The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 9, 1933, Page 2

_ SAVE THE A Negro-Hating © Editor Is “A. P.” Man in Decatur Associated Press Repr SS Trick Known. to Ba By UGE resentative Uses Every Press to Burn the Boys GORDON (Phe author of the following article is a well-known Negro jour- nalist, and is at present on the staff of the Boston “Post.”) ip present trial of Haywood Pat- terson at Decatur, Alabama, on | framed-up charges, offers one of the best examples ever shown of Row Southern “justice” functions in @anes involving Negroes. Of course, the present trial is somewhat of @m exception, because of the part the International Labor De is Playing in it. Ii is an exception in that it has, at least, to put on a tense of being “fair” (although presiding judge and the pro- gecuting attorney find even this of @ very bitter dose to swal- ). If the I, L. D. had not taken the @efense completely into its hands (and the hands of the masses of the world, who haye raised their angry voices in protest against Alabama’s ®hreatened lynching), those nine innocent black boys would have Been left to the mercies of the law- | abiding Walter White and William Pickens, officials of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. They would have been burned to ashes two years ago, and,today would have been forgot- * ten except by class. conscious work- ors. (Class conscious workers never forget capitalist crimes against the working class.) Except for the fact | that the I. L. D. is conducting an actual defense in ‘this particular pase, it would be like all other cases m the South involving Neg OLD FAMILIAR fEATURES ‘What are some of the old fami- liar features of Southern trials in- volving Negroes—the same old fam- lier features that one sees in the ‘present trial? What are some of the indidents. of the trial at Decatur that make it precisely like all the of them, from the ti the Meroes were “freed” 70 years ago tt up to this instant? pet of all, we have the time- worn setting. There is the “ wer hating” editor of the local ne’ _ Baper; he is also the local repre- . Semtative of the Associated, Press. & is no accident that the A. P. re- Presentative in the South is also @ local editor or reporter. It is a well calculated move on the part . Of the Assoviated Press to get “lo- e@] color” into its releases. One of the “ruleS” of the A. P. ie that it is always absolutely im- ‘The A. P. reporter “has no Opinion” of his own, the “rule” "gaya, He reports not what he thinks. but what he sees. That statement is, of course, not true. Let anyone who believes it is true read any of the A. P. releases " from Scottsboro during the past two years, or any of them now, since | the trial has started in- Decatur Ac amount of skill is need- + ed to. put over an A. P. story in | am acceptable manner; a certain amount of understanding of well- Known newspaper tricks. T, M. Da- ‘venport of the Decatur Daily knows | ‘tRese tricks, and he uses them to _ the advantage of the State of Ala- bema, to the advantage of the pro- gecution, to the advantage of the Southern ruling class; he uses them te the disadvantage of the Negroes im the South in general A CAPITALIST TER “REPORTS” For instance, Davenport, the A ®. representative at Decatur and editor of Decatur’s daily newspaper, gent out 2 story the other day say- “ing that “Mr. Leibowitz indicated he would seek to discredit Mrs. \ Price's direct testimony and he and General Knight clashed frequently.” According to the A. | ®. yeporter, Mr. Knight once said to 1. D, in that attorney: “If you per- | of questioning, I'll mony before the court g myself ficant that the A. P. re- not follow up this: bul- of the Southern y the I. L. D. attorney's The reason is ob- and its Southern repre want to give the ap- pearance that the ruling-class at- torney general is a damned smart fellow; that h much too ¢! for them dan kee lawyers. ¢ ried the story | happened, it the attorney would have shown general to be the simple-minded, half-illiterate, Negro-hating tool of the Alabama landlords that he ac- tually is. In order to make it look as if all the wit, cleverness, and erudition are on the side of the | pre ition, the A. P. distorts the . That is one of the old fam- liar features of court-room trials involving Negro workers in the South Another is the heartless callous- ness of the whole state apparatus. | For instance, the nine boys are all | locked up in a filthy “bull pen” | which the newspapers frankly ad- | , condemned as unsanitary and ure two years ago and since then has been regarded as | unwit for white prisoners.”. The New York Times reporter at Decatur writes that “only Negroes are lock- -) up there, white prisoners being | taken to the. jail at Huntsville, thirty odd miles away.” In addition to being forced to live in this un- healthful place, the prisoners are so situated that they face an old gallows in the jail yard. At the | prison from which they were re- | cently taken they were compelled to | look perpetually at the electric | chair, THER old familiar features that | are cropping up at the present | trial are the lying witnesses pre- | sented by the prosecution to dis- | credit the Negro defendants; the | “righteous indignation” of the for- mer prostitute when the defense suggested that she had been friend- ly with Negroes; the ease with which she “disremembers” the plac- es where she sought work two years ago; the ease with which she “iden- tified” the\ prisoner Patterson (as related in the New York World Telegram) in the court room, as if | @ mere idiot could not do the same | thing under similar circumstances. (For Patterson was sitting in such a position that everybody in the | court knew who he was.) And the reporters for the Assoc- | iated Press, and for the ruling class press in general, slobbered | gleefully whenever they told of | | hearing some white man in the | crowd utter threats if a Negro | “dared” respond to jury call. | HAT makes this trial different from others of its kind is that the working class of the whole world, rallying to the call of the International Labor Defense, stands | behind the innocent prisoners, sup~ | porting ,them ‘with the mighty | power of its pressure. If for an in- | stant this pressure should be re- laxed, this trial would turn out pre- as others of its kind have | turned out; with the state com- mitting the murder which ordinar- ily would have been committed by | the landlords and their tools. We must not relax our pressure. The | working class of the world is res- ponsible for the successes won thus | far; the working class of the world | | alone can assure complete victory, | \ Typical Scene in Decatur | a | pressed into | state, the plan contemplates exten- LYNCH DANGER | for a coat and hat and god knows | | baiting: | | being dead.” NINE AILY WORKER, NEW YORK, ONLY A CONTINUOUS GROWING MASS PRESSURE CAN INNOCENT SCOTTSBORO PLAN TO FORCE NEGROES INTO | PLEDGE. DEFENSE TO SCOTTSBORO BOYS SWAMP LABOR To -Compel 1,400 to Work in Sugar Cane in Everglades | T\LLAHASSEE, Fla.—A plan to put helpless Negro and white work-| ers who fall into the toils of Florida’s| chain gang system into the dreaded | Everglade swamps of this state, is nounced by the Board of Com- ioners of State Institutions. The announcement said that 1,400] prisoners, mostly Negro workers im-| the gang labor conditions, this means ordering | the murder of a large percentage of| boro boys fram legal or extra-legal | them. One hundred and fifty acres of su- gar cane will be planted at the Belle| Glade Prison Farm in the Everglades | this year, it was announced. If this experiment proves profitable for the sion of the work toward the reclama-| tion of 2,000 acres. | The cost in human life for this) work under chain gang conditions has| been conservatively estimated at a minimum of one per acre, This, how- ever, is not considered an expense by the Florida authorities, IS INCREASING (CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE) is the leading counsel for the In- | -ternational Labor Defense, argued. . the Scottsboro case before the Ala-., .bama Supreme Court, and was the. first to expose the original frame- up trial. “Hobe Talking With Hands” “Yes, she sold out lock and barrel, for what else,” Knight declared re- | peatedly, returning to the subject of Ruby Bates and seeking frantically to discredit her testimony for the| defense. Following the lead of his| associate, Wade Wight, the At- torney-general went in for some Jew- “The hobo talking with his hands,” is the way the Attorney-General we- terred to Lester Carter, thus attempt- ing to overcome his damaging testi- | | mony by an insinuating effort to/| arouse prejudice against Jews, | Carter, @ tall, blond, native South- | ern white boy had testified that his | conscience had been troubled for two years, since the framé-up of the boys, | | until it was “like getting well from j Carter had attempted to see Gov. Roosevelt in Albany in order to tell | him his story, but was told that he | was “too busy” to see him. Attorney-General Knight and Judge Horton continued te receive telegrams from organizations throughout the U. S. protesting against the lynch spirit which was being whipped up and demanding “the immediate and unconditional release of the Scottsboro boys.” A | greater number arrived today than .| ever before, it is reported. \ At the same time Alabama oifi- | cials received word thet President, | Roosevelt was being flooded with similar protest wires demanding im- mediate measures to safeguard the boys, their defense witnesses and their lawyers. These reports also told of delegations being organized to call upon Roosevelt, These delegations, it was indicated, would include promi~ nent individuals representing church, women’s organizations, fraternal so- cieties, etc. 5 Capt. Joe Burleson, commanding the National Guardsmen on duty here, said that he too has been bom- barded with similar protests, NY AF. MA NEW YORK—Large response from locals of the American Federation of Labor in many parts of the country, to an appeal for funds for thé Stotts- boro New Trial is reported by> the committee in charge of raising the emergency fund. “We have been receiving money from many locals,” Miss Belle Taub, secretary of the fund committee, whose headquarters are at Room 430, 80 E. llth St, said today. “These are mostly from those locals com- posed of low-paid, unemployed, or part time workers, This response is on framed| quite parallel to that made so gen- | charges, will be set to work reclaim-| erously by workers unemployed for | | ing the swamps, Under Florida forced | years, who have shared their last small funds to help save the Scotts- lynching. Bakers Poor But Contribute { A letter from Bakery and Con- fectionery Workers, International Union of America, Local 190 of Me- tuchen, N. J., received in the Eme- gency Fund office, reads: “We ourselves are so low on funds, but because we believe the Scottsboro boys should be freed, that from our hearts, we send you one dollar and hope your efforts. will free them.” Local Union 435, Montgomery, Ala~ bama, sends one dollar saying, “...we would send more if conditions were better but will do as best we can to |help save the boys. This little will help. Hoping they will come over the top.” A hod Carriers Local of Zeigler, TL- linois, sends five dollars. “We mem- bers of Local Union 608 feel that this donation is for a just and right cause,” is their comment. “Carpenters of Great Falls, Monta~ na, Moving Picture Painters of Los L. LOCALS eae | Angeles, Bakery and Confectionery Workers of N, J., Painters, Decora~ tors and Paper Hangers of Okmulgee, Oklahoma, Railway workers of Col- umbus, Ohio, workers in the remot~ est sections of America,” Miss Taub said, “bridge these thousands of miles and join in a handelasp to pledge a | powerful defense of the nine innocent ; boys now being tried for their lives on @ framed charge in Decatur, Ala- bama, where lynch-danger grows every moment, as their innocence is established by the testimony of one witness after another. Rush Funds “We nine Negro boys of Scottsboro have been saved four times from the electric chair, We were saved he- cause all the working people heeded our cry to save us. The bosses framed us because we are children of work- | ing-people and our skins are black. You must keep on the fight to get us free.” So they write to the In- ternational Labor Defense, their plea to the working-class of the entire | world. And so the workers heed their eal and raise it in a slogan which is rallying millions throughout the world, millions who cry, “The Scotts- boro Boys Shall Not Die!” “The eyes of the entire world are mow turned upon the little town of Decatur, Alabama, It will take the hands of every worker who reads this to help. Rush letters and telegrams of protest to Governor B. M, Miller, Montgomery, Ala, demanding . the safeguard of the boys! Rush funds, so desperately needed for last-minute emergencies as the trials proceed, to Scottsboro New ‘Trial Emergency Fund of the International Labor De- fense, Room 430, 80 East 11th Street, New York City.” MILITIA COMMANDER AT DECATUR IS BOSS OVER 500 NEGROES Captain Burleson Freely Admits Has Heard Remarks: “Those Niggers Ain’t Worth A Trial’, and Threats to Kill Negroes (By Our Special Correspodent) ECATUR, Ala, (By Mail) —Cap- tain Burleson, in charge of the thirty national guardsmen brought here from .Hartselle, Alabama, to “prevent the boys from breaking jail” has quite a different concept of his reason for being here. When the sheriff, after due consultation, asked for troops on the eve of the trial of. the Scottsboro boys, the weakness of the jail was stressed and stories were bruited about that prisoners had escaped be- fore. The captain knows his South and is not de- ceived, Stand~- ing by the jail window and re- miniscing about his days in the North as an actor, he be= sy came more con= fidential about eae ¥ Dssta his duties here. arlbiee ~Gistmer On the trial itself, he said, he had an open mind. He was not sure whether the first trial was fair or not, claiming not to know enough about it, He conceded reluctantly that, in the heat of the first few days excitement, the crowd at Scottsboro two years ago might not have given the boys an equal chance. He thought that if a‘fair trial, which he thinks the present one will turn out to be, proves the boys innocent they should be freed, if guilty they “should get what's coming to them,” “WORKED” 500 NEGROES In civil life he 4s a building con- tractor who has “worked” 500. Negroes and “treated them fine.” J am Harlem Windows ‘Cheer Scottsboro March ‘Drop Pennies from Tenements for Fund to to _ Save Boys as 1,500 Demonstrate. NEW YORK.—Pennies, nickels and dimes for the Scottsboro Vétense safety of the nine innocent Scotts-@ boro Boys. | “Stop the Alabama lynchers!” “The! Scottsboro Boys Shall Not Die!” were | the continual mighty shouts which rang from 110 St. and Fifth Ave, through to Lenox Ave, and 145 St. Applause and shouts burst from the windows of almost every house on 129 St. “They're fightin’ good for ’em,” said an elderly Negro mother, the sidewalks. * Daily Workers were eagerly bought up. At 145 St. and Lenox Ave,, where an open air protest was held, Richard | B. Moore of the International Labor Defense, spoke, foore said, “This is not only @ struggie for the Scotts-| America are in default boro Boys, but also a struggle for the | Dr. Max Winkler in an elementary rights ¢f the Negro people' fore the Foreigh Policy | Fund were dropped from tenement windows jammed with Negro families | cheering the 1,500 Negro and white workers marching through the streets | and sidewalks of Harlem yesterday afternoon demanding the freedom and and white workers.” gS gig When the marchers ‘stopped on 129 St. to give the rear of the line time to.cateh up, Sol Harper of the Com- munist Party, held an impromptu meeting with’ those on the side lines, | and pointed out the need for mnited Negro and white action to sfve the lives of the boys, i Other speakers’at the 145 &t. dem- On Seventh Ave.. thousands crowded | onstration ‘were Robert Minor, Wil- liam Fitzgerald and Steye Kingston. LATIN-AMERICAN DEFAULTS UTICA, April 8—More n a bil- tion dollars, or 50 per cent of total United States investments Latin- jay said ress be- ‘iation. | His whole approach on the Negro question is very typical of the par ternal attitude of the local intel- | ligenzia: “If the nigger knows his place and keeps it, we will keep ours; if he treats us right, we will treat him right; if he is good, we will take care of him.” ‘He freely admits that he and his | men have overheard “irresponsible | elemenis” remark: ‘Those niggers ain’t worth a trial;” and “standing right here I couid shoot them fuli | of lead.” And quite correctly he | adds that this is not yet mob ac- | tion, that “organization is needed to get up a mob.” | KNEW LYNCH | | PLANS | . When the Supreme Court of the | United States reversed the death sentence of the Scottsboro court, he knew personally about a group that was beginning to organize for a | lynching should the case again | | come up in the court at Scottsboro, Scottsboro is only about 60 miles from. Decatur—not quite a two- hour ride by automobile. The Cap- tain hastened to add that the or- | Sanization had been discontinued since then, but he was nervous | thinking of such a possibility and | of the decision he. will have to make | should it come about. Huntsville, | the home town of Victoria Price | and Ruby Bates, also is a possible center for the organization of “night riders,” let alone Morgan j| County itself which has all the timber ready to be kindled. NE must not forget that the South and its decades-long sys- tem of oppression of the Negro people is on trial before the whole world, that the mass movement has put the South on the defensive. Now that we are beginning to reap even greater victories as a result, of mass protest, there must be no let- up in this movement, for upon it will depend not, only a victory in court, but a victory against possible lynch terror. Canadian Toilers, Pledge Support ‘o, Scottsboro Boys EG, Canada (By Mail) — 4 The Ukranian Branch of the | — Canadian Labor Defense League | ‘et adopted the following resolu- | | * i - “We the workers of the Ukran- ian Branch of the Canadian Labor Defense League, numbering 737 members, pledge our solidarity to the werkers cf your district in the fight to free Tom Mooney and | | Warren Billings and the Seotisboro | ys. Resolutions demanding their immediate and unconditional re- lease shall be forwarded to the proper authorities by this organi- zation,” 5 SCOTTSBORO FORUM IN HARLEM NEW YORK.—The Scotisboro case in the U. S. and Fascism in Germany will be the Subject of a forum at 227 Lenox’ Ave, Harlem, tonite, 8 p.n., under the auspices of the Friends of the Soviet Union F » | his family escaped by hiding under | | organizations and individuals to send | | of schooling. SEND PROTEST 10 DECATUR Workers Who Read of | Danger in “Daily” Raised Issue NEW YORK.—A group of militant | workers in the Bronx, upon reading in | the Daily Worker of the serious lynch | danger facing the nine Scottsboro | boys went to the nearest assemblage | of people in the vicinity to adopt a ring te them was Senway Theatre, Claremont | Pkwy. and “Washington Ave. They | demanded of the manager the right | to speak to the audience. It was granted, ‘There were 2 000. in the movie. One | got up on the stage ion and proposed a resolution to be‘sent to Decatur, Ala., | and to Governor Miller at Montgom- } ery, Ala., demanding the protection | of the nine boys from lynch mobs, a change of venue to Birmingham, and their immediate unconditional re- Tease. The audience received his words and resolution: with applause and the resolution was adopted. Follow the example of these mili- tant workers! Raise everywhere the Scottsboro demands, Negro Workers || of Birmingham | Demand Relief || BIRMINGHAM, Ala — Twenty-five white and Negro workers of Bir- mingham have formed a grievance committee and in a conference to-| gether have sent tn a protest to the | Family Service of the American Red Cross against the inhuman and cruel treatment of Negroes who are unem- ployed. The protest reads as follows: “We Negro and white workers of Birmingham known as the Woodlawn Grievance Committee protest against | the action of the Red Cross in ship- ping Negro families to Mississippi where they aré locked up at night like | convicts and cruely treated, made to work without pay, and demand that this vicious action stop. “One Negro unemployed worker and @ load of hay after his wife had been | badly beaten the third day after their} arrival in Mississippi. The Red Cross gained his consent to being moved by false promises of better living con- ditions and also by cutting off all relief to his family in case of their refusal to go. “We demand the shipment of un- employed Negro families be stopped. “We demand that those who refuse to go be given the regular family re- lief. “We demand that those who have been cut off be put back on relief im- mediately.” The Negro and white\ workers of Birmingham call upon all workers} letters of protest to the American Red Cross Family Service Depart- ment, Birmingham, Ala., against this terror and discrimination toward Ne~- gro families. School 2 Months for Scottsboro) Negro Children | QCOTTSBORO, Ala, April 8.— Children of 1,500 Negro farm- | ers, mostly tenants, living around | | this town are practically deprived | The Jim-Crow sys-| tem runs all the way through the schools, of course, and results in only two month's school in the pri- mary grades for Negro children, and net one day eyen of high iis traning for a single Negro child, BOSTON MASS MEETING BOSTON, Mass.—Monroe_ Trotter, editor of the Boston Guardian, will be one of the chief speakers at a Scottsboro mass meeting to be held in Old South Church, Boyleston St., here, on April 11, it was announced. Richard’ B. Moore, well-known Negro orator, Mrs. Cravath Simpson, secre- tary of the Northeastern Federation of Women’s Clubs, Miss Jessica Hen- derson, of the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners, and Professor. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dane, will also speak, J. McCarthy,. International Labor De- fense district secretary, will be chair- ft orn ee: NEGRO BOYS 2,00 INMOVE Scottsboro / Trial Rouses Negroes to Greater Militancy White Ruling Class Demands Lynching, Talks 6f Civil War, Returned Observer Says The Ee ees Take atthe Sect AT THE PROSECUTION TABLE: “Ht them niggers don't bers, we get fired!” NEW YORK.—‘One of the most remarkable things about the Seotte- boro trial is the change that has come over the Negro population,” declared a member of the John Reed Club, who has just come back from the trial, in an interview with the Daily Worker, “Negroes who all their lives had been trampled on and terrorized by the white ruling class are now holding their heads up,” he said. They are aroused, and determined to fight for their rights. The Scottsboro’ case has welded them together and given them a new dignity, a new realiza~ tion of their strength. , Tribute To Negro Witnesses “A striking example of this was the wonderful way in which the Negro witnesses conducted themselves. Their dignity, their unfaltering testimony in the face of persistent insults and bullying by Attorney General Knight made them a striking contrdst to the prosecution witnesses despite the fact that the latter had obviously been well coached. This was the dignity and courage of a people that for the first time had found a voice, for th first time was speaking out aie oppression, conscious of the support of tens of thousands of white work- ers all over the country.” The John Reed Club member, whose mame cannot for obvious reasons be revealed, declared that most of the Negro witnesses were ac- tually taking their lives into their hands by testifying. “There were, for example,” he said, “about 20 wit- nesses from Scottsboro, Every one of them is personally known to Benson, editor of the Scottsboro Progressive Age, who was a prosecution witness. PCIE PATS RR Every one of them is 8 marked maw from now on.” Bourbon Culture Is Lynch Cultare Discussing the feeling among the whit population, the John Reed Club member said that the trial has tend~ ed to crystallize the most reactione ary sentiments. “The cultured mem- bers of the ruling class,” he said, “are among the most outspoken defend- ers of the lynch system. They are not interested in the guilt or ine nocence of the boys. They realize that the entire system of Négro. op= pression is at stake and they are determined to defend it to the last ditch. ~ Tt may seem surprising, but 1 have heard some of these represen- tatives of southern bourbon culture talk about a new civil war. “These people state quite trankly that the 14th and 15th amendments were punitive war measures put over by the North after the Civil War and should be repealed. “As tor the workers and farmers, most of these ‘poor whites’ have been so saturated, with ruling class poison that they repeat similat ideas though {their own lot is little better than that of the Negroes. Novertheless, I haye heard some of them declare that if the beys/are innocent, they should be freed,” ‘DEFENSE ENDANGERED BY LACK OF FUNDS; RUSH CONTRIBUTIONS TO - SAVE THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS! “Jew money from New York!” This is the way Solicitor Wade Wright of Decatur, mouthpiece for the Southern lynchers, in the Seotts- boro trial, labeled the international working-¢lags movement which — is seeking to Save the nine Negro boys from frame-up and lynch-death, Workers throughout the world have contributed ‘their nickels and dimes to the Scottsboro case. | ¥ Negro school children by the hun- dreds have bought with their pennies Scottsboro stamps to break the death cell bars. The fundamental human rights of | millions of Negro farmers and work- ers in the Black Belt are held in the balance. With the most shameless bid for a lynch yerdict based on bigotry, race prejudice, and class feeling against the boys and their counsel. | No matter what the verdict in-the trial of “Haywocd Patterson today, | the fight will be @ prolonged one, The defense is critically hampered by Jack of funds, Though Samuel Leibowitz is contributing his services free and paying his own expenses, money is needed immediately to feed and transport witnesses for the. re- maining trials, for court’ briefs, and | investigations. Without immediate additional funds the Scottsboro case is in dan- ger. So far it has resulted in a bril- liant exposure of the class prejudices of the Southern rulers. work must not be impeded by failure on the part of workers to pay the abso- lutely necessary expenses; Wire or airmail contributions at once to the International Labor De- fense, Room. 430, 80 E, 1th St., New York City, This money must reach _| here today and tomorrow. ‘The International Labor Defense is issuing sheets of Scottsboro stamps, which can be sold at a cent: a stamp to mass meetings, outdoor gatherings, worker parties and gatherings, Rush $1, to the National Office of the TL.D. for your sheet and sell the stamps to your friends. tur, Demand in your telegrams full protection for all defense witnesses and lawyers; a change of venue to Birmingham; freedom from arrest for Ruby Bates who courageously re- pudisted the framed testimony she had been’ forced to tell in the first, trial; ‘and unconditional release for the nine victims..These wires should be sent to Governor B. M. Miller, Montgomery, Ala.; Judge James E. Horton, Decatur, Ala.; Attorney-Gen- eral Thomas E. Knight, Decatur, Ala.; President Roosevelt, Washing ton, D. C. Meeting Against the Scottsboro Terror Today, Jewish Center NEW YORK—The Klu Kiux Kian terror against the nine Scottsboro Boys and the Nazi terror in Germany will be vigorously attacked at a meets ing to be held by the Rasefske Branch N. ¥, District I. L. D., representatives of unions and liberal organizations this Sunday, 8:30 p. m., at the Jewish Center, 4506 Foster Ave., Sw Long Island, ee Carl Brodsky and Alfred Kastner, German architect, winner of the first