To the Negro

Chicago's short, energetic Roman Catholic Bishop Bernard J. Sheil is a true and tried friend of labor, children and the Negro. His influential Catholic Youth Organization (he spent most of a $100,000 legacy from his father in organizing it) everywhere follows his principle that "Jim Crowism in the Church is a disgraceful anomaly." Last week, in a little pamphlet called If I Were A Negro (reprinted from The Negro Digest), Bishop Sheil spoke out strongly to his colored brethren. Said he:

"If I were a Negro, I would be thankful for my heritage, for the traditions of my people, for a culture which presents such a hopeful contrast to the artificial and material elements now dominant in our modern civilization. . . . Above all, I would be grateful for that inherited spiritual strength, fashioned in the crucible of persecution and suffering. ... I would participate to my fullest strength in the war effort ... the one hope of true equality for all people everywhere. Nor would I be disheartened by the words and actions of those, who, while paying lip service to democratic ideals, make of democracy a hypocritical covering for injustice.

"This war is nothing if not a battle for . . . the restoration of basic human rights. Our fight is against all enemies, external and internal, of these Christian American concepts. Who would hesitate to join in this crusade, to fight in brotherly comradeship for such high ideals? ... If I were a Negro I would continue unrelentingly the struggle for equality and recognition. . . ."

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