YULETIDE FINDS CITY IN VICE AND CRIME SIFT ACTION SHIFTS TO HAYMARKET HOMICIDE INCREASE NO SURPRISE; NOBODY, NOT EVEN RACE LEADERS, SEEM TO CARE BLAME NOT ALONE WITH PROSECUTORS AND THE JURIES, SAYS PUBLISHER REED MURDER CASE DISCUSSED; CHRISTMAS GOOD TIME TO START CRUSADE By I. Willis Cole From here it seems that we are at last in the midst of a serious crusade against vice and crime in the Louisville area. If it is merely one of those "fly-by-night" affairs, make-believe efforts or the move of one political group against another, similar to what we have had at intervals over the years, we are in the clutches of a murder, vice and general crime wave as is seldom visited upon an American community. Whatever the case, we are at a season which is fitting to the idea. The message of Christmas is humanity's hope. Through the gift of the "Christ Child" in the words of Donald Hankey, "Man's horizon is widened so as to include God." The Christmas story teaches that "God is love and man is divine." "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men". The key words are Love, Fatherhood, [Brotherhood?], Peace and Hope. And it is timely that at this [Yuletide we?] are impelled to launch a movement for peace with the [illegible] the vice, corruption and the manners of crime may be [illegible] out--and let us hope that hatreds and prejudices on account of color and creed may also be banished from among us. The scene of whatever the degree of action that has been undertaken by the Louisville authorities seems to have shifted from the Negro murder sections to the white Haymarket vice district. We are not now passing judgment on the wisdom of the shift, which follows in line with the usual procedure of whites first when situations of one kind or another strike the two races at the same time. But it is ours to aver that of their own separate and distinct breeding and growth, the Negro and Haymarket cases are not of the kind that give support to our editorial statement of last week which said that vice, corruption and crime originated in the Negro sections spread to all points of the city. On the other hand the two situations justify our assertion that "if the authorities have any intention of cleaning up the town and making it a fit place to live, they must put aside their neglect of the colored people and include all in the programs of protection and advancement." The alarm which touched off the present action was given by David A. McCandless, Director of Safety, and was first made public through The Leader of Saturday, December 11. Mr. McCandless said in a speech before the Commitee of Fifteen, a group composed of Louisville colored ministers, that the crime among Negroes was on the increase, that a recent compilation in Louisville listed 157 phases of murder over a three-year period, that 98 percent of the crimes were committed by colored people against colored people, and that 35 of the homicides were committed in the Negro sections this year. II The Safety Director placed the blame on the leniency of the courts, especially the Criminal Court, where he in substance said, the juries do not seriously consider the cases which involve Negroes against Negroes in the same manner as they do crimes of whites against whites or Negroes against whites. The statements made by the Safety Director attracted the attention of The Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times, morning and afternoon dailies, and we quote from editorials similar in substance, which followed: "In no way [illegible] is the white community more terribly cruel to the [Negro?] [illegible] than in its leniency toward Negroes who offend [against one another?]. Let a Negro shoot or stab a white man, and [they are pretty?] likely to get the works. But let a Negro shoot [illegible] another Negro, and the offender is pretty likely to go [lightly?] punished. The result is inevitable--a great deal more violence in the colored community than in the white, a great deal more security of person for the white man than for the colored. For example, there have been 36 Negro homicides here so far this year, just 11 white homicides, though the Negroes are only a fifth of the population. Such disparity is not peculiar to Louisville, of course. (Figures given in Gunnar Myrdal's An American Dilemma show that for the country as a whole the Negro death rate from homicide is seven times the white death rate from the same cause.) Nevertheless, in Louisville' Negro homicides have been increasing in recent years, while homicides declining. This increase is what disturbs Safety Director McCandless. . . . "When the case of a Negro committing a crime against another Negro reaches the Criminal Court from the Police Court, it is usually when he has committed the ultimate crime--taken a life. There the tendency of juries long has been to put too low a price on Negro life. When there have been convictions, sentences have often been too short and death sentences for Negroes murdering other Negroes have been far too rare." It is heartening that the Safety Director is disturbed over the increasing crime among Negroes, and that he, with the cooperation of the newspapers, is ready to help do something about it. And in going about the task it is our hope that the Director and the editors will give serious consideration to the cause or causes of the Negro homicides, along with the effect of them. As "care-less" as the juries are when the slain and the slayers are Negroes, we do not place all the blame on the juries. Individual statements have also been made which have incriminated the prosecution in Criminal Court cases involving Negroes. Granting that there is some truth in the rumors about "fixing", "selling out" and "behind the curtain" compromises and other things short of vigorous prosecution compared to that evident in the William T. Reed murder case which resulted in a jury verdict that carried the death penalty, we cannot attribute the whole Negro murder situation to the laxity of the courts--neither the prosecutors nor the jurors. To this writer that is starting at the top. III The Courier of Sunday recently carried an article on the alarming number of sex cases reported in the Louisville area, which said that the list carried the names of more than 2,000 offenders--and the report added: "Despite several penalties for rape under Kentucky law--up to death or life without parole--Louisville has an unusual number of rape cases". (Continued on page 4)
Student Rebuffed
STATE'S ATTORNEY REBUFFS STUDENT SEEMINGLY ANGERED, WOULD "RAM" FAULTY EDUCATION PLAN DOWN NEGRO THROATS By William Ealy Under cloak of legal authority, State officials desirous of retaining racial segregation in Kentucky schools at any cost this week revealed a new and despicable plan to "ram" segregation down the throats of Negroes in this state, and at the same time openly defy the Supreme Court ruling on equal educational opportunities for all citizens within the borders of the Commonwealth. Must Swear Facilities "Equal" Assistant State's Attorney M B. Holifield disclosed the State's intention to withdraw aid to Negroes pursuing courses of study in out-of-state schools under the Anderson-Mayer Act of 1936, unless they sign a waiver specifying similar courses and educational opportunities are afforded colored people here in Kentucky. The waiver demanded as a requirement of securing out-of-state aid, is believed by attorneys here to be an attempt of the Attorney General's office to use the signatures of Negroes themselves as basis of an argument that colored people are being offered equal educational facilities in Kentucky. First Plan Back-Fires A plan designed to eliminate cost of erecting a physical plant which would meet all requirements was created by officials who expressed belief they can avoid placing Negro students in the same class room with whites, by sending professors at the University of Kentucky to the campus of the Kentucky State College for Negroes to teach whatever subject Negroes may request. The first attempt in this direction seemed doomed to failure after seven professors were used in teaching one Negro law student. Instruction of the lone member of the "equal" law school was placed in the hands of four lawyers of the State mid-term under suspicious circumstances. He now must commute from his residence to the State Capitol to study. State Stopped Funds A letter written to R. B. Atwood, president of Kentucky State College for Negroes by Anna Louise Harris, a sophomore at Indiana University under the out-of-state aid plan revealed the new idea of the Attorney General's office. The girl wrote President Atwood after failing to receive her allowance. She expressed belief that the fund was discontinued because she scratched out the clause waiving right to attend (Continued on page 4)
CONSTABLE, POLICEMEN AND RACE DENTIST INVOLVED IN ASSAULT A deputy constable who became involved with two city policemen after allegedly assaulting Dr. C. L. Thomas, dentist of 700 block West Walnut late Sunday night following an altercation has been tentatively identified this week by police records as a man with a long criminal record. The deputy is Rupert E. Kessler who gave his address at 600 block E. Chestnut. He was accompanied by another deputy constable, Hubert E. Sanders 600 block E. Gray. Both men were arrested by city policemen E. R. Stroud and John A. Lawson. Kessler was charged with assault and battery and drunkedness, while Sanders was slated with pointing a deadly weapon and drunkedness. Police records reveal nine arrest of a Rupert Kessler and R. E. Kessler, believed by them to be the same man. Charges over a 20-year period ranged from plain drunkedness to detaining a woman, robbery and impersonating an officer. Most of the cases however, were filed away with leave to reinstate. The trouble began according to Dr. Thomas when he stopped his car behind another at Preston and Chestnut Streets. He said he thought the other car was stilled and yelled to the occupants asking if they wanted assistance. Kessler, he said, came back and cursed him, ripped his shirt open at the collar and knocked his glasses off. The dentist accused Sanders of pulling his gun on the city (Continued on page 4)
Whites Quit Frat Because of Race Ban
Joy To All These are days when we are all in a big hurry to get home, for there's no place like home when the Christmas wreath is glowing in the window. We are due right now to say our little piece - an old refrain, it is true, but as warm and heartfelt as the first time we ever said it - Merry Christmas
LOUISVILLE BRANCH NAACP HOLDS ANNUAL MEETING; LYMAN JOHNSON, PRESIDENT The annual meeting of the Louisville Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was held at the Beecher Terrace Auditorium, last Sunday afternoon. The meeting called for the purpose of hearing the report of the President, Secretary and Treasurer, and the election of officers and members of the Executive Committee for the ensuing year. The officers reported the activities of the Branch during the closing year as follows: Investigation of alleged police brutality with Negroes as victims, and conferences with law enforcement officials; action in connection with the curbing of Negro homicides and on housing, efforts in interest of the admittance of Negroes to graduate schools of the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky, protested the barring of Negro voter and from the Ahrens Trade School, and the Attorney General's ruling on the question of out-of-state college aid, supported suit for admission of Negroes to the public parks and against discrimination at Fontaine Ferry. The officers also reported the efforts of the Louisville Branch in getting the Day Lay amended by the General Assembly to admit Negroes to hospitals and medical institutions for training, the protesting of discrimination in the Louisville Free Library and the support of the colored candidate for membership on the Board of Education. The reports said that the Branch resolved to continue the fight for admission to the parks and the University of Kentucky on to the United States Supreme Court if necessary, and to create a fund for amount contributed was $116. that purpose, said that a committee has appointed to confer with the Louisville & Jefferson County Air Board in protest against Negro patrons on the matter of seating and rest room facilities. The following officers were elected: Lyman T. Johnson, president; H. S. Wilson, vice (Continued on Page 4)
EMPLOYEES CONTRIBUTE TO RED CROSS Among the community employees who have contributed to the Red Cross Hospital drive are those of the Capital Laundry of Baxter Avenue. The
1,500 SIGN ONE-WAY PROTEST PETITION A concerted effort against Chestnut and Walnut as one-way streets, was begun this week under the leadership of Henry Rowen, as well-known Louisville citizen of 548 S. 18th Street. Mr. Rowen, a retired government letter carrier, has secured the signatures of more than 1,500 citizens, white and colored, and he is to take the flight to the Board of Aldermen and the Mayor's Beef Session. 
Under the subject: "One Way Bus on Chestnut and Walnut Streets," the petition which Mr. Rowen asked the citizens to sign follows: "We, the undersigned, who depend upon the Louisville Railway for transportation are suffering a great injustice which has been imposed upon us, and we are appealing to you for help. "If a person lives in the neighborhood of Eighth and Chestnut streets to Church, they must walk to Eighth and Walnut to catch a bus, fo to 23rd and Walnut, get off, walk back two blocks to Chestnut, regardless of the weather. The same thing obtains in the West End if a person is going east." Mr. Rowen appeared at the Mayor's Beef Session Monday, and after hearing his plea Mayor Farnsley promised to make an investigation of the one-way project.
Committee Hits Washington Bias Bad Example For Nation Segregation at Capital Reaches Place Where Dog Cemeteries Are Jim Crow
ISSUE TAKEN WITH SCHUYLER By O. Singleton My Dear Mr. Schuyler: You are to be highly esteemed and respected and congratulated for your courage, for your frankness ,loyalty, and great interest in your and my race. You can't be infallible, and it's inevitable that you will make some mistakes; but since you are held in such high esteem, you should always be [extremely?] careful about what you say upon all subjects and duly weigh the impressions that might be made by your utterances. You made a colossal blunder in a recent article if you were correctly quoted by the Clarion Ledger of Jackson, Miss., in substance, you hold the position that the Negro is so well pleased and satisfied with his treatment down here in Mississippi and the South in general that he prefers to remain where he is. Naturally, many Negroes down here are well satisfied, not hav ing the intelligence to realize the injustice he suffers in everything--discriminateed against in employment, and in the courts. Even the most prosperous and intelligent are openly robbed of their constitutional rights. Notwithstanding the thousands that are constantly migrating from Mississippi to other states today there are over 265,000 Negro children of school age down here, 75 per cent of them are denied the opportunity to secure even a common school education, not to mention the college. What could be a worse outrage of one citizen to perpetrate upon another, denying him the right and opportunity to prepare himself for full citizenship? While the common school mistreatment is exceedingly deplorable, language fails to picture the atrocity perpetrated (Continued on page 4)
Negroes In Mobile Boycott Daily Papers
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