THE VOICE
A NEGRO WEEKLY
“Dedicated to the promotion of
the cultural, social and spiritual
life of a great people”
' Rev. Melvin L. Shakespeare
Publisher and Owner
Business Address
2225 S Street Phone 5-6491
If no answer call 5-7508
Rubie W. Shakespeare
Advertising & Business Manager
Mrs. Joe Green
Circulation Mgr.
Member of the Assoc. Negro Press
Subscription rate $2.00 per year
10c per copy
Application for second class per
mit pending at Lincoln, Nebraska
From My Chair—At Midnight
FREEDOM. GLORY—YOUTH
How do we celebrate our Na
tion’s Birthday? Some of us go
to picnics, with luscious straw
berry shortcake packed in the
lunch basket. Some of us are
content with a ball game, a little
fire cracker excitement, or a sil
ver display of fireworks against
a pale dusk. But an ever increas
ing number prefer more sophisti
cated revelries, dancing in public
places, lake shore lodges, or a
"Regular Party" in some secluded
night spot.
The past year papers have car
ried as "headlines” and "front
page stuff” stories of Juvenile
Delinquency, Kidnapping — Mur
der. These features are not nice
to think about but are real, these
youth, gangsters—killers had one
thing in common besides their
“social outlawry,” and that thing
was startling enough to warrant
Front Page Notice—They mostly
came of clean American Parent
age, and they all “went bad” early
in life.
It may not have been because
of too many ‘parties’; it may have
been because of too few ‘parties’.
I am not trying to indict festivi
ty. The point I wish to make is
that America is still a very young
nation, and being at the same
time a very powerful nation, we
have created our own standards of
value, further, like all young
things, we are pursuing many
wrong objects, grasping at ap
pearances. It is not surprising to
me that youngsters from Ameri
can families become “badmen.”
In fact, there’s a certain sardonic
justice about it, for sometimes
there is no other way for them to
achieve the material success that
is America’s apparent ideal.
Ring the bells of Independence
Day, Salute our glorious flag,
parade in triumph! Let there be
a real joy in our hearts; but see
that it is REAL. Look below the
surface. Let us not forget that
America with all her wealth and
power and astonishing achieve
ments, during the past decade, is
still young, and still developing,
and that her traditions and stan
dards are to a large degree still
in the process of formation. Can
we choose the right ones? Can
we see clearly enough to keep the
wrong ones out, like the most
deadly of enemy aliens—The
GREAT GREEN DRAGON OF
COMMUNISM???
In all the blare of superficial
civilization remember the quiet
of New England’s rugged green
hills, the clear distance of the
central plains and* the steadfast
spirits of the men who conquered
the West and were fostered by it.
There are forces which fry their
very being make men strong, and
(Continued on page 4)
I Dark Merit
by
Kathryne
Favors
In thinking of Independence
Day we are reminded that during
the last generation the civilized
world has had to direct attention
to the discordant elements in
Europe which would not abide by
the treaty of peace closing the
war of 1914-18. Italy contended
that she did not receive her share
of the spoils. Germany groaned
under the burden of reparations
imposed because of the guilt of
the Hohenzollerns, who had to
flee to Holland to escape execu
tion. The nations with which
the United States was allied de
faulted in their debt payments
to us when we had actually fin
anced them during the war. It
all ended in the larger powers
swallowing up the smaller na
tions.
Let them fight it out among
themselves was the position which
so many assumed. The President
insisted that we should do our
part in saving democracies like
France and England and thus as
sure the continuation of our own
way of life, inasmuch as the
Nazis were trying to bring the
whole world to the recognition of
Facism.
The Negroes of the United
States had no particular interest
in waging the Second World War
to make democracy safe for every
body but themselves. A tre
mendous army and navy had to
be built up and equipped with
munitions of war. Those who
could not go to the front were
called to the war industries which
immediately multiplied to ac
celerate the preparation to meet
the enemy off our shores, threat
ening to invade the mainland.
Negroes, not desiring to be placed
in the same position they were in
1917, raised the question of equal
ity and justice in the ranks. Im
pediments were thrown across
the path of the Negro soldiers.
They could not serve here and,
they could not go there. A dele
gation led by Walter F. White ex
ecutive secretary of the National
Association for the Advancement
of Colored People called on the
President to inquire of what the
Negroes might expect from the
Administration. Judge William
H. Hastie, civilian aide to Secre
tary of War, Henry L. Stimson,
resigned in protest against dis
crimination as it was being prac
ticed in the Armed Forces. A.
Philip Randolph, head of the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Por
ters, issued an order that in war
industries there should be no dis
crimination in employment. To
carry out this order the President
appointed a Fair Employment
Practices Committee.
The South, however, continued
its protest in the considerable
number of Negro Soldiers, shot
down sometimes in cold blood by
railway conductors, policemen
and indignant defenders of caste;
and the War Department did lit
tle or nothing to bring the offend
ers to justice. On the contrary,
the Secretary of War simply said
that the Federal Government
could not abrogate the laws of the
States, and the soldiers must obey
thpm; but even so, defenders of
real democracy contended, the
United States could have prose
cuted those who went to the ex
tent of killing a soldier for not
changing his seat on a street car,
for getting on trains from which
Negroes were barred altogether,
or for seeking food and recrea
tion in places from which Negroes
were excluded. Negroes, like all
other soldiers, had to go from
place to place according to orders.
These handicaps upon the egress
and regress of Negro soldiers ac
tually retarded our preparation
for the war and, in crisis, might
have proved unusually serious.
The demands of the Negro have
had some weight in national and
local situations because the Ne
gro is a greater factor in politics
today than he was a generation
ago. Negroes have learned to
divide their vote. They have
therefore been elected and ap
pointed to useful and commanding
positions.
For further advancement for
the cause of Democracy now is
the opportune time for the pass
age of the Anti-Lynch Bill.
Each person is urged to use his
influence toward the passage of
this bill.
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