Omaha daily bee., 1895-09-08
TIE NEGRn AsAnAP.A

| For more than forty centuries the
negro has been the victim OF oppres-
sion and prescription. Whether In
the jungles and deserts OF Africa,
In the tropics OF South America
| or In the more equable climate
Of the United Smtes he has been
chattel to be. bought and sold, a
hewer Of wood and drawer of water,
vassal and slave. Every right
which humanity claims for its mem
bers has been denied TO him and the
atrocities perpetrated upon him were
defended on the ground that he was
from birth foreordained to be serf
and bondman forever.
Even in our own country, in this en-
lightened age and within the lifetime
of the present generation, the negro was
told from the pulpit that his subjec-
ton to the greed and lust of his white
taslimaster was in accord with the
scriptural injuncton: "Cursed be
Canaan, servant of servants shall
he DC unto his brethren. Blessed be
the Lord, God of Shem, and Canaan
large Japheth and shall dwell in the
tcuts of Shcm and Canaan shall be
his servant"
Only within the last thirty years has
this curse been raised. The four mil
lion Of negro slaves emancipated by the
proclamation Of Abraham Lincoln and
the thirteenth amendment to the fed
oral constitution have been en-
franchised and endowed with equal
civil and political rights with their
former masters and every other citi-
zen of the great republic. The negro is
now upon trial before the civilized
world. VIII he prove himself worthy
of the liberty which has been at last
accorded him? Does he appreciate the
priceless boon that has been conferred
upon him? And does he remember
that he was q servant of servants in
almost every land under the sun? Is
it meet and proper that he of all others
should heap opprobrium upon any class
of his fellow citizens on account of
race, creed or nationality? VIII the en-
franchiscd negro reatfirm the old say
ing that the negro slave driver was
more cruel than the white man who
owned him?
This is the question that presents
itself squarely to every colored man
who is asked to join an order or organi
zation that has for its object the pro-
scrption of any class of citizens be-
cause of their religious creed. When
the A. l.. A. order was first inaugu-
rated it insulted the negro by excluding
him from membership because of his
race. But now that the dark-lantern
order wants the negro as newer of
political wood and a drawer of polit-
cal water he has been graciously ac-
corded the right to become full
blown A. l.. a. and associate with ex-
confeds, copperheads and niger
hnters.
To the eternal disgrace of the negro
quite a number of his people in Omaha
have actually enrolled themselves in
the ranks of prescription and persecu-
ton with the sole aim of getting
promised dip into the political flesh
pots. How can any A. p. A. negro face
the man of his own race who has en-
braced the Roman Catholic creed?
The Roman Catholic negro would not
only carry the curse that rests upon
the descendants of Ham and Canaan
but he would be doubly cursed be-
cause he is both black and Il Roman
Catholic. Is the negro prepared to in
stitute a second slavery for his own
flesh and blood? Is he willing to swing
the lash of prescription over another
negro because he looks to the Roman
church for his spiritual salvation?
Surely no intelligent negro who gives
this subject any thought can for mo-
ment remain member of any A. p.
A. lodge without consciousness that he
is inviting reprisals against his own
people. If the negro is not cheerfuIly
disposed to perpetuate the freedom of
conscience and the political equality of
all men, how long will it be before
white men will band themselves to-
gether to exclude him from the polt-
ical privileges which came to him only
after centuries of slavery and untold |
sacrifice on the part of liberty loving
men of all creeds and nationalities,
American and foreign-born, Protest
ants and Catholics.