We have heard much talk about Race Problems. It would take most of the space in any standard size Journal to outline the various so called race problems as classified by white and negro theories; so any attempt at such a lengthy procedure would certainly be an unwise step for us to make, and furthermore we think it unnecessary.
We believe that the one and only problem confronting the American Negro is to find effective methods of proving to the world that he is a different being from what he was years ago. When he has proven himself to be different then the universal attitude towards him will be different.
Having analyzed our problem, let us look at our PRESS and note the "important" part it plays in helping to solve the problem. An upstate Weekly prints the details of a free love affair that involves a prominent minister--This is headline news for a month but affords a "black-eye" to the entire ministerial profession. A Western paper hears false rumors of disturbed financial conditions of a large Negro insurance firm; long winded stories are featured, circulation for the paper increases, confidence in the company decreases, the company is forced into bankruptcy--AND faith is shaken in Negro business men. A large Southern Weekly ventured to prove through its editorial pages that the late Booker Washington was all wrong when he said that educated Negroes did not commit crimes. So College Negroes that had gone to the electric chair and College Negroes serving prison terms were all named and their pictures adorned the front page. Such a show of Journalistic ignorance did its bit to give Negro Education a "push" downward.
Of course all Negro papers are not guilty of this style of Journalism but of the 176 Negro papers published in America, those refraining from the style are sadly in the minority. Printing all of that as news is a little unwise when one considers our problem. For the morbid view of Negro activity not only gives our white well wishers the wrong impression but it leaves the Negro reader in pessimistic frame of mind. Absolute proof that we are different will be difficult until we are blessed with more trained Negro newsmen, who can see the folly of printing vivid accounts of lynchings or startling lies about other incidents that will kindle racial hatred and disrepect. Negro Journalism needs men who will put the cause ahead of circulation. Until such men are found the Negro press will ACCOMPLISH very little in solving THE NEGRO PROBLEM.