Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1912-02-09


noring this distinction the Afro
American OF culture finds he is an
anomaly; finds that he Is sharing and
participating In . culture that 10 his
only by right of acquisition and not
by right Of Inheritance.
To be mindful of the distinction
| d. IS not necessarily make the civil
ization and culture we propose to
claim and share any the less ours,
but 1t does make 1t ours in a differ
ent way. This Is the contention that
with the proper approach and reser-
vations the frank admission that we
participate in an alien culture justi-
fies us in a certain historic and act.
ual pride of acquisition in having
made our own what was in the be-
ginning not ours. Further, such an
admission should enable us by way
Of contrast to realize nationally our
own position, our own derivations
and allegiances, and to help US to
build up in addition tradition worthy
of our united loyalties.
Instead, therefore, Of belittling us
the great contrast of Aryan culture
should make 1t more meaningful to be
a negro. The negro's attitude toward
his past has hitherto been a senti-
mental and mistaken one. There are
grave dangers and difficulties In
achieving a new attitude, but new
one must be achieved. We might In
time succeed in getting the first slave
ship into a historical perspective.
which would make 1t spiritual May
flower Of freedom from the handicaps
of a tropical climate. but better than
this would be an attitude which would
insist upon the full and remotest ira
dition of the race. As a patriot the
American is satisfied to go back as
far as the Mayflower, but as a scholar
he is forced to 60 back little farther.
We have then the phenomenon of
Anglo-Saxon tradition, Anglo Saxon
civilization, Aryan culture! 1t should
be-indeed, it must be-the same with
US. The American negro must in
time change his attitude toward the
past. The stamp OF the abolitionist
experience and appeal is still upon
US. II deserves to be an indelible
memory. But the sentimental ties
which bind us to the abolitionist
period of our history must not be al
lowed to control our historical atti-
tudes. A generation that has not
lived through such q time can never
be expected to care for race history
in exactly the same way. Already the
younger generation is lapsing from
that sentimental attitude, and 1t is
we'll, since the attitude which freed US
physically will never free US mental
ly. 1t binds US fast to what is, after
all, only one period in the race life.
1t keeps US from the dispassfonate,
the scholarly, attitude toward history
1t chains US to remain in the vicious
circle Of early American isolation.
the hopelessly Quixotic whim Of a
people that wishes to begin history
all over again. We cannot afford to
let our regard for our immediate past
blind us to the remote racial past, a
past which stands in need of patient
and painstaking scholarship to re-
cover, but even more perhaps in need
of worthier historical attitude to &C
cept it.
American thought and scholarship
are in process Of broadening out In
the name of culture, and for the sake
of tradition q period Of reconstructive
scholarship is beginning, period that
will retrieve the necessary damage of
the democratic secession. This is being
done that the American of culture
need not have to pay the high price of
expatriation for his culture. Our
situation is parallel. Our involuntary
| transportation Is analogous to the
colonial Americans voluntary 'revolu-
ton We must, like them, 60 back to
claim as tradition and culture all we
have broken with as government and
authority. There is for US no alterna-
tive to turning back toward an Az
rican and racial past. But such a
course need no more interfere with
| our entering into the full heritage OF
liberal education than race loyalty
to Anglo-Saxon civilization interferes
with American patriotism.
America, standing, as it does, for
the common ownership of the utilities
of civilization, cannot stand for the
amalgamation of cultures. America,
at all events, is not sure Of her own
mental nationality, and behind the
traditional uniformities of American
life and thought, 1t Is significant to
find certain latent racial traits and
traditions in process Of development
and assertion. The fear that the &C.
acknowledgement of the birth claim to
ideas undermines ), the republican
claims to free institutions, the fear
that q sense Of race history and ira.
dition shuts one out from an imper-
sonal and more inclusive participation
in general history culture. can only
be INDUCED by those who misunder-
stand the trend of American institu-
lions. Indeed, freed from national re-
sponsibilities and governmental am
billions, racial pretensions are free in
this country to devlop without oppo-
sition or misconstruction. Certainly
America has offered this to other
races. Not only have certain Irish
ambitions and hopes impossible Of
realization elsewhere been realized
in this country..~but their realization,
while contributory largely and patri-
officially to the sum total of American
achievement, has reacted upon the
whole status and welfare of that race
in Its native home. The Jewish
communism in this country further
has contributed to its racial life the
world over and stands today as the