Some said the rioters were disgruntled veterans who had fought in the all colored units were refused the services of the YMCA over there and over here. They came home to white violence more intense then when they enlisted and unlike the battles fought in Europe, state side fighting was pitiless and totally without honor. Others said their were whites terrified by the wave of southern Negros flooding in towns, searching for work and places to live. A few thought about it and said how perfect was the control of the workers, none of whom (like crabs in a barrel requiring no lid, no stick, not even a monitoring observation) would get out of the barrel.
Alice however, believed she knew the truth better than everybody. Her brother in law was not a veteran and he had been living in East Saint Louis since before the war. Nor did he need a white mans job, he owned a pool hall. As a matter of fact he wasnt even in the riot; he had no weapons, confronted nobody on the street. He was pulled off a street car and stomped to death and Alices sister had just got the news and had gone back home to try and forget the colour of its entrails, when her house was torched and she burned crispy in its flame. Her only child, a little girl named Dorcas, across the road with her very best girl friend, did not hear the fire engine clanging and roaring down the street because when it was called it didnt come. But she must have seen the flames, must have because the whole street was screaming. She never said anything about it, she went to two funerals in five days and she never said a word.
Alice however, believed she knew the truth better than everybody. Her brother in law was not a veteran and he had been living in East Saint Louis since before the war. Nor did he need a white mans job, he owned a pool hall. As a matter of fact he wasnt even in the riot; he had no weapons, confronted nobody on the street. He was pulled off a street car and stomped to death and Alices sister had just got the news and had gone back home to try and forget the colour of its entrails, when her house was torched and she burned crispy in its flame. Her only child, a little girl named Dorcas, across the road with her very best girl friend, did not hear the fire engine clanging and roaring down the street because when it was called it didnt come. But she must have seen the flames, must have because the whole street was screaming. She never said anything about it, she went to two funerals in five days and she never said a word.