Negro Youth and Social Action
By Vincent Baker
From “America” Magazine
(Vincent Baker, as a youth leader in Harlem,
has had unusual experience of critical race situa
tions and how to deal with them in a constructive
fashion. He is a leader of Modern Trend, an orga
nization formed to answer the communist chal
lenge to youth.)
Several years ago a friend of mine, then a stu
dent at Texas State College for Women, was told
bv another student of an interracial conference
which she had attended. She and the white stu
dents had sal with Negroes, talked with Negroes
and walked along streets with Negroes. Was
this all right?” she asked. My friend, Anne, told
her it was.
Anne then decided to do some reading about
the race question, and got much of the material
from the college library. It was all so simple, so
logical, so unanswerable! Of course there were
no superior or inferior races! Anne must make
the friends and relatives see the light. She felt cer
tain that once she had stated the facts, all would
be converted. But they weren’t.
There is a lesson in this little story that has
an important bearing on w'hat follows. Race pre
judice—unchristian, undemocratic, unscientific—
arises from ignorance, and education is the cure
for it. But, in addition, race prejudice is the ma
terial with which a vast and powerful pattern is
deeply woven into the fabric of American life.
Many people find it to their immediate interest
to keep the pattern strong. There is the real es
tate owner who can charge Negroes exorbitant
rents if they live in a certain area. There is the
typical political demagog who builds his public
career on racism. There is the rich planter who
must keep the share croppers fighting among
themselves lest they turn on him. And there are
the millions of people who, often unconsciously,
w'ant the emotional satisfaction of feeling super
ior to somebody. Deeply woven as it is, the pat
tern of racism will not give wray to education and
moral suasion alone. Some Negro young people
at least have grasped this, and with some of their
white brothers and sisters have done and are do
ing something about it.
In 1935, a race riot took place in New York
City’s Harlem area*. A false rumor was the oc
casion for the riot, but the cause was economic
hardship, aggravated greatly by job discrimination
and high rents. Negro leaders deplored the riot,
but realized that something must be done to reme
dy the conditions which caused it and might cause
others. The owners of the stores on 125th Street,
(Harlem’s shopping center) were asked to fill new
jobs with a high percentage of Negroes. With few
exceptions, they either evaded or stubbornly re
fused. A committee was formed and the stores
were picketed, the pickets carrying signs urging
the public to boycott places where Negroes could
not work. The effort succeeded. The stores
changed their policy.
In 1941, as the nation responded to President
Roosevelt’s plea,to become “the arsenal of demo
cracy,” attention was focused on the fact that
what were to become defense industries, almost
without exception, hired Negroes only for the
most menial tasks or not at all.
Appeals to industrial leaders proved fruit
less. The Federal Government refused to act of
its own accord. Finally, A Philip Randolph, In
ternational President of the Brotherhood of Sleep
ing Car Porters, called on the Negroes of the na
tion to march on Washington—peacefully—on July
1, unless a Presidential proclamation banning dis
crimination in defense industries and governmen
tal departments was forthcoming before that date.
Young Deople flocked to the new movement, join
ing its various committees and contributing might
ily to its work. Realizing how embarrassing a
march on Washington would be at a time when
the United States was arming itself and other na
tions to resist the spread of racism. President
Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, which con
tained the provisions demanded.
Despite the fact that Northern States have
laws banning discrimination in public places, the
practice has had to be fought relentlessly and still
persists in many places. Several years ago, a
group of Negro students from WTilberforce, a Ne
gro school in Xenia, Ohio, and a group of white
students from Antioch College in Yellow Springs,
Ohio, decided to end discrimination at a Yellow
Springs theater. The Negroes entered in small
groups and sat in the Jim Crow section. The last '
of these groups, however, sat in the section where
only whites were seated. When the manager
made the expected protest, the Negro students
who had sat in the Jim Crow section rose as one
and dispersed among the whites—among Antioch
esting to note, that, on the one hand, the owner
contended that white people would resent having
to eat with Negroes so much that they would
boycott his restaurant and, on the other hand, that
such mingling would lead to intermarriage.
At last the Committee of Racial Equality de
cided on a “sit-down.” A white group entered the
place in twos, threes, and fours. Then came the
first interracial group. They remained standing
while people coming in after them were seated.
Then c^me another interracial group. They re
mained standing for a long time, the other partici
pants refusing to leave their seats until the latest
group was seated and served. The owner called
the police three times, until finally he was threat
ened with arrest if they were called again, for
students where possible. The manager muttered
threats, but the students, each equipped with a
• copy of the Ohio Civil Riights Law, did not move,
and did not argue. When the show wras over, the
students drafted a letter to the local newspaper
congratulating the manager on his change of poli
cy. So ended discrimination in that theater.
A prominent restaurant in Chicago did not
serve Negroes, despite the law. This was learned
when an interracial group went there to eat. The
owner refused to discuss his policy with them.
Two white women from the Committee of Racial
Equalit'% of which the first group were also mem
bers, went to the restaurant and talked to the
owner. He said that his white patrons would not
eat there if Negroes were served, that white wo
men especially would resent it, and that further
more such mingling might lead to intermarriage,
to which he was opposed. The deadlock was bro
ken when an elderly women, not connected with
the project, offered her seat to one of the colored
girls, who accepted. Several whites connected
with the project followed suit. At length only
two members of the last group remained stand
ing. One of the hostesses seated them. When
this happened, the other customers burst into
spontaneous applause. Today there is no more
discrimination.
It was widely believed that the Palisades
Amusement Park in New Jersey did not admit
Negroes to the Dance Casino. Modern Trend and
the Committee of Racial Equality decided to make
a test and to invoke the New Jersey Civil Rights
Law if discrimination existed. The participants
were divided into three groups—all-whitp, all-Ne
gro, and interracial. The whites w’ere, of course,
admitted without difficulty. The Negro group
was informed that the “Turf Club” had the Casino
for the evening and only members were admitted.
The group's spokesman asked how they might
join and they were told to go to the Adminiistra
tion Building. Here they were informed that it
was too late in the season for them to join. The
club, it was said, sold $25 season memberships, and
it was iate August then. But when the white
group came out of the Dance Casino and went,
upon instruction, to the Administration Building
to inquire about getting into the Casino (the peo
ple there didn’t know that they had been in, of
course) they were told to walk right in. Nothing
was said about the Turf Club. The case was sub- <
mitted to the Grand Jury, but the Park changed
its policy before the Grand Jury acted.
Some Negro youth in the South, where law
and the public are hostile, are actively interested
in the war on racism. In 1944. after Georgia ex
tended the vote to 18-year-olds, a large number
of Negro young people went in a body to register.
Registration proceded without violence. In May,
1944 a Modern Trend chapter was formed in At
lanta, Georgia. It became highly active in a
short time. Following the Supreme Court’s de
cision invalidating the white primary, racial ten
sion rose in Atlanta. A riot on Primary Day was
freely predicted. Atlanta Modern Trend carried
out systematic visiting of places where Negroes
assemble, and informed the people that the situa
tion would be handled in the courts and that viol
ence would only hurt the cause whose victory they
all wanted. There was no riot. And the battle is
being waged in the courts. Scores of thousands
of Negroes voted in Georgia last year. Numbers
will grow.
I have mentioned but a few battles. There
are many, many more. Some are won, some are
lost, but the struggle goes on. This is a war no
less important than the great contest of arms •
which ended two years ago. That contest pre
served the hope of true democracy. The fight
for racial equality can make that hope a reality.
Editor's Note: We are indeed grateful to Mr. R. T. Ma
lone. president of the Lincoln Urban League, for con
tributing this article written by Vincent Baker. A number
of articles and material used during this first year came m.
as a result of Mr. Malone’s interest and concern. Perhaps 9
someone, after reading the article will take steps to check
the race-baiting which appeared in a four-column auc
tion sale ad this week in the Shopping Guide.
JITTER
. ■ "n .. — —i^—i f i
By Arthur Pointer | |
LITTLE REGGIE_
___By Margarita I 1
1 .
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