The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1916-01-22
RACE PROBLEM IN AMERICA.
Cont from Page I.
BY w. T. Francis.

dollarS. But we nave no place to
turn for help.
The white boy sets out upon his
career with many voices to hail and
urge him on. His race is with him,
bearing him up in it's sympathies and
in its achievements az the ocean lifts
the ship on its bosom. The Negro
boy begins the ascent with his race
drag upon him. The weight of the
whole mass he must 1ift. If he finds
some voices to encourage him, there
are more voices to sheer and bid him
keep his place. All the way up there
are those who contest his right to
rise; and he knows that if at last he
shall succeed in standing upon the
higher range of attainment he win be
in an atmosphere that is chilly indeed.
But if there be dignity in bearing the
cross; If it is true that the better
rewards of life are designed for those
who overcome, then surely great cred
it is due such Negroes as Booker T.
Washington. Fred Douglass and hun
dreds of other sturdy ones who against
unparalleled odds have pushed their
way; who have climbed often with
bleeding fingers and bruised feet, and
who have attested in their victories
against severest competitions those
lines of Kipling which I have some
where seen quoted in their behalf:
"But there is neither East, nor West,
Border, nor breed, nor birth.
When two strong men stand face to
face,
Though they come from the ends of
the earth"
All that we as Negroes want is a
fair chance. We do not ask favors
now. We just want the liberty to be
ourselves, to be permitted to stand
upon our own legs. If we can man
age the farm, dig the mines and run
the engine; if we can plead the case
and treat the sick; if we can mould
Our thoughts in exquisite beauty and
real power in verse or on canvas; if
we can be the statesman and the
leader Of men-let there be no hind
rance placed to the exercise of these
talents. ~
We do not ask that social equality
which brings me into your home or
you into mine, without regard for
your feelings or mine, for we realize
as does every sensible man that; So
cial equality is an individual right.
But we do want industrial equality--|
the opportunity to work on fair terms
and to enjoy to the fullest extent the
harvest of our labor; also educational
equality-the privilege to learn and
to appropriate the truth, which be-
longs, like the air to all. i
The white people Of the North, en-
crossed in their business and every
day life have no conception of the per-
sistency displayed by the white
people of the South, led by Vardaman,
Tillman, John Sharp Williams, Hef-
film, Thomas Dixon and others, in
prosecuting the Negro and curtail-
ing his rights. 1t was Senator Till
man who said, we've cheated the
niggers, we've threatened them, we've
murdered them, and now we are going
to disfranchise them. And through
the passage, by the various southern
states, of the laws known as the
Educational Test with the Under
standing" clause, and the Grand
father" clause, the Negroes of the
South have been disfranchised for the
past 10 to 20 years. But, thank God,
through the recent decision of the
United States Supreme Court these
laws have been declared unconstitu-
tional and If southern ingenuity and
prejudice cannot find another way to
rob my people of their franchise they
will soon enjoy the right to vote as
we'll as to pay taxes.
Josiah Royce, of Harvard one of
the leading psychologists of our time,
made an elaborate study of this matter
of prejudice a few years ago, and
pronounced it pure illusion; that
it is not an actual but an artificial
thing and has no existence except
where efforts are made to interfere
with the natural order of things and
to change Gods plans with respect
to humanity.
The city of ST. Paul has no natural
problem arising out of the Mississip-
pi River. When allowed to flow in
its natural caurse the "Father of Wa
tiers" passes peacefully on its winding
way until its identity is lost in the wa
tiers of the Gulf of Mexico. 1t adds
beauty to the scenery surrounding the
cities, towns and villages it kisses, and
upon its broad bosom, swift-winged
vessels of commerce cary their bur-
dens from one end of the country to