The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1910-08-25

the "Big Stick. -, 3 1sss
After the more con ,sta,5
uons and chilling Of --1rotis en- ~
thusiasm, come subtler, darker deeds. I
Everything considered, the title 10 i
the universe claimed by White F0lk
Is faulty. 1t ought at least to Iook
plausible. How easy, then, by eni-
phasis and omission, to make every
child believe that every great souI
the world ever saw was al white
mans soul; that every great thought,
the world every knew was a. White, I
mans thought; that every great
deed the world ever did was a white
mans deed; that every great dream
the world ever sang was g. white
mans dream. In fine, that If from
the world were dropped everything
tnat could not fairly be attributed to
waite Folk the world would, II any
thing, be even greater, truer, better
tnan now. And If all this be a lie.
Is 1T not lie in great cause?
Here 1t is that the comedy verpes
TO tragedy. The first minor note liz
struck all unconsciously by thoAA
worthy souls in whom consciousness
or nigh descent brings burning desarxs
TO spread the gift abroad-the obli-
cation Of nobility to the ignoble.
IF l,,t,s
Things; real possession of the hertz
age and its frank appreciation by The
humble born. So long. then, as hufri4
bic black folks, volub1e with thanks
receive barrels of old clothes from
lordly and generous whites, there In
much mental peace and moral aatI Ia
factlon. But when the black man l5tsa.sz llfas
gins to dispute the white man 81 title
to certain alleged bequeafs cf the
FATHERS, in wage and posiE4o4
authority and. training; and 3wIlans III
attitude toward Chart sy
natherst han SIis 81
when he Insists on hts truman N siSEs
to swagger and swear ana vast
then the spell Is suddenly broken and
the philanthropist Is apt to be ready
to believe that Negroes are impl1-
dent, that the South is right, and that
Japan wants to fight us. >.H 1..,El
After this the descent to He'll ia
easy. On the pale white faces which
the great billows whirle upward to
my tower I sec again and again.
often and still more often, O. writing
OF human harted. A deep and pass
lonate harted, vast by the very.
Vagueness Of it's foundations. Down
thru the green waters, ON the bot
tom of the world where men move
TO and fro, I have seen man-an
educated gentlemen-grow livid with
anger because little, silent black
woman was sitting by herself In a;
Pullman car. He was white man.
have seen a great grown man curse
little child who had wandered into
the wrong waiting-room searching
for its mother; Here, you damned
Dlack---' He was white. In Cen
tral Park 1 have seen the upper lin
of quiet, peaceful man curl, back
in tigerish snarl Of rage because
black folk rode by In motor car.
He was a white man. We have seen !.
you and Lefty after city,-drupk- and
furious with ungovernable lust OF
blood, mad with murder, destroying,
Killing and cursing, torturing hn-
man victims, because somebody ae.
cused Of crime happened to be- of tho
same color as the mob's innocent
victims, and because that color was
not white. - -. =. :,
Up thru the foam Of green and
wcltering waters wells this great
mass Of haretd In wilder, fiercer
until / look down and know that
violence today to the millions OF my
people no misfortune could happen OF
death, pestilence, failure and defeat,
that would not make the hearts OF
millions Of their fellows beat with
fierce, vindictive joy. Do you doubt
| 1t? Ask your own soul--what wouid
1t say If the next census told Ii that
half Black America was dead anta
the rest dying?
Unfortunate? Unfortunate. But
where Is the misfortune? Mine? An
in my blaCkness the sole sufferer? I
suffer. And yet, somehow, above the
suffering, above the shackled anger
that beats the bars, above the hurt
that crazes, surges in me vast pity
pity for q people priaoneff and
enthralled, hampered and made Inis-
cradle for such cause, for such Il
fantasy. " 50.