The colored American., 1903-05-23
Bishop CIintOn'S Address
Continued from Page 4.

every foe of right dealing and every
bigh-handed OppressOr of the Negro,
and reward the faithful Negro. The
Negro must be patient but hopeful;
Drudent. but persevering; sagacious,
INIT unyielding IN his contention for
his manhood rights and his citizen
privileges. He must ever be m1ndful
that a gracious Providence has been
manifest in all his past history, and If
his future is to be a bright and hopeful
one il must be through the guiding and
protecting hand of God; hence the
necessity of his exercising more faith
m God and being more dutiful in his
LOYALTY to Christianity.
If the white man refuses to mlngle
with the Negro as a social equal he
exercises a right to which no manly
Negro will object. The Negro has no
desire for social equality. In fact
there is no social equality. When the
white man says that the ignorant and
shiftless Negro has no right to part1cl-
pate in the affairs of government as an
eIector and office holder the only thing
the Negro should ask is that the white
man should apply the same
rule to white men of like
calibre and insist that when he
does not he not only does the Negro an
Injustice. but the white man an injury.
The threadfare cry of Negro dOmina-
ton simply betrayS fear that should
not carry the least weight among the
thoughtful people and indicates an un-
Willingness to give the Negro mans
chance When the white man says by
implication, if not by direct statement,
that regardless of what the Negro may
do in the way of improving his morals,
developing his intellect, by his indus
try and economy, by striving to be-
come, and finally by winning out in
his endeaVOT TO be a good citizen wOr-
tn of every right and privilege decreed
by God and guaranteed by equitable
law he shall not enjoy such rights and
privileges, the white man puts himself
in the way of a cause that will have
at its back the eternal God and all fair
minded men, regardless of race or
creed. Such efforts may cause delays;
they may, by Subterfuge, misrepresen-
tatiOn and appeals to prejudice, pas
sion and race antipathy, win sympathy
and gain others to that way of think
ing, but none of these things can stop
The march of justice and the triumph
of right. In the face of all that is be-
ing said and done against the Negro,
what shall he do? Permit me to re-
mark just here that the Negro must
He must study the situation in the
light of history and in full recognition
Of all the facts bearing on it. No race
or individual has come up from the
depths without a struggle or without
opposition. There is no royal path for
the Negro any more than for others.
Great opposition must be met by great
er resistance. If one should say there
Is nothing to encourage the race to
make greater effort to rise and be
honorable and competent citizens, to
such one | say you are wrong. The
Negro may have had more half-hearted
SympathiZers and his friends may have
been more noisy in their efforts to as
sist him and in the advocacy of fair
play, in the past but l think l speak
advisedly when | say l don't believe
he ever had more sincere and SubStan-
tial friends who believe that there is
bright and glorious future before
hm. Negro merit is being acknoWl-
edge in every walk of life. Negro char
acter is being recognized everywhere.
Negro progress is steady and substan-
ton in every section of our great
country. Despite the South'S opposl-
ton, and the sycophancy of patronizing
northerners who are prompted either
by commercial greed or other un-
worthy motives, every fair minded man
will cOncede that the Roosevelt policy
Il IL. Of n n