The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-02-15
WILLIAMS DEFENDS
HIS STATEMENTS
Claims That He Did Not Say,
That He Did Not Respect
The American Flag.
NEGRO TROOPS ADVOCATED
THINKS THAT SINCE THEY
FOUGHT IN MANY WARS THEY
SHOULD BE ADMITTED TO THE
BROWNSVILLE AFFAIR.".

The Rev. Noah Williams, pastor of
thr Bethel \. NJ. L. church. who il was
reported, denounced the American flag
at 4 coIored entertainment under the
auspices OF the Uniform Rank knights
of Pythias. colored today issues d de
niaI, and scores those colored men
Who probably sought favor Of the
whites by reporting their false impress
sious, in order to arouse public senti-
mcnt against his race. Rev. Williams
speaks of the manner in which the col
ored troops are treated by the govern.
mcnt and hands out some sledge ham
mer blows, which are in favor Of the
admittance of colOred troops to the
| united States standing army. The de
| Tense of his position follows:
Editor Palladium-On returning
| home from trip out Of the city, the
first thing coming to my notice was an
article in the Palladium concerning
some Unreasonable" remarks I was re
ported to have made in an address
delivered at the G. a. r. hall Wedncs-
| -
the matter. that YOUR informauts have
! misstated the facts. / had a carefully
prepared speech on Racial Unity"
which subject considered appropriate
| for an entertainment given by Sc
! crct organization Of color. My speech
| touching the points referred to in your
| article follows: If there is a race
| on the earth that needs to develop a
! spirit of racial unity. that race is the
negro. For two hundred and fifty
years he was trained in slavery TO keep
the masters informed as to what was
going on among them. This was for
! the purpose of making it possible for
the Shareholders to know of any prob
able uprising among the slaves. To a
great extent this spirit Of malcvolent
dissemination has been inherited by
the progeny Of the slaves thus trained.
We could not hope that the negro
would so soon lay aside this trait of
character and be united so insepara-
bly, from a racial standpoint as are
all the other race varieties upon the
face of the globe.
Brownsville Affair.
one of the many reasons why do
not believe that the soldiers
who shot up Brownsville were
negroes, is the fact that none Of
them have told it. for if any consider
able number of them knew all about it
and have not 'pcaChcd.' it is certainly
remarkable. and shows astounding
progress along the lines of secrecy.
But my conclusion is. since no one of
the negroes discharged has told who
did it. the crime was done by some
body not connected with the 25th regi-
ment.'
Now if any one can get anything out
Of that statement that looks like laud-
ing the Brownsville rioters, they are
welcome to it.
The statement in which were my re-
marks with reference to the American
flag is as follows:
About the only place now that d ne
gro can become acquainted with mill,
tarism. it seems. is in the colored Uni
form Rank of the X. of p. lodge That
is. if the statements have seen in
some of the newspapers Of the country
are true 1t has been published in
some of the leading journals through
out the country. that the negro would
, hereafter be barred from cnlisting in
the United States army" (And by the
way, noticed in the Tcrrc Haute stan
just yesterday that two strong, able
bodied dusky sons of this nation dp
pcared before the recruiting officer il
Terre Hauto and were refused because
they were neGrOcsl
| Nation UngratefuI
l Surely this nation is very ungrateful
- if, after the negro has given his lite II
5 every war in which she has engaged
the door by official edict has been clos
ed against his eulisting in the army il
time of peace.
The negro fought bravely in revolu
tionary, civil, Spanisb-Amertcan ant
Philippine wars. He saved the life o
) that chieftan of Rough Rider fame a
San Juan Hill, and made it p0ssibl,
for him TO occupy the highest office il
the Gift Of the nation, for he would no
have been alive had it no, been for tn.
"Jh and 10th cavalry The negro hu,
painted the earth scarlet with his blool
all the way from Bunker Hill ~ Sal
Iuan UHt. aud NnF h. j. denied I'll,
~johr~ accorded him - The law: j.
ha~a,@ from shops. Factories aid man.
tu.rcr a,rnu,~ uI "upIu}mp1'. a&d j:
= many Instances he j. 'nc first dis
:, chur@,d in thr fall and IT, las; 80 r
| . hired in tN, -0.{uy: liz. f. showed i'm