The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1916-07-22
"COLORED LEADERSHIP

(from the Cleveland Gazette.)
Inc attempt on the part of certain
"hlte people interested in industrial
education for our people almost tn
tne point OF opposition to any other
klno, TO select for the race a man or
set OF men as the recognized leader
or leaders of the race, is at least prei-
uolc1al. No man or combination If
men could so nominate Theodore
roosevelt leader of the white race If
AMERICA. The position Mr.. Roosevelt
occupies in this respect came MT
from the dictum of interested nart;es
but from the moral worth of the man
10 the nation as shown by his deeds
ana words. Even the election of a
man to the presidency of this country
does not make him the leader of anv
race. Political good fortune NAV he
national or racial calamity Monv
whlte persons frequently say, our
people should follow the dictum of
certain men of the race whose talk
or attitude toward vital questions
pleases them. Because of the pref
ud1ce extant in this country against
the race, and as this prejudice is verv
large from white opposition to our
men coming on equality with them
any choice for leadership by them for
the race smacks of the suspicion that
the suggested leader is in accord
with their pre1ddiced point of view
we believe that colored and white
men should seek the golden mean If
harmony in all things essential for
tne oeVelopment of both races, but
"hen a leadership is foisted upon anv
race and that too against the recog-
nzed wishes of the race, that leader
SNIP however backed up by money
Will be most bitterly fought. The at
tempt TO make a head of any Darticu-
lar school, the leader of a race. is to
Dr1ng down upon both the school and
us mead the opposition of all not in
sympathy with the leader" Certain
quallhcations leader must have if
ne would lead, and devoid of these he
Will ANONYMOUSLY fail. ANY man
VINO has not keen appreciation If
the worth and rights of his race can
not be the leader of that race. Anv
man VINO will surrender the funda.
mental things that belong to his race
IS unit to lead that race to virile
MANHOOD and responsibility. The
more other races emphasize his fit-
ness. the more his inacceptability will
manifest itself. No man dead or alive
mas ever been the leader of our race
III thls country. Many men living
ana dead have been the opponents Of
many things that contribute LARGELY
TO the races welfare. Besides a man
VINO may be a leader in one thing
may not be a leader in all. To pro-
claim the president of Harvard COL
lege as the leader of the white race
OF America is to insult that race. Not
because the president of Harvard is
lacking in sane advices, noble pre-
cepts and manly virtues such as are
applicable to the rise of any race. but
because the demands of the white
race are so multiplied and varied that
no one man can possibly lead in all.
Inc same is true of our race. The
lnslstence by white men that all orr
men echo the policy or plan of some
man OF the race they (the whites)
Ike is very disturbing element in
the progress of the race The policy
OF placing unlimited resources in the
hands of this leader as we'll as mete-
ing out to the race only those things
this white appointed leader die
tates, is to subject the race to
specie of slavery that is more damna-
pie than peonage, for it attempts to
letter the mind. All we ask of white
men. north, south, east and west, is
TO allow our men to come to leader
ship in the same way others achieve
1t. Our race appreciates it's great
men. 1t is willing to give them honor
and homage, but it is unwilling to
DOW the knee to any white mans
choice of leadership" simply because
this leader fits in with the diseased
and prejudiced mind of those opposed
TO untrammeled manhood for our
people.
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