The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1919-06-13
The Negro and the
Negro Problem

ne was slave and since he has be.
come a freeman the problem contin-
ues a grave one.
We printed few issues ago a well
considered article on this delicate
problem from religious standpoint
from the Methodist Quarterly Review
and herewith is appended one from
the Missionary Voice, printed at
Nashville monthly by the board of
missions of the Methodist Episcopal
church, South.
The article follows:
Fast black. This color will not
rum" Thus the negro draft men in.
scribed their banners as they march
ed away to war. One of them, on
being asked if he were going to
France, replied: No sir. Use gwine
through France
Now that the war is over we must
freely admit that they made good
their jocular boast They didn't run.
Everywhere they went into action,
they exemplified the typical Ameri-
can dash and valor. Their officers,
many of them Souther nmen, testi-
fed that it was not hard to send
them into danger; the difficulty was
to keep them from going into it on
their own account. I will take the
chance of going anywhere with these
black soldiers at my back said
one of the white commanders of a.
negro contingent.
Press correspondents spoke of the
negro troops in highly complimentary
terms: They are soldiers who wear
uniforms with pride; who are jaunty
and ebert and prompt in their move
ments and who express a sincere and
heartfelt desire to get whack at
the foe with the shortest possible de-
lay
Generals Guybet and Duplessee, in
the French army orders of October
Sth, last, cited two negro regiments.
the 371st and 372nd, as having given
proof of the finest qualities of braV-
cry and daring Many individuals
in these regiments came home with
crosses of the Legion of Honor, mill
tary medals, distinguished service
crosses and Croix de Guerre. And the
record of these two regiments is not
exceptional. .-.~-e-%p-+v
: These reports are gratifying in
deed, the more so in view of the fact
that, when our country went to war
fear was felt that the negroes might
yield to German influence. 1t was
soon apparent, however, that such
fears were groundless Nowhere did
there develop among them the slight
est indication of disloyalty. General
Enoch III. Crowder who has charge
of the draft, says of the negro in his
official report: He was filled with
the same feeling of patriotism, the
same martial spirit, that fired his
white fellow citizens in the cause OF
world freedom
Eyes, both on the battlefield and
in the support of the war at home
the negro did his part worthily and
Loyalty. This fact, fully attested and
honestly admitted, should go far to-
ward promoting better relations be-
tween the races for all time to come.
In an hour of national crisis the ne
gro has proved himself a man and
all American. Henceforth he must
be held worthy of the fundamental
a fair deal, to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. There remains
no excuse for the bitter race antag.
onism that has heretofore prevailed
in many quarters, or for the injus-
tices that have so often distinguish
ed us in our dealings with the negro.
Racial lines, of course, must and
should be preserved. Indeed it
should be as much a point of pride
with the negro to retain his racial
integrity and purity as it is with the
white man: and that end can be at
tanned only by a measure of social
separateness. To this all will agree,
colored and white. But to hold the
negro in contempt, to treat him as
something less than man, to ex-
plot him industrially and corrupt
him politically, to discourage and
deny his desire for education, to bru-
talize him with cruelty and lynch
him without trial If suspected OF
crime-for the continuance of an at