Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1918-10-05

| said in reply that there undoubtedly
was. 1t is extremely difficult to
bring forward definite detailed proof.
Tho subject brings into evidence tho
agc-old tendency of tho Negro to
keep certain things from tho whites,
even from those with whom he Is on
friendly and confidential terms. This
habit is violently denounced by many
whites, especially in the South, but
it may at least be said that caution
and sccretivcncSs are q legacy from
slavery days, the persistence OF which
it is not difficult to understand.
But there is no question but that
odd travellers in. tho backwoods
dropped hints at dusk into black ears
that the Negro had no flag, and told
OF some mysterious black republic
which the Kaiser at Berlin would
like to see in existence. Some facts
concerning the. treatment Of natives
in the German colonies in Africa
might easily have disposed Of tho
whole matter, but there was no
American propaganda at work.
1t is almost certain that Berlin,
with its almost unfailing misleading
Of conditions in English-speaking
countries had counted on the "black
terror" A well-known woman III
New York, whose two-starred service
flag floats over the most magnificent
part of Fifth Avenue, states catcgor-
ically that an evening some years
before the war, on the deck of
yacht at Kiel when she was talking
to the Kaiser he turned to her with
certain air almost Of gay mis-
chicvousness and said:
81 expect in many ways | know as
much about America, Mrs. -,
as you do. In some ways l expect
know more. l know things that
may happen which you Americans
never suspect"
She protested deprecatingly and
tho night and the Imperial mood
being propitious to confidence, he
continued.
you don't know, Of coruse, that IL
America were at WARMTH me, for
example, all the Negroes would rise
and join the enemy"
The Germans knew Of tho days Of
slavery, they knew too OF the feeling
most Negroes have that the process
Of emancipation Is only half COM
plctcd Berlin could forcsce that
even after tho war had begun Ne
groes could scarcely help saying that
!, safe for democracy ought to mako
J itself democratic at homo.
! And it may have known from spies
that before Americas entrance into
! the war many Negroes Of tho upper
and more thinking classes took the
Presidential proclamation OF neutral
! ity literally and tried to obey 1T,
| Keeping themselves to Il certain cN-
| tent aloof from the Great War in
! feeling TO that degree they were
: pro-Gcrman. But the Kaiser and
! Berlin knew very little OF Negro
! psychology. They did not know
! that tempcramcntally it is extremely
! difficult for tho black man to cherish
! rancor.
! He busters Il bit, he talks, but he
! really does not do much because he
, does not like to hate his noighbor.
, One of the most eloquent OF Negro
orators claimed lately for his people,
| in Il noble passage, that tho race Is
: almost the only one which has learned
; tho lesson Of not bearing malice.
: Indeed IL IL were not so how, after
: slavery had disappeared, could the
| two races so soon have settled down
, into what was after all pretty fair
I friendly relation? The carefully
, built-up structure OF Negro disaffec-
ton indeed crumblcs like house OF
cards, If you touch it. And tho Nc
gro's attitude to the German propa-
: ganda can perhaps be disposed OF In
Il story which Negro audiences greet
with uproariouS amusement and pa
triotic delight. The Hun propagand
ist Is represented rs buttonholinr a
black boy and telling him that tho
or
J special positions assigned to them.
! "Yes, you'll be right forward in
the first trenches. And when there
is an attack to DO made tho white
men arc going to put the colorcd mon
all in front Of them"
/ as thcy?" tho black boy replied,
! grinning. "Well. that's all right:
, that's one time the white folks amt
going to be running over the colorcd
: folks"
: Funny, certainly, but, II you think
1t over, deeply pathetic.
When tho war came at last the
Negro race rose to the occasion, with
really touching simplicity. No OBJ
server could fail to SEQ that tho No
groes thrilled deeply to the thought
that the American flag was their flag
and that 1t was not only ther duty.
I but their privilege to ucfend 1t. What
ever we may feel them, tho colored
people feel themselves not African
: but American.
Have they not indeed drunk OF our
wells and eaten Of our bread for
three centuries? The German pro-
pagandists told them tho flag was not
theirs. But it Is tho only flag they
have ever had, and under it, in spite
OF adverse conditions, they have at
tanned to degree of civilization and
prosperity and happiness, which their
fellows have reached under no other.
We must remember too that Ameri-
can citizenship, Of which some Of its
white possessors think lightly enough
Is for the Negro still q great, almost
romantic privilege, and that all his
hopes for the future are summed up
in complete attainment of 1t and full
enjoyment Of all it's rights and adj
yantages. The race Is emotional and
tho dave ara proDifio,,o For on ana