The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1910-06-30
Drawing
Tighter
ARE RACIAL LINES AT NORTH
WHERE LOWEST GLASS
OF NEGROES GATHER
Conditions at the South misunder-
stood by Northern Negroes whose
ideas are founded on wartime ex-
periences Or heaf-Say.

TO one born and reared in the
north, the many customs and lido
syncrasies OF the south present phas
es so peculiar and strikingly different
as to call for radical change in the
beliefs and ideas held by the individ-
ual, especially If he Is a Negro; even
the white man undergoes this meta
morphosis. l say this guardedly and
with the feeling Of certainty that
comes only by experience, and too, I
include in this statement those who
live and die within the circumfer-
ance Of self-satisfied ignorance; sorry
to say. this class Of persons forms
the mass Of the Negroes Of the north
in regard to the correct knowledge Of
the south. Even the fast disappear
Ing remnant Of those who felt the
lash below the Mason and Dixie line
before the sixties, has to learn some
new lessons concerning their people,
There are, in their attitude toward
the south, three types in the north.
The old eX-SlaVe who came up out OF
that paralyZed and desolate land,
leaving behind him the sorrowful
shackles Of bondage and bringing
with him a mind filled with a host of
bitter memories, heart-rendng i'm
pressiOns. and an actual desire for
liberty; he has never returned and
knows naught of his brothers prog
ress; he talks Of the south of fifty or
sixty years ago; the son of the slave,
who has heard tales Of slavery, and
whose knowledge is circumscribed by
the harsh and rocky walls Of his
fathers early life; along with him, in
this class, is he who boasts of being
a Northerner, he who enjoys with
slight and scanty appreciation of his
ancestry and people, all social. edu-
cational and political liberties, he
whose ideas of any land but his own
are extremely crude, and likewise
worthless; he imagines through mis-
guided and misunderstood reading,
that the south is still in the grip Of
the Klp Klux Xlan and his brother is
represented accurately by The Clans
man and 'TeopGrd's Spots; he who
does know. For the first, there are
tears of pity and sympathy, for the
second tears of doubt and hope, for
the third, tears Of Joy and praise.
Blessed Is he who knows, for his
path shall be strewn with flowers,
Consideration of the last two types
would fill set Of large volumes, but
the philosophy remains the same in
few paragraphs.
| have great respect for lineage,
that is proud and forceful and noble
especially for that kind that formerly
found expression in muticolored coats
OF arms and in great masses Of hered-
itary stone called castles and now
gives vent to its latent strength, in
rallroads, skyscrapers, tunnels, music
and art We are wont too much to
make Oriental obesance to old names
to famous line, to exalted blood
but nowadays all that counts for lit
tie since it is so far removed from
the source when it Is mixed, remiXed
and remiXed thousand times. as if
Is in this generation. In my veins
flows blood of the Scotch CampbelIs
or the Fifth century, and | have never
yet felt any inclination to strike down
my foes with q war club. If we made
close enough investigation, we might
find that we are all direct descendants
OF Solomon, Charlemagne, julius Cae
sar or Napoleon. The northern Negro
hugs to his breast these phantoms Of
past ages, forgetting that he. as we'll
as the black Southerner, sprang from
the sun-burned lons Of Africa. The
Southerner, too, finds himself the pro-
duct of large European mixture. pu1
he does not boast Of it, he does nor
wish to.
In northern cities the germ. o. Ne.
gro prejudice has found an excellent
breeding ground. Rapidly the lines
OF freedom are being drawn tighter
- and tighter and tue feeling of the
south has taken strong root. 1t is
now put y matter Of time when all
pubic places of the north shall be
closed to the Negro and when he will
be, Jim Crowed" in CONVEYANCE
The cause Is obvious; too many Ne.
groes are coming into Goods coun.
Try. But 1T does not stop with quan
uty--the real issue is quality. AS 8
rule, the scum Of the south comes
10 the large northern cities, the best
the cultured class remain. and fhe
Northerner, both white and black
Judge the whole south by the loud
mouthed, pugnacious crap-shooter>
and card-players who Become so in
toxlcated with their first deep draft
OF liberty that they turn that dvin,
gife into license. Chicago, Detroit
Grand Rapids. Cleveland and man,
other cities are witnesses TO this
and all to the sorrow and Negroizin,
tmay we use the word?) of the north
ern Negro, for. one by one. the ppo.4