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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1946)
The Omaha Guide A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER JL Published Every Saturday at 2.'/20 Grant Street OMAHA. NEBRASKA—PHONE HA- 0800 Entered as Second Class Matter March 15. 1927 at the Post Office at Omaha. Nebtaska. under i Act of Congress of Mardi 3, 1879. C‘ C- Gallowiy,_ Publisher and Acting Editor All News Copy of Churches and all organiz E at ions must be >n our office not later than 1:00 p. m. Monday for current issue. All Advertising Copy on Paid Articles, not later than Wednesday noon, proceeding date of issue, to insure public ation . — ^^^ ^ j — -— -» SUBSCRIPTION RATE IN OMAHA ONE YEAR . $3.o SIX MONTHS . $1.7.'1 THREE MONTHS .$1.2.' SUBSCRIPTION RATE OUT OF TOWN ONE YEAR . $3.50 SIX MONTHS .$2 0<l National Advertising Representatives— INTERSTATE UNITED NEWSPAPERS, Ini' 545 Fifth Avenue, New York r,ity, Phone: — ! MUrray Hill 2-5452, Ray P?ck, Manager Nat’i ifcgro Health Week The first postwar National Negro Health Week observ ance finds a nation eager for what President Truman terms “health security for all, regardless of residence, nation, or race—everywhere in the United States.” National Negro Health Week stresses the great need and opportunity for the average Negro family to improve their home and share health benefits in the community. 'I’he late Booker T. Washington, eminent Negro leader, founded National Negro Health Vi eek in 1915. Following the death of Ur. W ashington, the observance was sponsor ed by Tuskegee Institute anti by Howard University. The II. S. Public Health service has carried on National Negro Health W eek since 1932 as a phase of the year-round health program. Although Negroes have shared generally in the Nation’3 health progress during the past 35 years, they Iiave not shared in proportion to their needs. Negroes constitute 10 percent of our population, but they bear from three to six times their proportional burden of ill health and pre mature death. In every thousand Negro births, one and three quarters’ times as many babies die before they are a year old as in white births. Negro mothers die in childbirth at twice the rate among white women. Many of the chronic diseases which disable and kill strike Negroes far more frequently than their white neigh bors. These inequalities are unnecessary. Publie health ami medicine have found the knowledge and skills with which to make the Negro’s load of sickness and death as light as the white man s todav. More than that, the means are available now to reduce death and illness in all races to * still lower levels than are experienced at present by the most favored groups. It is significant that the theme for this year’s observance of National Negro Health W eek is “a healthy home in a healthy community.” Plans for better homes and com munity improvement should highlight proper housing for the Negro families. The constant need for the security and enjoyment of the home is health. The healthy breadwinner is a better pro vider. Health conserves the family earnings and sickness drains the family budget. And so it is also true of the community in which the healthy homes are located. Com munity health is economical as it protects and promotes the welfare of the people. Home and community are equal partners in the business of keeping the American people healthy. The Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service, Ur. Thomas Parran, has pointed out that among the major requirements throughout the country are better facilities and more trained personnel. This means, he said, in order to assure equal opportunity for tiealth in all parts of the country, we shall have to: Construe; more hos pitals and health centers and equip them with modern med ical tools; train more physicians, dentists, nurses, engineers health educators and other professional people; establish more public health departments and gear up all services to make use of the newer knowledge in prevention and cure. In no part of the United States, the* Surgeon General has pointed out, have health and medical services reached the point where all services meet all needs. It is rare to say, however, that in all parts of the country, services for the Negro fall farther short of the mark than do those for white people. State and community plans for ;he future must take account of this fact wherever Negroes form a significant proportion of the population. Any movement to stimulate better health among Negroes not only helps the group itself but the entire Nation which is seeking an adequate health and medical care program for all people. High disease rates among Negroes are needless drains upon the Nation's resources and upon individual health and progress. Thus, as President Truman so aptly stated, “Our new economic bill of rights should mean health security for all. regardless of residence, station or race—everywhere in the United States.” Plain Talk... (BY DAN GARDNER) POLITICS, RELIGION AND INTERRACIAL PERSONNEL Most whites we find in interracial movements are there because of religious or political motives. It is very rare that we find them in the swim out of a purely natural and sincere desire to right a wrong or to help their fellow man. That is the abolitionist spirit-to right wrongs, to follow the Christ-pattern and do unto others as you would have them do unto yon. For example, the Catholics are in the midst of a wide campaign to do something concrete in improving racial relations and the other day, a young lady, previously with out contact or experience i ninterracial matters, approach ed me to discuss the program upon which she was working. Her thesis was that her religion had decreed that we are “ali brothers in Christ”" and that she was now out to prove it. She set her own conditions upon which she would en gage in the working out of the statement. “I hope.” she said, ‘■‘that I never meet any bad Negroes. I hope thev all are well-mannered, clean-cut people. If I meet the bad ones, I am sure I'll be disappointed and disillusioned.*’ Another young while woman came to my office with Your RED CROSS must carry on 1946 FUND CAMPAIGN some publicity material regarding an interracial affair in volving the Japanese-American Citizens League of New \ork and wanted me to appear on a program that would include the celebrated Japanese-American war hero, Ben Ruroki; the Chinese-American movie star, Keje Luke, and the Broadway columnist, Ed Sullivan of the Daily News. Her leanings were to the left, as organizations and 1 .tier heads carrying her name among the sponsors, indicated. Right here she was interested in presenting to New York City a pieture of Negro, Japanese-American, Irish-Amerij t and Chinese-American engaged in an affair that would prove they all could get along together without fussing and fighting. Somewhere, somehow', I sensed that she was motivated in to her course of action because of a political reason and not because of an innate, sincere desire in the first place to bring about a better race setup. I might be presumptuous but somewhere, I believe she was told to do this or that; better yet, taught to do this or that through a prescribed course of political action and thinking. I got the idea that if she had been instructed to take a counter course, she per haps, might have done that without a qualm. A prominent young Negro woman in Harlem is engaged in publicity and promotional activities for various national organizations. Her ability is unquestioned.. She gets re sults and is very much in demand. However, she enlists her services in organizations which approve of her political and social convictions. Thus, she is far removed from the great masses of our people since her work brings her in contact mainly with interracial groups and organizations W ere she told, however, that her assignment next would be door-to-door work in the tenement district, I am positive she would go about such duties with all the intense enthus iasm she has and is still exhibiting in her present position. Above and beyond the “I was told this was the thing to do motive ’, is the school of thought that occasionally produc es a Wendell Phillips, an Elijah Lovejoy or a John Brown. 1 he hundreds, yes, thousands of whites who join interrac ial movements mainly because religious instruction is the main influence, or those who take part in such activity be cause the political complexion has today a black hue in stead of yesterday's lily-white, do by their very weight of numbers contribute something tangible to interracial re lationships, and sometimes, to interracial harmonv. But many times they confuse issues and kill the very thing that should be nurtured into full bloom. They continue their own petty hates and politics i nthe midst of a bigger issue; they seek to use the new forces with whom they are thrown I into contact as reinforcements to win their own particular points. As an example: under«Earl Browder, the Communist Party almost forgot there was a Negro problem where be fore Browder assumed leadership of the party, the Negro was Number 1 on the agenda. That is what got Angelo Herndon off the Georgia chain gang; what shocked the na tion into forcing by pulic opinion, the freeing by the State of Alabama most of the Scottshoro Boys; what brought Richard Wright and his “Native Son” to the front. Under Browder, however, the emphasis turned to Rooseveit and to the Russian cause in the war. The Catholics today are engaged in a relentless war with national and international communism. To rally support, they are taking any and all who will subscribe to the faith, including the Negro in larger numbers than ever before. The Communists are now debating a return to their for mer active stand in championing the cause of the Negro through the ranks of organized labor. Yet, in each in stance quoted here, the political or religious motive is para mount. The human is secondary. The subtlev of the situation is shown in what happens to Negroes when the power of persuasion of a political belief is allowed to range unhindered. The wav out of the dilem ma is for those of us in positions to do so to demand with increasing vigor and dii-ectness. more complete devotion to the cause of interracial umity and relationships than to pol itical and religious ideologies as a price of our trust and confidence. Sooner or later, we must face the issue. An Apbeal to Nebraska Motorists Captain C. J. Sanders. Nebraska Safety Patrol, is making an appeal to Nebraska Motorists to help cut down accidents and fatalities by safe driving, as the largest percent of ac cidents are caused by traffic violations. This, Captain Sanders reported, is evidenced hy the fact that the Patrol made 21 percent more arrests during Febr uary than in January. Excessive speed was the greatest single offender with 148 arrests. Careless or reckless driving accounted for 59 ar rests and stop sign violations 62. Drunken driving brot about 49 arrests which was an increase over January’s 38 arrests. 401 Motorists received written warnings for careless driving practices, while 1687 other motorists received vio-1 lation or “must repair” cards for equipment violations, I “One headlight” and “no tail light” headed the equipment i violations. In the line of helpful service the Patrol assisted 801 stranded motorists and removed 392 dangerous obstruc-l tions from the highways. To complete the Patrol’s February activity report, 108 accidents were investigated and reported, 47 safety pro grams were given, and 8 stolen cars were recovered. On Unemployment' by RUTH TAYLOR Unemployment is the big problem of today. But this great problem is not an issue in which we have ONLY a selfish interest. Unemployment in America will affect the whole world. As Walter Lippman said, “We are now such a preponderant part of the economy of the worr.: that un less here at home we attain the stability of fuli employment we shall be a force for disorder, rather than for order ev erywhere.” We have learned the bitter lesson that no democracy is secure anywhere in the world when tyranny retgns any where in the world. We have learned the bitter lesson that not only can no nation remain half slave and half free —but that no world can remain half slave and half free. Do we need another bitter lesson to learn that there can be no enduring prosperity for one country and not for all? Freedom of body is smaJI solace to a hungry man. Patri otism does not thrive on hunger. Unless we establish in all countries a system removing the shadow of hunger from anyone that is willing to work, there will be no freedom any where. I am not advocating any system of world philanthropy. But I am saying that full employment here in America is not just a question of earning a living for us alone. We must prove here in America that in democracy ties the sol ution of the peace problems, that we cannot only maintain our freedom of thought but with our American system of free enterprise we can continue our high standards of liv ing and wipe out the dread spectre of unemployment, of post-war depression. We must prove the worth of our faith in our way of life, if we want to make a permanent peace. If we will all work together, we can lick tnrs spectre and win a permanent peace of prosperity. We must prove that 130,000,000 people stemming from all the four corners of the earth CAN live together ann together create a real De mocracy where a worker, whether of brain or hand, is an American worker, not an Irish worker, not a Polish work Editorial: “The Jeopardy of the U. N. O !” er, not an Italian worker, not a Jewish, a Catholic, a Prot estant workers, hut just an Anieriean. «e cO^G mV* ** ERIC hass Released by Calvin'* New* Service About the same time that the uniformed and un-uniform ed hoodlums of Columbia, Tennessee, celebrated the end of “Brotherhood Week” by terrorizing the town's Negro in habitants, mounted policemen rode down and dubbed pickets at the General Electric plant in Philadelphia. The two events are not unrelated. Philadelphia police were enforcing an order banning effective picketing. The order was issued by a capitalist court in the interest of a powerful capitalist corporation. The police enforced it via the tamiliar method of terroristic violence which is cal culated to cow the workers. True, there was no strike at Columbia. But Columbia's 3,000 Negro citizens constitute the town's reservoir of cheap labor. And the fear exists in Columbia, as it does throughout the South, that the Negroes’ wartime exper ience in war plants, shipyards and the armed services, has made them “uppity”-that is, less docile. It is a fact, amply attested to by history, that ruling class es have hut one method of dealing with workers who slough off docility—terrorism. It is the method of imperialism in dealing with colonial slaves. It is the capitalists' ulti mate method of breaking strikes. From the so-called Re construction Era to the present it has been the method of the Southern plunder-hund, when all others seemed to fail, of keeping the Negro in a submissive pattern of behavior. Terrorism—the policy of overwhelming subjugated peo ple with violence, is a calculated policy. Inspired by fear that resides in the back of the minds of oppressors even in the most “peaceful” of times, its purpose is to crush the rebellious spirit by demonstrating the “futility” -of chal lenging the oppressor's power. I have said that the events at Philadeljhia and Columbia are related. They are. But it is easy to draw many dis tinctions between them. The Phildelphia police acted un der the law—a fact of dubious solace to the workers who had their heads cracked, but a fact nevertheless. The po lice, highway patrolmen, militiamen and plain hoodlums who unleashed terror on Columbia's Negro community scorned legal sanction. Indoctrinated by a “white suprem acy” culture which implicity denies the Negro equality under the law, they forced their way violently into dwell ings ami searched them without warrants, clubbed and ar rested the occupants who attempted to assert their lawful rights, and otherwise deported themselves in the lynch spirit which has always been the ultimate expression of their “clulure.” Obviously, the whole pattern of racist thought in the South is caluculated to encourage violent and overt acts a gainst the Negro, to deny him his elementary and constitu tional rights, and to “keep him in his place.” But what is “his place?” The apologist for “white supremacy” says the phrase has a social application only. But the facts of the economy in the South give him the lie. The facts show that the Negro’s “place” is almost any job that is menial, dirty, repulsive or back-breaking, and for which the wages are so low that it is often more economical for the exploit ers to hire a hundred Negroes than buy one machine. The brutal assault on Columbia’s Negro inhabitants was an ac tof racial terrorism. But lurking behind the vicious racist spirit, and secreting it as a rattlesnake secretes ven om, is the same hatred that erupted in the savage attack on pickets in Philadelphia—hatred of labor! Industrial Labor Relations (by George DeMar for CNS) When nearly 1800 people crowded their way into Madi son Square Garden for the rally sponsored by the National Council on Fair Employment, many Americans of all creeds, races and colors took a renewed hope and faith in the integrity of America. Rankins may rant, a handful of senators may temporarily slow the wheel of progress and necessary employment legislation, but the will of the ma jority of the American people cannot be killed. Fair em ployment legislation is not dead. It was downed, but has not stayed down. Once again, rallying strength for a March on Washington, A. Philip Randolph again let it be known that the war for human rights is not lost through the loss of a skirmish or battle. Throughout the United States where men have a sense of values, where fair play is not just a phrase, where econom ic opportunity is recognized as the basis for all living, there must have been a pounding of hearts when Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “If we are to assume a position of leader ship, then here at home we must see that all of us as citiz ens of this greatest democracy have equality of opportun ity.” The National Urban League is this month entering its fourteenth Vocational Opportunity Campaign. This Cam paign is designed to help Negro youth to prepare today for tomorrow’s opportunities. It has a new ring as placards ask “Jobs for all to protect America’s future, Protestants, Catholics, Jews.” The Negro is part and parcel of Ameri ca. He, like other Americans, must have training in all the fields of industrial and cultural endeavor. The time is NOW for the youth of America, Negroes in particular, to take a renewed determination based upon sound counsel ing and advice, to train for work in fields hitherto untried by them. Be ready! Fair Employment Practices Legislation Is coming! It is coming as sure as this is America. It is a job for hard-hitting politicians and does not belong to any party. So with renewed fight let’s tell each district leader, each county chairman, each state leader, each national chairman that: no Fair Employment Legislation, then your candidate is out! fine Quality-Personalized PRINTING - T JUST CALL HA-0800