Cayton's weekly. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1916-1921, 1918-10-26
THE NEGRO IN WAR-TIMEs

While much of the thought is lost in not
having the letter that evoked this reply,
yet within itself it tbs so full and overuowing
with good, hard horse sense that it is a
sermon Of itself The letter is as follows:
AS a Southern woman, born and edu-
Gated in Virginia, who has lived many years
in Maryland and four years in Georgia. I
wish to express my disagreement with Mr..
Bolton Smiths recent article in your paper
concerning the Negro and War Times. If
Mr. Smiths article was published in your
journal of Democracy to provoke construc-
tive discussion it is probably good thing.
But it is surprising to find that any thought
ful Southerner should take seriously the
charge that has occasionally found voice in
the newspapers that German propaganda is
responsible for unrest among the Negroes!
IT, here and there such attempts have been
made with some apparent success, it is of
small moment in comparison with the deep
feeling OF unrest, the despair and resent
ment which have slowly seeped into the
souls of great masses of colored folk
1.-The war with Germany has nothing to
do with it. The Civil War has good deal
and it is as old as that and older
Everywhere he goes. the Negro is con-
fronted with the fact that he belongs to the
most unprivileged people in our country
1t is not surprising that in great New York
City soap box orator should give vent to
such utterances as Mr. Smith records. What
is surprising is the fact that more white
people not willing to get really &C.
quaint with the human being whose skin
happens to be black, and see that the Ne
gro's failings are human failings, shared by
all weak and ignorant people alike, and that
given education and opportunity he has a
or tu,l - IL,
est of all experiments in Democracy that we
call America.
"Mr James Weldon johnson is quite
right in what he says about the general
attitude of the Southern people towards
the Negro. 1t is my experience alas that
white people as rule everywhere in our
country do not believe in the Negro s capac-
ity for education and progress. Fortunate
ly, however, there is large and growing
group Of people who do. Social workers
are rapidly multiplying and it is their bust
ness to see that all sorts and conditions of
people get acquainted with one another.
The present Secretary of War is Social
Worker and even the President of the
United States comes dangerously near be-
ing one.
cit is through their kind of propaganda
that the difficult and complex justice (there
isn't such thing as simple justice, Mr..
JohnsonD which we are aiming at now in
the world will come.
''And it must and will come to the Negro.
"HELEN B. PENDLETON.
"Newark, N. j."
Ninety-nine per cent Of the hardships the
colored man must undergo in the United
States are due to the white folks viewing
the colored folks in the light Of call coons
look alike to me- The newspapers make
no distinction between the educated and
the uneducated, the criminal and the law
abiding citizens and for the most part the
undesirable and ignorant are given more
consideration than the peaceful law-abiding
ones. A colored man clandestinely pur-
chased house and lot in a community
where colored folks had never before lived
and the residents for two blocks were mad
enough to mob the man that sold him the
property 'because Negroes are all not only
petty pilferers, but rough and rowdy."
The man, however, moved into the property
hoh no