The Twin City star., 1912-01-13


unds that he is sharing and participating
In culture that is his only by right of
acquisition and not by right of inher-
itance.
To be mindful Of the distinction does not
necessarily make the civilization and cul.
ture We propose to claim and share any
the less ours. but It does make It ours in
different way. This Is the contention
that with the proper approach and reser-
vations the frank admission that we par.
dcipate In an alien culture justifies us in
. certain historic and actual pride Of &C.
QUESTION in having made our own what
was In the beginning not ours. Further,
such an admission should enable us by
way OF contrast to realize nationally our
own position. our own derivations and al
legiances, 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 Negros attitude toward his past has
hitherto been q sentimental and mistaken
one. There are grave dangers and difii-
culties In achieving q new attitude, but q
new one must be achieved. We might In
time succeed In getting the first slave
ship into historical perspective which
would make It spiritual Mayfiower 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 tradition Of the race. As a
patriot the American is satisfied to 60
back as far as the Mayflower. but as a
scholar he Is forced to go back little
farther. We have then the phenomenon
Of Anglo-Saxon tradition, Anglo-Saxon
civilization, Aryan culture! 1t should be-
indeed II 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
stiil upon us. 1t deserves to be an indeli-
BILE memory. But the sentimental ties
which bind US to the abolitionist period of
our history must not be allowed to con-
troll our historical attitudes. genera
tion that has not lived through such a
time can never be expected to care for
race history in exactly the same way. AL
ready the younger generation Is lapsing
from that sentimental attitude, and 1t Is
well, since the attitude which freed us
physically will never free us mentally. 1t
binds us fast to what is after all. only
one period in the race lifs. 1t keeps us
from the dispassionate, the scholarly, at
titude toward history. 1t chains US to re-
main In the vicious circle Of early Amer
lean isolation, the hopelessly Quixotic
whim OF 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 palms.
taking scholarship to recover, but even
more perhaps In need Of q worthier his
torical attitude to accept It.
American thought and scholarship are In
process Of broadening out in the name of
culture, and for the sake Of tradition a
period Of reconstructive scholarship Is be-
ginning. q period that will retrieve the
necessary damage Of the democratic Sc
cession. This is being done that the
American Of culture need not have to pay
the high price Of expatriation for his cul-
ture. Our situation is parallel Our in
voluntary transportation is analogous to
the colonial Americans voluntary revolu-
tion. We must, like him, go back to claim
as tradition and culture all we have
broken with as government and authority.
There Is for us no alternative to turning
back toward an African and racial past
But such q course need no more interfere
with our entering into the full heritage
OF a 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 CIV
ilization cannot stand for the amalgama-
ton Of cultures. America, at all events
Ii 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 acknowledge
ment Of the birth claim to ideas under
mines the republican claims to free insti-
tutions, the fear that a sense for race his
tory and tradition shuts one out from an
impersonal and more inclusive participa-
tion in general history and culture can
only be INDUCED by those who misunder-
stand the trend Of American institutions
Indeed, freed from national responsible
ties and governmental ambitions, racial
pretensions are free in this country to de-
velop without opposition or misconstruc-
tion. 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 con-
trtbutory largely and patriotically to the
sum total Of American achievement, has
reacted upon the whole status and welfare
Of that race in its native home. The Jew
ish communism in this country further
has contributed to its racial life the world
over and stands today as the champion of
some Of its most significant reform move
ments. America affords the unique possi-
bility OF q race life and propaganda exist
Ing without contradicting national and
patriotic loyalties and responsibilities.
The historical dilemma of the American
Negro Is great culture problem It Is
also great American problem. Its solu-
ton will prove or disprove whether or not
culture by adoption Ia possible and wheth-
er race can exist within a nation with
out disrupting the nation or contradicting
itself. II we accept the burden of being
an experiment In this land of experiment
1t Is because We have additional reasons.
These additional reasons are the desire to
solve our own problems, to convert in
vidious distinctions into others rational
and respected.