THE SOAPBOX
Stupidity of Nazism
Germany’s New Barbarism
Only Church Fights Grip
Sold Out by Athletes
By A. Clayton Powell, Jr.
“It is strictly prohibited to mate cows which were directly or indirectly bought from jews in the village hall. Other cows from stables occupied by Jews’ cattle must be observed for one year.”
This is just another example of Nazi nitwits. Unfortunately, the story is not always one of humor. Its plot runs deeper into the core of human liberties and life itself. It not only cuts into the very heart of Jewry in Germany, but also threatens many another portal with its bloody shadow. It is an assault on civilization.
Nazism destroys political equality, suppresses religious freedom, perverts education, degrades culture, persecutes Jews, Christians, Negroes,1 pacifists and liberals alike, threatens world peace, enslaves labor, debases women, disfranchises minorities, and is invading the world through its Brown International. This reversion to barbarism is a distinct challenge to the thinking world. The persecution of the Jew alone should be sufficient to demand the fullest support of every individual not living under Swastika, but Nazi barbarism strikes at others, too.
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Negroes are not allowed to broadcast from any radio station: musicians and performers are banned from the Third Reich, and accommodations are difficult to obtain for Negro tourists. The mass sterilization in Cologne of Negro children2 is one of the blackest sins committed in the name of the western culture.
Recently a new term has been coined–“Judenschwarzen”--Jew-N*****! The origin of this (emanating from the Nazi Propaganda Ministry) is in the hands of the Committee Against Participation in the 1936 Olympics. It was published in a recent pamphlet of that committee, of which I am proud to be a member.
It is imperative that the 12,000,000 Negroes of America and the hundreds of millions of the darker peoples of this earth realize that Nazism is definitely committed to persecuting the black of this world. In this darkest hour the church of Germany has been the only force resisting the Nazi terror.
Its voice has been raised in a united protest, its ministry has actively resisted the Brown Shirts and its membership has “en masse” loyally followed. When Bishop Wurum was dismissed in Munich3 for fighting Nazism a demonstration of 8,000 church people took place. These courageous communicants, furthermore, wrote their names on a petition attacking Nazism. In Franconia 60,000 protested against the Nazi government in the name of God.
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As a member of a race too long isolated from world affairs and as a member of the ministry that has forgotten the militancy of Jesus, I call upon 12,000,000 Negroes and 500,000,000 Christians to actively resist the onslaught of Nazism. The ministry of America must cooperate with each movement aimed at this common foe.
Eulace Peacock, Jesse Owens, Cornelius Johnson, Ralph Metcalfe and Ben Johnson–you had the chance as the ace track athletes of America to strike a popular blow by refusing to go to the Olympics. True, it would have been hard, but everything worthwhile costs. Instead you sold out! You threw away a chance to take first place in the world’s greatest race–Barbarism vs. Civilization. You endorsed the Olympics in Germany where at the scene of the Olympics stands a sign, “Juden Verboten.”4 You lost, for two weeks later, at the Louisiana Sugar Bowl, the Bourbon Brown Shirts wouldn’t let one of you compete in the pre-Olympic track trials.5
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We think Nazism is the German’s problem, but Angelo Herndon,6 the Scottsboro boys,7 47 labor deaths in 1936, 24 lynchings, criminal syndication trials, 2,000,000 share-croppers,8 and 500 silicosis9 deaths are irrefutable evidence that America is fertile soil in which to sow the seeds of Nazism.
We must submerge our individual differences of race, of creed and of color and merge our mind, our hearts and our all to scourge Nazism from the world and make it a stigma and stench and a term of opprobrium for the future. To my fellow Negroes, I beseech you to throw off your shackles of the twentieth century slavery of indifference and meet the common foe!