The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-11-24
AN EXCELLENT LETTER
From Prominent Austin Colorea Man
Splendid Thoughts for His Race

Fn
10 the Editor of the Statesman.
In your issue of Friday morning
NOV. IL, the editorial on the "Negro
IN Politics" is timely.
The sooner we negroes of the South
cease to depend on the uncertain is
sues OF national politics and conclude
mat our success and prosperity de-
peno on our individual character and
on the relations we sustain to the
whlte people among whom we live
ana upon whom we are depending in
great measure, if not entirely, for
subsistence and for whatever of rights
and privileges we may enjoy the bet.
ter 1t will be for us. do not mean bv
this that colored people should ever
cease TO remember with profound
gratitude that the Republican party
tnrougn Lincoln, as war measure,
accomplished our emancipation and
gave US personal freedom. But we
must also remember that it is the
ACQUIEsCENCE OF THE SOUTHERN
PEOPLE.
IN that measure, their for bearance and
assistance, which have rendered our
freedom effective and valuable.
Without education, without law and
order, without incentives and encour-
agement to higher and better living,
freedom for the negro would have
been q name without substance,
ALI that has rendered our emancipa-
ton of any value to us has come from
the Southern white people, and we
owe them a strong debt of gratitude.
They have encouraged us to buy
land, to build up homes, to educate
our children, to be peacable, law
abiding, industrious citizens. They
have been, they are still our real
friends. Is it wise for US, then, to con-
tinue in an attitude OF constant antag-
onism toward those to whom we must
look for employment, for protection,
for education, for assistance in the
struggle of life?
If we negroes are ever to receive
any fuller measure of the rights and
privileges of American citizenship
here in the Southern states, where the
bulk of us are, it will be the result of
the action of
THE SOUTHERN PEOPLE THEMSELVES.
We need not look to congress and ex-
pect any interference from that source.
If we wish Southern whites to change
their sentiments toward us, we must
change our actions, we must improve
our personal character, we must ele-
vate our notions of manhood and citi-
zenship.
White people charge that as race
we are unreliable, dishonest, I'M
truthful, immoral and brutal; that if
we hire to them they do not know at
what moment we may take notion
and quit them without warning; that
if we make a promise we are more apt
to break it than to keep it; that we
have no correct notions of morality;
that the animal in us overshadows the
mental; that we are incapable of self
control and hence unfit to presume to
control others; that our leaders and
our voters are purchasable; that we
down but the most arrogant and I'M
reasonable when possessed even OF
temporary advantage; that we have
no regard for law as law but are i'm
pressed by physical force.
Now it is wisdom in the negroes to
consider whether or not there is any
truth in these charges. 1t is useless
to attempt to answer these charges by
DENYING them in toto, or by saying
that other races are bad too. We are
ANsWERABLE FOR OURSELVES ONLY.
The fact that some white people are
degraded is no help to us. There IS
tr tth in these charges. We are IN
American society but for many reas-
ons we are not oft. We have put on
the paraphenalia, the regalia of civili-
cation. but internally we are not civil
lized. We ape the language, dress,
manners and external things OF clvlll-
cation as far as we are
able, but we have failed
so far properly to comprehend and APP.
propriate the principles of conduct, OF
social and personal action, when
make civilized society possible. me
eternal virtues of industry, economy,
sobriety, fidelity, truthfulness, hon
esty, morality, self-control, self-re-
spect, respect for the rights OF others,
regard for the purity of woman, per.
sonal courage-these are pillars OF
civilization. The negro must lay a
solid and correct foundation in the
correct education of his children. he
must instill right principles into the
minds of the youths of his race in the
home, at the school, in the Workshop
and on the farm. The saddest need OF
the negro today ia homes. Homes
where Virtue, order, purity, industry
and personal honor are taught anu
exemplified, have made the white
race what it lie today. :.
Or On the other hand, if it is base IN
Abe negro to sell his vote, it is wicked
in q white man to buy it. The strong
shonId not tempt the weak. If the
Te is degraded and vicious, what
shall be said of the white man tnat
encourage them in vice or participates
with them, thus dragging the negro
to lower depths of infamy? d
Punish every negro crlmlna! anu
law breaker, but protect from mus
tice and oppression every oisck man nan