Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1918-12-21
REPROACH
Phases of Problem of the Negro
Ostracised Among His
Countrymen.
Have Not Bestowed the Blessings of
Democracy on the Col
ored People.
American Catholics Have Good Rea-
son to Deplore This
Condition.
JUSTICE MUST AND WILL COME.

In spite of the fact that we
some fifty odd years ago liberated
the negro from slavery, we can not
claim that we have solved the negro
problem. If any one dared to as
sert that we done so contradiction
would come from thousands of
whites and from hundreds of thou
sands of negroes. Nor can we, in
the face of our national efforts in
behalf of the democratization of
other nations, truthfully assert that
we have successfully bestowed the
blessings of democracy on the col
ored men and women of our own
country. In view of these facts,
additional weight must be added to
a letter written by Helen B.
Pendleton, of Newark, N. j., and
addressed to the Public, a journal
of democracy, of New York. The
writer. "a Southern woman born
and educated in Virginia." takes
exception to certain statements
made by Bolton Smith and James
Weldon Johnson in the Public re-
garding the american negro in
wartime. Taking up one of the
statements made by Smith. the
lady writes:
ut is surprising to find that any
thoughtful Southerner should take
seriously the charge that has occa-
sionally found voice in the news
papers that German propaganda Is
responsible for unrest among the
negroes! If here and there such
attempts have been made with some
apparent success 1t is of small mo-
ment in comparison with the deep
feeling of unrest, the despair and
resentment which have slowly
seeped into the souls of great
masses of colored folk. The war
with Germany has nothing to do
with it. The civil war has a good
deal, and it is as old as that and
older"
Miss Cor Mrs. Pendleton thus
properly designates the beginning
and some of the phases of our
negro problem. Entering upon one
of the specific phases of the ques-
tion she continues: Everywhere
he goes the negro is confronted
with the fact that he belongs to the
most unprivileged people in our
country" She says it is not sur
prising that an occasional soap-box
orator should make statements
derOgatory to the negro; what is
more surprising" she writes, "is
the fact that more white people are
not willing to get really acquainted
with the human being whose skin
happens to be black, and see that
the negro's failings are human
failings, shared by all weak and
ignorant people alike, and that
given education and opportunity he
has a distinct contribution to make
to this greatest of all experiments
in democracy that we call America"
The writer deplores bitterly the
absence of understanding of the
negro character among the white
people. ut is my experience,
alasl" she continues, that white
people as a rule everywhere in our
country do not believe in the
Negroes capacity for education and
progress. Fortunately, however.
there is a large and growing group
of people who do" Social work
ers, Miss Pendleton remarks with
a show of optimism, 'are rapidly
and it is their business
to see that all sorts and conditions
of people get acquainted with an
other. The present Secretary of
War is a social worker and even
the President of the United States
comes dangerously near being one.
1t is through their kind of propa-
ganda that the difficult and COM
pick justice which we are
aiming at now in the world will
come. And it must and will come
to the negro"
1t would be difficult indeed, IL
not impossible, to controvert the
of the correspondent of
the Public Essentially her con-
tentions are irrefutable. Now
American Catholics have all the
more reason to deplore this condi-
ton, because they should long ago
have felt themselves impelled by
charity to neutralize the causes
which have led up to this condi-
ton. Moreover, had we as Cath
olics taken proper amount OF in
terest in the negro in the past his
spiritual, his religious standing
would now be vastly superior to
what it is. 1t behooves us to face
the negro problem soon and seri-
ously. not only by the support of
the negro missions but also by
earnest efforts in our own cities.
The reproof expressed by Helen
Pendleton is general. it is directed
against Americans generally; but
Catholics will read
out of it a serious reproach for