The Savannah tribune. (Savannah [Ga.]) 1876-1960, July 05, 1956, Page PAGE FOUR, Image 4

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

PAGE FO!Tl ft hr §mmtmali 0 Hlw tsr.aDiisnea 187b BOL C. JOHNSON MRS. WILL A A. JOHNSON--Editor Si EZRA JOHNSON_____________Asst, to J. H. BUTLER —.....-............ Asso. R. W. GADSDEN..........Contributing GEORGE E. JENKINS____Advertising PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY 1009 WEST BROAD STREET Telephone, Dial ADams 2-5338 Subscription Rates In Advance One Year ._____________________________ . Bix Months____________________________ Single Copy ------------------------ ... Remittance must be made by Express, Office Money Order or Registered Mail. Entered as Second Class Matter at the 1 tu-.e at Savannah, Ga., under the Act oi Match s, 1919. . . one grows only as one is free grow, and free to help others to grow; free to follow the promptings of sal love and the urge for understanding; free from obligations of senseless con¬ formity to the world; free to become transformed by the renewal of one s mind. This—the urge for spiritual growth is why we want democracy.” Williams —James M. Jn The Churchman. A NEW APPROACH It is gratifying to note that a group of citizens is making a new approach to the problem of getting Negroes in Chat¬ ham County to register up to their high¬ est potential. It is assumed that there are between fifteen and twenty thousand persons of voting age, in the county, fig¬ ures recently released in Atlanta show that Negro registrants in Chatham ( oun- ty have dropped from 9,905 in 1952 to 9,712 in 1956. This means that our as¬ sumption that there are 15,000 or 20,000 indicates that wneed to add to the list between six and ten thousand. 1 his will be a tremendously difficult job but not insurmountably so. It will involve a well organized plan of instruction both for po¬ tential leaders and followers as well, be¬ cause much of the proble m is due 1o ig¬ norance of our democratic way of life and form of government. Perhaps the most difficult part of the problem is root¬ ed deeply in the feeling that government is the business of white people, in the feel¬ ing of distrust in leadership of past ex¬ perience. Lack of aspiration to partici¬ pate in government and to be represented in it accounts for indifference to voting. This, of course, is still a matter of edu¬ cation and instruction. Perhaps the point at which we are most to be blamed is the aloofness of those in our community who are best fitted for leadership, who can, if they will, take an active part in awakening the ignorant, indifferent and the misinformed to their as citizens in a democratic community where it is their duty to give their to be governed. that the We hope very fervently group planning a new approach will be possess¬ ed of patience and faith in the achievement of their aims. A GREAJ RACE Those who try to reduce Negroes’ re¬ sentment to segregation by charging us with lack of race pride, waste effort that could be more profitably spent in some other direction. A people who have pro¬ duced in ninety short years members of their race who have won national and in¬ ternational acclaim have no reason not to have race pride. It is precisely because they have race pride that they feel the time has come to assert their claim for equal opportunity to realize their best selves. Their right to this claim can not be justly refuted. A sports writer in one of our daily papers referred to the Red Cross blood bank, the very mention of which brought to mind the fact that it was Dr. Charles Drew, a Negro physician who developed the blood bank during the recent war, which increased many fold the ability of the Red Cross to furnish much needed blood to the soldier boys whose lives could be saved on bloody bat¬ tle fields. Who could not be proud to be a member of a race to which Charles Drew belonged? But he was just one of many who have made significant contributions to Amer¬ ican life. The list is long and notable. Dr. William H. Borders, one of our country's greatest preachers, says “ours is a great race. Who would not be glad to belong to such a race?” Sarge Plunkett of more than a generation ago and William Faulk¬ ner, the famous Mississippian, recognize the fact that Negroes have made remark¬ able progress in 90 years, which entitles them to “equal right and opportunity to make the best one can of one's life with¬ in one’s capacity and capability, without fear of injustice or oppression or vio¬ lence.” There are Charles Drew, Percy Julian, Carver, Hinton in medicine and science, Washington and Allison Davis in Education, Walter White, great leader and author, Ralph Bunche in government, FLA. A & M PROF. FELLOWSHIP TALLAHASSEE. — Miller, an assistant political science at Florida M University since has been awarded a Ford Foun¬ Fellowship for for the coming Profzssor Miller, a native National Advertising Representatives Associated Publishers 31 West 48 Street New York 36, New York 166 W Washington St. Chicago 2, 111. Whaley-Simpson Co. 6513 Hollywood Boulevard San Francisco 5, California Whaley-Simpson Co. 55 New Montgomery Street Los Angeles, California Marian Anderson and Mattiwilda Dobbs in music, and an increasing number in sports like Althea Gibson, Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Mai Whitfield, Louis Jones, and Thurgooc! Marshall and his as¬ sociates in law. Even this brief list would be incomplete if we did not name great preachers like Howard Thurmond, C. T. Walker and William Holmes Borders, and organizers like Alf Herndon of the At¬ lanta Life Insurance Company, the Wal¬ kers of the Pilgrim L>fe and Health In¬ surance Company, C. C, Spaulding of The North Carolina Life Insurance Company, and Al Lewis of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company. Who would be ashamed to belong to a race that could show such accomplishments in ninety years in spite of many handicaps? It is precisely because of their pride in these achievements that Negroes resent segre¬ gation and its implications, and petition, and sue when they have to, for equal op¬ portunity to enjoy thq^ rights and priv¬ ileges which American democracy prom¬ ises. NEW STEREOTYPES We can believe that the South actually wants to be understood by the rest of the country. It wants the non-South to un¬ derstand why it believes in segeegation. It really wants agreement. To most re¬ actionaries this means it wants to deal with the race question and Negroes in terms of subordination, of master-slave relation, of paternalism. To get its posi¬ tion before the non-South in its own lan¬ guage and slant it has manufactured new talking points or stereotypes. High on its list of evils to be destroyed is the NA^CP. It’s the number one because villain that is ought to be put into jail it misleading and exploiting Negroes, be¬ cause it is trying to destroy the South’s way of life; because it is disturbing the naturally affectionate relationship exist¬ ing between Negroes and white people in the South. Now it is our belief that no well-informed, honest person in America, in the South, really believes any such thing about the NAACP, who privately says he does, who knows what awaits him if he dares to-be so free. The next victim is the United States Supreme Court. It has been charged with being influenced by the Communists, that it has recruited "from the rank s of politicians, influential, professors or friends of the that it is brain - washed, floundering; that it has usurped au¬ thority. Some seventy odd bills have been proposed, most of which are bad ones, with little likelihood of passage in the foreseeable future.” A desperate effort is being made to establish the impres¬ sion that good relations existing between the races in the South are being disturb¬ ed, that if “left to ourselves we would have no trouble solving our racial prob¬ lems in an amicable manner.” Everybody knows what part Negroes have played in arriving at “an amicable” solution in a climate which forbids the meeting togeth¬ er of whites and Negroes on equal terms, or meeting together at all. unless the meeting together is to determine ways of maintaining segregation. One letter writer has boasted that “We of the South have nothing to apologize for in our racial relations.” This asser¬ tion does not represent the feeling of every southerner. Writings of some of those who are endeavoring to state the position of the South, convey a different impression. Their authors state quite plainly that the South has wronged Ne¬ groes in many areas many times and that it should be willing to make amends for having done so. The NAACP is a bad influence and should be banned; the Supreme Court has based its decision on social science and psychology; it is chosen by a bad system; the justices are - novices; amic¬ able relations have been worked by the races who hold each other in affectionate regard hut have become embittered to¬ ward each other because the NAACP has shown them the way to the courts for a redress of grievances. These are the rfew stereotypes that will be said over and over until somebody believes them; until the non-South is ding-donged into agree¬ ment. We wonder. Montclair, N. J., was giaduated from Obevlin College with the A. B. Degree in 1960 and from the University of Wisconsin with the M. A. Degree in 1961. His area of specialization at Wisconsin was in international relations and his thesis subject was “Constitutional Development of Puerto Rico ” Prior to joining the A and M staff in February, Professor Mil¬ ler taught for four years at Cut- tington College in Suakoko, Li- beria, West Africa. He is a veteran of World War II, having been inducted in Au¬ gust of 1943. On Monday, July 2. 1890, the United States signed the Gen¬ eral Act for represssion of the African slave trade; July 3, 1810, Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse en¬ dorsed smallpox vacillation. THE SAVANNAH TRIBUNE GRANDMASTER DOBBS ANSWERS DR. McCLAIN Dr. Roy D. McClain, Pastor, First Baptist Church Peachtree St., Atlanta, Ga. My dear Dr. McClain: Today’s newspapers carry count- about your ermon to 3,000 worshippers Sunday ing, June 24 “IS RACIA1 TEGRATION THE ANSWER?” First, I want you to know I am an humble Georgia born in Cobb County, and who has lived in Georgia all life. I missed the Institution Slavery and the Civil War by seventeen years; but, I thank mighty God for those years. Those few years made big difference in my life and lives of my wife, six children, fifteen grandchildren. Despite the fact that 1 have ed my life under the yoke racial segregation and ation, I can say, in my heart, without bitterness, that 1 hate human being on eaith; neither I hate anything in this world cept EVIL, itself. I am proud of the fact that was born in America and in Golden Age of progress. I America arid the ideals for she stands. I believe America the greatest government ever ganized by human beings. I lieve America win yet give to world a new meaning of and Freedom. I love America I love my mother virtues faults wrapped up together, in lovely bundle of dignity, I, sing—“My Country ’Tis of —I have given my country stinted loyalty and support; turn, it has given back to me opportunity for the happiness now possess and enjoy. For great privilege, I am grateful. Plea: e permit me to express criticisms about your sermon. take emphatic exception to the kind and deragatory about my racial group. Alfred nyson once made Ulysses to “1 am a part of all that 1 met. I realize that you, too, a part of your social, arid religious experiences. Well, am I. We see things differently cause we have lived and faced differently. These attitudes are hard to understand. 1 want you to know that am a Christian, I believe the en Rule is the very basic of our religion; and that the mon on the Mount is still greatest message ever delivered mankind. But as a.disciple a follower of Jesus Christ, and Apostle . , „ Paul, , I tail , , to , your interpretation of the of Christianity. Jesus Christ plained to a troubled world true meaning about of God and Brotherhood of He stood before the Court and proclaimed that God His Father, and man was brother. He gave us the light call God Father, too. Because such bold utterances of Truth, infuriated mob led Him away nailed Him to a cross. .But know, sir, that the mob did stop God’s Truth. Jesus turned world upside down; now, we time from the birthday of lowly Nazarene. The Apostle Paul, who saw Jesus, became converted turned in one grand job for doctrine of Fatherhood of God Brotherhood of Man. Take writing out of our new and the Boqk, itself, wifi fall down. Paul, too, paid the preme penalty for preaching God’s Truth. The masses did want to hear the Truth at time; neither do they want to it today. But. my dear sir brother, how can you profess follow in the footsteps of two Great Souls, and then fail preach God’s Truth? It appears to me that the issue today is plain: — LOVE and JUSTICE on side; HATE PREJUDICE, INJUSTICE on the Devil’s It has ever been thus;—and Dr. McClain, it is up to you choose which side you will sup port. It is your right to make decision for yourself. Yes, these are serious “We do have hard work to do, loads to lift";—“The times strong minds and willing 1 think that the decision for and your ministerial friends, make is whether, you will Jim Crow and Segregation on one hand; or stand up for CHRIST and BROTHERHOOD the other hand “Choose ye day vAiom you will serve—." We know that during 250 of chattel Slavery, my people subjected to the vilest kinds of pravity and degredation. Our al shortcomings today are, the result' of these vile, living conditions to which we \v. subjected by your Master As a child, I sat at the feet ex-slave relatives and heard, first hand, their woeful accounts of man’s inhumanity to man. They told their life stories, without bit- teiner ; and of times, while sing- mg their . weet songs of Zion. My wife and 1 have oeen privileged to raise a little girl whom God endowed with sweet strains of mu¬ sic. God made her out of the suf¬ ferings of a sorrowful past. In spite of all handicaps and roadblocks along the way, our boys and girls, touay, are stepping on tar and fast. We have come a long way in three generations; yet, J realize that we still have a long way to go.—In God’s name, just why aie you, and your Christian it lends, not w illing to help us l Why do you desire to continue the denial of higher education to usDo you realize that, despite the fact that we constitute one- third of the State’s population, not one Negro boy or girl has ever been permitted to attend the University of Georgia? Do you realize that no one Negro doctor ha ever been graduated from that institution which is supported en¬ tirely by taxpayers money? VVe, too, pay taxes—directly and indir¬ ectly. 1 ask you, then, kind air, is tnis lair? Is this Christian? I’m told our country badly needs young engineers; m case of war we will need their services for de- len:.e; yet, not one Negro boy has ever been enrolled at the Georgia •School of Technology in Atlanta, i ask again—Is this fair? Is it right? Is it Christian? In our forty-eight States, we are denied University education in only five, of which Georgia Is one. How long can five States hold back the Un¬ ion J Colored people are American cit¬ izen.', too; we have been here just as long as anybody else, except the American Indian. We, too, helped build America VVe bled and died for her ideals, all the way from Bunker Hill to Tokyo. The U. S. Constitution recognizes these rights, and guarantees their pres C | vation and enforcement. Please tell me, then, kind sir, just how a Christian can accept these rights for himself; and at the same time, deny these rights to his fellow- man? To do so, would not be in keeping with the spirit of Jesus Christ, nor the spirit of American Democracy. Now, Dr McClain, why should you be afraid of the National As¬ sociation tor the Advancement of Colored People? Why try to find wlth thig plain , simple> patri . otic otic . American . Organization . . that ., . , has for its only purpose the ad¬ vancement of a minority group of citizens ? White people are 90 per cent of the Nation’s population. You know, they will be treated fairly. They are fully able to de¬ fend and protect themselves. The nine (9) Judges on the U.S. Supreme Court bench are all White men of un-impeachahle character; all confirmed by a majority vote of the U. S. Senate; three of whom are Southern born gentlemen, fully conversant with Southern customs and traditions. Also, their recent decisions have been unanimous. They have been interpreters of our U. S. Constitution and its mean¬ ing, today, and for this age in which we now live. The majority of American people are willing to accept and obey these decisions. The Light of Justice has turned from RED to GREEN. Shall we move now, or shall we continue to create a traffic jam? As I see it, sir, there is only one thing for good Americans and especially ( hristians to do—and that is (o OBEY the laws of our land and to start moving. Move slowly, if you will, but the green light means move—now. In conclusion, I would like for you to please read the 6th Chap¬ ter of Paul’s Epistle to the Gala¬ tians. Read all of it; read every I * lne; read slowl - v - prayerfully, and j with understanding. I am sure you | believe in God’s Eternal Laws of j Compensation: eventu.illj. punished — “That by we Bins, are, i our j and not for them,”—“That this World, somehow, rests upon Moral Foundations; and that in the long run, it is W ELL with the GOOD; j and in the long run, it is EVIL with the WICKED.” Sincerely yours, John Wesley Dobbs. Sav w Detroit Hospital (Continued from Page onev hospitals professed a policy of non-discrimination, only a few put the policy into practice. The report proposed that a citi¬ zens’ committee undertake further | action into situations where dis¬ crimination was found. TO ALL POSTAL EMPLOYEES I, George M. Robeson, President of the Savannah Branch, National Alliance of Postal Employees, urge all Postal Employees to become members of the N.A.P.E. It is of interest to note that one of the founders of this organization was Edward W. Sherman, a Savannah- ian. He died a member. The ma¬ jority of the members of the N.A.P.E. today are mostly retir¬ ed men who will soon be no more. They will soon be gone and for¬ gotten. W’hen the first president of the N.A.P.E. attended his last National Convention, he was old and feeble, got lost upon reaching the Convention Hall. W’hen called upon for remarks he said in tears, “Boys, keep the faith of the found¬ ing fathers! Boys, keep the faith of the founding fathers!” Will the boys in Savannah keep that faith ? Stand up and be count¬ ed, please. We beg you to do just that. In the March 1956 issue of The Postal Alliance, the N.A.P.E. or¬ gan, Kermit Scott of San Fran¬ cisco, California, comes to the fore¬ front in a brilliant and an elo¬ quent presentation of the N.A.P.E. in all of its phases, the same be¬ ing printed in full for the benefit of present and potential members: “Forty-three years ago the Na¬ tional Alliance of Postal Employ¬ ees was founded. Some twenty- eight determined, far-sighted men decided on that day to organize to hold their jobs in the Railway Mail Service. Indiscriminate, wholesale dismissals in that department forc¬ ed these men to the realization that if they did not organize to hold their jobs they would soon have no jobs for which to organ¬ ize. “The N.A.P.E. has a long rec¬ ord of achievement and is right- fully proud of its membership. But it would be prouder still if this membership were doubled or tripl¬ ed because the need for the Alli¬ ance is just as great today as it was on founder’s day, back 1913. “Because the Alliance has work¬ ed so quietly and efficiently all these years defending the rights of civil service employees its good work has been taken more or less for granted. Countless numbers civil service employees have bene¬ fited enormously and continuous¬ ly by the quiet, diplomatic action of ... the Alliance. .... _ But . they ., , have failed to join the organization and give it their moral and financial support. Why? Well, for a variety of reasons, none of them sound. “Perhaps they were indifferent to their obligations while hungrily accepting the fruits of the labors of others. It could have been these outsiders knew so little about the Alliance that they did not even realize where the good help was coming from. “The impression is inescapable that a very great many civil serv¬ ice employees are not members of the National Alliance of Postal Employees because they actually know little or nothing about it. “The controlling purpose of this little talk is to place squarely up¬ on you, the members of the Alli¬ ance, the full burden of seeing to it that every civil service person who is not a member is urged to join, and at once. And this can only be done by making this potential member aware of the essentiality of t h e Alliance yesterday and today and its enormous potentiality in the days just ahead. "On a world-wide scale the most significant word or ideal confront¬ ing mankind is world peace. On the national scale the objective is eco¬ nomic security for ail people. And for the Negro, public integration. “At all these levels the N.A.P.E. has directly or indirectly an im- portant part to play. It represents the foundation of the entire struc- ture. “It helps to make a citizen se- cure in his job and secure for that job. No sound family or home life is really possible without this foun- dation and no nation is whose citizenry is not generally composed of economically secure family units. And so it logically follows that when toe Alliance helps a man to be economically secure it is contributing heavily toward his sound family life, toward a heal- thy, happy nation or people and in diverse ways toward world peace. “The N.A.P.E. is a proud con- tributor to Negro history and his- tory in the making. “Ali over the nation, North as well as South, for white employ¬ ees as well as colored, the Alliance has taken a forward position in the fight against indiscriminate and unwarranted demotions and dismissals throughout civil serv¬ ice. “Any employee, whether or not he is a niembsr of the Alliance / ROBERT MeFERRIN, Metropolitan Opera baritone, opened his first European tour at Naples, Italy, July 4. by appearing with the Teatre San Carlo opera company in Verdi’s “Aida." The engage¬ ment ends July 22. McFerrin made his Metropolitan debut Jan. 27, 1955, becoming the first male Negro to sing leading roles on a repertory basis. This spring he bowed as Valentin in “Faust” and sang the title role in “Rigoletto” at the Met.—(ANP)- may appeal to our organization for help whenever he feels heiis being unfairly dealt with his supervisors. “No case is too trivial for the attention of the Alliance to give aid, comfort and counsel to an j individual employee and defense the case seems to justify action. “The Alliance asks only clean hands which means a rec¬ ord of honesty, industry, cy, cooperativeness and for fellow employees and visors. “Because it 'must be ed that the N.A.P.E. is just much concerned with the good welfare of the Post Office , partment as it is with its mem- | that the Alliance does not to play a lone wolf part in work for employees. It is not up in opposition to any other ganization of post office or civil service employees. This Alliance is I Hhvays read - v to work with an >' I ^“frnized group of civil service I f both m U°y ees betterment of the employee and the serv¬ ice. “I once met a man who told me unequivocally that he would not join the Alliance because he didn’t need the Alliance. He said that he was top man for years in his department in points of efficiency and that he was daily complimented by his supervisors for his outstanding work. “Ten days later this very same man was in trouble. He was a postal clerk and was supposed to have misdirected a sack of first j class mail to Honolulu which in. | | fact had just been received from Honolulu. All this happened dur- ] ing a Christmas holiday season j when the post office was filled I with temporary help and this post¬ al clerk had been working many hours overtime during the rush. “To make matters worse the su¬ pervisor in charge was new in the department and unknown to the postal clerk. “The postal clerk was arbitrar- dy given 500 demerits and demot- ! ed from special clerk to regular on a night shift. j “This clerk, although not a mein- I her of the Alliance, appealed to the organization. Through its ef- j forts in his behalf the 500 de- merits were removed and lie was j restored misdirection to his regular post. “The of the sack of mail in question was finally held due to purely accidental means and not due to itieffi- j riency. j "This postal clerk soon joined Alliance. i “Now this true'story is very j significant. It shows that the j iiance is a continuing benefactor j a one “ d feels that on 110 his matter job it how be secure can ex- ! tremely comforting to know that there is a strong and organization standing ready help in an emergency. Get every one *-° i°* n the N.A.P.E l Paid According to the 50th Amii- versary report of the Boys’ Club of America, a Boys’ ChAi be¬ comes established and qualified for membership on an average THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1956 MAN FALLS L 0 BJ.AZlNfj FURNACE, iejn UY i ll/t’C r ’ PORTSMOUTH, Va. (ANP) — There is a Portsmouth Negro who can just about match (he story of the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace of Babylon’s Nebushhad- nezzar. .He is Franklin Hicks, 23. He and Shadrach, Moshach and have survived exposure to a fiery furnace. Hick miraculously escaped with his life last week when he fell through an open manhole into a sheet of flames at th^ -city incin- erator. Hicks’ story is as follows: He was pushing refuse into one of the manholes about 3:30 P.M. • \ i i when he suddenly .lost his balance ...r. and dropped some 15 feet into the flames below. - ! 4l Luckily, a door at the bottom •..... of the furnace was partly opened. Had the door been closed as it normally is, Hicks would have been L cremated. j In an interview ' ‘ ^ident",'Hicks', at his hospital af t er the . ’i a husky six-footer, smiled and iflH said: nett: When I fell into the hole the . m .!. ■ fire was blazing all around me. I 'A covered my head and hit the door.” He said the first time he hit the door it failed to open, but gave way on the second try. Hicks, who has received congrat¬ * ulations from many of his friends and acquaintancewhite and col¬ ored, said that whe he fell “I kept a cool head and I didn’t become panicky. If I hadn’t I’d still be in -1 there,” he added. Hicks started to run after he . i fell out of the furnace before employees could grab him and get him to the city garage nearby from where he was rushed to j King’s Daughter’s Hospital in the police ambulance. His injuries were described as third degree burns of both hands and both arms up to the elbows and left leg at the knee and sec¬ ond degree burns of the right knee. DESEGREGATION PRO- DUCT ION AMONG IV AWARD WINNERS NEW YORK (ANP) — “Deseg¬ regation,” a documentary report of how the city of Baltimore handled desegregation in its schools, was among the three Robert E. Sher¬ wood award winning TV shows that shared $55,000 last week. Sherwood television awards were established by the Fund for the Republic for programs dealing with the theme of freedom and justice. Awards of $D(LOO0 each went, to the Armstrong Circle Theatre’s “I Was Accused” and to the Al- coa Hour s “Jragedy in a Tem- j P orar y I own. A $15,000 award went to “De¬ j segregation: The National Baltimore Report.” [ Broadcasting Com- the first two shows and “Desegregation” was viewed over an independent sta- Hon. " f onc over v ten t1a .vs. More . * lan 4(, 0 000 boys are members at Boys’ Clubs. Since 1942 the budgets of Clubs have tripled.