The colored American., 1903-12-05
The Real Conditions South


GO.
however, that some of the people who
call him coward" were not brave
enough themselves to remain in the
South when danger seemed to threaten
them. 1t is very easy for one to re-
main a thousand miles away and call
someone a coward who is in the
midst Of the conditions from which
they fed. 1t is also easy and requires
no courage for one living in Chicago
or Boston, for instance, to give advice
TO the colored people at the South. 1t
is easy, in loud voice and emphatic
tone, to tell us what we should do in
order to protect our manhood" If
these people want to prove that they
have more manhood or more courage
than we have, the thing for them to
do is to come into the heart of the
South and prove their courage. If
they are not brave enough to come
here and make their speeches and "de
mand" their rights in the way that
they are advising us to do, their alb
Stract talk and abstract advice mean
little to us. We want leaders who
Will come here and live among us and
| be brave at the same time The col
ored people who live in the South are
not the towards that you think they
are. Has there ever been a case in
one individual was compelled to stand
for months severe condemnation and
criticism because he accepted the invi-
| tatlon of the President of the United
| States TO dine with him as was true in
the case of Mr.. Washington? If he
| was coward then would have been
the time to prove his cowardice. but
| instead of acting cowardly he stood
up without f1inching in the face of
this wholesale denunciation and crit
| icism.
While we have lost in many respects
many-of our political rights, we still
have something in this regard that
we can pin to. In Alabama we have
two colored men holding high Presi-
Dental offices. In Illinois, I think
you have none. In Georgia two color
ed men hold the most important po-
ltical Offices in that State Our peo-
pie are equally represented in Florida
and Louisiana, to say nothing of other
States. If we were the towards that
you think we are, we could not be so
we'll represented even in the holding of
public Offices
Another charge that is often brought
against Mr.. Washington by a few col
ored people is that he is friendly with
the Southern white people This is
a very plausible charge, but we of the
South have long since learned that we
can retain our manhood and self-res-
pect and still be friendly in many
cases with the white people by whose
side we live; this is the only sensible
course, we feel, for any race to pur-
sue. We can live in friendship with
the white people and still demand our
rights as citizens, and this we intend
to do, as the cases we are carrying to
! the Supreme Court prove
There has never been an important
| Crisis in the history of the race in
the South during the last fifteen years
| IN which Mr.. Washington has failed
to put himself bravely and strongly
ON record against injustice When
the State constitutional convention in
| Louisiana was in session, he addressed
| that body protesting in strong terms
against the discrimination against the
| colored people which the new consti-
| tuition would permit He did the
same thing when the attempt was
made to pass a similar constitution in
Georgia, and still later in the case of
the Alabama State Constitutional Con-
vention. On three different occasions
within recent years he has spoken out
| in strong and brave words against the
0epl' rable habit of lynching. 1t is