The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-10-17
|iIL THE BLACK RACE ULTIMXTFI
EINTERBLEND WITH THE CAUCA 4
startling Question Propounded bv Bisho,
1 Gaines in His New Book Sen 4
sational Theory.

. ! 9siievo that the negro needs only the
upiitine power Of knowledge and re-
race. - suy
Inc increase OF negro emigration. which
so stoutly upheld BY Gaines brother
bishop, Henry NJ. Turner. is riddlea ~
TINS new racial doctrine. He saws tho
.neory Is utterly impracticablc. He flouts
~ as device by which the ignorant and
trusttu' OF his race have been fleeced ont
OF untold dollars. as the scheme az bvno
cri'es and demagogues. Ama.gamataon Is
we only future he sees for his race.
am not blind to the fact that anal.
sania'ioh Is no longer q theory but well
nign an accomplished fact; and IL the
lnterblending Of the races keep up in the
sans ratio 1t has gone, on In the mast II
VIII Da totally contaminated In the not
ustant future. The African negro Will
no longer appear as factor in American
civilization.
According to the statistics OF the United
States for 1890. there were about one
/ millon and quarter OF mulattos in the
south. These do not include the multi
luoes who have traces of white blood in
their veins. Indeed. except in remote sec
tons 1t is difficult to find negro of un-
mixed African blood in the entire Southern
country
Thus 1t appears that the dreaded ANAL
gamatton is already partially accomplished.
IL no longer belongs to the realm OF
tneory; 1t. has been transferred to the re-
gion OF fact. Silently and In defiance of
law, this interblendiug Of races has been
going on for years, until like leaven it
has well nigh leavened tho whole lump.
These may be unpleasant and unpalata-
BILE truths both to the better class of white
people and negroes. but they are truths.
nevertheless, and can not be overlooked
or set aside in any intelligent consideration
OF the negro question:
He presents as causes for this the ex-
posture to which colored girls are subjected.
Ignorance, moral and religious deprva-
ton and one Of the most important of ALL
the premium which the negro sets upon
white blood.
l say 1t to the shame Of my people,
writes the bishop, colored girls in the
South often prefer to be mothers of
white children. The white skin and
straight hair are possessions TO be ad-
mdred and instead of being ashamed of
the disgrace of which such marks are
the evidence, they are proud of them,
and boastfully flaunt them TO the world
and before the eyes Of their own race.
With such ideas 1t seems hopeless
case. The girls with straight hair and
light skin, too, are preferred for wives
by colored men to the women Of pure
African descent With such manifest
preference for amalgamation and with
such conditions to forward DIT on. is
he dreamer who predicts its final
cOnSplmmatiCp?
Under the head OF ignorance the bishop
argues That no ignorant race can preserve
even the semblance of virtue when they
come in contact with more refined and
Intelligent race. Intelligence and money"
he says. "unrestralned by moral principles,
will debauch any race less intelligent and
less affluent. There must be intelligence
If there be chastity. Who but the culti-
waited and refined can properly estimate
the value OF purity, ignorant and I'M
tutored, the average colored girl goes out
to the tempting and seductive Influence
OF an exposed life and thousands there are
TO bid for her ruin. And so she Is swept
off into the current OF vice TO land at last
on the rocks and reefs of huSbandless
motherhood
The bishop draws in strong colors the
dark side Of the picture of amalgamation.
Under the laws of the South IL = possible,
he says. only through adultery and forni-
cation. Going through the world with this
brand upon his brow. and his mother with a
scarlet letter upon her bosom. the bishop
concludes that the influences are enough
to mar the future of all such negro chill
dren. The subjective Influence of such
humiliation operate 10 destroy the fine
sense of virtue and chastity which are the
chief qualities of self-respecting people
Take the child born under such rela-
tions Going forth without recognized par
entage, he carries with him the conscious
ness OF tainted birth, which, If he be hui
man. must wound his pride and tester like
sore in his bosom. Amalgamation with
out legitimacy is a blight upon both mother
and child. an unnatural and divinely for
hidden crime against God and society. 1t
is standing threat to the virtue of the
race. a sword OF Damocles which hangs sus-
pended above the chastity OF every daugh-
ter OF the negro in the South The child
sees, for such things can not be hid. the H.
licit relations Of her mother with guilty
paItamour and at length becomes familiar
with sin.
Vice is monster Of such hidecus mein,
That to be hated needs but to be seen;
BuI seen 100 ull, NiNh iN' A"NNf
We first endure, then pity. then embrace
Thus we see that the demoralizing in
fluence OF unlawful amalgamation perme-
ates through the strata of colored society
and saps the virtues Of the race. like poison
from the bite of a serpent, which slowly
infuses itself through every part of the
system until 1t reaches and stills the heart
itself.
The bishop views with sorrow this state
OF affairs. ''In the hotels on the rail-
way cars, as servant girls in the homes OF
the rich. the light skin is the winning
card. It has even come to pass that many
believe the pure negro is incapable of any
high degree OF civilization.
"If Providence means by this process to
solve the negro question. 1t would be flu
tile task TO oppose it. But l can not lend
,nvsaf ~ the belief that God gives sane