Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-04-17
AN APPEAL FOR RACE LOYALTY.
Ex-Ninister smyth's Plain Talk at an Eman.
cipation Meeting.

Hz SAYS The MICRO WILL ALWAYS pc NEGRO
AND MUST ADVANCE ON HIS OWN LISEs-UN-
FAsHIoSABLE AMONG coLoRED PEOPLE TO
HAVE A BLACK FACE.
In the emancipation day Grafton delivered
at the meeting in the Vermont Avenue Baptist
Church last evening Mr.. John H. Smyth, ex-
United States minister to Liberia, departed con-
sIderably from the beaten track followed by
orators on such occasions ''You were negroes
before you became American citizens" he said
during the course Of his Grafton. ''ard you will
continue negroes First a race, then part Of a
nation, negroes Americans and now negro-Amer-
leans This is elevation for US. This is growth
for the whites, progress for all. Honor thy
father and thy mother that thy days may be
long upon the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee This injunctive and di-
rectory thought teaches the lesson Of the
preservation of the race, the continuity and
perpetuity Of the species. As the mother was.
so shall the daughter and wife be; as the father
was, so shall the son and husband be- As God
made man so must he, il the divine benedic-
ton shall come to him, remain. Education as
received by the negro IN this country seems to
impress him with the idea that he must be
other than God made him. The greatness Of
another race by which the negro is here en-
vironed seems TO teach the lesson daily that he
must advance, IL he advance at ALL on other
than his own race lines. This Is false in theory
and worse than false in practice. So belittling
u this lesson that not only Is the belief current
among many colored people of intelligence, but
even some black men and women, whose mental
vision Is otherwise clear, seem to be defective
on this point We see daily advertisements Of
various devices for Strengthening the hair
and bleaching the complexion. Considera-
6on Is being shown in the school room and in
the churches because of the color Of the skin
81 al. kzar LODI
pointing powers Of the government, whether
Intentionally not, We are unable TO say,
appear 10 have made compromise, q sort of
concession to this feeling, by appointing to
positions Of honor and trust from the ranks of
negro citizens almost entirely men who are the
least shocking, from q complexion standpoint,
to tbe fine sensibiities of the whites, sppar-
emily disregarding the fact that character and
mind should be the only standard OF the man.
The whole atmosphere of the educated,
mixed and black people is impregnatea with
the necessity of change in complexion and hair,
alteration Of the work Of a divine hand, because
forsooth il il not the mode, not the fashion.
WORSE THAN CRIMINAL
This folly this worse than criminal fashion,
seems to have originated among the somewhat
refined and educated or higher classes of col
ored people This il most pernicious. 1t must
be denounced from the pulpit and the rostrum,
in the salon, in the drawing room, on the street,
everywhere. i would not. on this occasion,
give this matter the importance OF an allusion,
but that it. like any other deadly eontagion,
may reach the masses Of the negroes and
further undermine the foundations of race in
tegrity and self-respect- Sap the foundations Of
manhood, of womanhood, and the superstruc-
ture falls into shapeless nothingness-
Slavery was not good school for the forma-
tion of character; true is this that the Ameri-
can nation suffered by comparison with the
free nations of Europe while under the bane-
full influence Of that unhallowed institution.
Thomas jefferson, philosopher, statesman and
slave master, fully comprehended this fact.
The white American deprecatingly alludes to
our immoralities and makes them an excuse
for the denial to us of equality before the law.
He points to the different compilations among
Us one Of the strongest evidences of our i'm
morality. But we ask in the interest of justice
and fair play: On which of the two races rests
the responsibility for these Emergencies Of
types among US? Is the poor black, ignorant
slave woman or the all-powerful white master
of the south TO be held accountable for this
piece Of iniquity? Surely the answer to this
question need not be given here, except to
quote one sentence from the editor of the New
York SIN, who has recently been making tour
Of the southern states He says: They have
improved immensely One great improve
ment is IN the publication Of the breed. They
are getting blacker, an evidence that freedom
produces purity.
LOYAL TO HIS HALF BROTHERS
And, again, the negro is not lacking in those
higher elements of human nature which create
in man sentiments Of love and respect for those
of his own blood He has been loyal and true
to his half brothers and sisters, while their
white fathers have not been willing to accord
them the ordinary rights and privileges of
human beings. For the men and women of
mixed blood among US as well as for the men
and women Of pure African blood, who have
fought their way up through many difficulties,
who have reached high standard Of excellence
In character and intellect, the negro shows an
equal amount Of love and devotion. He points
them out with pride men Of his own blood
who within themselves disprove the oft-re-
peated statements Of the white brother that
negroes are naturally an inferior race, and are
therefore incapable Of any very high form Of
mental or moral growth. But the white brother,
TO satisfy his own prejudices, says that it is
1.-The reinforcement Of the Anglo-Saxon blood
Of the mixed man that has stimulated his
powers to such an extent as to make
him an exception to the rule Of negro
inferiority; and in the next breath he
viii proclaim that the mulatto has
imbibed only the worst elements Of character
Of both races. So much for Anglo-Saxon in
consistency, for Anglo-Sa1on preiudices- But
notwithstanding these prejudices. have
abiding faith In the ultimate triumph Of the
negro cause in this country. At present his
mind Ia sick and enfeebled by the mass Of I'M
wholesome mental food with which 1t has been
crsmmed, like the overcrowded stomach Of an
infant that has been permitted to indulge too
freely in rich food
EFFECTS OF FALSE EDUCATION.
But when he is fully aroused from the dazed
condition in which he was left when the shackles
Of slavery suddenly fell from him, when he
RECEIVERS his balance, when he gets over the
confusion of mind in which he has been thrown
by the false education he has received, when he
begins to throw of some Of the accretions from
without that have been fastened on his mind
but happily for rs all, not on his nature, by
the false teaching of the last twenty-five years
when he begins to develop and grow from
within, in other words, when he is clothed in
his right mind, he will begin to give outward
expression to the thoughts that are within him
and he will begin to do his own work in his own
way. To this end must the colored and black
people alike unite their powers and work heart
ily and tirelessly for the elevation Of the negro
in us, the Acknowledgement Of the white man
from his prejudices against US. the enfran chise-
ment Of ourselves from mental and moral degra-
dation-
We must work INCREASINGLY for the fastening
Of the dawn of the fullest and most complete
emancipation and equality before the law civil
and political This Is the work of the race
which must be done by the race. We owe il to
ourselves. we owe il TO our friends among the
white race to justify their belief in our posi-
bilities
Il am aware" remarked Mr.. Smyth later on.
THAT there are some among the colored people
who will not subscribe 10 this doctrine. They
say the question of race mus. be kent in the