Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-28
ZangwiII's Melting Pot" Can
Have No Reference to
the South

makeup however rings utterly only when talking
or writing things with which he is thoroughly familiar
Zangwi has written pay-as to whether it great
play critics dvded-caled The Melting Pot in which he
pictures the United States great crucble into which all
sorts and conditions and have thrown and
eventually he perfectly blended and spnddy balanced
evolved therefrom.
The idea is that poet philosopher pictur-
ing it Mr. zangw engaging and interesting not convnc
Poets proverbially write mpressivey of things they
know not ofndeed the children of poets Imagination in
varably and inevitably he poet which Zangwi
is are perfect form and substance to the poet mind
If could not say that of Mr. Zangw would reject
with scorn and indignation or at least some of themno only
expressed and implied in The Melting Pot but
pecaly in recent striking interview based upon that play
which carried in the Hearst papers generally.
Particularly in the Southland sympathecay if not other
wise in the other seotonsw the following statements from
Mr. zangw cued from the body OF his interview be con
sidered with doubt and fear, and some impatience.
No doubt there is instructive antpathy which tends
to keep the white free from black blood though this
antipathy having by large minority in all
the many periods and all the countries of their
guity, it equally certain that there at work forces of
negro the Melting Pot of America will not fail to act
"A musician like ooerdge Taylor is no despicable
product of the Melting Pot while the negroes of genius
to know-men like Henry o. Tanner whom the writer has
been privileged to lnOw-men like Henry o Tanner, the
painter and Paul Laurence Dunbar the poeshow the po
tentialites of the without white admxture; and
of this stamp capable of attracting cultured white
wives the fung process, beginning at the top with types
like these should be far less unwecome than that which
starts with the dregs of both races
Eventually the negro may disappear from this nation
there getting mad with Mr. zangwi for WELL
perhapsbu he will not be assmilated into amalgamaed
with it racially.
Those certain forces of attraction leading toward
blending of the blacks and whites that Mr. Zangw thinks he
observes simply are not there!
The mulatto NOT symptom of racial amalgamation,
Is symptom of racial destruction ANNIEILATIoN! Along
his way dwells obiteration
But is neither the desire the purpose of the whites
of the United States of the South pases DESTROY
the such part of it may be located therein
The South at least willing to make ample for the negro
to furnish him the of supporting himself in happ
and conntment in making himself useful and desirable
BUT NOT TO HIS REMoTEsT VISION OR HOPE DOES
THE SOUTH HOLD THE IMPOSSIBLE GOAL OF SOCIAL
OR RACIAL EQUALITY!
The negro capable of many things purely negro-and
better negro Mr. zangw admits too when he cites
the achievements of Henry O. Tanner
bar-the latter poet Mr. Zangwi s-to prove this
Both of these splendid specimens of the negro his
eectuay fubooded without drop of white blood
their veins!
Why then be entirely sensible about this matter and en-
courage perenty ALL negroes to emulate unwervngIy the
racial characteristics of these rather than having
full worthness suggest them in the BREATH
Mr. Zangw does the sinister and the FATALLY MISTAKEN
idea of intermarriage with the white race?
In recent editorial in The Georgian John Temple
took occasion to reasser his clear understanding of the South
and the Nation satttude nowadays toward negro
(N1r zangwi may consider this curous) the editorial
ENTHUSIASTICALLY BY BLACKS AS BY WHITES!
whites, Mr. Graves says:
The idea which long held currency in the South was
that the negro had qualifications for living and competing
with the dominant and superior raoethat he complicated
all Of their problems of industry
wise thing to do to help him to enter another country
where after two hundred years of contact with this people,
Woih out uestlny py CounSe Co
operation but with absolute independence and in his
right.
That idea has entirely passed away Every thinking
now believes that long Republic endures the
white and the black will dwell together in the South
1t therefore both logical and humane that more ad
vanced and better developed race must as matter of pol
icy and prudence help the and develop him along
best lines and operate with him in every worthy
he must build up the negro to the highst conceptions
of his duty TO HIMSELF AND TO THEM and establish
the understanding that they live with him. the
white race must help him to be worther of citizenship
association
There so plainly stated that he who may read
sum total Of the white man s burden in nation
seeks to lift the negro his best bravest staonto
make OF him. entirely within himself important neces
sar part OF society but it suggests to his mind thought of
amagamaton philosophy of kindness and consideration
and carries no hint of that refinement OF CRUELTY THAT
SUsPENDs, EVER so DIMLY, ON THE HORIZON OF THE
EQUALITY IN THIS COUNTRY!
And so men like John Temple Graves on the one hand