Claims Negro Riot
Was Motivated Only
By Economic Cause

Mr. Miller, Speaker at Negro
    Study Forum, Says Riot
        Was Not Race Clash

           "The Harlem riot was not a race riot. There was never any attempt by colored people to attack whites, but merely an objection to economic conditions." said Mr. Alexander F. Miller, secretary of the Y.M.C.A. and President of the Brooklyn Branch of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People, at the Negro Study Forum Wednesday.

           "Many conditions that exist wouldn't have existed if the Negro people had been more observant. In the pre-depression years negroes enjoyed social life in Harlem instead of thinking of their economic advancement," he explained.

            Mr. Miller also said that several competing groups in Harlem, because of selfishness and demagoguery, have, instead of lifting the burden of the negroes, made it heavier. Most of their meetings are conducted in "true Huey Long style," he said.

           "We have no organized action by intelligent negroes to combat discrimination," Mr. Miller continued.

             Mr. Miller was followed by Mr. Robert Campbell, representative of the League of Struggle for Negro Rights, who stated, "The Negro in the United States constitutes a national minority bearing the greater brunt of the depression, singled out as no other group and receiving one-third less relief than other groups. The Negro people have never been given an opportunity to better their conditions."

            Mr. Campbell then spoke of the work done by his organization to further the conditions of the negro, saying it was "a progressive united action which would help further their cause. The Negro alone cannot better his conditions."

            Resolutions were passed at the meeting to send delegates to the Anti-Nazi Olympic Committee and to the meeting held at Arcadia. Hall concerning race riots. They also voted to support the student strike to bi held on April 12.

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May 20, 2004