#CRITICAL RACE THEORY PRESENTS BLOOD AND BROTHERHOOD A Novel Of Love In A Time Of Hate Part Seven

#CRITICAL RACE THEORY PRESENTS

BLOOD AND BROTHERHOOD

A Novel Of Love In A Time Of Hate Part Seven

[abridged]

By

Eugene Stovall

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In August, 1921, fifty-seven delegates representing Negroes in the United Stat, the West Indies and various African colonies, meet in London as the Pan African Congress to discuss concerns such as the abolition of slavery, civil rights for colored peoples in white-ruled countries and African participation in the colonial governments of their countries. The delegates intended to submit proposals to the League of Nations addressing these issues, but the US delegate, W.E.B. DuBois, objects. “This is not the forum to resolve your concerns,” DuBois argues. “This Pan-African Congress is intended to promote an exchange of ideas that will prevent racial strife.” Under DuBois’ leadership, the Pan-African Congress proposes that the League of Nations seize control of Germany’s African colonies and re-distribute them to Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and the United States and ?extend white supremacist rule throughout the African continent.

Joel Spingarn, US Army Intelligence, and William Pickens, NAACP field secretary, assist DuBois ram the white supremacist agenda through the Pan-African Congress without debate or discussion. Ever since his student days at Yale, William Pickens helps further William Howard Taft’s agenda. Taft rewards Pickens by initiating the Negro into Yale’s Skull and Bones Society. Spingarn and Pickens secure support from the Pan-African Congress so that ?William Howard Taft, James Phelps-Stokes and their other cronies might plunder Africa’s gold, diamonds, oil, rubber and all its other treasures and natural resources.

The Pan-African Congress infuriates Marcus Garvey. The President-General wants the League of Nations to turn Germany’s African territories over to his UNIA. But the British government blocks Garvey’s bold move to establish a multi-million-acre rubber plantation in Liberia. The British secretary of state for the colonies issues a memorandum, that states: “It is possible that the whole movement underlying the UNIA and African Communities League was originated by German propaganda and money, and probably is still supported by German Americans. On this point it seems to me that His Majesty’s Ambassador at Washington should be able to make enquiry and give advice.”

William Howard Taft visits Harvey Firestone at his rubber company headquarters in Akron Ohio. They discuss Marcus Garvey’s Liberian rubber plantation and decide on the best method of seizing it. d. After the Pan-African Congress, President Warren Harding appoints W.E.B, DuBois Consul-General to Liberia. DuBois’ mission to Liberia includes an assassination squad, that kills the top UNIA officials in the Liberian government ____ including the mayor of Monrovia and the chief justice of Liberia’s Supreme Court. DuBois then negotiates a deal with the President of Liberian to lease Garvey’s million-acre plantation for 99 years to Harvey Firestone for a one-time payment of ten cent an acre. The United States government offers Liberia a five million dollar loan in exchange for passing a Forced Labor Law providing the?Firestone Rubber Company the slave labor it needs to establish its worldwide rubber empire.

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Episode Nineteen

Pete and Julia arrive at Union Station, Los Angeles’ Union Pacific railroad terminal. They are met by Bif Meadows and Charlotta Bass, publisher of the California Eagle. He’s as tough as Bif said, Charlotta tells herself, noting Pete’s cynical detachment and icy stare. But when she sees Julia, Charlotta Bass almost loses her breath. The newspaper woman can only gawk at the most beautiful woman, white ?or Negro, she has ever seen and from that moment, despite being the president of both Los Angeles chapters of the UNIA and NAACP,?both Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois will always be secondary to Charlatta’s loyalty to Julia Duncan.

“Welcome to LA,” Charlotta gushes, racing up to embrace Julia who stands nearly a head taller than the California Eagle publisher.

“Hello you two,” Bif Meadows greets them, “Glad to see you made it out of New York, safely.”

“Hi Bif,” Julia says, giving the photographer a hug. “It’s nice of you to meet us.”

“Bif and I are old friends,” Charlotta bubbles. “He told me of your journey to Tulsa. He even sent me the article you wrote for the World. We published it in the Eagle.” Staring at Julia, Charlotta is enchanted by her green eyes. “You don’t mind me calling you, Julia, do you?”

“Not at all,” Julia responds.

“Good! You can call me Charl. Everybody does.”

“Okay, Charl,” Julia laughs.

“Well now,” Charl exclaims, “let’s get you two settled. I found you a nice flat, not far from here.”

In 1921, New York is a great city with fourteen million inhabitants; 80,000 Negroes are jammed into Harlem. Los Angeles is barely populated by 500,000 of which 70,000 are Negroes. Sandwiched between the majestic Pacific Ocean and the great Mojave Desert, Los Angeles emerges as a gigantic trading post in order to serve the collective needs of the Southern California land barons. ?Los Angeles provides the markets, manufacturers, storage facilities, dining areas, lodging and, most importantly, transportation for the barons to ship ?their vast herds of beef, bushels of wheat, bales of cotton, tons of fruit and all the other produce from California’s ?vast bounty. The Los Angeles transportation hub moves products to markets by rail, ship and truck. As a pioneer in ?air transportation, Los Angeles soon dominate the airline industry from design and engineering to manufacture and sales. To increase demand for products, Los Angeles pioneers the process of image development and by displaying product images in every possible media, creates the marketing technique known as advertising. Through its advertising image-making industry, Los Angeles becomes the radio and movie capital of the world. From this great southern California marketplace, bursts a single message from radio, billboards, movies, newspapers and every other media outlet ___ ?BUY! BUY! BUY!

But Negroes arriving in Los Angeles, driven by the inexorable scourge of white supremacy, seek not opportunity, but survival. They flee brutality in Mississippi, re-enslavement in Arkansas, mobs in Oklahoma, marauders in Indiana, economic deprivation in New York ____ ?lying lawyers, crooked judges, rent-gouging landlords, joblessness, nonexistent health care and mental distress. While others immigrate to Southern California seeking the opportunity, plenty and promise, available to anyone with skill, imagination and ambition, Negroes come to Los Angeles because there is nowhere left for them to run.

True to her word, Charlotta provides Pete and Julia a flat in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of east Los Angeles. The flat is angled, quite accidentally, so that in the morning the rising sun pours light through their bedroom window, and, in the evening, as the sun settles into the Pacific, the last flickering rays paint a slowly moving mural against the back wall of their living room. The living room is ample enough for their spare furnishings?____ an understaffed sofa, an armchair and a floor model Philco radio. The radio never fails to impress Julia’s frequent female visitors even though the reception is poor. often accompanied by hi-frequency squeals and annoying static. The smaller radio in the kitchen has better reception and can pick up more radio stations making the kitchen where Pete and Julia spend most of their time.

Domestic life agrees with her, Pete thinks, as he watches Julia in her gingham apron, walking bare foot across the well-scrubbed wood floor, which smells of ammonia. Her golden glow, or rather her afterglow, makes Pete fall in love all over again. Julia is happy. She loves her husband and basks in the \ attention of Los Angeles’s Negro society.

Julia insists on getting married as soon as they arrive in Los Angeles. Pete arranges a courthouse ceremony, with Bif Meadows and Clarence Payne, as witnesses. They spend their honeymoon in the two-bedroom flat that squats against the dusty Boyle Heights hillside on New Jersey Street. The flat is affordable, especially compared to the exorbitant rents charged by Harlem landlords. The neighborhood is pleasant. And, as long as one remembers that most of Southern California is desert, one can admire the aesthetic character of Boyle Heights, including the abundance of dust, dirt and dry heat.

Neither Pete nor Julia will ever see Manhattan again and nothing in her flat reminds Julia of her parent’s apartment, which is ?\exactly how Julia wants it. She doesn’t want her home to look like the inside of a second-hand thrift shop ______ like her mother’s place. When they purchase their radio, Julia tells Pete, “I want a new one. I don’t want my home filled with second- hand clothes, second-hand dishes, second hand-furniture ____ or even second- hand thoughts.”

“Second-hand thoughts?” Pete shakes his head. “What do you mean by that?”

“What do you think I mean?” Julia replies. “Second-hand thoughts from the Negro World, second-hand thoughts from the Crusader, second-hand thoughts from Crisis Magazine.”

Second-hand thoughts, Pete repeats to himself but decides not to press the point. As a matter of fact, Pete and Julia get along best when they keep their conversation light. Better yet, they get along great when Pete lets Julia does all the talking and he does all the listening.

“I talked with Grace today,” Julia announces casually.

“... in New York?” Pete asks, keeping his face in the ?Los Angeles Evening Herald newspaper.

“Yes,” Julia replies. “since I only know one Grace.”

“I wish the only one you knew lived in Los Angeles,” Pete says under his breath, but aloud he asks, “How’s she doing?” Since coming to Los Angeles, Pete and Julia have been forced to make adjustments. One of the adjustments for Pete is getting used to Julia’s long-distance telephone calls to her mother, to Grace and to anyone else she can think of. Another adjustment is his long-distance telephone bills.

“She’s alright.”

“Is she still upstate?”

“Yes.”. “She sees Briggs, Moore and some of the others,” Julia continues, “but they’re not meeting regularly.” In order to escape Hoover’s FBI African Blood Brotherhood dragnet, Grace Campbell and many other Brotherhood members go into hiding.

“Briggs just won’t give up, will he?”?

“Apparently not,” Julia replies. “He’s even printed an issue of the Crusader, but Grace and the others prevented him from distributing it.” Good, Pete thinks to himself. ?“Grace says that Cyril tried to hold a second mass meeting and Garvey busted that one up just like the first one at Rush Memorial. Many of the Brotherhood members, those who haven’t been arrested already, are completely underground and have renounced their membership.”

Pete puts down his newspaper; his cop’s instinct is working again. He complains so often about the telephone bill that Julia never voluntarily mentions her long distance calls unless she has something. important to tell him. “Did Grace mention anyone else?” Pete asks, casually.

“They found Grady Jones, at least what was left of him.” Julia says. Pete gets up from the kitchen table and walks over to his wife. He puts his arms around her and holds her close.

“It’s all right,” Pete says softly. “You can let it out.”

“Oh, Pete,” Julia sobs, “they cut him up and they castrated him.” Pete holds his wife in his arms, while he, too, tastes the salty tears flowing unbidden down his cheeks. He remembers Grady had once been his friend, and now he is dead. Pete also realizes that neither he nor Julia are safe, but there is nowhere left to run.

“Grace said she attended Grady’s funeral. There weren’t many people.”

“Where did they bury him?” Pete asks.

“In the military cemetery in Queens,” Julia replies.

“Since that night at that French farmhouse,” Pete observes, “Grady was just living on borrowed time.” Pete holds Julia closer. “And he had only one job left to do.”

“What was that?” Julia asks.

“His job was to bring us together.”

A faint smile brightens Julia’s sad face. “Yes, darling, you’re absolutely right.” Julia looks up into her husband’s face. “Grady was meant to bring us together.” She nestles even closer in his arms. “And I do love you,” she whispers. “Even though you don’t believe me, I love you, my strong handsome, prince.”

Pete says nothing. He can’t. He’s too choked up with emotion. After a while, after a very long while, after having left the kitchen for the bedroom, Julia asks the question that has been bothering them both. “Do you think they’ll still come after us?”

Pete runs his fingers through her hair and stares out into the darkness of the night sky. “I don’t know sweetheart; I just don’t know.”

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Episode Twenty

Pete and Julia walk up the porch stairs to the front door of a distinguished English Tudor–styled home on Los Angeles’ eastside. The home belongs to Jim Dukes, a short, balding black man, whose distinguished bearing and precise manner of speaking might identify him as a college educated professional rather than as the chauffeur that he is. In 1902, when Dukes moved his family into their home located on Hooper Avenue and 33rd Street, their white neighbors paid the Dukes an unfriendly visit.

“We don’t want no niggers around here,” the neighbors said.

Though Dukes was quiet and respectable, he would not allow himself to be run out of his home. Dukes had fled from Texas, where hooded nightriders terrorized his parents into leaving their home and property. The chauffer produced a gun and told his neighbors that they had better get off his property, because he was staying. From then on, the Dukes family \ came to symbolize the determination and spirit of Negro Los Angelenos. There home became the center of social and political activity for the New Negroes of Los Angeles ____ most of whom still lived where the Red Car Line stopped just outside the Los Angeles city limits in a district known as Watts.

“The guests of honor have arrived,” Windows announces after opening the door. Then to Pete and Julia, he asks, “What have you newlyweds been up to?” Windows escorts the pair into a living room packed with guests eager to meet the celebrated New Yorkers. From the time Julia arrives in L.A., society women cannot stop talking about her beauty and those mysterious green eyes. And now that Pete has joined the Los Angeles Police Department, Garvey’s former security chief ?has already become a legend.

“It’s nice seeing you, Clarence,” Julia replies.

“Clarence?” Bif Meadows shouts out, breaking away from several guests. “You mean Windows, don’t you?”

“Julia’s not like the rest of you morons,” the former cub reporter lashes out at his mentor. “Julia’s a lady and knows how to treat people.”

“People, yes,” Bif laughs. “But you’re not people. You’re one of those pop-eyed creatures who should be in a circus, isn’t that right, Pete?” This is Bif’s way of showing how happy he is to see the couple, especially Julia.

Pushing through the crowd, Bif leads Pete, with Julia on his arm, through the living room, through the dining room, set up for a buffet, with salads, meats and all sorts of tasty dishes. ?Down a hallway lined with guests representing the cream of the black middle-class society, they pass through swinging double doors, into the kitchen where Charlotta Bass is supervising a number of cooks and helpers.

“My dears,” Charlotta says, reaching out to embrace first Julia and then Pete. “We are so happy you are here.”

After introducing them to all the women in the kitchen, Charlotta takes both Pete and Julia’s hands and leads them back through the swinging doors and into the living room. “Everyone, your attention please, everyone, our guests of honor have arrived.”

The throng, which had been noisily engaged in conversation, quiets down. “Everyone, I want you to meet Officer Peter Jenkins, of the Los Angeles Police Department, and his beautiful wife, Julia. Our guests come to us from New York City where Officer Jenkins headed security for the Association’s Negro World. Mrs. Jenkins is originally from Jamaica.” Then turning to Julia, Charlotta asks, “Isn’t that right, my dear?”

“My parents were born in Jamaica,” Julia replies, “but I was actually born in New York.” ?

“Well, we are very proud of your husband and happy that you both could join us, isn’t that right everyone?” Charlotta drops their hands and begins to clap. Everyone in the room joins her. The applause goes on for some time. “We will begin the receiving line now,” Charlotta says guide Julia and Pete into a den. One by one, the reception attendees enter from the main entrance and leave by a side door after ?Charlotta introduces them to Pete and Julia. Among the first to enter are Noah Thompson, president of the Los Angeles UNIA Division 156, and his wife, who remembers Pete from the last UNIA convention. “The Los Angeles division is still in disarray since Noah Thompson’s failed Dump-Garvey movement,” Charlotta remarks after the pair depart. Then come leading members of the NAACP as well as local businessmen and members of the Negro press, some working for her rival and friend. Fred Roberts, the publisher of the Los Angeles New Age, others on the staff of the LA Times and the LA Herald. ?Next come a number of political and religious leaders. Joe Bass, Charlotta’s husband, is a deacon of Los Angeles Second Baptist Church and a member of the Los Angeles County Republican Party central committee. Finally, members of the Colored Women’s Club, the arbiters of Los Angeles’s Negro society, some of whom were in the kitchen when Pete and Julia first arrived, troop in, ?Only Charlotta Bass could bring such an array of elites from LA’s colored society, together. When the last person to be introduced exits the den, ?Pete and Julia make short comments, expressing their gratitude to Charlotta and Joe for the warm welcome.

“I want to offer a special thank you to Mr., and Mrs. Jim Dukes for welcoming me and my husband into your beautiful home,” Julia says in conclusion.

Afterwards, the guests enjoy the feast. Pete and Bif stroll out back into the patio area where a great fishpond takes up the entire right side of the yard. Large, golden fish swim lazily to and fro between green lily pads and giant fronds in the murky waters. Every so often a fish will leap into the air trying to catch a flying insect. Pete and Bif plop down into a yard swing and eye the guests as they troop by ___ some exiting the house by the pathway around the side that leads to the street. .

“Level with me Bif,” Pete says confidentially.

“What do you want to know, old chap?” Bif responds, drinking his iced tea, doctored from a pocket flask.

“Is all this real? I mean, a chauffeur lives like this?” Beyond the pond a two-car garage houses a Pierce-Arrow limousine owned by Jim Dukes’ employer, a well-known Hollywood producer, as well as the Dukes’ family car, a Ford.

“It’s as real as it gets, my friend,” Bif says.

“I can’t imagine heaven being much different than this,” Pete observes.

“That’s because when you wake up every morning, you see an angel lying next to you.”

“Yes,” Pete muses, “you’re right about that. I can’t quite believe it myself.” From the time Bif first laid eyes on her, the photographer has been obsessed with Julia. Pete knows Bif envies him which puts a strain on their relationship. But in a town where Pete hardly knows anyone, Bif passes as Pete’s friend.

“But that’s not what I’m talking about,” Pete says.

“Well, what do you mean?” Biff grins, the ‘tea’ begins to take its effect putting the older man into a mellow mood.

“Is Los Angeles really a black man’s paradise or am I missing something?” Pete asks.?

“You don’t really think Los Angeles is paradise, do you?” Bif says.

“Well maybe not paradise, but . . .”

“Well L.A. certainly isn’t paradise by a long shot,” Bif replies. “What makes you say something dumb like that?”

“When I was in New York, some folks came out from California with tickets on the Black Star Line to sail to Africa. Of course, there wasn’t any ship to sail on, so I had to help find places for them to live and . . .”

“So?”

“Well, I got the impression, since they were from Los Angeles, that California was a hard scrabble place, where Negroes faced hard times and had no prospects,” Pete says.

Bif looks hard at his friend, before breaking out in a great laugh. “Now I’ve heard everything,” the news photographer says, trying to control himself. “When they told me that you were totally in the dark about things. I couldn’t believe them. You seemed in the know when we were in Tulsa.”

Pete shrugs. A maxim he learned from Ferris was that it was better to keep one’s mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Apparently his questions had confirmed with Bif that Pete was a fool. ?This is one of those times when Pete should keep his mouth shut.

“First of all, who in their right mind do you think would want to leave California to go to Africa?” Bif asks.

Pete considers Bif’s question. “But those people seemed so ______ ,” Pete starts to say, before remembering to keep his mouth shut.

“How many of them had a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of?” Bif asks. Pete thinks about the stranded Californians. Without waiting for a reply, Bif continues, “Where did they buy their tickets?” Pete shakes his head; he has no idea. “You know about DuBois’ campaign to discredit Garvey, don’t you?”

“Of course,” Pete answers.

“Well, then,” Bif says matter of factly. “What do you think the NAACP does with the people asking them for help?” Bif eyes Pete with a smile. “You know they don’t help black folks with practical problems. All they do is talk.”

“Then you’re saying . . .”

“I’m saying that any time DuBois’ crowd gets in a pinch, where they are forced to help some poor black folks, they always find a way to dump them on Garvey. DuBois knows that we won’t turn anyone away, no matter where they come from or who sends them. Those white folks he works for don’t care about black folks and they certainly don’t help black folks get jobs, housing or medical help. L.A. is no paradise, but you can’t judge it by what DuBois is doing here. The NACCP told those ‘grifters’ what to do and say.” Bif takes another sip of his ‘tea’ and studies Pete’s face.

“Noah Thompson had to be in on it,” Pete says.

“Look here,” Bif continues. “The homes here in L.A. are palaces compared to what blacks live in back east. They have lawns and back yards and cost as little as $200 down and $10 a month. There are jobs for anyone wanting to work; the jobs aren’t great, but they pay better than anywhere else in the country. Los Angeles is a great place to find a job. Black men can work in the iron and steel mills as well as the shipyards and automobile plants. And there are schools here for Negro children. No this isn’t paradise, but it’s a lot better than anyplace else I know of.”

“What keeps Los Angeles from being a Negro paradise, then?” Pete asks, not without some sarcasm.

“I want to say something about that.” Joe Bass speaks out. The managing editor of the Eagle catches the tail end of the conversation. “I don’t quite agree with Bif about the employment situation here. Sure, there’s employment but the unions are the enemies of colored workers. They’re run by the Klan and a colored man can’t get a decent job.” Joe pauses as if in thought before continuing. “You remember when we upgraded our printing presses, Bif?”

“I remember,” Bif replies.

“Well, the typographer’s union here in Los Angeles kept our typesetter from getting the training he needed to become a certified linotypist. He wasn’t a member of the union; they refused to admit him join and prevented him from getting the training he needed. We had to send him to San Francisco for training and certification.”

“I remember you sending Dan to San Francisco,” Bif nods.

“And there’s another thing,” another guest joins in. “Negroes can’t own or even rent property on the westside. Nor can we go down to the beach . . .” “There’s lots of places we can’t go . . .” someone else says.

“We can’t get our fair share of the taxes, either,” Joe continues. “The banks won’t lend us money for developing our businesses. Anytime Charlotta rides the streetcar, she runs the risk of being accosted by some white person demanding the right of Jim Crow seating. I can be beaten or arrested by a white cop for no reason other than my dark skin. No, Officer Jenkins, Los Angeles certainly isn’t paradise, but it’s better than any other place in a country run by the klan, the masons and the Catholic mafia.”

“Well, I can promise you that no colored man will be mistreated by the police as long as I’m around,” Pete vows.

A lively discussion ensues. Everyone congratulates Pete on coming to Los Angeles and being accepted by the LAPD. Later, when they are once again by themselves, Bif and Pete continues their discussion. “It’s a problem of light-skinned versus dark-skinned Negroes,” he says. “The good jobs, professional jobs, go to the light-skinned Negroes. Even if a dark-skinned Negro has a college degree, the nod will always go to the lighter-skinned Negro. Most Negroes working for social groups, community or political organizations that have prestige in the Negro community, except preaching, go to light-skinned Negroes. A lot of people around here won’t admit it, but those are the facts.”

Pete starts to ask, if these are the facts, how ?did Pete get a job with the Los Angeles Police Department. Pete certainly isn’t light-skinned. But Pete decides to keep quiet. Besides, Bif already knows how Pete got his job.

“In 1867,” Bif continues, “when the Pullman Company made it a policy to hire only Negroes as porters, the company decided to create a caste color system. The dark-skinned porters carried luggage, shined shoes, cleaned berths, made beds and did everything the white passenger wanted, all on no sleep and with a smile. Pullman paid these porters $27.50 a month plus tips. Light-skinned Negroes were waiters and cooks and paid $50 a month. This skin-color caste system prevailed among Negroes ever since.”

Pete looks at Bif. His forehead furrows and his eyes narrow as he realizes something he should have known all along. Well, I’ll be, Pete tells himself. Within Garvey’s African Legion, in addition to the security section, there is another section of Legionnaires who only report to E.L. Gaines, Garvey’s spymaster. Pete just realizes what he should have known all along ____ Bif Meadows is one of Garvey’s spies.

Bif smiles as if he has read Pete’s mind. “So now you know,” Bif says, laughing. “It took you long enough. You don’t have to worry. If we had wanted, we could have gotten you and the missus at any time. But the boss is not your enemy.”

“Oh, no?” Pete replies, his cop’s mind now on full alert.

“No,” Bif repeats. “The boss still respects you. He thinks it was smart of you to get out of New York, protecting your missus and all. And he wasn’t the one who was after the African Blood Brotherhood.”

“You sure could have fooled me,” Pete says sarcastically. “I guess those court scenes between Garvey and Briggs were staged.”

Bif shrugs. “I’ll bet you want to know why the boss didn’t publish our report on Tulsa in the World, don’t you?” Bif waits for Pete’s answer, but it doesn’t come. “Well?”

“Well, what?” Pete asks. Bif is probing, Pete thinks.

“Well, why didn’t we publish a report on the Tulsa riot?”

“I guess we were there to provide a first-hand report to the boss. not to report anything in the press to the public,” Pete replies, studying the old Garveyite for a while, wondering exactly who Bif is actually working for. “Tell me something,” Pete says, finally.

“What is it?”

“Who killed Grady Jones?”

“Did you know your friend worked for military intelligence?” Bif replies, preferring not to answer the question. directly.

“I suspected it.”

“Then you know he didn’t have any protection since he wasn’t in with DuBois or Spingarn and he was too close to the government’s fake communists.”

“Fake communists?” Pete asks. “Who are they?”

“You should know who they are, after all, Julia was involved with them.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know that Cyril Briggs and the others were taking money from and involved with Rose Pastor Stokes,” Bif says. ?“Sometimes I wonder whether it’s just because I have inside information or because people, Negroes and whites, are just so stupid,” Bif exclaims. Pete stares at Bif, trying to understand what the newsman is talking about. “Well ask yourself, ole chap, ‘Why would people in the African Blood Brotherhood and those other whites believe that Rose Pastor Stokes is a legitimate communist?’ She and the legitimate communist party, the Wobblies, the Workers Party, did not agree and did not work together, did they? Her husband, J.G. Phelps-Stokes is a multimillionaire. He owns mines, railroads and banks. He’s the major financier of the NAACP, a government-run intelligence agency. The Phelps-Stokes Negroes run the Negro colleges. Don’t you see that Rose Pastor Stokes is just the government’s fake communist, just like W.E.B. DuBois is the government’s fake Negro leader.”

“You mean that entire episode at the convention was to set Briggs up?” Pete asks naively.

“Well, let’s put it this way,” Bif says. “One of the closest friends of William Howard Taft, is Anson Phelps-Stokes ____ the power behind Yale University and a member of the Pilgrim Society. Anson Phelps-Stokes is J.G. Phelps-Stokes’s brother.”

“How do you know all this?” Pete asks.

“Rose Pastor Stokes, a Russian Jew, and her husband were ‘outed’ by legitimate Marxists in 1918 during the war.” Bif’s eyes narrow and his shoulders hunch over. “Those New Negroes in the African Blood Brotherhood knew because we told them. But that fool Briggs preferred solidarity with his so-called white friends. The brotherhood members didn’t have a chance. Most of those who weren’t deported ended up like your friend, Grady Jones!”

“Who killed Grady?” Pete asks again.

“Does it really matter who killed him?”

“It does to me.”

“Well, now that you’re one of LAPD’s finest,” Bif says indifferently, “there might be a time when you will have some information and I might be willing to trade you.”

Before they can finish their conversation, Julia appears.

“Oh, there you are, darling,” she laughs. “I’ve been looking all over for you. There are so many people dying to meet you. And Noah Thompson wants to speak with you before he leaves.” She puts her arm through Pete’s. ?“You don’t mind if I steal my husband, do you?” she says to Bif. But before Garvey’s West Coast agent can respond, the two of them are heading back into the house.

“I thought you might have needed rescuing,” Julia confides to Pete as they join the other guests in the Dukes’ living room.

“That’s why I love you,” Pete says, steeling himself for another round of idle chit-chat with the cream of Los Angeles Negro society.

Much later, back in their Boyle Heights flat, Pete and Julia review the events of their ‘coming out’ party. Julia, flush with excitement, recounts, almost word for word, the conversations she had with almost everyone at the party.

“. . . and since Charlotta encouraged me to join the National Association, I just can’t decide which group to belong to. What do you think?”

“Think of what?” Pete yawns.

“I have just been explaining to you that there are two groups in the local NAACP,” Julia says. “Haven’t you been listening?”

“Yes, but . . .”

“Well, both groups were at the party. The Junior Branch is not really for juniors; they are college students and young professionals. Next year, the Junior Branch intends to produce DuBois’s play, Star of Ethiopia, at the Hollywood Bowl. I think it’s exciting.”

“It sounds like it,” Pete says.

“So you think I should join the Junior Branch?”

“I think you should do what you think is best.”

“Dr. DuBois will be coming to Los Angeles to oversee the production,” Julia happily continues “Although it’s been shown in New York, D.C. and Philadelphia, Charlotta believes that this production will be the best. Who knows, they might make it into a movie.”

“It’ll probably be better than The Birth of a Nation,” Pete observes dryly. \

“Why do you say that,” Julia asks, the gaiety now out of her voice.

“Because I have been assigned to the Garrick Theatre,” he says, quietly.

“You mean the theatre that’s showing The Birth of a Nation?” Julia asks, trying to keep the alarm from her voice.

“That’s right.” Pete says. Hesitating to continue, he changes the subject. “Bif told me that he knows who killed Grady Jones.”

“He does? Who was it?”

“He didn’t say who did it,” Pete replies. “Just that Grady was a dead man as soon as he began working for the government.”

“Does that mean that I’m still in danger?” Julia asks, trying to be calm.

“No! Bif doesn’t think so. He says that it was a good move bringing you here to Los Angeles.”

“I do love it here,” Julia says with a sense of relief. “But I’m kind of concerned about you.”

“Don’t worry,” Pete states. “I can take care of myself.”

??

Episode Twenty-one

Los Angeles ____ the world’s biggest marketplace, where anything can be had for a price ____ is a party town, a modern-day Babylon, wide open for fun and frolic. Everywhere is big-time spending, conspicuous consumption, Hollywood glamour and pageantry. All over LA, college students party around the clock. In the Negro section of LA, jazz and night clubs sprout up down Central Avenue like weeds. Some clubs, like the classy Cadillac Club, caters to the Hollywood crowd that likes to go slumming; others, like the Apex Room, are fleshpots where pimps and drug dealers ply their trade. On Central Avenue, there is a shooting or a stabbing almost every night. Yet Los Angeles does not have the gang violence that plagues cities like Chicago, Detroit or New York. Mobsters like Al Capone, Dutch Schultz, Legs Diamond and Lucky Luciano do not control L.A.’s city hall. Even if L.A.’s mayors, district attorneys and city councilmen take campaign contributions from madams, bootleggers and gamblers, they have not sold their city to the gangsters who run the criminal syndicates. Los Angeles is run by the Masons, the Catholics and the Ku Klux Klan.

“How would you like to be an L.A. cop?” Joe Bass asks Pete. Joe and Charlotta have no children, but the handsome New Yorker reminds Joe of the son that he never had. “Before you answer, you should know that being a Negro cop in Los Angeles could be very dangerous.”

“I’ve faced danger before,” Pete replies.

“Not like this,” the dark-skinned editor of the Eagle declares.

“I was in the great war,” Pete says, “but tell me more.”

“Have you ever heard of the film, The Birth of a Nation?”

“The Birth of a Nation,” Pete replies. “Isn’t that about the Ku Klux Klan?”

“Yes,” Bass says. “When it came out in 1915, it was called The Clansman.”

“What does the film have to do with me becoming an LA cop?”

“I’ll get to that,” Bass says, “but let me tell you something about the film.” Pete and Julia had been in Los Angeles less than a month. Julia and Charlotta were out shopping. Pete and Joe were sitting in the Eagle’s offices waiting for their wives to return and Pete told Joe how much he needs a job.

“The Birth of a Nation is a devilish movie,” Joe says, lighting a cigar. He then sits back and begins to describe the film:

“The Birth of a Nation begins with a portrayal of an idyllic South representing white chivalry and culture with happy Negroes in their natural condition of slavery. However, during the civil war, the Union Army turns these happy slaves into soldiers, who, freed from the control of their kindly masters, look and behave like apes. These ape-like Negro soldiers, portrayed by white actors, brutalize and befoul the nobility of the Southern confederacy. Negro soldiers loot Southern homes and hunt down white women. After the war, Negro soldiers leave the Union Army and become the lawmakers responsible for “reconstructing” the South. Eating chicken in the statehouses while passing laws that legalize interracial marriage, the Negro legislator is portrayed as a pawn in the hands of Northern carpetbaggers and Southern scalawags who force white southerners to serve northern bankers. In the movie’s final scene, a virtuous white woman flees in terror from her former Negro slave, transformed into a beast bent on rape. In order to escape the Negro, the white woman leaps from a cliff to her death. When her rescuers arrive, too late to save her, with her dying breath, she identifies the Negro as her assailant. The film ends with heroic white men forming the Ku Klux Klan that hangs the black culprit and restores virtue to the South.”

Pete looks at his host. “I’d heard that this film got the white folks rioting all over the country.”

“The original director’s cut had the Klansmen castrating the Negro before they lynched him,” Joe says. “Charlotta and I demanded that Griffith remove this scene from The Clansman, in 1915. But even as it is the film is despicable.” Joe clenches down on his cigar and scowls. “Griffith decided to get Negroes to support the new version of the film.”

“How did he do that?”

“He hired black actors when the Clansman was remade as The Birth of a Nation, When the Eagle denounced the film, the Negro actors criticized us for interfering with their jobs.”

Pete just shakes his head. “But what does this have to do with me getting a job with the LAPD?”

“The Ku Klux Klan is reshowing The Birth of a Nation at the Garrick Theatre downtown,” Joe says. “Although the council and the city commissioner tried to close it down for public safety reasons, a court permits the showing.”

“But I don’t see how _____ ,” Pete interrupts.

“We told the folks downtown that as long as that film was being shown, our community is in danger,” Joe continues. “They promised that the police department will defend our community against the klan. And I got a personal commitment that any Negro the Eagle recommends will be hired onto the police force. Now are you interested?”

“Certainly.”

But what Joe doesn’t tell Pete, because he doesn’t know, is that a partnership exists between Thomas Dixon, author of The Clansman D. W. Griffith, the Hollywood producer of The Birth of a Nation and Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, White House. Wilson, Dixon’s classmate and friend at Princeton, called the film a moving depiction of historical truth and a call to action. D.G. Griffith used all of Hollywood’s glamour, pageantry and mind-altering symbolism to terrorize the Los Angeles Negro community and to mobilize the Ku Klux Klan.

?

*****

?

“Didn’t take you long to get on with the department, did it, boy?”

“It took me as long as anyone else, I guess,” Pete responds.

Chip Winters is one of those all-American whites who doesn’t believe coloreds should have any civil rights or privileges. The California native cannot believe that the Los Angeles police force would hire Pete Jenkins, or any Negro, as a police officer. Chip, himself, was hired right after dropping out of college. But despite, Chip’s racial animosity, Pete likes the idea of becoming a police officer. It takes a while before Pete begins to wonder how he will survive the pressure of daily insults, aggressive behavior and physical threats. It’s been a long time since his days as a bank messenger and a longer time since he was in the Army having to buck and smile so as not to offend white people. A long time since he’s had to behave like he was less than a man.

But Pete’s first few weeks aren’t so hard. Along with the other recruits, Pete is given a badge, Billy club and a special police revolver. He is directed to Wilson’s store on Second and Wilshire, where he can purchase his police uniform. Afterwards Pete like the other recruits report to the desk sergeant at the central downtown Police Department.

“You recruits,” the sergeant bawls out, “have the privilege of working for the finest police department in the world . . .” The orientation is a rah-rah session meant to instill pride in the recruits. The Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Club functions as L.A.P.D.’s police academy where recruits are sent to learn what they need to know on the job. For the next several weeks, Pete works with an assortment of veteran police officers, most of whom willingly show him the ropes while trying to overlook the fact that he is a Negro. But after eight weeks, when the ‘honeymoon’ is over, Pete is assigned to work with Patrolman Chip Winters, a rookie, like himself. They are assigned to patrol the Garrick Theatre, where The Birth of A Nation is screened daily. The Garrick, seats 650 patrons, is a modest theatre, located at the southwest corner of Eighth and Broadway in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. ?

“Don’t get me wrong,” Chip says. “I don’t mind you. I really don’t have anything against the coloreds. I just meant that . . .”

“Look, skip it,” Pete says, deciding to put this youngster in his place right away. “We’re both cops and we both do what we’re told and neither of us have very much experience. We’ve been given this assignment.”

“I guess you’re right,” Pete’s partner concedes. Chip had dreamed of becoming an attorney. However, Chip’s all-American attitude is neither accompanied by all-American looks nor brains, which is why he dropped out of Los Angeles City College after his first semester. Chip’s father works in the city maintenance department and got his son into the police department through the patronage system. Chip is a hulking 6-foot 3-inch, 250-pounder, with a huge head, bushy eyebrows and a full handlebar mustache. Chip reminds Pete ?of a Viking Norseman. While Chip works out of the downtown central police station, Pete is assigned to the Newton Street station, located just off of Central Avenue in the colored section of LA. The Garrick Theatre assignment gives Pete no communication with the cops stationed downtown other than Chip. He has no friends either in the Downton Central Police Department or in the Newton Street station. With no one to watch his back. Pete feels like ?a stranger in a strange land.

“So how did your day go?” Julia asks, ?a week after Pete begins patrolling the Garrick Theatre. Despite her husband’s bravado, ?Julia has been worried.

“It’s a job,” Pete responds. Pete is tired. Walking a police beat for ten hours, on constant alert, is tiring work. I need to begin building up my physical stamina, he tells himself. I don’t want Winters reporting that I can’t keep up.

“Well, sir, if you do your job as a police patrolman as well as you have done your job as a husband,” she beams, “you’re going to be a great success.” Julia wants to be supportive and positive, especially now.

?“What do you mean by that?” Pete asks.

“What I mean,” she says, “is that I may have to postpone my plans to work in Hollywood for a while because of you.”

“Because of me?” Pete asks quizzically.

And then noting the broad grin across Julia’s face, it slowly dawns on him.

“Do you mean that . . . ?”

Before he can finish his sentence, she flies into his arms.

“Yes, my big, strong husband. I’m pregnant.”

Pete stares at his wife for several minutes, emotion and love welling up in his heart. He could never believe Julia was his wife, not really. When he wakes up in the morning, he fully expects to find Julia gone and when he returns from work, he is surprised to find her there. Pete continually fights against loving her too much. But now, Julia is going to have his child. Pete is happier than he ever expected to be.

“Have you told your mother, yet?” he asks, not knowing what else to say.

“Of course, silly,” Julia smiles at him. “She wants to come out to Los Angeles as soon as possible.”

“What about your father?”

“I don’t think he is quite over the fact that you ‘stole’ me away from him,” Julia laughs gaily, “but I think mother is working on him. I’d like him to come with her.”

“That will be an interesting family reunion,” Pete observes.

“He won’t stay long, of course; he’s too worried about his business.”

“He should sell the store. Then they could move out here permanently,” Pete says. “I’m sure that Joe and Charlotta could help them open up a store here.” “You think so,” Julia says. “I’d be so happy. I miss my mother.”

“Then you need to start working on it now, as stubborn as your father can be.”

“I’ll bet he won’t be that difficult to convince once he sees L.A.,” Julia exclaims, giving Pete a long kiss on the cheek, “I’ll call Mother right now.”

Me and my big mouth, Pete chastises himself silently. And then out loud, he shouts, “You know the Post Office is still delivering mail. We need to save all the money we can, don’t you think?”

“You are absolutely right, dear,” Julia agrees. “I’ll make this a quick call and give her the details in a letter. Just think, if they move to Los Angeles, we can eliminate all those long-distance calls. My father should be happy about that.”

“Well, if they move out here,” Pete observes, “I’m certain you’ll find someone else in New York to call.”

When Charlotta hears the news, she can’t control herself. Charlotta is only a little jealous when Julia explains that she wants her parents to move to Los Angeles. But when Julia asks Charlotta to be her child’s ?godmother, Charlotta gets over her jealousy and begins praying for a goddaughter. ?“One thing is for certain,” Charlotta says, “your parents will need a place of their own. Your flat will not be large enough for you and your parents. Especially when the baby gets here.” ?With Charlotta planning for the arrival of Julia’s parents and her godchild, L.A.’s social scene buzzes with the news. Pete remains on his special assignment. Every day he patrols the Garrick Theatre while crowds of white men troop into the theater, watch the provocative film and emerge frustrated, angry and ready to join the klan. Local radio broadcasters begin praising the klan’s fight against niggers, Catholics and Jews. Then, one day, the Garrick’s theatre- goers include men wearing white sheets and white hoods.

“I need to take a break,” Chip had said. “I’m going over to Hamburger’s department store. I’ll be right back.”

“Make sure you do,” Pete reminds his partner. “You know the afternoon showing is about to let out.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Chip growls as he stomps down Broadway toward Fifth Street. Pete still doesn’t like Chip nor his partner’s surly attitude.

“It’s that jazz music that’s done it,” Chip had exploded one day. “People have gone crazy for that jazz music. ‘Nigger music,’ I call it. It gives people rickets and makes them fidgety and restless. One day, your people are gonna have to pay the price for all this jazz music.” Chip has no problem using the word ‘nigger’ in front of Pete. Chip enjoys annoying Pete, but Pete refuses to give his partner the satisfaction of reacting. What does Chip means about niggers having to pay? he wonders.

The Garrick’s midday showing has just let out and Chip has yet to return from Hamburger’s Department Store. Several white robed klansmen mingle in the crowd on the street. Suddenly one of them shouts, “Look at that nigger. Let’s get him!” Twenty or more men stare menacingly at Pete and, following the hooded leaders, begin to cross the street. Pete does not run ____ instead he blows his whistle and, drawing his revolver, stands his ground. Shocked at his boldness, the crowd stops.

“Kill the nigger!” someone shouts out. Pete fires his revolver into the air. The crowd moves back.

“You men disperse,” Pete shouts, “or some of you are going to get hurt.”

“You hear that,” one of the white-sheeted klansmen shouts. “This coon’s threatening to kill a white man.”

Pete holds his ground. Remaining as calm as possible under the circumstances, he blows his whistle once again.

“If you men don’t disperse, you’ll be in the lockup before long,” he shouts.

“Yeah, and you’re going to be one dead nigger!” one hooded klansman shouts back. But some of the crowd begin to have doubts and want no part of the drama, as it unfolds. They begin to back away from the hooded fanatics and ?disperse almost as quickly as it formed. Soon, behind the crowd, police whistles sound from several different directions. The crowd’s dispersal accelerates. The white-robed klansmen turn and run as policemen, including Chip, appear next to Pete.

“You all right?” Chip asks.

“I’m fine,” Pete replies.

Chip glances at the white men, racing down Broadway. Even those wearing white robes run just as fast as the others, they are restricted by their white sheets flapping about their legs. Clint’s face is beet red, embarrassed over the unexpected outcome of this affair.

“WHITE MOB ATTACKS NEGRO OFFICER”

“... no longer is the urge to lynch a colored man somewhere off in some distant place,” a Los Angeles Times editorial states.

“... the spirit of the mob is found right here in Los Angeles,” the evening Herald observes.

?“The klan is re-emergent ... Their numbers are increasing all over the country,” the California Eagle declares

The incident sparks attacks on Negroes all over Los Angeles. Fights break out in the Central Avenue district. The police investigate several murders, resembling lynchings. Los Angeles is on the verge of a full-fledged race war. The mayor, city council and chief of police all agree, showings of The Birth of a Nation at the Garrick Theater must stop. Pete receives a commendation for not firing at the Garrick Theatre mob. In the meantime, evil men plot how to continue applying the Tulsa solution to Los Angeles’ Negro community.

To Be Continued ...

Copyright ó Eugene A Stovall III all rights reserved No parts of this book may be reproduced without expressed permission of the author