The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1910-08-25
ed. and not crime.

L
those millions. from tas United 50
ciety of Christian Eneeayor to tn
modulus OF the nation, Join hand
to shout "Shame!" -, --.-
Then 1T was. too, that a little cir
in New York made al lGen dis
coVery. She was poor littl. wal
of six or seven years, and she learn
ed that she was white, AMI that tt,
fact denoted unusaal desert ant
virtue, She was stealing ride or
an Eighth avenue furniture van ans
spied me on passing street car
She stuck out her tongue and jeered
and made every contortion CT coun,
tenance to show her personal disap-
proval OF my kind and the SUPERIOR
ity Of hers.
. Poor little thralled thing! 1t was
not enough that she should be prison.
ed by poverty and Ignorance; this
great nation must needs chain her
with race pre5udice--must tell her
that always White is Right.
Beneath all that was laughable in
that absurd little figure I seemed to
see the woe Of the world in the edu-
cation of the American child today.
What tenet of our morality are we
teaching today so freely, plainly ana
perslstently! l fear the atrophy of
soul which this teaching must bring
Both mentally and morally white
folk today are suffering from this
attempt to transmute a physical &C
cldent into moral deed-to draw
unreal distinctions among human
souls.
Mentally the blight has fallen on
American science. The race problem
is not lnsoluble If the correct answer
is sought. 1t is insoluble if the
wrong answer is insisted upon, as it
has been insisted upon for thrice 4
hundred years. A very moderate
brain can show that two and two are
four. But no human ingenuity can
make that sum three or five. T us
American science has long attempted
to do. 1t has made itself the hand
maid of a miserable prejudice. In
its attempt to Justify the treatment
of black folk it has repeatedly SUP
prest evidence, misquoted authority,
distorted fact and deliberately lied
1t is wonderful that in the very lines
of social study where America should
shine it has done nothing.
Worse than this is our moral and
religious plight. We profess a relig-
ion of high ethical advancement, a
spiritual faith Of respect for truth,
despising of personal riches, a rev
erence for humility, and 40. simply
Justice to our fellows, but personal
sacrifice Of our good for theirs. IL
is h1gn aim, SO high that we OUGHT
not utterly to I've condemned 70" not
reaching It, SC long IS we ST, We
DTayeiy toward it. ID we, as 4 Deo-
pie? On tae contrary, we ha,, i'll
1"cted - rnr s"e-d asAps, 81 90.
man harlel M srslsAice saapis
ing Of our 'sss fnrtoeA,s fellows. no.
t. spea'; IF or 'ss.'ssss r. wealth
which fatty contradicts the Christian
ideal. Granting all that American
Christianity has done to educate and
uplift black men, it must be frankly
admitted that there is absolutely no
logical method by which the treat
ment of black folk by white folk in
this land can be squared with any
reasonable statement or practice of
the Christian ideal.
What is the result? 1t is either
the abandonment Of the Christian
ideal or hypocrisy. Some frankly
abandon Christianity when it comes
to the race problem and say: Relig-
ION does not enter here. They then
retire to some more primitive pagan.
Ism and live there, enlightened by
such prejudices as they adopt or in.
herit. This is retrogression toward
bafbafism,-but it is at-least- honest
1T is Infinitely better than it's widely
accepted alternative, which attem pti
to reconcile Color Caste and Chris
| tlanlty, and sees or affects to see NJ
| lncongruity. What ails the religion
| Of. land when it's stronghold3 O
orthodoxy are to be found in thos,
| regions where race prejudice is mos
| uncompromising, vindictive and crue
where human brotherhood is a lie?
| The one great moral issue o
America upon which the Church o
| Christ comes nearest being dumb !
the question as to the application
OF the golden rule between White am
| Black Folk.
| All this / see and hear up in nj
tower above the thunder 1f the sevc
seas. From my narrowed window