The Afro-American. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1892-1899, 1895-10-19
AFI2IC OR AMERICA,
WHICH?
Judge Na4aRer Discusses BishO D
Turner's ssScuIIiOn'' Idea.


Detroit, Mich the Sunda ]
issue Ut the Free Of Sept. l,
appeared an iatervie with Bishop
Fl. M. Turner of tie African NJ
E. Church, whose Episcopal dio-
cese atlpresent includes The Re
publiesof Liberia, Ill Africa. Bis
hop Turner liz well-knoWn as one
of the strongest men in energy and
brain work i'll his church. He new
er tires, Is fearless in his convict
ions and courageous in his views.
1t is nothing new
to hear on read that Bishop Turn
Ell recommends as a solution of the
socalled negro problem in America
d wholesale return of Afro-Ameri-
cans to Africa, meaning of course
Liberia; for il lis not to be conceiv-
ed that he wishes Us to 81 into the
wilds among the heat ems.
lit Is pretended that if the entire
Afro American race should emf
CRATE to Liberia that they could Of
themselves develop, the lawyers we
now have il America, owing to the
advantages Of law schools, the equal
to the inns Of Middle Temple; or
doctors, as we now have, who OBJ
tain their education III medical col
leges, with the advantages Of elm
les, lectures from men eminent in
their station, and equal Of those in
England, Scotland VI France, de-
irving their efficiency from the ex-
ce lent schools Of learning, such as
Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton, Ann
Arbor OF Harvard; or theologians
getting their instructions from said
institutions of learning. Has, Lii
beiia these? Gan we establish such
if we 60 there! Is there capital
enough in Liberia to promote m
dustry in the trades aud manufact-
ures. or have we got to carry it
there! Wherein, then, does the
benefit to Liberia arise! Can the
child teach the child to walk, or
theblind man the blind man to see3
No; we do not want to go to Liber-
ia, until we can help her. We
must get rid of Sentimental ism, on
if viii prove seignis fatuus" to
many of Us. Get rid Of the idea
that w have completed our educa-
ton, as citizens and ares wholly
fitted for government
The Bishops suggestion Is III
donbtably sincere. even though
many of his critics say that ex-
ample II better than precept, and
they await tile Bishops pilgrimage
To Africa, as. the pioneer carrying
his views into practice. 1t is from
different standpoint that [ differ
from I'll exalted ecclesiastic know
ing him as | have for years, and
holding him in the highest esteem
amopg men.
Granting as we must, all the
evils pointed out by Bishop Turn
en- from which Afro-Americans suf
fer, in the country of their birth or
adoption; granting the hardships
we suffer, in securing an adequate
remedy for these evils,the he1ibil-
ity of the law, which protects one
class of citizens and impotent to
etect another; that can summon
aHRand navy, if need be to
slssh the Igpity of the nation
as intruded upon il he person Of a
negro abroad, whose liberty is de-
priyed him, and yet IS tmpotent to
secure that same man p.otec ion to
life at home: and yet til, question
presents itself, are We, u \ race.
retrograding Or progressing? Are
we worse OFT than when We were
first landed at jamestown, ~ chat
tells and became slaves AZ are we
betters Nay, more; are we worse
off than we were a quarter Of 4
century ago! Let the bishop an
sWer. LII we are better off today
than we were a quarter of cen
fury ago, is it not reasonable to ex-
pect that we will be lnneh better
off a century to Gomez 1t is not.
common sense to 60 from bad 6o
worse; but it is better to suffer tile
ills NE have than to fly to those So
knox not of. II
Improvement Of conditions SIS
not exist either in securing power
ih government, or enjoyin
fig s, without denial. let hin
dai Ace. Civil enjoyment the