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About Portland challenger. (Portland, Oregon) 1952-19?? | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1953)
India: Caste System Amercia: Race Bias By S u d h ak ar Bhat R eporter, T he T im e s o f In dia S udhaker B h at la a re p o rte r on T he T u n es o f In d ia o f B o m b a y and re- cen tly spen t th ree m on th s as a re- S S 3 .P ? ' £ u r 0 H ? « S ' paper under the a n sp lces o f the U n it- ed S tates D ep artm en t. T h is g-uest a rticle is his la s t w r itte n w ork be- fo r e retu rn in g to hie n a tiv e lan d. I th e law in ev ery respect, b u t cer tain exclusive privileges w hich the “touchables” do not have. TT , UntOUChablllty has been m ade a cognizable offence an d has been statu to rily abolished by OUr con- .. . .. T. , stitu tio n . If a re stau ra n t, o r a tem ple or any o th e r place nor- m ally open to th e public refuses to ad m it an untouchable, th e p e r j son or persons responsible are liable to arrest, and upon con viction, to a fine o r im prison m ent or both. The untouchables, w ho along w ith o th e r backw ard people have I been grouped to g eth er in th e In d ian con stitu tio n as backw ord classes, are given reserv atio n of seats in the federal and state leg islatures, get p referen ce in re gard to adm ission in ed u catio n al in stitu tio n s and in recru itm en t to go v ern m en t service. It is s ta t uto rily necessary to hav e a b ack w ard class m in ister in charge W henever an In d ian (from In- dia) visits the U nited States, he is inevitably faced w ith questions reg ard in g w h a t is term ed un- touchability and th e caste sys tem . C onversely, an A m erican w rit er in India is deluged w ith ques- tions regardin g th e statu s of th e N egro in the U nited States. India, a colored co u n try itself, is hypersensitive and touchy about racial and color d iscrim in a tion w h erev er it m ay ex ist p a r ticu larly in the U nited S tates w hich is w edded to th e dictum “A ll m en are created eq u al.” M ax Y ergan, an A m erican N e gro, w ho w as in In d ia in th e early p a rt of 1951 to atten d th e Congress for C u ltu ral F reedom in Bombay, declared th a t today the Negroes in th e U nited S tates can claim com plete eq u ality w ith w hite A m ericans. P erh ap s they can. B ut it is u n deniable th a t d iscrim ination to i a deplorable ex ten t exisits in some of the so u th ern A m erican states. Good News in P ap er A few days ago I had a d is cussion w ith a w h ite A m erican reg ard in g th e statu s of th e N e gro in the U nited S tates, and he said th a t I could send a new s item to my hom e paper. The Tim es of India of Bom bay, th a t in 1952 th e re was not a single lynching in the U nited States. SUDHAKAR BHAT W hile I ad m itted th a t it w as good new s I rela ted to him w hat of back w ard class w elfare in e v 3 friend of m ine once said. “The ery In d ian state—and such m in only tim e good new s w ill get isters exist. U ntouchabilily Going into th e new spapers w ill be w hen These and o th e r privileges, and people becom e so bad th a t th ey do nothing bu t crazy things and th e su p rem e in sp iratio n and le ad good things becom e th e ex cep ership of M ahatm a G andhi for tion.” F rom th a t point of view the b etterm e n t of these people the new s was w orthy of pu b lica whom he called H arijans, m ean ing G od’s people, have served to tion. allev iate th e ir condition, and to T here are countless people in the*U nited S tates w ho denounce d ay by and large unto u ch ab illty color discrim ination and m ake does not ex ist in India. And w h at g reater proof can every effort to get rid of it. And, possibly, such good people o u t th ere be of th e b e tte r condition n u m ber th e bad ones who w an t of th e untouchables today th a n th a t an u n to u ch ab le should have to p erp etu ate color prejudice. B ut so long as th e abom inable been th e ch airm an of In d ia ’s con thing exists even to a sm all ex- stitu tio n d raftin g com m ittee. He tent, it constitutes a blot on th e is Dr. B. R. A m bedkar, M. A., fa ir nam e of any country, how- Ph.D., LI. D., a b rillia n t alum nus ev er great in o th er respects. of C olum bia university. A few B ut w hile an alien like m e m onths ago, he cam e to th e Uni- condem ns color prejudice, I am ; ted S tates to receive an honorary not blind to th e g reat m any ex- 1 d o ctorate from C olum bia univer- ceedingly good qualities of all 1 sity for th e in v alu ab le w ork he A m erican s-^w h ite and non- | has done for India. A nd Dr. A m b ed k ar is not an exception, w hite. th o u g h n o t th e rule either. Caste System N oted T h at show s th e h eights to w hich People in the U nited S tates and elsew here are likely to point th e un to u ch ab les have risen. But, i* finger a t India and say th a t my m ust be ad m itted th a t large nun> co untry has the caste system , b u t bers of th em still live in poor th e caste system , d eplorable as conditions. B ut w e in India e x it is, does nobody an y harm , e x pect, and pray, th a t th e ir co n d i cept th a t p a rt of it w hich is tion w ill come up to th e level of th e oth ers in the n ex t five or ten called untouchability. But we Indians are proud of th e years. A fter all, cen tu ries of ne- fact th a t the untouchables to- | gleet can n o t be w iped out o v er d ay havp not only eq u ality before I night. Last Rites Held For Ethel Harris F u n eral services w ere held S a t urday. F eb ru ary 14, a t B ethel AME church for Miss E thel Mae H arris. 20, who died F eb ru ary 10 at The Dalles, Ore. Miss H arris had been confined to the hospital in The Dalles for th e past five years. The d au g h ter of Loomis H arris, she had been active in S unday school activities of B ethel church p rio r to h er illness. Rev. Jesse L. Boyd officiated at the services. R obert H®mdon Jr. was soloist. P allb earers included: Edd Webb, B u ster R ivers, Jam es Thom pson, Booker T. T aylor, D a vid L an ier and Seth Hill. S u rv iv o rs included: sisters C h ristin e W ilson and Je a n e tte Taylor. P o rtlan d ; Bessie Leacock, B erkeley; b ro th ers Lonnie, P o rt land; Loom is J r„ U. S. arm y; L eonard, U. S. air force, and Law rence, P ortland. C oncluding services w ere at Lincoln M em orial Park. Chemawa School Archibald F. Carey Notes Employs Negro Dangers in Race Hatred Miss Lucy F ugham H endrick of N orfolk, V irginia, becam e the first N egro te ach er to be em ployed a t th e g o v ern m en t-o p er ated C hem aw a In dian school near Salem , Oregon. Miss H endricks began w ork at th e school D ecem ber 8 follow ing a civil service appointm ent. The new appointee is teaching 9th and 10th grade classes in n u tritio n a l hom e economics. She is a 1951 grad u ate, w ith a B. S d e gree, of St. P a u l’s Polytechnic In stitu te, L aw renceville. Va. She .took advanced w ork a t V irginia S tate college, P etersburg. Miss H endricks was form erly em ployed as an assistant d ietitian at N orfolk C om m unity hospital. C hem aw a, a boarding school for In d ian stu d en ts from Pacific N o rth w est reservations, em ploys about 70 teach ers and vocational instructors, th e m ajority of whom are C aucasian, and a few Indian. O fficials believe Miss H end- I ric k ’s application w as the first ev er received from a Negro. T hey, found Miss H endrick o u tsta n d in g ly w ell q u alifiel for th e ap p o in t m ent. The new teach er finds her w ork in terestin g and rep o rts th a t the In d ian children are as eag er to learn ab o u t h er racial background as they are to know about v ita m ins and food values. A rchibald F. Carey, left, m inister, atto rn ey and ald erm an from C hi cago, told a R epublican crow d th a t discrim ination h u rt A m erican prestige abroad in a talk at Lincoln Day ban q u et at Lincoln high school S atu rd ay . W illiam C. Robison listens. A rchibald F. C arey, M ethodist m inister, atto rn ey and Chicago alderm an, urged m inorities to put th e ir best foot forw ard and to “p erm it the ch ara cter of excel lence to perm eate ev ery th in g you do,” in a 55-m inute talk at the Lincoln Day celebration in L in coln high school cafeteria last S atu rd ay night. C arey told the m ajorities they should abandon the practice of discrim ination in A m erica. “I t’s ju st sheer en lig h ten m en t of self in terest to cease discrim ination in o rder to release the ta len t and trea su re of all A m erica’s peo ple,” said Carey. He noted th a t every crisis in Neligence Cited In Discrimination T h at P o rtla n d ers are negligent ab o u t th e problem s of local dis crim in atio n w as em phasized by Mrs. A ldridge Johnson, guest sp eak er at a program sponsored by th e In terc u ltu ral F riendship d u b a t F irst B aptist church, 909 f\.W. 11th avenue, W ednesday m orning. Mrs. Johnson said also th a t tne concept exem plified p articu la rly d u rin g brotherhood m onth should be practiced th ro u g h o u t the y ear and th a t by closer cooperation be tw een in dividuals and groups m uch m ore significant gains could be m ade tow ard erasing th e local d iscrim ination problem . M other of tw o girls, Mrs. J o h n son is q u ite active in civic a f fairs. She serves on the ad m in istrativ e staffs of the P o rtlan d Council of C hurch W omen, C h a ir m ans Day C am p C om m ittee of the G irl Scouts, P o rtlan d Council of P aren ts and T eachers and the Boise elem en tary PTA. She resides at 623 N. M orris street. ! Equality Measure S till in Conunittee Action on the proposed civil rights bill, w hich was introduced to the legislature*by S enator Phil H itchcock of K lam ath Falls, is still forthcom ing. The bill is p re s ently in th e judiciary com m ittee. N ineteen out of 30 senators have endorsed the bill, w hile 27 out of 60 rep resen tativ e s have signed an indorsem ent of the bill. As the bill now stan d s before the legislature, it w ould m ake it a m isdem eanor to discrim inate against m em bers of any race in any place of public accom m oda- | tion, reso rt or am usem ent. The ! victim of such discrim ination w ould have basis for a civil suit. Racial Ban Hii By Olympia Bill | Board A unanim ous vote of the W ash- in g ten state sen ate approved a m easure ban n in g racial discrim - ¡nation in ath letic to u rn am en ts in sen ate action last w eek. Introduced by Senator P atrick If. S u th erlan d , S eattle D em ocrat, th e bill would p rev en t any m u n icipality or o th e r organization from denying use of any play- ground, o r o th e r facility on racial grounds. The bill specifically would ban such groups from p reventing any co n testan t from en terin g to u rn a m ents because of his religion or racial origin. A m erica has seen the Negro c it izen com e forw ard. C arey cited g reat N egro m en in A m erican history th a t m ade the grade w hen given the opportunity. D iscrim ination H urts C arey illu strated w ith such know n Negro men as Dr. Daniel H ale W illiam s, and P ercy Ju lian , m edicine; Dr. G eorge W ashing I ton C arver, science; Joe Louis and Jack ie Robinson, sports; and M att Henson, explorer. The active C hicagoan said th a t continued p ractice of d iscrim in a tion is causing irrep a rab le d a m age to U nited S tates prestige in w orld affairs. He salu ted the people of O re gon for the e n ac tm e n t of a fair em ploym ent practice law which, Carey said, enables em ploym ent by Skill ra th e r than by skin More th an 700 people heard C arey, who spoke in 25 cities in behalf of P resid en t E isenhow er during the 1952 P resid en tial cam paign. C arey spoke under the auspices of the M ultnom ah county R e publican cen tral com m ittee. D on ald W alker was general c h a ir m an of the banquet. to Hear j Eliot O pponents ! O pponents of the F lin t avenue cite for the proposed new Eliot elem entary school will have a chance to present th eir view s to j the school board T hursday, F eb ru ary 26. | Both the P ortland branch of the N ational A ssociation for the A dvancem ent of Colored People and the U rban league have gone on record favoring the construe tion of tw o neighborhood schools instead of the tw o-story New E l iot structure.