The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-18
EMIGRATION TO AFRICA.
What a CoIored. Preacher Has to say
TO COIored People About IL.

and read his views touching the emigra
ton OF the negroes 10 Africa. I have
known him for several years. having lived
for three years in the same city with
him. DR.. Smith is one Of the most intelli-
gent and unseIhsh members Of the negro
race in this country. a man Of wide OBJ
servation; an orator Of no mean ability;
patriotic and devoted to the best inter-
est Of his race. have been aware Of the
fact for some time that DR.. Smith had
visited Africa. particularly that part there
Of in which the colored man Is most con-
cerned, and after observing the conditions
OF that country 10 find DR.. Smith here in
Savannah interesting himself in the pros
pective emigrants occasions me no sur
prise.
The whole emigration question has
pathetic interest attached TO it, That
these men who sold their all with a view
70 bettering their condition in Africa acted
without motives cannot for a moment be
entertained. But the arguments advanced
TO secure their expatriation are very
faulty We are told by some emigration
lists OF the Bishop Turner tribe that the
colored people are afflicted, are lynched,
are denied many privileges and preroga-
uves and seeing no immediate prospect
for the alienation of these ills. they adj
wise them TO 90 to Africa land flow
ing with milk and honey" As matter
or fact It is land Astounding in fevers
and blacklist ignorance and heathenism.
Now, no colored man Of character and
intelligence whose opinion IS worth hav-
ing Will hold that the present status of
his people is satisfactory 10 himself or
to his people But TO advocate their en-
igration for this reason is to teach them
to depreciate the exalted privileges they
do enjoy and to expect the highest priv
ileges to como TO them without effort. To
advise aman TO escape the Ills he has and
escape to Others he knows not of while
ignoring his present blessings is both un-
reasonable and detrimental. We have
not an over-oroWded country here. There
is room for the negroes in America. Is not
this of some consideration DO not our free
public school system in America, our
religious liberty. ease of locomotion. our
American civilization, our republican form
OF government, the theOre teal liberty
granted to all by the constitution, and the
example of the .freest people on the face
of the earth,4-do not these mean some
thing to us? The colored people must
learn that that precious boon called lib
erty does not come 10 any people without
effort and some sacrifice. The liberty
the white people in this country enjoy
came to them from the altar Of effort
and self-sacrifice. Blood, suffering,
death and money We're the offerings
paid. The colored mans freedom in this
country was achieved at an awful cost.
His liberty is partial Its perfection must
be achieved not by politicians. but by
himself BY education in tcgrtty, perse-
verance, industry, virtue. providence, the
accumulation Of property, and an exalted
conception Of citizenship. Let him de-
serve we'll and he will be so treated even
tually. He must conquer the white mans
prejudice not by coWardly fleeing from it,
but by deserving well al the white
mans hand and by convincing the white
man that the negro is a useful member
of the community and serviceable to the
state. The negros redemption must not
come by way OF Africa, but BY his own
inherent exertions. Another inherent de-
feet i'm this emigration movement that
amazes, If not disgusts. me is the fact
that men like Bishop Turner, who draw
fine salaries and live in fine houses, far
ing sumptuousy every dsy," refuse to
get their deluded Brethren the example
OF packing up their all and going to At
RIGA themselves, although they seem to
believe that a negro cannot die happily
and be partaker of the resurrection of
the just unless his bones are covered with
African soil as the legitimate sequel of
African wars and African fevers. Let
Bishop Turner & Co. pack up and go,
otherwise We must conclude that they
are not sincere in advising their less
prosperous brethren to do what they them
selves are unwilling to do.
Another mischievoIs argument that
has worked untold injury to the colored
people is to the effect that Africa is the
colored mans country and not America.
This is a very influential argument with
cheap emigration agents and their sym
pathizers and it is unanswerable with the
ignorant, who delight to think that dis
lance lends enchantment to the view"
and unknown lands only enjoy a millen-
ium. Demagogues and ofTice-seekers are.
in a great measure, responsible
for this fact. The cry of "nigger" and
this being "a white mans country was a
most effective warhoop for years. 1t has
had its effect upon thoughtless colored
people. 1t has raised up the cheap emf
grant agent, who profess intimate ae-
quaintance with the Deity and can
fathom deeper than ordinary mortals into
the cOunsels of Providence touching the
negro's destiny With unabashed conf
dence they declare it is the will of Prov
idence for all of the negroes to go to
Africa, without in the least attempting
to account for that strange providence
that brought them here, kept them here
freed them here and increased their num-
bers here to Such enormous proportions
practicable. 1t will take great deal of
argument to convince H-thoughtful man
that a country in which he was born and
reared and whose fundamental law makes
him a citizen is not his own country. 1
asked a returned colored missionary
from Africa a, few months ago how the
native Africans or heather regard their
civilized brother from this country, and
whether race sentiment influenced them
to any extent, and was told that the hea-
then Africans regard the civilized negro
simply as a foreigner and race senti-
ment seems to. be foreign to them. This
gives assurance that the colored man in
America who believes that Africa is his
home had better consider that the ma
tive African may question his title to
African soil in just the same way that
the white man had to reckon little with
the Indians about the proper title to
this country. and that reckoning is not
vet completed. After all country really
belongs to the fellow who can best DEM
onstrate his right to 1t. 1t viii be an in
estimable blessing to the colored people
when they come to the conclusion that
having been born here, they will stay here
and make the best of it. Let laws be
passed that will hold to strict accounta-
bllity the emigration swindler who is in
the business not from any humanitarian
but simply for the money
that is In It at the expense of the in