easy $5 bills at the expense of the merchants in this community.”
HAMID CHARGES RACKET
He expressed the belief that the association was formed for the purpose of “exploiting storekeepers instead of helping them.”
“Assuming for the moment,” he continued, “that I am conducting a racket, do you think that an organization has to collect $5 from each member to drive one man out of Harlem?”
Turning to more general topics, Hamid asked this reporter why Jewish newspapers are conducting a campaign against him. “I’m only human,” he said, “and if you force me to, I’ll start a real anti-Jewish campaign such as you’ve never seen before.”
Hamid vigorously denied the news story in a Jewish paper which quoted him as saying that he is going to send storm troopers out to Harlem. “Say,” he asked, “do you think I’m a psychopath on my way to Bellevue?”
He announced that the African Reconstruction Association has decided to amalgamate with the N. I. C. A. and accept his leadership. He said that the association has more than 5,000 members in the United States.
The Harlem Fuehrer reiterated his declaration that the fight against Jewish merchants in Harlem is economic rather than racial.
“Can I help it if the Jews control all the business in Harlem?” he asked, “I would fight for employment of Negroes if the business men were Greeks or Italians.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
