The Twin City star., 1918-05-11
ATTY. FRANCIS ADDRESSES
SOCIAL SERVICE CLUB
CONTINUED from First Page.)

For a while dazed and confused by
the liberty into which it was thrust
and which 1t knew not how - use,
stupefied by the anodyne of bondage
still lingering in its blood, it now Is
beginning to stir from its letkargy and
emerge from it's bewilderment.
At last the dawn is beginning to-
break, and he who has been asleep
or. cropping binding in the night is
coming forth into the morning. The
light of a new day is upon his face
and that cheer, which made possible
the bearing of the burden of the
schackles Of slavery, and softened the
sting of the overseer's lash, is still
in his heart. "
| We are living in an age and an
epoch which Is characterized by a
growing and insistent demand for JUS.
tice and democracy. The, United
States is sending men. money and
munitions to the battle fields Of Eu.
rope as its demand for justice, free
dom and equality of opportunity for
all peoples, and 1t would be well for
the Americans at this time to remem.
Der that here in our own country for
the past fifty years since the aboli-
tion of slavery, is a race loyal, patri-
otic people. who are not enjoying at
the hands of this government here at
home the principles of that democracy
for which we are fighting to make the
world safe, and in which fight God
helping us, we will be victorious.
The Negro is loyal in time Of peace
and patriotic in the time of war. He
vies with every other American citi-
zen in allegiance to the constitution,
in honor to the American flag and
offers his life and resources to the
government for the maintenance of
our republic as world power IN brign-
ing about the world democracy for all
mankind
Did it ever occur to you that what
you and I commonly know as the Nc.
gro race is not Negro race. Web
ster's Standard dictionary defines Ne
gro as "One Of the black races in
Africa" The colored people in
America are not black race. They
are a multi-colored race, peculiar in
that they vary in color and in other
important particulars.
All other peoples have some or sew
eral peculiar racial marks that are
characteristic of that certain people
most races can be told by their sur
name, as for instance Murphy, o.
Toole, Flanagan, plainly denote the
Irish, and LaBatty, st. Julian and De-
Baptist, the French; Olson, Johnson
and Anderson, the Swede; Goldbloom
Simon and Cohen, the Jew: with Wag
ner, Betz and Herman the German
But there Is no name that is peculiar
to the American colored man.
All other races have some peculiar
facial feature, hair or distinctive
color that marks them Enthusiastically
but the American colored man has
the facial features of every race un
der the sun. He has hair from the
texture of the Coarsest wool to soft
ness of silk, and in all colors from
black to golden. He varies in com
plexion from the darkness of an Egyp
tian night to as fair as the lily, and
because of these variations you pass
many of them on the streets day af
ter day with never even a suspicion
that they belong to that race Of peo
pie commonly called Negro in this
, country. And this condition, having
been created by the American white
man, it therefore appears to me that
this race variety was MADE IN
AMERICA, and that we are a race
without nationality save that which
We have acquired under hard condi
tions upon the soil Of this country
We owe neither allegiance nor sym
pathy to any foreign prince, poten
tate or power. We hate tyranny be
cause we have been the victims OF
tyranny. We have no prejudices &C
quired abroad, no affiliations with an
older civilization, no prepossessions Oi
language, religion or philosophy OF
kultur to mitigate our Americanisn
therefore, we are simon-pure one hun
dred per cent American.
We now have nearly hundred
thousand such Negroes in the camps
and across the seas somewhere. in
France" and at this hour $4,000, more
are on their way from their homes In
the south to the various training camps
And although compelled to wait for
their trains in separate, dingy and
dirty waiting rooms, and to ride In
| jim-crow cars through the States OF
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Loui
siana and Tennessee, states made in
famous by the lynching and burning
at the stake Of helpless black men
women and children, We are glad to
fight our country's battles and we
bear no malice for the wrongs we
have suffered.
Through our faith in divine pro-
misses we believe we see the dawnine
OF new day upon earth. We are
looking beyond this wild, engulfine
world war; across the setting muck