The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-26
FUTURE OF THE AFRICAN.
,ors NE Err IN CONTACT WITH
THE WHITE RACEf

4"
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m. subject Considered In Its Relation 70 the
,,,,,ed states, tho weat urdien, and Africa
Cbr,stianity, II n Concluded. Hs Net hest
suited 10 the African Character at Present.
san HARBoe, n. Y. Aug. 2b.-Does the black
,,ce prosper in contact with the white racei
This very interesting question was raised by
mr.. ]. Albert Thorne Of Barbadoes In presenting
nj, New African Project In THE SUN OF Aug.
a DR.. Thorno answers the question emphati-
colly in tho negative. He has had ample oppor-
~tpnities NJ studying the question In the United
states and tho West Indies and the disposition
NJ tho whito rnco In those countries rs we'll 40
Europo toward his race. He is a man OF flne In
tsllisence and OF mature years. It is natural
that tho backward condition Of his race every
where should lead him to ponder deeply upon
the why's and wherefores of It and to find n
remedy for 1t, II remedy there be. It 10 worth
,omething TO know that race prejudice is essen
TALLY the same In the United States, the West
Indies. md Europe, and this statement might
also he extended so as to include the European
residents Of Africa. and especially those Of the
British colonies. Indeed, tho Englishman in
Africa has built q deeper legal gulf between
himself and tho native blacks than have the
whites Of any OF our Southern States.
II may he reasonably assumed, therefore, that
the preluulCo VI Int "nlto ThC6 uRAlnBU tn6
black race is universal. and that It extends in
equal degree to the yellow races. DR.. Thorne's
conclusion that the white race every where does
a. that it can to curb the aspirations Of the
black race Is an admissible one. but It Is de-
cidedly inclusive as to ability of the black race
to prosper in contact with the white race, do
spite opposition, for. after all. opposition Is tho
greatest incentive force in social development,
provided that the resistance Is equal to or
greater than the opposition. II 1t can be shown
that the black race is incapable of exercising
the necessary resistance to the incessant oppo-
sition OF the white race. In order to perpetuate
the race type and to make apprccieble progress
In social development, rs it can easily be shown
In the case Of the red and yellow races, then the
fate of the American aborigines will ultimately
be TINT Of the black race in America, the West
Indies. and Africa. DIR. Thorne assumes tho
affirmative view OF tho question, but fails to
clinch his demonstration. and would attempt to
solve the difficulty by running away from tho
white race in the United States and tho West
Indies and finding an asylum in Central Africa.
Who controls the Zamhcsi country where Dr..
Thorne wants to plant his Afro-American and
Wrs. Indian colonistsi lie tells us that Great
Britain controls 1t; so. after all. he would only
have the people jump out Of the frying pan into
the fire. The West Indian negroes, who are
hardened to British colonial rule. may be willing
to do this. but no intelligent Afro-American. &C.
oua!nted with the odious. debasing and inhuman
laws for the government OF the natives enforced
In every colony controlled by Great Britain In
Africa, would think for a moment of doing SO.
This much may be assumed without argument.
There Is not a British colony in Africa where
the native blacks enjoy as much civil. social
and industrial advantage as they do in Missis-
sippi or Alabama, which may DO regarded as
the worst Of our States in the treatment Of
the Afro-American population. DR.. Thorne and
his colonists would no sooner have got them
selves established in the Zambesi country, and
have brought any sort OF order out OF chaos
than they would have a British Governor and
Council placed over them. just as they now
have 1t In Barbados and other British islands
of the West Indies. The Afro-American people.
at least, want nothing of the sort. They prefer
the sovereignty Of an American State to the de-
~pendence of a British colony. and. possessing tho
ballot and equal Industrial opportunities. they
will in time, by the development or character
and the accumulation OF wealth. overcome tho
where countenanced in the fundamental law of
any OF our states.
All things being considered. it is perfectly nat.
nral for DR.. Thorne to reach the conclusion that
the negro in contact with the white man in tho
uniled States and the West Indies is a failure.
and that his only hope Is to flee from this con-
tact and seek in a country OF his own to build
up a nationality Of his own. There are others,
as intelligent and as loyal to their race as he.
who have reached a like conclusion. But the
chances are that they have reached the conclu-
t sion az aft ,hs nasty IA rather tT than profound considera-
ecerning the subject as it relates to the United
States and the West Indies. it is patent that the
Justify the conclusion that the resisting power
OF the native blacks is not sufficient to with
whites. such as has overtaken the natives OF the
East indles ana Australia; nor will 1t be the
RRs sps Seto Of apfSS e m end n0 oS living, or per,
century, 10 be able to reach ' a eon.
slnslon based upon the facts, We are.
eisting power OF the black race is greater than
.1ha OF me red race. as Is shown in the virtual
Indians and tho Indians Of the Caribbean
Islands. while in all those countries. and in the
identical period of time; the African has steadily
i6rcsi His beginnings in those countries and
the disadvantages under which he labored were
True, the progress that he has made. compared
with that OF the white man, has been small in
is The q CRUCIAL ,nai me- no mas made any PROGRESS at all
with ages Of African savagery as n heritage,
while the white man started as n freeman with
The descendant OF Africa who has enioyed tho
anysntages OF q liberal education, and has trav-
eiied much in Europe and America, is naturally
disposed to forget that his race is an infant in
t tbhEil' acn,m, compared to The white race, and
NS'A'N VI itllI hHI
processes, not easily alienated when once ac-
CURED, when he observes everywhere tho as
cendancy of the white man in the politics and
.he wealth,controlling and producing agencies
OF the earth. But it is not safe nor wise to rush
AZ conclusions, especially when they have to do
"ith a hluititudinous race scattered over three
OF ne large geographical divisions OF the earth,
siha already staggering under adverse conclu-
SONS rashly drawn by antagonistic reasoners.
Inc African race is entitled, like every other
race, 70 a fair trial before a conclusion shall be
reached as to Its resisting force in contact with
sne heg@tion and e~ifacement policy of the white
aaGe. ms fair trial it has not had anywhere,
anu could not have 1t, because time and oppor-
tunlty were wanting.
ASH FAR as the West Indies are concerned, with
special, reference to the British colonies. the
pGssimnistic views OF DR.. Thorne may be accepted
without establishing any definite conclusion as
10 the main point, British colonial subjects
anywhere on the globe have shown no great
PROGRESS In the last half century-those OF South
mir perhaps, excepted; because OF the ad.
Ilh!strative genius OF Cecil Rhodes and the
discovery OF the diamond fields. The colonial
po,icy o. Great Britain was not shaped to de-
velop the genius and enrich the colonlsts, what
eyer their color; and tho decline OF sugar and
2ther values, which DIR. Thorne thinks has
numbered the DrOuregs Of tha hIack p,aaaaa NJ