The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-22
BISHOP TURNER STOLE HIS IDEA
FROM UNCLE RENIUS.

BISHOP TURNER STOLE HIS IDEA
FROM UNCLE REMUS.
| BlShop Turner, a prominent negro
| bishop from Georgia, who has for
years been advocating exporting the
negroes to Africa, created something
| of sensation a few days ago by de-
claring that Adam was a negro, that
all the folks We're negroes at first, and
that the white folks owe their white
ness to bleaching, while the negro is
the unbleached production which the
Maker pronounced very good" The
| utterance has been widely published
and the Georgia colored bishop has
been praised and roasted for what has
generally been regarded as brand
new theory about the race question.
1t remained for the Charlotte News,
whose editor ranks the writings of
Uncle Remus next to the Shorter Cat
echism, to discover that Bishop Turner
is a plagiarist in part, for Uncle Re-
mus was the inventor of the idea that
Adam was negro and the folks were
all black in the beginning. The colored
bishop says the white folks are merely
"bleached" while Uncle Remus has d
better theory. Talking to that i'm
mortal boy" Uncle Remus said:
''Tooby sho de pam of my hans
wife, honey, an Wen it come ter dat,
dey wuz a time Wen all de wife folks
'uZ black, blacker den l is, kaze l done
bin yer SO long dat bin sorter bleach
out"
1t will be noticed that thus far, even
to the bleaching out theory, Uncle Re-
mus and Bishop Turner agree. Uncle
Remus continues:
"Yasser. Folks dunner, wat bin
yit, let lone wat gWinter be. Niggers
is niggers now, but de time wuz wen
we 'uz all niggerS tergeder.
The little boy asked:
when was that, Uncle Remus?"
[ way back yander. In dem times
we'uz all un us black We 'uz
all niggers tergedder en- 'cordin' to all
de counts wat l years folks us gittin
long bout ez we'll in dem days ez
dey is now. But after while de news
come dat dere WuZ a pom er water
some'rs in de naberhood, witch eff
dey'ed git inter deyed be wash off
nice en- wife, and den one un UNI, he
fine de place en- make er splunge inter
de pom en- come out wife eZ er town
gal En- den, bless grashus wen de
seed it, dey make a break fer de pom
en- dem wat wuz de soOpless, dey got
in fus' and dey come out wife, Ell dem
wat WuZ de mex sooplcss dey got in
mex Ell dey come out merlatters; EN-
dey wuz sech d crowd un UNI dat dey
mighty nigh use de water up, Wich
Wen dem yuthers come long, de
morest dey could do wuz ter paddle
about wild der foots en- dabble in it
wild der hans. Dem wuz de niggerS,
en- down ter dis day dey amt no wife
about er Niger 'cepting de PANS Ell
der hans en- de soles er der foot"
And then Uncle Remus went Bishop
Turner one better by making his eth
biological theories apply to the whole
race. He added:
Ode injun en- de Chinee got ter he
counted long er der merlatter. / amt
seed no Chinee dat l knows un, but
but dey tells me dey err sorter twix a
brown en- a bride. Dey err all mer-
latters."
Even the hair question was settled
by the same theory:
Dem wat git ter de pom time huff
fer ter git der head in the water. de
water hit onkink der hair. Hit
bleedzd ter be dat erway.'
After giving these quotations from
the wisdom of Uncle Remus, the Char
lotte News adds:
Between Bishop Turner and Uncle
Remus we agree with Uncle RemuS
that it is "bleedZd ter be dat erWay.'
In fact, we even withdraw the admis-
sion of Bishop Turner's originality, as
to the bleaching process The bishop is
a shameful plagiarist. His theory is
fatally defective as it stands, because
it does not account for de pa ms er
der hans en- de soles er de foot. The
chronological pond is herewith adopted
as the true solution. 1t even gives US
a workable theory for the "onklnk-
ing" of the hair of the white folks.
eve wish there were still an Uncle
Remus in every neighborhood. Some
thing altogether wholesome went out
of our Southern life when he died.
We could spare a hundred Bishop Tur-
ners better than one Uncle Remus
If Bishop Turner would give his
days and nights to Uncle Remus, he
xuo,,I6 no Visor loader of his race.