COMMENTS EDITORIAL PAGE opinions
THE OMAHA GUIDE
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I ..EDITORIALS..
Dorah—What Does He Stand For?
By Louis L. Redding—Reprint from The Orisis, March 1936
Ji would seem from this analysis of the senator from
Tdalio. that Negro citizens can place little dopendene®
in him a • a statesman and none at all in him as h man
having nnv conception of the hopes, ambitions and rights
of Negro Americans !
ST * TI’S TINTS, LVNOHTKa AND PROHIBITION—
Thai he has listened to tin* requests of “Southern friend-:” |
when h- In twice Indued slay so called federal an i-lynehing
lulls h; ■ 1«' n unite aj'i'i'i1' ui to Kpon or, anil friends of that;
legislation. I lien, jv- usual, lie cloaked his opposition in venera
tion nr he Constitution, “To my mind” he said, “if that sort 1
of lull can he pus d and sustained by the Supreme Court, we I
have ufteih annihilated all sta e sovyreienty; we have broknen
'down state line.-, eomplidely.'' Recently, reaffirming bis eons i
tutioual objection, lie avowed tint “should the unexpected
and great lmuor come to me of being President of the Cni ed
States and m b a bill should reach me. . , I would unhes
itatingly ve n it,’ Borah's frequently displayed lack of integ
rity in maintaining a position always casts doubt upon bis
sincerity. I n it lie is genuinely prepossessed by some abstract
theortv ot the relations between the stale and national giv
crnments, there is, in this in. ance, ample answer. Statutes de
signed either to prevent or pimb-li mob violence in l'or.y states
including tin with the wors lynching records, have not cheek-]
ed lyneliing. A study of the Cuiven-hly of North Carolina shows
tha only eighteenths of one per cent of the lyneliings sijn-e !
1900 have been followed by conviction of the lynch ere* Sttae on-1
forcement officials, inseusifcive to their state’s default in afford-'
ing equal protection to eitizerM, have publicly applauded mobs
which have usurped the finie ions if the Synte and dealt our \
anarchaie Judge Lynch’s barbarity in place of due process, of!
law. A eonsciention legislator should not be criticized for de
clining to support a measure palpably unconst itutionnl and
impolitic. But there can be no ipiestion of the good poliev of
the an.i-lvnch legislation. And where able and d Nut crested
constitutional lawyers urge the validity of the proposed legis
lation, u construe ivc legislator would not block the possibility
•of the highest test judicial examination. AVIiat the Supreme
Conn would do with the anti-lynching law cannot be prelicted.
It is interesting to recall that, the present Chief Jus.ice If llu*
Supreme Court, in 1919, was a, leading spirit in a National
‘Conference on Lynching which unanimously palsscd a resolution
to the effect that lyneliing be made a federal crime punishable
by the United States court*).
“Status’ rights” gave the Idahoan no trouble when it came
to supporting federal prohibition. The smug opportunists who
seized upon the emotionalism and patriotism of war to dry up
all the states by national action found in Borah li champion.
Later, when the nobility of the prohibition experiment had been
Varnished by the bootleg racket and its bloody cone ini it’ants,
when wholesale and contemptuous disregard'of the prohibition
amendment was sapping respect for laws generally, Borah
rang the air with pleas against “nullification.” Speaking at
Washington, in 1923, on “Shall the Constitution of the United
States Be Nullified” he declaimed:
The subject which has been assigned to toe does not
devolve upon me the duty of arguing the wisdom or unwis
dom of any provision of the Constitution. That question was
settled when any particular provision was placed in the
Constitution. I ta|ke the instrument as I find it—*het cryStal
ised views of a nation and mea4. to insist that it shall be
maintatined and enforced as written.
Startling is the comparison of this idealism with words ut
tered by M)r\ Borah in a, colloquy in the Senate Wi4h \ John
Sharp Williams of Mississippi, a few years before. Borah after
pointed out that the Mississippians had kept the Negroes from
voting in evasion of the Fifteenth Amendment, added:
‘Npw, 1 am not discussing' at this time the question as
to whether or not the South qould submit to the domination
of the inferior raoe. I am not diatcnstfuig' the justifica
tion of what you have done. We would do the same thing
in the North if the situation was the same.’’
Bight, indeed, Was Borah when in thq nullification speech
already quoted from, he said:
“We need to have constitutional morality declared as
was the gospel of old tfc the higl^and the low, for1 against
this neither “things present nor things to come shall prevail."’
It is a,need William E. Borah may himself he charged with.
(Continued Next Week))
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Prize Winning Washington Block
.
1’Jioto shows prize winning block in
Washington, 1). at 1200 Wal or Man*.
Southeast, in the ('oan-1 p eunipaigu spon
sored by ihe Ai'ro-American, a newspaper, ui
Baltimore, Mil., < «r| Murphy, president and
'
editor. More that 5,000 people joined the
campaign in Washing.on, and 120,00 in Bal
timore. The drive was undertaken as a com
munity service by the newspaper. (C)
Editorial of the Week
(From tlu> Elkin, \. (’.)
Tribune, .July I, l!K!7
WE HAVE INVITED IT
The Wagner-VanNuys anti
lynohing bill 1ms been approved
by the Senate judicial commit
tee, and once more this, issue
will furnish the opportunity f<»r
Southern members of Congress
to throw a fit. Idealizing that
a vote on the issue would mean
their defeat, it would not sur
prise me IT some of our South
ern s.atesmen do not employ
that silliest of all Legislative
procedures the filibuster, and
talk the proposal to death.
There are some provisions in
the propo ed legislature that
might work a hardship on lo
cal government uni s. if and
when lynchinps occur. Butt these
can he avoided by diligent law
enforcement, and that is some
thing we ought to have, with or
without a federal law.
Some Southern States, and
North Carolina is among them,
have laws sufficiently severe to
deal with lynchings. But they
are not enforced. We still have
lynching**, in spite of the
and seldom is there anything
ever done about them. Men eon
tinue to take the law in their
own hands, but because thev
are socially and politically nm
minent. nobody is able to identi
fy them, and the solicitor, after
a few high-sounding threats,
let the matter die the usual
death. That has happened here
in North Carolina, |nd is llfs
rule all over the South.
These mobsters would thinW
twice before undertaking their
dastardly work if there was
certainty that they would have
to answer to the federal govern
ment, for the federal courts are
not in the habit of covering up
with white wash.
As much as th» next one we
deplore the crime lint usually
is the basis for a lynching party
hut equally do we deplore a
meting out the punishment.
If we are to have this anti
lynching law, it will come be
cause of our own deliqueney,
We have only ourselves U
blame, and our representatives
in Congress, remembering that
the law applies to all states
alike, could curb their inclina
tion to knife It, without muefc
hurt to themselves and theii
state.
Norris Convicted
(Continued fm.nit Page 1)
opinion” of the ease. Names oL'|
the other two were struck by
the state. Prosecutor Thomas
F. Lawson said that the mere
drawing ol‘ their names on tlie
panel fulfilled the cnsfitution
iil requirements and contended
.he state had, a right to strike
anybody it chose, regardless of
race, in selecting the jury.
Opening witness for the stale
was Victoria Price, who again
told ti story of how site and
I in by I >;t os were assaulted by
the nine Scot I shorn you lis
aboard a freight train in March
T1931. She said the Negroes
came up yelling to their white
companion'-1. “All you white
boys unload.” She swore two of
them had pistols ami the others
had knives, and that Norris
Tireatened to kill her is she did
not yield. Victoria asserted that
she was ravished by Norris and
five others and that she and
Ruby were hoboing aboard he
freight to their home in Hunts
villjp, Ala., after an unsuccess
ful attempt to find work in
Chattanooga, Tenn.
To refute the woman’s story
that she was so brutally treated *
■she was bleeding and bruised.
ihe defense counsel read into (
the record the testimony of I>r.
It. It. Bridges of Scottsboro. j
now deceased, given at the last
trial of Norris in November,
1933. The physician was called
by the state in the original trial
but because his testimony did
not show cither woman was at
tacked, he has since then been
ignored by the defense.
To further refute Victoria’s
story, Ijcibowitz brought in a
suprize witness. Mrs. Emma
Bates, mother of Ruby, who la
ter repudiated the attack yarn
and said th,e whole thing was a
frameup.
Wouldn’t Convict White
Watts led off for the defense.
He dwelt at length in his sou
thern birth and pride in Alaba
ma justice. Ho would like to
feel, he said, that Alabama was
a state where even - handed
justice was administered to
white and black alike, and de
clared no white man would con
vict another white man on such
testimony as that offered by
Victoria Price.
Taking up where Watts left,
Leibowitz enumerated the many
discrepancies in her story and
pointed especially to the tes'ii
mony of J)r. Bridges, lie told
the jury it was up to them to
decide whether the physician or
the woman had lied.
“Dr. Bridges was your doc
tor and neighbor,” he declared,
“lie was brought to testify by
the officials of your state. '
yet he damns that woman’
story as a lie.
There is nothing to this
case but damnable lies. For six
and a half years she lias been
crying for blood—the blood of
these Negroes she framed to
protect herself—and I hope to
God there is not prejudice and
passion here as well.”
The trial was marked by
several clashes between Calla
han and Leibiwitz. Monday af- j
ternoon the later renewed ;lie |
old defense motion to transfer
ing of the trial to the federal
district court on the ground
that the defendants were being
deprived of their constitutional
rights by the Alabama staiute
limiting changes of venue to
one. It was denied.
A warning against the dis
tribution of any literature on
the case in courtroom was is
sued by the judge who said
he would cite such disiributors
“for contempt of court.”
I
THE LOW DOWN
—-from-- ;
HICKORY GROVE
Writin’ about gals and wives
now and then, or often even, it
seems to be something 1 have
the most fun doing. ’Course ev
erything is lcinda funny to me,
but 1 guess any lazy duck lias
more time to see funny sights
and not be a gloom year and
rear out, and never see anything
comical.
The girls, they are O. K., and
some of ’em are better than a
show. But the keen ones, you
don’t see them ou; there doin’
all the monkey shines, like
crowdin’ the men out of the
bar rooms, and shovvin’ off.
T’hese wise one they are over at ,
the cooking school findin’ out
something about how to season ;
up the old roast, so as to help
cm, may, cap.ivate for them
selves, a permanent meal tick- ,
't. i
And the thin young fellers '
standing around and wut bin’
the other kind, tlid whow-nF '
gals, do all sorts of stuff like 1
i few of ’em learin’ to swe
uid to spit through their teeth, 1
he young fellers are just there
to see what happens next., and
they are not there pickin’ on4 1
gals fir wive*1. These young
bloods, they are pr.etty wise
geezers.
Yours with the low-down.
Jo Serra
Bishop N. W. Williams
Speak to 5,000 at Open
Air Union Services
Kansas City, Mo., July 22
(ANP) — Bishop Noah W.
Williams, AM B church prelate,
addressed more than 5,<)()<• las
Sunday night at an open-aid ,
union service held at Muehl- (
bach park, his subject being (
“The Christian Church and ,
Present Day Problems,” Speak- (
ing of labor condi ions as af
feeding Negroes, the Bishop
declared: “My opinion is thai j
we as « racial group should j
stand by those who can give (
us gainful employment. The 1
American Negro should stay ^
out sit-down and prepare him- (
self to fill any place of employ- (
inent. The 12,000,(XX) Negroes ;
in the United States furnish a ]
mighty good market for the ^
products of factory, shop and (
farm—if given employment ]
where he may earn money with ]
which to buy—and the captains j
of industry know if the la- j
bor unions do not.” 1
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♦
| From ,My Den *
By S. E. Gilbert
As 1 sit. here in my den wiih
pen in hand meditating as it
were: there comes to my mind
a lamentable fact: one that I
regret to recognize as such, but
facts are facts, and inasmuch as
1 know it to be a fact, 1 am
passing that fact on to you.
Hearing that the Negroes of
Omaha were patronizing a cer
tain ice cream shop on the
South Parkway of Omaha, an
establishment in which not one
black American can be found
as aii employee, but where hun
dreds may be seen consuming its
delicacy 1 set out to see for my
self this lamentable scene. As 1
stood across the street in the
vicinity of 24. h and Lake, I saw
car after car stop; doors open
and Black Americans si p out
and into this ice cream sho t,
void of Blacky American emplov
ecs, to purchase a delicacy that
a Black American originally
gave to the world. After count
ing in sixty minutes over one
hundred such entrances, my
heart yearned for an awaken
ing, a race awakening that
would cause those who no doubt
unconsciously, arc perpetrating
a gross injustice upon the eco
nomic opportunity of hundreds
of boys and girls of their own
race, by spending their mom v
where they receive in return
only a cone or a carton of froz
en milk. To stop and think, this
lamentable scene, as viewed by
your correspondent, could (be
turned from a picture of pity
into one of joy and pride. How?
By merely driving or walking
one and one-half blocks south
ami entering the portals of a
creditable Black American’s
enterprize where one can viz
ualize not only a beautiful place
owned and operated by a Ne
gro but can find the hands of
Negro youths busily engaged
in the manufacturing of the del
icacy called ice cream, for your
consumption. Now I have pic
tured to you the, two sides of
the fact which came to my mind
as I sat meditating in my den.
One a picture of pity, that car
ries in its wake continued eco
nomic bondage ; the other a pic
ture of joy and pride which
should the Black American of
North Omaha support, would
mean not only a bigger and bet
ter enterprise, but an outlet
for economic opportunities for
the boys and girls whom you,
dear readers ar^ uacrifiring
to educate.
-o
Ky. School Teacher
Receives M. A. Degree
_ •
Miss Willette Embry, school
teacher of Richmond, Ky. who
matriculated at Omaha univer
sity last September working to
ward her Masters degree, suc
ceeded in receiving her goal,
July 16th during the summer
school semester. Mian Embry
received her Master of Arts
degree majoring in education
and minoring in physicology.
Dean Holt gave Miss Elmbry a
a cretificate showing gradua
tion; she will receive her di
ploma at the next convocation
>f Ohio university, June 1938.
Miss Embry left last f rid ay for
tier home in Richmond, Ky., to
spend the summer with her
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Emmett
Embry. While in Omah.':, Miss
Embry made her home with
tier aunt, Mrs. H, R. Greenfield
in Ihmdee.
