The national leader., 1889-04-27

acted upon the blood and body of the
murdered king of Denmark. In ante
bellum times it was the standing de-
fense of slavery. In our own times 1t
is employed in defense of oppression
and prescription. Until this foe is
conquered and driven from the breasts
of the American people, our relations
will be unhappy our progress slow.
our lives embiJtered, our freedom a
mockery, and
OUR CITIZENSHIP A DELUSION.
The work before US is to meet and
combat this prejudice by lives and ac-
quirements which contradict and put
to shame this narrow and malignant
feeling. We have errors of our own to
abandon, habits to reform, manners to
improve, ignorance to dispel. and
character to build up. This is some
thing which no power on earth can do
for US, and which no power on earth
can prevent our doing for ourselves.
In pointing out errors and mistakes
common among ourselves, l shall run
the risk OF mourning displeasure; for
no people with whom am acquainted
are less tolerant of criticism than our
selves, especially from one of our own
number. We have been so long in the
habit of tracing our failures and mis-
fortunes to the views and acts OF others
that we seem, in some measure, to have
lost the talent and disposition OF seeing
our own faults, or of ''seeirg ourselves
as others see u.s." And yet no man
can do better service to another man
than to correct his mistakes. point
out his hurtful errors, show him the
path of truth, duty, and safety.
One of the few errors to which we
are clinging most perslstently and, as
think, mischievOusly, has come into
great prominence of late. 1t is the
cultivation and stimulation amongst
us of a sentiment which we are pleased
to call race pride. I find 1t in all
our books, papers, and speeches. For
my part see no superiority or inferior
lty in race or color. Neither the one
nor the other is a proper source Of
pride or complacency. Our race and
color are not of our own choosing. We
have no volltlon in the case one way
or another. The only excuse for pride
In individuals or races is the fact of
their own achievements. Our color is
the gift of the Almighty. We should
neither be proud Of it nor ashamed of
it. But we may well enough be proud
or ashamed when we have ourselves
achieved success or have failed of sue
cess. If the sun has curled our hair
and tanned our skin let the sun be
proud of its achievement, for we have
done nothing for it one way or the
other. l see no benefit to be derived
from this everlasting exhortatlOn by
speakers and writers among US to the
cultivation of race pride. On the con-
trary, see in it positive evil 1t is
building on false foundation. Be-
sides, what is the thing we are fighting
against, and what are we fighting for
in this countryp What is the noun
tain devil, the lion III the way of our
progressp What is it, but American
race pride; an assumption of superior
ity upon the ground of race and color?
Do we not know that every argument
we make, and every pretension we
set up in favor of race pride is giving
the enemy a stick to break our own
heads2
But it may be said that we shall put
down race pride in the white people
by cultivating race pride among our
selves. The answer to this is that
devils are not cast out by BellZebub,
the prince of devils. The poorest and
meanest white man when he has moth
ing else to commend him says: II am a
white man, am" We can all see the
low extremity reached by that sort of
race pride, and yet we encourage 1t
when We pride ourselves upon the fact
Of our color. Let US do away with this
SuperciliOus nonsense. II we are
proud let 1t be because we have had
some agency in producing that of
which to be proud. Do not let us be
proud of what we can neither help nor
hinder. The Bible puts us in the con-
dition in this respect of the leopard,
and says that we can no more change
our skin than the leopard his spots. If
we are unfortunate in being placed
among people with whom our color
IS badge of inferiority, there is no
need of our making ourselves ridicu-
lous by forever, in words, affecting to
be proud Of circumstance due to no
virtue in us, and over which we have
no control.
You will, perhaps, think this criti-
cism uncalled for. My answer Is that
truth Is never uncalled for. Right
thinking is essential to right acting,
and 1 hope that we shall hereafter see
the wisdom of basing our pride and
complacency upon substantial
RESULTS ACCOMPLISHED BY THE
RACE.
The question here raised is not mere
ly theoretical, but IS of practical sig.
nlficance. In some Of our colored
public journals, with view to Grip
pling my influence with the colored
L hr,.r oh