Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1917-08-25
WILL NOT HEAR THE PROPHET.

Hon II. C. Smith is having a hard
time of 1t in leading his people along
the avenues Of consistency. They in
sist upon breaking away and In COM
promising him and others In the fight
for equality before and behind the
law and in insisting upon all of the
rights and privileges guaranteed by
the laws Of the State of Ohio and
those Of tho United States Of America.
In his ably edited Journal, lie in
dulges in the following caustic COM
ment:
If ever there was n case Of "selling
birthright for q mess OF pottage,"
our people of Cleveland were given q
striking illustration OF 1t on Monday
last ut Luna Park, this city. In tho
face Of the fact that their wives, sis
ters. and brothers, as we'll as them
selves. are grossly Disseminated
against-denicd their civil rights
in that place OF amusement every day
in the year that 1t Is open, because
our people will not go into the courts,
use our Ohio civil rights law and
break down tho color lines drawn
there, tho Cleveland Association Of
Colored Men, an organization with a
membership that boasts of average
intelligence and some self and race
respect. for the fourth or flfth time
inveiglcd thousands of local Afro
Americans and a number from nearby
cities and towns into attending, on
Monday last at that park, it's annual
money-making scheme, advertised as
an emancipation celebration" This,
too, In the face OF protest after pro-
test from the manly and womanly Of
our people of this community. ex-
tending over period of four or five
years.
On every day Of the year that Luna
Park Is open, 1t II notorious fact
that the, roller skating rink, dance
sSs.stil s1iid bathing pool Nare SGl8sed TO
our people, except on the days 1.-TWO
annually the Cleveland Association
of Colored Men and the Cleveland
Caterers Association (colored men)
use 1t. Even on these days the bath
ing pool is closed to the Negroes who
so far forget themselves and their
civil rights as to visit the park.
More than this, they are taken UNI
fair advantage of In various other
ways, such as being overcharged by n
lessening of the time allotted them
for fee In the roller skating rink
and the dance hall, and in various
other places at the park. The man
agement reaps a golden harvest from
the Negroes visiting the park on the
two NEGRO" days each year, only an
insignificantly small part of which
ever reaches the treasurers Of the two
race organizations named. In plain
words, twice year, led by the Cleve-
land Association Of Colored Men and
the Caterers Association, Negroes
are inveigled into paying that park
management, in hard-earned and
much-needed dollars, great big
golden royalty for denying them civil
rights and privileges in tho place
every day in the year 1t Is open, thus
holding them up to the ridiculc and
contempt of the manly and womanly
Of other classes or races of people
III this community.
Is it any wonder that prejudice in
creases so rapidly and that public
places OF amusement, entertainment
and accommodation are so rapidly
multiplying in which our people are
being denied their rights and privi-
leges, when our own will make it
more profitable for them to so mis-
treat and insult us than to accord us
what We are clearly entitled to under
the law as men and women--citizens!
And IL the decent, and respecting
Afre- Americans Of this community,
with the proper manhood and woman
hood, are to continue to sit supinely
hSr II o>k 80
from year to year, as it has been for
the past four or five years. how much
longer will 1t take for the "doctrine
Of surrender" and personal or or
ganization gain Negroes, like those in
the two organizations named who
persist in attracting our people to
color-line Luna Park to be relieved
Of their hard earnings-we repeat
how much longer will 1t take to re-
duce the Afro Americans Of this COM
munity to the level Of their brothers
and sisters in the meanest locality in
the far South, as far as their civil
rights and privileges in public places
are concerned?
1t Is high time an effort was again
being made to show both organiZa-
tons and all Observation-Disclosures and
men OF the race-that the desire for
personal or organization gain must
not be cultivated at such tremendous
sacrifice OF self and race respect, man.
hood and womanhood, civil rights and
privileges. 1t Is an outrage upon
those Of the race in this community
that will reach out and beyond the
men and women Of today on down to
the children who are the men and
women OF tomorrow. God knows we
ought to make conditions better for
them If not for ourselves.
We should not tolerate any more
such reprehensible acts as these Luna
Park affairs. because they are un-
questionably slowly but surely MAX
ing living conditions in this commun-