DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Dorothy Schramm newspaper clippings, 1949-1955 (folder 2 of 2) | 1950-05-11 Burlington Hawkeye Gazette: "No Race Problem Here"

Transcribe
Translate

Dorothy Schramm newspaper clippings, 1949-1955 (folder 2 of 2)

1950-05-11 Burlington Hawkeye Gazette: "No Race Problem Here"

4 Burlington, Ia., Hawk-Eye Gazette . . Thurs., May 11, 1950
Thinking Out Loud
No Race Problem Here
In conducting the current survey of Burlington to determine what, if any, discrimination is shown Negroes, those responsible for it should employ extreme care that they do not raise a problem where none now exists. 
Burlington's Negro population is very small -- much smaller than normally encountered in a city of 30,000. In the main, local Negroes are gainfully employed, many of them are home-owners, and they have 2 churches serving their religious life. 
The chief problem they encounter is not through discrimination. It is that they are so few in numbers that they find difficulty supporting their churches and the other normal activities in which they can be expected to engage. 
Local people interested in the question of civil rights have enlisted the services of Dr. Herman H. Long, a Negro, who is head of the American Missionary Association's department of race relations at Fisk university, Nashville, Tenn. Long comes highly recommended. He is not considered an agitator and he deplores people of that ilk. 
The New York Times recently carried an article from Nashville in which it was pointed out that the association and the university recognize that "racial segregation offers a 'fruitful field' for communists, machine politicians and white-supremacy demagogues because all 3 groups essentially are enemies of democracy and seek to promote antagonisms and fears".
Therefore, any misguided endeavors might easily be misconstrued and cause more harm than good. Burlington's Negroes are not clamoring for more recognition by whites. Were it not for many of their white friends, they would not have some of the privileges they now enjoy. 
Perhaps the Negro population here could be served best through regular contributions by whites in support of their churches and to help in their own racial social activities.

Saving...

4 Burlington, Ia., Hawk-Eye Gazette . . Thurs., May 11, 1950 Thinking Out Loud No Race Problem Here In conducting the current survey of Burlington to determine what, if any, discrimination is shown Negroes, those responsible for it should employ extreme care that they do not raise a problem where none now exists. Burlington's Negro population is very small -- much smaller than normally encountered in a city of 30,000. In the main, local Negroes are gainfully employed, many of them are home-owners, and they have 2 churches serving their religious life. The chief problem they encounter is not through discrimination. It is that they are so few in numbers that they find difficulty supporting their churches and the other normal activities in which they can be expected to engage. Local people interested in the question of civil rights have enlisted the services of Dr. Herman H. Long, a Negro, who is head of the American Missionary Association's department of race relations at Fisk university, Nashville, Tenn. Long comes highly recommended. He is not considered an agitator and he deplores people of that ilk. The New York Times recently carried an article from Nashville in which it was pointed out that the association and the university recognize that "racial segregation offers a 'fruitful field' for communists, machine politicians and white-supremacy demagogues because all 3 groups essentially are enemies of democracy and seek to promote antagonisms and fears". Therefore, any misguided endeavors might easily be misconstrued and cause more harm than good. Burlington's Negroes are not clamoring for more recognition by whites. Were it not for many of their white friends, they would not have some of the privileges they now enjoy. Perhaps the Negro population here could be served best through regular contributions by whites in support of their churches and to help in their own racial social activities.