The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-06-08
ATTITUDE OF THE
AMERICAN NEGRO
Professor Plckens Declares
Race Is Loyal.
MEANING OF GERMAN PLOT

In Scholarly Address at Washington
Prominent Educator EnIishtsns coun-
try on coIorsd Americana Position In
Nations Great Crisis-Do Not Need
:. Watching, but Want Square Deal.
Washington. - Speaking under the
auspices Of the National Association
For the Advancement Of Colored Peo-
pie at a meeting held In this city on
the evening Of Wednesday, May 16, on
1.-THE Attitude of the American Negro"
Professor William Pickens, dean Of
Morgan college, Baltimore, in part
said:
There is no question as to the Ne
gro's patriotism or loyalty, But the
mistake Is being made by misinter-
probation Of the mind Of the Negro
which Is back Of this patriotism. The
last year or two Of the great war have
discovered an unprecedented thing
unprecedented except by the spirit Of
tho Negro himself during the civil war
namely, that Americas least privi-
legged and most prosecuted class proves
to be In q critical time its most de-
pendable citizenship. For several sea-
sons now every white man I'm America
has been watching every other white
man, but nobody has felt the need Of
watching the American Negro. To be
sure, a false alarm was recently start
ed in the south about German plotting
among Negroes, but those Of Us who
know the south knew at once what
that alarm meant It signifled not
fear Of Negro disloyalty, but real
and genuine fear Of the Negroes grow
ing Industrial and economic opportuni-
ties which the great war has brought
him.
This alarm, which Is the most treach-
erous thrust that has been made at the
Negro in recent years, failed. It fail
ed against the solid fact OF the Negroes
loyalty, past and present. The south,
which has fooled the world about the
Negro in almost every other particular,
which has made the north believe that
he is characteristic libertine, that he
Is an Improbable laborer, that he is un-
reliable as a machine operator and that
he Is an undesirable in almost every
other capacity-this historic traducer
of our race, after being backed even by
high official confirmation" failed ut
terly to stir the blood Of the nation
with the sea recrow Of Negro disloyafty.
Such Is the universal and unconsciously
acquired confidence in the Negro as an
American.
But, slngularly enough, the peoples
who have been highly favored above
the Negro are the classes who are now
deemed worthy Of suspicion-those who
have been permitted to buy house on
any corner, who have been permitted to
live in any part Of our cities, who have
been admitted to work in any business
or industry, who have not been dis
franchised, but who have been jubilant-
" naturaltzed as fresh recruits foE the
ghost or fetish called "white ciylliza-
tton," the people who have not been
jimcrowed or hanged without trial or
burned at the stake (behold, ye godsD
these are the peoples whom the ma
ton watches when the nations security
is threatened.
But the Negro, whose ancestry, by
the way, was American long before that
Of the great majority Of our white peo-
pie and whose record Of loyal service
has been uniform and unvarying, Is the
only class upon whom all Of these
abuses have been heaped, and yet by
the reluctant confession Of his worst
enemies he is the class Of all classes not
needing to be watched.
Although the Negroes dependable
ness is the best attested fact in Amer
lea today, he is the one man not en-
Enthusiastically welcomed in all our great
preparations for war. We wish to
get along without him If we possibly
can. To be sure, we have left the door
ajar so that the colored brother can be
called, as usual, when sorely needed.
Meanwhile some of us are between
the devil and the deep blue sea. We
must either send the Negro to the
glory Of the trenches in France or we
must permit him the gain of becoming
further intrenched in our home indus
tries, and we feel that either trench
will have a mighty elevating influence
on the American Negroes status.
What could be more effective than
the Negro in Europe, freeing big souled
France, clarifying America and estab-
fishing democracy in the world? On
the other hand, what could be Of more
solid gain to the Negro race in the
United States than to be permitted by
the incident Of war and the iron law
of necessity to work in the great In
dustries Of America and prove that he
can do satisfactorily the very things
which his enemies have for fifty years