.ri, but it was ail mechanic,'.!. a'hly be. st tor raerr, ot; - th.iv. • they could not eat «i sell W, u icbuki ' 'hen and asked ::If ihr-n, I be . our briber v.ncn- is mine hanor"" Givimt God v. h. ; l> 01 rut tim taien' -d money i. ~ jii, v way ot lain .. .nu him. i i!L3 IGIOV W O vIAKKI.VGJ. ivLilncr.i insisicd ilia: toe prac ttet- true rolu.n,;; \< a.- tin keep ing <.-f that o:.< • jl,- • rsd i.e ivhuicsomt- :;omt life How would till; w.T'.pi,re '' ill. u- ,n oi,: coun try; Ip 1945 v.-e hr > 582.006' - voices It seems- higher w- o h-ii ■ *i d’v ...i T c so- -o ne>s- the man sage bond strii holds a higl place ;n the - , God dospi'w < vtn the iem. . of ou courts. RELIGION ST>.Vk MIDSHIP Malaciii taught arid demanded ’hat the Isr:ieJite? p, act ice who, Continued From Page 1 n ivnon h u ts era; condor of the Bishops. The uirr >ii which resulted from the P . Mr. Crumbs' chal lenge was t> t .settled until more than five hour? had bee® spent in heated and at times near*vio_ lent debate and three relative* of bishops had requested that their names be v it-hdrawn from the proposeci committee. The three resigning members were William A. Fountain, J:.. president of Morris Brown Col lege and soi'. of Bishop W. \. Fountain: the Rev. V. D. Kyi-., son-in-law of Bishop R. R. "Wright •»r>d Nimrod Allen, brother of Bishop A. J. AIF-fi. Bishop Noah W. Williams, pre. late oi t'>e Fifth Episcopal dis trict and host to the conference. t> lc . .voening sen’ll on. Bi shop R. R. Wriqht Jr., ,-f New V.-.rk and RYntuoky, delivered the episcopal address immediate ly thereafter. More than 1.500 delegate?-. and thousands of interested church folk were present o' the eonf-'”- ence opener here in this too small* nave job opportunities on the basis of then qualifications. And tio such arrangement is called for anyway, in view of the tact., tout iNcgroes arc al ready the happiest people in the world, and that few of them are desirous ol equal rights any way. The right to work, regarded as one ot the fundamental rights of man, is a relatively new con cept. and 1 till a strange and suspect idea to millions. The • rignt of lia employer to hire who and when and on what ii ;ms :- a j■. i - s aas .tor thou ,amis of yours ix-en accepted P: -.J ;• is O-iqia-stiomngly as an oliv-ous individual right. It is one- of the ideas against which trade unionism has had to struggle mightily. The right to pronwti m on merit as an inher ent right of Ihe individual ha. gained even less acceptance. Add to this state of affairs the influence of color prejudice -and ignorance su c h as is m- Vealed in I he letter quoted above, and <>nc car. see ho vr - ueb change must takr plac*' before true lair employment practices will be accepted as normal ,-nd natural procedure !hey preached, it .\v could :1k / consistcnliy say: " 1 .<■ res. Lor-i ar,(i on not things whicli H>- say'” H- ( c,..-d them vith roubnig God. An :v fnl mdjdment! >\ iy would -i i a man who gave health homo, friends, cap ,nd abilit;. to earn uvi'-ey :h>-n wiihh-'lo from him that >v and ancgiar.ee which is due” t:c% .-A- d v.’herr.in have wo mo i'c-c; tree’ ■'!!', li'h-.'s and oficv n«s." cm.-'voi-ed TvtalacVii Doc-, your rcli ion c; . 1 1c t you a de sire to pay one-ts-nits, whuii i. your rent ltd tlicr- make .a, nlivrinu that the cauic far v» nich Christ, suffered and '(-d miglc uc the' est ct -if the mission fiele and oin Church program- if t/’-iaeli uicmhers jirr«.tier'd Slow a, -hip? Whether vet pay r.r no •••■ci owe it. Thanks to God for '.hose who have accepted trie <■ii.biei.gc "Th<-.v fear the L-.e.d' Why rail yc me, Lord. Lead, ami do not the things winch I a.- Luke 6:46. small community, the smallest to which the general conference has been taken m many a year. All the bishops were in attendance, presenting for the must past, a rather ancestral aspect. It is rumored that some will be retired because of age- and met feetivemsss. notaoly Bishops Ra, som. Young, Tookes. Davis and perhaps Wiiiian.s .<nd Green. Charges of various kinds, it is said, will be preferred against all •but three of the bishops. Former Bishop* David Sims and George Curry were also on hand. Though they seek rein statement, it seems improbable that anything will come of their demand's The action of the Little Rock meeting seems to be con sidered final. The sentiment among delegates seem to revolve around the re fireman* of defective bishops and punishmnt for those who have violated, the church tows: election of native bishops for Africa or compel assigned bishops to re main on the field or withhold thei • salaries: revision of trv discipline: restoration of time limit on bishops, presiding elders WEEK ENDING, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1948 3 "™ f Si niEOTmt:: — BY OF AM B HANCOCK FOP ANP BETWEEN THE LINES TRUMAN'S IMPENDING TRIUMPH Truman's stubborn stand lor his civil rights program has con verted this writer long ago. When the civil rights committee was projected, I was one of the first to label i? a “poltiical move,” a kind of political net to catch Negro votes. But subsequent events have proven that my prognostication was wrong and 1 am tre mendously glad to be able to see wherein I erred. When President T-atman defied the southern bloc of combined Negro-baiters and rabble-rousers and thin-skinned liberals, I was convinced that his purpose was nobly conceived and would be stubbornly defended. Moreover, if Truman goes down he will go down on account of his civil rights stand, and I am not venturing too far afield prophetically when 1 say that millions of Negroes are going down with him No other course is open to us, since his magnifient stand has brought down upon his head, the wrath of the south and a great part of the deceitful north with its ap peasement of the south at any cost,. But it is not yet certain that Truman will be defeated. It. is true that the vocal pait of the south is heaping upon him malign and pernicious accusations; he s accused of everything but being a conscientious southerner who us trying to face up to reality by trying to do at his doors what we are trying to do across the seven sous. Truman is trying to make of democracy a living and vital principle by which this nation gees up or down instead of letting it remain merely a pica,sing platitude The south should be proud of Horry Truman, fearless advocate of political righteousness and, today, democracy’s leading cham pion ins mad ot trying to crucify him upon a cross of outworn tradition «md political expediency. President Truman is looking ovei the shoulders of his h saucers and hecklers. When those shortsighted fact -evaders are long forgotten. Truman's name will be a redeeming influence in the history oi one of the most sordid political periods of the history of the struggling south. Nor am I convinced lira the carping critics of Truman and Truman ism constitute the majority ot the s :i uth. It is tiuo this contingent is more vocal, but there is another current, flowing through this sentiment of the south that need not be discounted. There are too many things happening in the south of a con structive nature to 'concede that Truman is lost beyond hope. When G< • ..1 car; cast a majority -,f its votes against Talmadgisrn, there i- no guarantee that a majority of the same Georgians will not cast votes against the anti-Trumanites, come election day The south is not as dull and unthinking as her reactionary lea-.ic : h:p wuuM h.e.v ;.e- i-vlieve Tin fellow with, the weak side of an argument always speaks the louder: so the southern reactionaries with the weak side of the tantamount moral question of the day. may be equally disposed to speak loud perchance to impress the outside world with a strength they really do not have. The fighting-hack southerner... have maneuvered Truman into one of the most conspicuous moral eminences of the 20th century. If they will just keep up the fight they will heroize Harry Truman as few moderns have !>cen hcroiw .l s> we have no need to fear. Truman is going to win regardless of the election outcome. If he is renominated and reelected he wins one of the most sig nificant moral victories in -history; if he loses he will win a glo rious moral martyrdom that '-'.ill give hen a place among this nation's immortals. Strange are the wavy of Fate, a southerners from Missouri, son of a Confederate soldier, is standing on the threshold of true greatness. Suppose Truman loses in the election, then he will prove a benefactor of mankind by unmasking his nation before the world as moral leader. If the heart of this natiot: is of suc-h that a real honest man need r >t aspire to it.-, presidency then oi all nations we are the most miserable. Even now our moral leadership is hang ing by a slender thread; with Truman's defeat the world will see us as the prejudiced, bigoted, hypocritical dollar-chasing nation they now suspect us to be. God forbid! A^~took% Don’t bother things L dontnng to others without their per mission. Many an unnecessary argument has resulted from not respecting the rights of other*. end ministers and removing bi shops’ wives from supervisory pods on the missionary board. LOCAL COHLCF, •n 1 f.rst reports ware taken »l a meeting of the committee Monday May 10 at 6:30 o'clock at the Blood worth Street VMCA Dr. ~T. R. Davis of Fuquay Springs it soliciting coniribution;- from the doctors of Wake County; P A. Wil liams. principal of Apex, the coua •y chonl teachers; ant*. The Rev, C A. Kearns. Pastor of Davie Street Pr -bytoriaa Church. and Dr. O i Bullock. Pastor of Fieri Baptist Clvrcl.. Raleigh, ministers. Fund raising et the college and st r -iuUii y -chooly will be directed ;-a Mr- Ada M. .larr.agin and Dr. '•' H. Harris of the Sraiv University sirff: while E !,. Raiford. Executive Secretary of the YMCA. will solid* ■ •mizabot.: and 1 H. Rober s real estate broke:', and M H. Croc kett. head of the Deaf and Blind School, firms and organizations. LOP BRI TAI ITY ted party fummuiii'if has as t*» d'clrred goal a completely Or~ munist w -rid and itr leader? -u ways have said that to obtain world *• ;nrauiii']ri they would have ••> •if Toy religion and overthrow ad r'v-vrrmrit- which insisted their ’■orld-w ide program. rolling the peace officers tout :rv ha-., nothing to tear from C.orn ; ni-m in organize 1 labor. Fr Oonnoi! sai:, 'There is no groan .1 1 .eulsi '<n;i that has cone more to vtki«- Communists and bring ilium ■ui into the open th-n organized ib or. "1 übor rri u knov me Common ists and know how !o : *vtrue ihe.v; with dentoeratic processes."