The Washington bee., 1897-01-30
AFR0-AMERlCAN APOLLO
GlSTS,

In his attempt to define an apol
Ogist. the editor OF the New York
Aye gives tile following definition :
IAN apologist is a person who ex-
aYgerateS the existence Of given
condition and seeks to justify it or ex-
plain il away, because of aniecedeni
or contemporanrouS causes, for his
personal advantage or the advantage
Of those in whose interest he uses the
exaggeration. +
The ditOr Of The Ago does not
only brand Prof. Booker L. Wash
ing'On All apologist, but .us'ains
The BEE IN every par icuIar and
ad ATS to the world than he, Dir.
Fortune. has been an aplogist fur
eleven years. If the editor Of the
New York age has not been exag-
ger.ting the etistenre nf q given
condition since his advent in pub
lie life, who has? Did he not de.
clare i'm 1883 that the democratic
p rty was the salvation Of Afro
Americans Did he EOt leave t, e
ely anH state Of New York and
20 to Ohio and edit a democratic
pa er and denounced Us for
our dcfeuse of Hon, r .bert
7. lincoln and the republi ean
parry? lid he not txagg, rate
the political condition of af
fairs at that lime, notwithstanding
the fIct that colored men were
being Iynched in the South through
the instrumentality Of the dem -
cratic party: Having been disap-
pointed in his political ambition,
did he hot bee, me disgust, d with
III" democratic p rty and joined
the greenback party aud endeayor-
ed to convince Afro Americans
that the green back party was t'eir
salvation : Was he not diSappoint-
ed ia his political ambition and
again joined the democratic party
and opposed the first election of
ex President Harrison and at
tempted to justify his form, posi-
ton . because of antecedent or
contemporaneous causes fer his
personal adv 'ntage ," -
Mr.. Cleveland failing to recog-
nize his services, did not the editor
OF the New York Age return t01the
republican ptrty aud cenounce
Mr. Cleveland AMI attempted to
justify his change Of opinion by HIS
apoIng tic defense of ex-President
Harrison aud the Iepub lean party
by explaining away his f ,rmer
vaciIlatIng attitude, and it Was
during this time he b came an ap-
pticant FIR the Haytleu nilsson?
MIR. Fortune says again /:
"Hr. Washington has never exag-
Rerated the condition Of ignorance
and poverty of the people among
whom he IaborS, because he Can not
do il. Their condition can not be ex
apperated,. because the descriptive
power of Dante or Milton Or Butler or
Dickens would fail TO do it. As the
editor of 1HE BEE has never lived in
the black belts Of the South or visited
them as Mr.. Washington has done,
and as the editor OF The Age.has done
and is doing now, he can have no per-
sonal knowledge Of the condition with
which MIR. Washington has to deal and
which he seeks with Spartan courage
and woman's devotion to better"
Mr.. Washington does more than
that. lie attempts to justify his
course and attacks Afro American
progress by citing two instances
where he saw colored man wi b .
broken plow aud dilapidated sus-
penlr thrown across his shoul-
ders in comparison. with modern
agricultural implements used by
the C4ucssia e. If such is the
condition among a few of the CO.
ored people in the South, it is not
no among the skilled farmers and
mechanics Of the South.
Mr. Washington failed to select
The men who have improved
along the ines he mentioned, bu
would rather play the parro ant
monkey. hike all Afro American
.pologists do, when they want to
tickle the preipdices Of those :" ho
are opposed sos higher education
smong Afro Americans. 1t is no