U. S. RACE PREJUDICE OVERSEAS
Cranston, Maurice
U. S. Race Prejudice Overseas By Maurice Cranston London (By Cable) AGOOD DEAL of mischief has been done to Anglo-American understanding by the race prejudices of United States troop%here. The...
...The issue even popped up in both Houses of Parliament in which questions were asked from members of all parties...
...Justice Birkett declared this reason invalid, told the hotel management that it had acted illegally, and sternly rebuked it for grossly insulting a highly respected British subject...
...This idea, however, is fallacious...
...The celebrated cricketer, Leary Nicholas Constantine, a West Indian Negro, had been denied accommodation at the Imperial Hotel of Blooms-bury, because it was feared his presence might displease certain American officers who were staying there...
...A Timely Service in the testimony, the management admitted that it had had no reason for refusing Constantine a room except for his color...
...In no European country is rape a capital offense...
...Popular protests from humanitarian and labor organizations went to Eisenhower, and the General's decision to disallow this sentence was a timely service to Anglo-American relations...
...Pro-black sentiment in England runs high, especially because of the exemplary behavior of colored American soldiers...
...In Scotland, no death penalty is ever imposed, and, in England, capital punishment is for murder only...
...American publicists would do well to make this more generally known...
...The one Negro who was hanged after rape was also guilty of murder...
...This incident caused quite a hullabaloo, and British public opinion was indignant for some time afterward...
...A lawsuit was then undertaken against the hotel, and the case was argued back and forth for some time...
...However true it may be that Negro Americans stand very little chance of fair play in civil courts of the Southern States, the editor of the New Statesman is convinced that American military courts do not discriminate between one race and another...
...That considerable care is taken to do justice to members of the U. S. armed forces is indicated by the elaborate legal investigations that follow every court martial and precede the final decision of the Commander-in-Chief...
...Judge Birkett's decision, of course, has been warmly approved by public opinion here...
...The evidence in this case was none too conclusive, as the defendant contended that he had had relations twice previously with the plaintiff and with her consent...
...The recent introduction of the color bar to a big London hotel cost the management five guineas damages in high court last week...
...As an investigation by the editor of the New Statesman and Nation disclosed, the facts are that in Great Britain both whites and colored soldiers are condemned to death for rape, but every such penalty has thus far been repealed...
...Great Care Taken It is commonly believed here that the American Army reserves the death penalty for Negroes only...
...In fact, widespread indignation greeted the recent passing of a death sentence for rape on a Negro American sergeant by a U. S. Court Martial...
Vol. 8 • August 1944 • No. 32
