Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1912-06-07
TOO MUCH RACE PREJUDICE
PREACHED BY SOME
NEGROES

To teach or preach race prejudice
Is, to put 1t mildly, most damnable
occupation. And yet It Is q fact. an
awful fact. that the dominant politi-
cal leaders, in the south today. for
the most part, have gained their as
cendancy through. and by such per-
micious teaching. As We have said
before, we now repeat that III the
devil has any legitimate children on
earth 1t Is they who preach the doc
trine OF race prejudice and. by SO do
ing, they serve we'll and truly their
father"
Race prejudice retards progress
individually and collectiyely--is hos
tile to the quality and character Of our
civilization--is an assasinator Of the
spirit OF Christ-and damns the soul
lii this world and In the world to
come. For the mental and spiritual
attachments, 1t Is more to be feared
and dreaded than are the diseases OF
smallpox, consumption and yellow
fever for the body. o~
But--and we do hate to have to
confess lt--there are many, very
many negroes who. while denouncing
most blatantly this evil practice in
white people are nevertheless as
guilty as, or even more guilty than the
most bombastic jump-jack white poll
tician seeking public Office and hop
ing, in the absence Of mental or moral
qualifications, or both, to attain the
desired end by imflaming the baser
passions of the white people against
the negroes. And the negroes thus
guilty are not politicians. For negro
politicians In the south are either non
entities or historical relics of days
that WERE No, the negroes thus oil
ty are heralds of the cross--ministers
OF the gospel whose duty it is, or
ought to be, to preach The father
hood of God and the brotherhood of
man"-"Love We one another
Peace on earth. good will towards
men"-and the like. -r
How often do we hear these So
called race leaders, in distinctively
negro gatherings. when no white PEG.
pie are present, or are expected to be,
deliver themselves of such pernicious.
ly insidious statements as these: "All
the groceries buy are bought at a
negro grocery store" Every suit OF
clothes l wear Is made by a negro
tailor" II read only negro newspa.
pers." mo literature is allowed in my
Sunday school and no hymn books or
Bibles are used in my church except
those produced by and in our negro
publishing house"
Let us in soberness reason just
little together: Leaving out Of con-
sideration, for the moment, the re-
ligious phase of the question of race
prejudice, let your imagination assert
itself and suppose with us that the
white people, as whole, should carry
their race prejudice as far as these
so-called negro race leaders would
have the negro race to carry its race
prejudice as whole-in other words,
suppose white people should go to
equal extremes and take advantage OF
their advantages over the negroes. Is
any prophet needed to tell what dire
consequences would ensue?
II white men would be shaved only
by white men what would many Of
our negro BARRIERS do? If white men
should decide to wear no clothes ex-
cept those made or cleaned by white
men, how many negro tailors or ne
gro pressing clubs would so out of the
business to re-engage in it no more
forever? Were white women to de-
eide to wear no garments except those
made by white women, how many
worthy negro seamstresses Dependant
upon their labor for a livelihood
would at once become unable to be
self-supporting? We're white people
to decide to rent farm lands to or buy
farm products from white farmers
only, what would negro farmers do?
If--but why continue? Is 1t not evil
dent to the thoughtful negro that
white people as whole, can the bet
ter play this game of race prejudice
which these unwise leaders of the
negro race are striving to have the
negro race, as whole, play? And yet
while we must admit that the white
man-especially the southern white
man-has carried, and is carrying,
his race prejudice too far, yet we
humbly thank God that even the
southern white man has not carried 1t
as far as the unwise negro leader
would have the negro to carry it.
Southern Ploughman.