The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-12-05
Segregation the Crime
of The Age
By cHAs. A. SHARKS.

victims of segregation are the mar
tyrs of today's civilization. The
~propagators of this line of procedure
must be classed with the children OF
evil. The rights and privileges of
American citizens regarding life and
property are plain, and honestly con-
sidered are simple enough for babes.
II is only hate, jealousy and a spirit
of prescription which has conjured up
the obnoxious smoke around a reason
ably fair government, seeking to mar
its natural beauty and warp its spirit.
At least alphabetically this govern
ment assures it's citizens of these in
alienable rights, namely, life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness and
under this assurance every child of
these United States is expected to live
and breathe the free air of these hap
py shores, working out his salvation
without any of his rights being taken
away from him, especially so, on the
account Of race, color or previous
condition of servitude."
Now as the segregated we are de-
MED the right to live or enjoy life.
LIBERTY is taken away from us by
unjust and proscriptive laws, and we
are not allowed to PURSUE HAPPI-
NESS when our rights and privileges
are abridged so as to impose narrow
limits on our social activities, yea,
even unto the breathing places has
the standard of segregation been set.
Segregation is positively wrong. 1t
can not be right. 1t is unchristian-
unlawful and un-American. 1t is an
unmitigated liar which seeks to de-
ceive while it stings. If segregation
is so plainly wrong, and is directed
especially against the Negro, what
should be the Negroes attitude toward
1t and those who advocate the same?
Shall we sit supinely by and allow
our sworn enemies to heap this evil
upon us without protest or IN eff
fort to stop it? Or shall we fight this
evil like men and intelligent people
who have rights, hopes, aspirations,
a love Of liberty and a desire for i'm
%provement in living conditions? All
true men must answer this last with
a vigorous affirmative.
We must not assume a slothful and
Indifferent attitude regarding these
most essential rights when the enc.
mics of the race are sitting up at
night scheming how to politely" and
"g~raciously" enslave us. The enc
mics of the race will never stop the
fight on us voluntarily any more thar
England would have voluntarily giver
these United States their political in
dependence. 1t is natural for the op
. pressor to go On from one crime t
1 another. He has chosen evil ant
, falsehood rather than truth, and thes,
i. become dominant motives and ruling
:. passions. He learns to love darkness
rather than light. Nothing but tn
: stern power of truth can stop thi
= child of evil. Let us assert now tn
y truth of our manhood and CITIZENSHIP
u Be men and fight for what rightfull,
belongs to us as men. When re
strictive laws are enacted against us
Il test their constitutionality every day
and work as one man to defeat elias
legislation, and discriminatory meas
ures aimed at our civil rights. TAX
that most tenable ground that we ar
real natural born Americans VIII
mean to enjoy every right that tn
Constitution guarantees it's citizens
n We should be willing, certainly, t
spend our own money in our own bt
half when our right to live is quei
= toned by segregation and othe
U harmful acts. Personally, the write
would more willingly aid financial
= a movement calculated to gain thes
present human rights than sink an
amount in doubtful channels whic
N never bring results.
n The N. A. A. C. p.
Thankfully there is an organize
body of national Importance create
especially to take up the cause of HI
man uplift in this direction. 1t
+, called the National Association fo
: the Advancement of Colored Peopl,
1 1t numbers among its active worker
: some of the races most able and S,
! we're men. Strange to say the NOV,
t ment was started by a few white il
8 d~ividuals who caught up with thu
D spirit of a new abolition for the N,
gro and are proving to be the Carr
r sons, the Phillips and the Sumner
of these modern times.
! The organization has not alway
been received with popular favor oy
$ ing to its high standards which OF
own people do not always readil
grasp; because of different" educci
tion regarding the Negroes civil an
political status. The organizatio
comes with a nobler message of maj
hood and citizenship than we hav
been used to listening to and som
have doubted its genuineness. Som
have condemned it because DR.. Dl
bois is one of its faithful and abb
members, Considering this an insu
to DR.. Washington, whom they coi
slider the association makes it's on
object of attack, all of which is ridi
ulous. Others practice the 'let
alone" policy ON the ground that
stirs up needless strife and puts tn
races farther apart.
But it will soon be seen that tn.
organization holds the sword of trut
for the race problem, and comes
set every Negro at variance againi
lf superstitious ideas concerning hin
self and help him win his full statul
as a man. Little as you may thin
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