Cleveland High School - Beacon Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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CONSIDER Tl-IE NEGRCD LOIS WANINGER Out of the reconversion problems of America today, stands the cen- tury-old question of what to do with the Negro. Although there are other minority groups which have caused controversy, nothing has ever been so hotly contested as the Negroes' economic and social status. We were told that we fought World War II to make our earth safe for democracy. The United States is the ideal of all the liberated nations, but wouldn't those countries be surprised if they knew that a partial state of serfdom existed in their beloved America? Even many Americans would be shocked at hearing the word serfdom. But the conditions of the Negro can rightfully be called this. Let us consider them a moment. In the North and Middle West, Negroes live in one section of each city. An example of this is Harlem in New York. Here live more Negroes in a small Manhattan borough than in any Southern city. Sanitation is poor, houses are crowded together with little light, and the worst is that these Negroes have a very small chance of ever leaving this area for a better one. That they are too poor to afford anything better is one reason, and another is that restrictions are placed on districts outside of the so-called colored section. In many Wcities Negroes were mauled for moving into new areas. Not only in securing living quarters do the Negroes find it hard. Employment has been a constant fight. Many white employees refuse to work with Negroes, while employers are slow to hire colored help. The usual jobs open to Negroes are as janitors, laborers, or jobs requiring back-breaking work and little mental effort. On the other hand, the Negro's condition has improved considerably in the past few years. As many as 1,500,000 were employed in war indus- tries. More and more are being taken into the federal civil service. Some are teachers and some are policemen, even in the South. The housing situation for Negroes is slowly becoming solved by the availability of family units built by the Federal Housing Authority. The army prohibited race discrimination at post exchanges, and the navy has broken former tradition by allowing colored boys to become regular sail- ors and, in some cases, officers. But these are only a few improvements. Well, what can we do about it? The first thing to do about it is to improve the Negro socially. Large scale education is one of the big steps toward this aim. Statistics show that in 1920 fifty per cent of the young Negroes were in school. In 1930 the number jumped to sixty per cent. Today the percentage must be about seventy or seventy-five per cent. But this is not high enough, it should be one hundred per cent. This can be attained only if our government provides equalization of educational expenditures which it has not done up to now. 13

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LEST WE FORGET BOB OETTING It's been many, many years since Abraham Lincoln first uttered the words of his famous Gettysburg Address, and many, many men have fallen on the field of battle, for the very thing for which he stood. But, I wonder.-I wonder if that thing for which he so nobly dedicated his life still exists-I often wonder! It is coming to my knowledge, more and more each day, that we, the American people, are becoming less and less appreciative of the freedoms of this democracy, for which men gave their lives. It is true, it cannot be contradicted! It is as though we were decaying from within, as did France before her fall. For when the people of any nation fail to live up to the standards set them by their forefathers, to live and appreciate such freedoms as we have, it is then that we wrought our own destruction. With our own hands, we smite our faces. Stop! take notice, you people who call yourselves citizens', of this nation. Stop! and look at what havoc you and your fellow-citizens have wrought upon the efforts of your forefathers. The Minute Men of Lexington and Concord gave their life's blood, that you and I might someday live in a free land, free from oppression. They gave their lives, that you and I might someday have the thing for which they fought-a democracy, where the people rule! To worship as you please, to express yourself according to your belief. That each and every man, woman, and child might have the chance to reveal his inventiveness, to administer his ingenuity and to establish his talent,-it is such things as these for which they gave their lives. And now again, the lives of hun! dreds of thousands of American boys have been sacrificed in the fight for freedom and equality, that this nation, under God, should live forever. We might well remember some of the places where many of the gal- lant men of our nation laid down their lives.-Remember these:--Wake, Guam, Bataan, Corregidor, Midway, the Coral Sea, Guadalcanal, New Georgia, Tarawa, Marshall and Gilbert Islands, Okinawa,-this was the Pacific theater. Then. the beaches of Northern Africa, the Kasserine Pass, and the famous Hill 609, where our men fought over the bodies of dead and the dying, in a sea of blood, and twisted, mangled limbs. Where bod- ies lay half submerged in mud and rock, where men charged and were withered down by machine gun fire, where men fell from exhaustion and died of thirst, hunger, and heat g where the hand you touched was cold and stiff, it was the hand of a comrade who had fallen the day before. Yes, it was in such a Way that countless men gave their lives-and for what, may you ask? Well, for something good and clean, something they believed in-something they knew others had given their lives for,-to secure the rights of man given him by God !--It is for this that they gave their lives. 12

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In the schools the Negro must develop socially as well as mentally. Cleanliness Cmental and physicalj, homemaking, government participa- tion, and learning to adjust themselves to a new social status of living among and sharing with other races and creeds are important things which have to be learned. After he has mastered these things the Negro is entitled to the social equality he desires. The sad mistake was made after the Civil War when social equality and the right to vote was lavishly bestowed upon the poor ignorant Negro. Of course, he did not know how to act. How could he suddenly become a fine, upright, and understanding citizen when he had been kept in poverty and ignorance for centuries? That old error has cost the white man and the Negro much unnecessary suffering. However, it is not too late to right the folly, at least part way. We should begin now to make the Negro what he should have been for many years, a true American in every sense of the Word. After we have accomplished this, I believe we will reap many benefits. Fear of stabbings and race riots will lessen to almost an imperceptible degree. One of the greatest organizations lbeside the public school systemh to help readjust the Negroes to the new social living is the Church. This powerful organization has done little to break down race prejudices, yet it constantly teaches that we are all God's children. When the white peo- ple and Negroes can attend church together we will enter into a fellow- ship which will prove to be invaluable. The problem of the Negroes' social equality is greater in the South than in the North. The Southern people will have to change their whole code of ethics and this change must be made very gradually. As I said before, what to do with the Negro is a problem of great scope. Then, after we educate them, we must give the Negroes economic freedom. It is nonsense to argue for better educational opportunities for the Negroes and then not wish to give them a chance in employment. Allowing the Negroes to have jobs requiring more responsibility will increase his incentive to work. Several business executives have already hired competent Negro girls as secretaries. Of course, this means greater competition for the white people. I feel that competition will stimulate the whites, and that the new social system would not cause much commer- cial strife. There are and still will be many Negroes who will be glad to keep their present lowly jobs. If we have a true democracy, we will allow the Negroes social and economic equality, and, after all, the United States is supposed to be the ideal example of freedom for everyone. If we choose to keep the right of equal opportunities from the Negro, we, indeed, have a miniature feudal system with the whites as masters and the ignorant Negroes as serfs. 14