As he sat in the subway train, Paul had enough time to read the morning edition of the Planet on his way to work. He saw the headlines of other papers being read by other passengers. Most front page articles were about the war in Europe. The New York Times. The Gotham Sentinel. The Boston Globe. The Daily Star. It didn't matter. Paul had a sneaking hunch that the U.S, couldn't avoid the war.
He caught up with Jimmy at the time clock. He was a decent guy who had been working for the Planet part time since he had been fourteen. Jimmy had graduated high school at sixteen the previous May. That put him a year younger than Paul. With no money for college, Jimmy had been working with the goal of becoming a photographer. Paul didn't know what he wanted to do with his life, but it was obvious to him that Jimmy would be a journalist for the rest of his life.
The morning was hectic. Putting out a major paper like the Planet twice a day took a lot of people. It was intense. It was exciting. It was hard work. It involved listening to people using language that his mother would be very unhappy with him using. It was loud. Paul loved it. Most of the staff didn't ask his name. They were too busy to care. Copy boy run this to the proofreaders, to the printers, to the editors. Bring me a certain story from a reporter. Lawley even sent him for some coffee,The first problem that he had occurred at lunch time. After buying their food at the Planet's cafeteria, Paul and Jimmy sat at a table next to the Colored seating section. Midway through their meal two men approached Bell
"What do you think that you are doing? This is a White section," one of them said accusingly.
"I'm not Colored. Why would I sit in the Colored section," Paul said reasonably.
"Well you're no White man either," Sullivan growled. A couple of Negroes were snickering at Bell's back.
"What seems to be the problem?" a thunderous voice asked.
"This kid is sitting in a White section," one of them said.
"Murphy, you and Sullivan are always making too much noise about this stuff. I know that you Irish Catholics have been near the bottom rung of society for the last century, but are you two so insecure that you have to pick on anyone who has darker skin than you to feel better about yourselves?" Perry White asked.
"The law is the law," Sullivan said.
"Fine," White said disgustedly. Turning to Bell, he asked. "Kid, I didn't get your name, yesterday."
"Paul Bell, sir," he answered.
"I hate to ask, but what is your race?" White asked.
"I'm Asian American, sir," he answered
"Fine. from now on the half of the table that you're sitting on is designated seating for Asian Americans. The other side is still for Whites. Happy?" White asked sarcastically.
The two men muttered under their breath as they left.
"Olsen, Lawley told me that Bell is shadowing you today. Bring him by my office sometime this afternoon, when you have time. I want to speak with him," White said.
"Sure, Mr. White," Jimmy answered. White nodded his head and went to place his order.
"Wow, I hope that you are not in trouble," Jimmy said.
"I doubt it. He wouldn't have stood up for me if I were in trouble," Paul answered.
An hour later, an opportunity came for them to go to White's office. A filing cabinet needed to be taken to an office on the same floor. White must have told Lawley that he wanted to see Bell, because he told them to see White while they were up there.
When they arrived at the office, White was speaking with a woman that Bell hadn't met, yet. Kent was waiting in the wings. "Lois, it's a good idea, but you're going to need some help and here comes the person that I am hoping that can help you. Lois, meet Paul Bell, our new copy boy. Bell this is Lois Lane."
"Miss Lane? I've read your work. You're very good," Paul said as he and Jimmy entered the room. She smiled and nodded towards him
"Bell here, used to work for The Chinatown Gazette," White said.
"Oh really? Maybe you can help. How well do you know Chinatown?" she asked.
"I was born and raised there. I worked at the paper part-time from the time that I was fifteen until I graduated high school last May. I was full-time after that until the place burned down last week," he answered.
He could feel that his professional credibility had gone up a couple of notches with the adults. "What kind of story do you want to write and how can I help you?" he asked.
"I want to do a war related story about the real Chinatown. What real people feel and I don't mean just a 'Japs are bad' story. How do they really feel about the war, the United States, life?" she said.
Bell looked a little uncomfortable, " I can arrange to introduce you to some refugees."
Lois pressed, "But, there is a but here. I can hear it in your voice."
"But the real human interest story about Metropolis' Chinatown is that the population has increased by a factor of thirty since the Depression and most of the people are American born and raised and most of their parents are, too," Paul said quickly.
"What?" White said surprised. Kent and Lane both had surprised expressions on their faces as well.
"It is all tied in to William Pang," Bell said.
"The Negro Millionaire," "The Negro Edison," "The Negro Inventor," "The Negro Scientist," the other four said simultaneously.
"That's him. A lot of people don't realize is that he is half Chinese, too." Bell explained. "Mr. Pang was born in the Mississippi Delta in 1891. His mom 's father was a Presbyterian minister. His father was a Chinese laborer who wound up owning a restaurant."
Seeing that everyone was paying attention, Bell continued. "It all started after the Civil War. Some of the Southern Whites in northern Mississippi thought that it would be a good idea to have a Plan B in case the freed slaves refused to work for them, so what they did was to bring in a bunch of Chinese families to sharecrop. Well, it didn't take the Chinese long to figure out that was not a moneymaker. The Chinese were smart. They learned how to use segregation laws to their advantage. They started up businesses that catered exclusively to Negroes. I'm told that the there has never been any lynching type persecution of Chinese is the Deep South, by Whites or Negroes."
"I'm surprised the Chinese didn't have problems from the Negro business owners," White said.
"The story, as I understand it, is that the Negro businessmen there have a serious handicap. They are under a lot of pressure to help relatives who won't pay their debts. Since the Chinese are neither White nor Negro, they are far freer to offer credit to honest Negroes and to deny it to dishonist ones. Since Whites are socially prevented from taking most of the Negro business, most of the Negro market belongs to the Chinese Americans."
"How do you know that is accurate? I have never heard anything like that story" Lois asked.
"A couple of years ago, the Gazette ran a history article on the Mississippi Chinese. All the Chinese Americans from the South liked it." Paul answered.
"When we had lunch yesterday, you said that no one ever guessed your race, accurately. what is your ancestry?" Kent asked.
"I am an Anglo-Burman or Anglo-Burmese American. I'll be surprised if any of you have heard of us," Paul said. Everyone shook their head. "I'm not surprised. Long story short is that there was a British trade community partly made up of my people in Hawaii when the United States annexed it. My people are a hybrid race. Part of my racial background is Asian and part of it comes from Europe. Most of us have British names, though some do have names from other European countries. We mostly speak English in our homes and most of us are Christians of one denomination or another. Anyway there were about a couple hundred or so of my people in Hawaii at the time. Since we spoke English and were involved in trade with the British Empire, Uncle Same let them stay. We are talking about my grandparents. My dad was born in the Islands the year after Uncle Sam got it, my mom three years later. They grew up there."
"Anyway, Mr. Pang grew up in a large family. His grandfather taught him to read when he was four. He is grandfather had been self educated and taught young William everything he could. He was a gifted student. His father taught him business. His grandfather got him a scholarship at a Negro university where he studied business and science. He started to invent things when he was a kid. Story that I'm told is that some companies stole a couple of his inventions when he was a kid, and he couldn't hire the lawyers to fight for the copyright."
"After he finished school, he started American PIE Games." Paul said.
"We know that he started that company, sold those board games and parlayed it into a fortune," Mr White said. "How does that tie into Chinatown?"
"Once he had the money from the royalties, he started to invent scientific things. Everyone know that he makes the best vacuum tubes, for example. I know that he has a government contract for that among other things. Now he can afford the best lawyers to protect his assets. Before the stock market fell in '29, Mr. Pang saw it coming and got most of his money out of the stock market and out of the banks. In 1930, he had millions in cash. Think about that," he said.
Everyone was quiet for a few seconds. Bell continued. "Remember his grandfather? Well those lessons about generosity paid off. Mr. Pang didn't do much in handouts, but he was into helping make it easier for people to make it. He bough a lot of dock property in Hobbs Bay for pennies on the dollar as well as Chinatown and Kensington, too," he said referring to a Negro section of Metropolis near Chinatown.
"He started his own works projects. He hired a lot of people to demolish old buildings and tenements. He did force some people to move, but he tried to help them find comparable priced housing. I heard that he hired some of them to work for him. In Chinatown and Kensington he had thousands of houses built. Sold them to his employees at cost plus ten percent. He hired a lot of Mississippi Chinese to come work for him in Metropolis in the factories that he built. A lot of others came from Mississippi looking for work, both Negro as well as Chinese. He built houses for his employees in Kensington, too. He also helped build churches and playgrounds and good schools and he has helped local people, not just Chinese or Negro either with small business advice and occasionally loans. He exemplifies Christian generosity. that's is why everyone respects him so. You think that would be of interest?" Bell asked.
"Absolutely, it would make a good feel-good story as well. Something that people in these times need to hear," Lois Lane said. "What do you think Mr. White?"
"Can you arrange some interviews with community leaders?" White asked.
"When are you wanting to do this?" Paul asked Lois.
"Tomorrow if possible," she replied.
"May I?" he said indicating the telephone. He dialed a number that he knew by heart. "Mrs. Peete, the is Paul Bell. Is Mr. Deng in? Mr. Deng. Paul Bell. Say, I got a job yesterday at The Daily Planet. Yeah it's starting out okay. Say do you have some time tomorrow? One of the reporters wants to do a story about Chinatown. It would please the new bosses. Okay, hold on a second and I'll check," Bell looked at Lois. "Is 9:30 good for you at his office?
"Good for me," she said without hesitation.
"That's good for her. Okay, bye," Bell hung up. "You have an appointment."
"Who am I meeting?" she asked.
"My pastor, Mr. Deng. That's D-E-N-G. He knows a lot more of the kind of people that you will probably want to meet and he likes me." Bell answered.
"Perry, can I borrow him for tomorrow?" Lois asked.
"When you punch in, tomorrow, Bell, you will be her assistant for the day. I'll tell Lawley." White said.
"Yes sir," Bell replied.
"Oh Bell? Thanks for saving my wife's life."
Historical Notes: The Chinese in Mississippi do exist. That part of the story is true. The Anglo-Burmese exist. Whether there were any in Hawaii as I described, I don't know but it is a plausible way that someone like PB's family could enter the United States during that era's anti-Asian laws. In that era, Anglo Burmese and the other hybrid ethnic groups of South Central Asia were very influential in the workings of government and industry in the European colonies of Asia.
There was no mass migration of Mississippi Chinese to an East Coast city that I am aware of.
The first gas mask used by fire departments was invented by an African American prior to World War One. Some cities would rather have their firemen do without rather than purchase them from a Black man.