The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-12-08
The CASE OF PROF. BAssETT.

Columbia State.
The trustees would transcend their
legal and their moral rights did they
essay TO dictate 10 any member OF the
faculty how and what he should think
and what he should say and write. A
college professor has the same right
every other American citizen possesses
to hold any sort Of opinion on any sub
ject and to speak his mind in whatsc-
ever manner pleases him best. But If
a professors opinion on a given subject
chances to be subversive OF all that j.
good, all that is expedient and all that
is essential in the civilization Of the com
nunity in which he lives, we hold that
it would be inadvisable for any college to
keep him IN its faculty one minute longer
than it Q take to put him out.
Prof. Bassett, it will be noted. en-
phasizes the fact that Washington Is
not a typical negro" This Is yery
proper. If the professor knows anything
at all about the race problem he knows
that no negro could have lone and could
have become what Washington has done
and has become. Washington's brains are
not negro's brains, his ambition is not
negro born, his energy is not negro gener-
| dleu. i ncTbIOIp, IliS mlltllO 1SpItSt1 =
the very thing Which the white South
must oppose, must fight as for its very
life. We would not dare to believe that
Southern sentiment on this point is any
thing but impregnable, forever unshak-
able. There IS no decent white man in
this section who would not rather know
that his family would not exist beyond
his own generation, who would not rather
commit suicide, than to face the know
ledge that, should he and his progeny
live, his descendants would intermalrv
with negroes or part negroes. We 90 not
think there can be much doubt about
that. Prof. Bassett, however, does mot
agree with this view, or his words Delie
him. His statement quoted above may
not be sufficient basis for this assertion
but that statement is not the most of
fensive portion OF his article, though it
has been the most generally quoted and
commented upon.
The Trinity trustees estate as a fact
that Prof. Bassett does lot believe n
nor does he teach social equality" Since
this is stated as a fact on reliable au-
thority it must be accepted as such. We
are prepared to believe that Prof. Bias
sett does not teach social equality; he
could not hold his place one day if he did.
nav Is ~ soy, ~ uoNS nv ~ DoNA~
equality now. But if his words above
do not predict social equality hereafter,
what do they mean? "The adoption Of
these children of Africa into our Ameri-
can Efe;" "they will win equality in
time it is in many respects the old
conflict etwee the Roman plebs and
Roman patricians over again" II this
does not mean amalgamatlon, we ask
again, what does it mean? Will Prof.
Bassett deny that the conflict between
the Roman patricians and plebs, to which
he likens our race problem, ended III
intermarriage Of the two classes?
Further, can we afford to cOncede that
the white race shall ever contend for
(anything else than the absolute infer
iority'' Of the other race? To do so is
to pull down the pillars of our white
civilization, for there is only one result
Of race equality. The man who does not
understand that is not of sufficient depth
OF thought and breadth Or conception to
interpret history properly. To be as mild
as possible in our Judgment of him, he
IS grossly incompetent and the institution
which retains him is bound to suffer from
his lncOn1petency.