Brooklyn Eagle (June 25, 1943)
Editorial: Racial hatreds of Hitlerism have counterparts here
The Detroit scene, now tranquillized by the presence of formidable Armed Forces in the city, presents a frightening spectacle upon which Americans should compel themselves to gaze, no matter how unpleasant the experience, for the good of their own souls. Through a thoughtful contemplation of what has happened in this great American city, they may be enabled more fully to realize how thin is the line that separates them from all of the national evils that are symbolized in Nazism.
All that happened in Detroit during those two tragic days of rioting and bloodshed has had its counterpart in virtually every city and town in Germany – the angry mobs on the loose, the looting and the destruction, the ferocious assaults upon innocent men, the murder – all animated by racial hatred, that quality of the Nazi mind which has been viewed by all Americans with the deepest abhorrence.
Events compel a recognition of the fact that the judgments we form on the ideals and the practices of our enemies are not always free from a pharisaical element. The Detroit spectacle proves, to our shame and disgrace, that we are not incapable of bitter and violent racial hatreds, that there are in Americans the same base instincts that have been given free rein in Germany under the rule of Adolf Hitler and that have made a once-enlightened nation stand before the world as a symbol of barbarism.
Happily, these outrages at home are of infrequent occurrence and meet with the force of law and of hostile public opinion. Nevertheless, they are a source of national shame and should serve as a warning to all Americans whose concern for the preservation of the ideal of true democracy is deep and sincere, rather than a sham and a pretense – a warning that it can happen here.
The situation in Detroit has been brought under control by the police and the Army but 31 persons have been killed, scores wounded and property has been destroyed. The reign of terror has been ended by force, a solution of the problem which, while better than none, leaves untouched its basic cause – racial hatred.
Americans are fighting today for the achievement of many purposes, not the least of which is the elimination from the world of tomorrow of that spirit which has been dominant in the Germany of Adolf Hitler and has found such shocking expression within recent days in an American city. So long as this spirit flames forth, bringing death and misery to innocent people, Americans will not be free from native Nazism, which is hardly less hideous than the brand that traces its source to Hitler.