The Negroes

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19663, 24 August 1935, Page 13 (Supplement)

The Negroes

PAUL ROBESON was so kind as to talk to me about the problems of negro life. We were under the painful impression of -the Scottsboro trial, in which seven negro boys are accused or attacking white women. ‘‘How can you explain," I asked, "the cruelty of this tilal. ■Fur three years the boys have been dragged from one court to another always in danger of the death sentence. And how is it possible that a civilised country like the United States allows negroes to bo lynched ( “All this is possible because negroes have virtually no human rights which the* white man respects. This was said in 1860, before the Civil War, by the chief judge o the highest court in the United States, and 11 the negroes possess politi“Negrocs have to-day no right of voting in the Southern States. From the negro Stale of Texas only white representatives aro sent to Washington. Only once m fifty •years has a negro representative been seen In Washington, and lie did not conic from the South but from Chicago." “You speak of negroes as a whole. What about the social differences among them?” "Tlie rich and educated classes among the negroes do their utmost to Achieve Assimilation to the Whites. A negro merchant made a great deal of money by inventing means of smoothing the curly hair of negroes. . Our doctors, writers, clergymen are all alike in this urge towards assimilation. They have developed ■a deep Inferiority complex. The .poorer negroes Imitate the educated ones, but even these latter are not happy. As soon as a negro becomes rich he Is surrounded by haired and envy. If a white man injures a negro in the street and the negro retorts in kind bo will be lynched—and later on it will be declared that lie attacked a will to woman. “ in the Northern States of America there is no direct persecution, but perhaps the position of the negroes there is even worse .11 hi ii in lire South, because the mge io assimilation is much stronger than in I lie Sou!h. our intellectuals Iry lo suppress j„ 111,; negro papers every element of our uwn rill I tin: in favour 'of llie so-called lifclmi- values of while culture. Negro workers cannot be members of the proletarian moYomenl. onieially American Imi 1 11? unions are open to negroes, but in practice llie Doors aro Closed Against Them.” 11;ivc you, Mr Hobesun, 'suffered personally in ibis way'."’ •• Yes: lo make- Ibis clear Id me tell yin soioelbin- of my own life, i did well ,i| school, ami then sludied law. I luid lo iiml a solicitor's oilier lo gel some practice in my profession. It was likely lu be a

A Talk with Paul Robeson.

(From English Paper’s American Correspon dent)

desperate search, but I was lucky; a whit® friend of mine liked me because I was a gbod footballer, and took me into his office. •TBut what happened? His .partners were furious. ‘What is a negro doing here?’ The American typist refused to take down from my dictation. I left the place, and not only the place but the profession, for we negroes cannot get the necessary experience at the Bar. Even if I had remained in the profession I could not have defended my brethren the Scottsboro boys. The while judges would not listen to m 3 speech. “So with the medical profession. There are only three good negro hospitals in the country. Everywhere—’among doctors, nurses, patients There Is Race Segregation. That is why many negroes with diplomas and men of good education are working as porters, door-keepers, sleeping-car stewards. My own brother graduated in Pennsylvania University, and is now working as a-rail-way porter. When I had qualified for my liberal profession I worked for some time as a waiter. On one occasion I happened io act in an amateur performance. I sang, and someone noticed me. I started a new life, that of an artist." “ Only the singer, artist, and writer are able to break llie ban in America. I can now go in America wherever 1 like, where beforo I should simply have been thrown out. Not that I do or will go where as a human being I should not be allowed to go and where to 'this day they would not admit my brother." “ How do you hope to awaken the selfconsciousness of the black man?" “ We must remember that outside North America there aro three other centres of negro population: tho Caribbean Islands (Jamaica, Haiti, etc.), Brazil, with the whole of South America, and Africa. In these various regions negroes speak different languages, but in spite of that even the American negroes feel instinctively in sympathy with their own blood, the Black lYlan of tho Whole World." “How (to you imagine, say in the next hundred years, llie negro race will develop?" “|| is impossible Hi be optimistic. For a long lime Africa will slill be under the control of Europeans. Bui, in all 'Countries negroes must slaml in one camp, lighting for I'recdom ami social justice. We have not the. slightest idea of Africa, as a united conlinenl of negroes, ever standing against the oilier races. No, all our hope lies in llie development of freedom in llie world. But meanwhile negroes should unite and systemmaiirally develop their own culture. Tho world In-day is full of barbarism, and I feel dial ibis nailed negro cullure could bring tillo llie would a fresh spiritual, humanitarian principle, a prim-iple of human friendship and service lo the community."