The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-02-08
PASTOR EXPLAINS
RACE PREJUDICE
Rev. Dr. Granger Declares
White People Have Right
to preferences.
OPPOSES NTERMARRIAGE
Minister Answers Complaint of Negro
Preacher Against Treatment of
Colored People.

Race prejudice is exaggerated and
often caused by negroes themselves, Rev.
| {. Ernest Granger. pastor of Gunton
Temple Memorial Presbyterian Church.
said in a sermon last night. He declared
that intermarriage is an evil and that
1t was never intended for the races to
! live together.
The sermon was delivered in answer
to pamphlet issued by a Washington
negro minister. who reprinted letters he
had sent to magazines and ministers
complaining against Rce prejudice.
About twenty negroes We're in the con-
gregatiOn.
Preferences and PrejudIces.
81 maintain that much-called race pref
udice is not race prejudice. 1t is pos
sible to have preferences without preju-
dices. Discrimination is not necessarily
prejudice. All white men should rec
ognize the rights of the negro and love
him as a fellow man.
IF the white man has preferences and
desires to discriminate in his associa-
tions. that is his right and he has
right TO maintain that right and to expect
society to protect him in it. He may
have and should have no animosity to-
ward the negro, but he simply has
preference in the matter which is sacred
to him, and which should be esteemed
as sacred by society.
Much of the race prejudice that
really does exist is brought about by the
negro himself They often intrude them
selves upon communities and people. This
causes i'll feeling and dislike. The ne
gro is very foolish in this, for. while
he may think he is gaining a point he
loses more than he gains-he loses the
good will of the white man. The negro
has no right to intrude upon sacred prem
ises Of the white mans preferences.
zone other reason for race prejudice
so called-is the objection on the part Of
the white race to the mingling of the
blood of the races. ! know that many
leaders Of the negro race advocate the
purity of the race. and | do not question
the sincerity of their affirmatiOns, but
the fact remains that many OF them
have married white wOmen-DOuglass
among them-and this is repulsive to the
white race as a race.
Many Believed in Intermarriage.
"A prominent negro of Greater New
York told me he regarded intermarriags
as the solution of the negro problem. He
was a clergyman, and said he often Off
Ciated at mixed marriages. The white
man believes that If he recognizes social
equality intermarriage will be the newt
able outcome.
LAS to prejudice, there is plenty of It
between members or classes of the negro
race itself. Those of the better or more
prosperous or more cultured class of ne
grOes are no more willing to associate
with the poorer and more ignorant class
than whites are to associate with them.
They are quite exclusive in their
clubs and churches. They are not al
together consistent. DIR. Grimke (the
negro pastor who wrote the pamphlet
which caused the sermOn) is of the bet
ter class. Is he championing the cause
of his race as a whole or of a particu-
lar class in the race?
The problem is serious and veXinE.
The two races were not intended by
God to live together. He put them on
different continents, far apart. But
they are together here, and the best
must be made of a bad situation. The
Gospel should have some solution. 1t
has There must be recognition of the
brotherhood of man, and recognition
OF the rights of each race. There must
be cultivation of good will. kindness,
confidence. each and every man honor
ed for what he is regardless OF race
or color, but, at the same time. each
and every man must be allowed the
sacred rights OF his own preferences
as to his associates in private and in
public.