Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-08-28
THE BETTER WAY FOR THE
CCLORED MAN..

sO~S
we'll written communication in the "Vir-
einia Critic" of this city. on the propriety
of the colored people dividing their vote
between the two political parties. 1t was
written by colored man and published
in q paper edited by colOred men-two
facts that alone mark the advance of SEN
t,ment in the colored race; for fifteen
years ago no colored man would have
written it, and ii he had, no colored editor
would have published it. But the colored
man is not the only one who is outgroW-
ing his mistakes; the white man of
the South has had several Of his own cor
rected for him, correction that has
proved valuable, even though most OF 1t
was brought about by that drastic medl-
cine. war. The white man of the South
has given up several important delusions
he labored under with regard to the colored
race. He believed slavery was sanctioned
by the Bible-that to hold man in bond
ago was the right thing to do in the eyes
of God. With Pharoahic obstinacy he saw
bis State falling behind in the march Of
progress; he saw its population falling be-
hind, and had his eyes been open, he could
have seen that he was paying an enorm-
GUS tax for the privilege Of owning an
other man. At last, he saw the divine
institution washed out with blood. by the
angry God whom he had credited with
approving it. He held, later, that he could
not ~ node a-se %. oi.'-1u Is bJrlKlng
commentary on the march of progress,
that the best minds in the South are now
engaged in studying, not how to curtail
tho privileges of citizenship for the negro,
but how to ft the negro for enjoying and
exercising them. To those who give any
thoughtful observation to the evident
subsidence of the prickly points of anita
gonism between the two races, it Is very
plain that the advance guard of both sides
10 composed of the most intelligent of the
races they represent. After all, 1t is to the
Intelligent colored man that we must look !.
among his fellows, for comprehension
Of the absolute Importance, especially at
the South, of thorough good under
standing between the races.
Such an understanding cannot be best
promoted by the colored men binding
themselves together. The occasion for
that has long since passed; for it must now
be evident to the intelligent colored people
that under Democratic Administration
their rights under the law are guaranteed
as fully as under one in the hands Of the
Republican party. II then, there is moth
ing to be gained by it, it is great folly to
preserve solid front based on color. The
whites do not do it, nor should the blacks.
It Is absurd for the colored man to close
up his ranks against the wealth and in
telligence Of the country in which be
grow out of his apprehensions for his
rights, and ought to abandon a prejudice
that only works him an injury. 1t is get
ting to be about time that the Negro was
showing himself to be man of some in
dependence of thought and action. who
10 wise enough to use his political force
for his own practical advantage, and not
waste it in maintaining an idle sentiment
or prejudice, which is used for the benefit
OF others. We should as much object to
seeing all the blacks in the Democratic
party. az We do to their being In a body in
the opposite party, but we believe that
their dividing up between both would
create an entirely new state OF feeling TO
wards their race. on the part of the
whites-s change of which they would
very soon feel the beneficial effect. The
Negro who isolates himself from the
whites who possess the capital at the
South. merely on sentiment about the
Republican party. makes great mistake
Now that he knows that his rights are
saSe, be ought to spend little time en-
curing after his IN terest.