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High Negro Crime Rate Must Be Faced To Be Remediedffi'i ru»turn I hutff Xt H'r■las these same groups seek.A good bit of the racial misunderstanding now bothering the United States—both North and South—will not be alleviated until certain hush-hush subjects are examined with courage and candor.One of these is the alarmingly high rate of Negro crime,A Negro scientist of Chicago, Percy L. Julian, spoke up bravely about the conspiracy of silence toward the increase in the Negro crime rate at a Y.M. C.A. meeting in Chicago:Our Negro crime rate has become so alarming that those of us who have struggled solong to merit freedom are struck with panic. . . , White friends of the Negro should not rationalize the crimes of the Negroes. , , /'What does the record show? An FBI tally for 1950 reveals that in 1,551 U.S. cities Negroes, making up 10 per cent of the U, S. population, accounted for about 30 per cent of ah arrestsand 00 per cent of the arrests for crimes Involving violence or threat of bodily harm—murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.For example: In New York City, of prisoners confined In houses f detention to awaitcourt disposition of their cases, 44 per cent of the males and 65 per cent of the females were Negroes, New York's Negro population is 14 per cent.In Chicago almost twice as many Negroes as whites were arrested on charges of violence and bodily harmSimilar statistics are available from Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco.What la the explanation for this high rate of crime? Some Negro groups, such as the N.A A.C.P., claim that segregation Itself accounts for much of the trouble. They also say white police concentrate on arresting Negroes more avidly than whites. Yet, most Southerners know that the very opposite tendency often has been criticized by Negro leaders: the argument is: Negro offenders, especially when the knifing and murders are among their own race, do not get arrested often enough and even when arrested, sometimes do not get stiff sentences.What can be done about this?The first responsibility lies in abolishing the ‘conspiracy of silence and recognizing that the problem exists. As Long as Negro pressure groups are Joined by white sympathizers in ignoring the facts, tension between the races will Increasethrough legal channels, to push widespread racial integration in the public schools and elsewhere.Why does the N.A.A.C.P,, for example, concentrate so much of its attention, time and money on pushing dntegration in areas (such as Prince George County, Virginia, and Clarendon County, South Carolina , where it Is bound to produce violent white reaction? Why not spend more time on the problems of Job procurement and other steps to raise the economic level of the Negro people?Tragically, for both whites and Negroes, the big school push has stymied chances for considerable advancement. The rise of racial tension ha»s cut down lines of communications between the races.If friends of the Negro race who spend 90 per cent of their time pushing for Pyrrhic victories in schools and swimming pools would devote more effort to raising the economic, moral, and cultural standards, race relations would improve, North and South, Compulsory segregation as a government policy may be on its way out, but Negroes, as a group, and their friends, are foolish to believe that integration per se Is a panacea.
Newspaper Details
Franklin Press and Highlands Maconian
Franklin, North Carolina, US
Thu, May 22, 1958
Page 9
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USA 31 Aug 2022
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