The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1915-05-29
THE NEW ABOLITION.


thinks the following strong statement
and demands:
The National Association For the
Advancement of Colored People seeks
to uplift the colored men and women
OF this country by securing to them
the full enjoyment of their rights as
citizens, justice in all courts and equal
lty of opportunity everywhere. It ia
Vors and aims to aid every kind of
education among them save that which
teaches special privilege or preroga-
1--WE, class or caste. It recognizes
the national character of the race
problem and no sectionalism. 1t be-
lieves in the UNFOLDING of the constitu-
ton of the United States and it's
in the spirit of Abraham
Lincoln. 1t upholds the doctrine of
all men up and no man down. It
abhors Negro crime, but still more the
conditions which breed crime and,
most of all, the crimes committed by
mobs in the mOckery of the law or by
individuals in the name of the law.
1t has no other belief than that the
best way to uplift the colored man is
the best way to aid the white man to
peace and social content. It has no
other desire than exact justice and no
other motive than humanity"
The proposed program for the ad-
vance of the colored people has been
laid down by DR.. w. E. B. Dubois:
we need not waste time by seeking
to deceive our enemies into thinking
that we are going to be content with
a half loaf or by being willing to lull
our friends into a false sense of our in
dlfference and present satisfa ction.
The American Negro demands equali-
equality-and he is never
going to rest satisfied with anything
less. He demands this in no spirit of
braggadocio and with no obsequious
envy OF others, but as an absolute
measure of self defense and the only
one that will assure to the darker
races their ultimate survival on earth.
The colored people must have In
dustrlal freedom. Between the peon.
age of the rural south, the oppression
OF shrewd capitalists and the jealousy
of certain trade unions the colored la.
borer is the most exploited class in
the country, giving more hard toll for
less money than any other American
and with less voice in the conditions
Of his labor.
In social intercourse every effort is
being made today from the president
OF the United States and the so called
Church of Christ down to saloons and
bootblacks to segregate, strangle and
spiritually starve the colored man so
as to give him the least possible
chance to know and share civilization.
THE colored man must have power
the power of men, the right to do, to
know, to feel and to express that
knowledge, action and spiritual gift.
he must not simply be free from the
political tyranny Of white folk; he
must have the right to vote and to
rule over all the citizens to the extent
of his proved foresight and ability.
He must have voice in the new in
dustrlal democracy which is building
and the power to see to it that his
children are not in the next generation
trained to be the mud stills of society.
He must have the right to social in
tercourse with his fellows.
There was time in the atomic in
dlvidualistic group when "social inter-
course" meant merely calls and tea
parties; today social intercourse
means theaters, lectures, organiza-
lions. clubs, churches, excursions, ira.
vel. hotels-it means, in short, life.
TO bar a group from methods of think
Ing, living and doing, is to bar them
from the world and bid them create
new wOrld-it is to cruelty them and
taunt them with not being able to
[ive."
DR.. Dubois suggest five practical
steps for action-first, economic COOP
Grafton; second, revival of art and
literature; third, political action;
fourth, education; fifth, organization.
For the accomplishment of all these
ends we must organize. Organization
among us already has gone far, but it
must go much further and higher. Or.
ganization is sacrifice. It is sacrifice
OF opinions. Of time, of work and of
but it is, after all, the cheapest
way of buying the most priceless of
gifts-freedom and efficiency. I thank
God that most of the money that sup.
ports this association comes from
colored hands. A still larger proper.
ton must come, and we must not only
support, but control, this and similar
and hold them unwaver-
lngly to our objects, our aims and our
IDEALS ~,
with such organizations and with
all the progress that they can point
to let us never be satisfied with mere
progress SO long as we fall so far
short Of reasonable accomplishment
Of our desires. Remember that we
are despised today by millions of peo-
pie not because we suffer; but because
we suffer like dumb, driven cattle.
with even a smile on our faces. To
what other race could it happen on
Gods green earth that one of it's great
est leaders here in New York before
assembled thousands could congratu-
late his people because only fifty-tw,
colored men and women have in one
short year been hanged and shot and
burned by mobs If that can give TO-
100000 people satisfaction, in Gods
name what will it take to make them
fight?
"As for me and those that think
with me, so long as one black man in
the United States is Illegally punished
or unjustly treated or has the door of
opportunity closed in his face we will
protest and complain and protest
again whether the world wants to hear
us or not. We may not gain our ends.
We may not in our days realize our
ideals. But the program lay before
you is not only reasonable and just,
but it is program Of peace and pa
tience, and in laying it down I face
the awful fact that in this as in all
great causes, if peace and patience
cannot win, then war and struggle
must. In any case there can be no de-
spair, there can be no surrender, there