St. Paul Recorder

Father Gilligan Raps Discrimination Against Negro In Twin Cities

DISCRIMINATION IN ST. PAUL SURPASSES OTHER NORTHERN CITIES, PRIEST ASSERTS

(From Pioneer Press)

Although the percentage of Negro residents in St. Paul is considered less than that of many other northern cities, it is probable that there is more discrimination against the race here than elsewhere, Father Francis Gilligan, instructor of sociology and moral theology in the St. Paul Seminary, said Thursday afternoon at a meeting of the St. Paul chapter of the American Interprofessional institute in the Minnesota club.

His subject was "Municipal Racial Problems."

In the Twin Cities,' he said, 'the Negro population is small. The average in northern cities is small quota, one would think there would be less discrimination: but is there? Educational barriers are very few, if any, and housing accommodations are fair. But the discrimination in the economic field is the basic problem here in St. Paul."

Jobs Bar Charged

He gave a list of situations and positions which he said are barred to the Negro in St. Paul. It included milk wagon, laundry and brewery drivers, clerks in stores, employees of flour mills, street car motormen and conductors and employment in technical positions with utility concerns and as motion picture operators.

"A Negro is only given a job in the post office if it doesn't involve his sitting at or near a window." he said. "With few exceptions members of the race in St. Paul must work at menial jobs.

"If we don't mind their serving us with food, why should we object to their waiting on us behind store counters?" he queried. "Public sentiment should be changed in St. Paul."

He said no Negro girls are employed as teachers in St. Paul's public schools, no matter how well qualified they are: no one of them is even in training as a nurse and, although some have employment in the public library, there are very few working as stenographers or secretaries.

The Negro population in the United States is about thirteen million, he said.

Cites Southern Action

"Through the south, the Negro is absolutely segregated from the whites and there are many other serious restrictions. But," he said, "in the north the percentage of population of Negroes in the cities is much smaller and we are not confronted with problems the south has to face.

"The Negro race is entitled to consideration as Americans, for they were here long before the Mayflower landed and in every war contributed more than their quotas. It is not very desirable to have one-tenth of the country's population dissenting and dissatisfied in these present days of unrest."

Communists, Father Gilligan said, are endeavoring to stir up more strife among the Negroes.

"If I were colored and not a Christian," he said, "I imagine I would be very receptive towards the Soviet government.

"The Negro constitutes a challenge to our Americanism and our democracy. If any city should have a progressive attitude toward the Negro, it should be St. Paul, but there is less of it here. America's injustices to the Negro are headlined in European papers and magazines the same as the acts of a dictator in that country are headlined in our papers.