Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1919-10-25


helpless with her Negro problem as
America is today. Now she realize,
that competent Negro is as great
an asset for France as q competent
Caucasian. This faith saved France.
1t will save America. Nothing else
will.
so many gods, so many creeds.
SO many paths that wind and wind
While just the art of being kind
Is all this sad world needs"
wrote Mrs. Wilcox.
This is Il living principle that
would solve all the problems of the
human race.
America went wrong when she in
Stituted slavery, in violation of that
Cody clause in her Constitution.
ALL MEN ARE CREATED FREE
AND EQUAL. She was wrong in
her method Of emancipating these
slaves. After two centuries and
more Of slavc-scrvice, through which
they received merely their keep.
these black people were turned loose
without funds or homes with which
to begin their so-called freedom
Added to this. they had tho enemity
Of the very people whom they had
served SO faithfully and long. There
was some talk Of providing each
former slave with forty acres and
Ia mule" This is now regarded as
Ia colossal joke, but, had the idea
been carried out, it would have
freed America from a part of the
great, bloodwrought debt she still
owes her black people. Who is re-
sponsible for tho failure Of the
Frcedmen's Bank? Some may
charge It against the freedmen, but
we do not believe that God did any
thing of the kind. If parents are re-
sponsiblc for their dependent chill
drcn, the guardians Of those inlet
tered people arc responsible for tho
loss of the tollful dollars Of those
black depositors. We wonder what
the Recording Angel wrote in re-
gard to this crime against a defense
less people!
America is wrong in her present
efforts TO maintain the old master
and-scrvant relation between tho
races. She is wrong in her attempts
to assign "placo" in her national
ifc for her Colorcd citizens. 1t can
not be done, Mr.. George. Colorcd
people arc growing, and they are
growing from within. They have be
gun to burst asundcr the terrible
mental slavery that held thcm so
cruelty after their hands and feet
had been made free. They have
learned to think, and thought is
boundloss. In spite OF all that any
people may say to the contrary, the
fact is sure that the intellectual de-
vclopment of some Negroes, is SUI
perior to that Of most Caucasians,
and is equal to tho best of them.
II you ask me as to the Negroes
part in solving his problem in Amer
lea, stated briefly, l say 1t is the
improving of himself and the re-cdu-
eating of the white race to rocog-
nize that Improvement. The latter
is his task rather than n consistent
part Of his duty. Every country on
earth recognizes the worth of its Ne
gro citizens except America. You
may say that this is because no
country understands the Negro but
America. No; here is the differences:
While America thinks she under
stands Colored people, the other
countries know that they under
stand human nature. They have
studied the question in tho absolute,
while America has been formulating
a theory out Of her prejudice and
thinks sho has fitted her Colored
people to it. She has been busy
labelling the Negro as being some
kind OF peculiar by-product result
ing from the job God did when He
4 OF C1,n 10
and that is why she will haVo to be
taught to sec, think and act straight.
Human nature is bigger than the
personal opinion Of any one people.
1t is as great as the human family.
1t is the one thing that is common
to all human beings. + No human
problem can be solved until this sig
nificant fact is recognized.
With her determinations and hos
tile sentiments against her COlored
people, America asserts that the Ne
gro is, by nature, inferior to the
white race. We refuse to believe 1t.
How absurd this American attitude
must seem to France, who has her
General Dodd and other black dig
nitaries, and to England, who has
her black governors, mayors, post
masters, and other black men of
affairs in West Africa. There are
equally as great Negro examples in
America, but she has not the eyes
to see, the ears to hear nor the
heart to know thom. In the his
tories Of Harvard, Yale, and other
mighty universities of our country,
are written the glorious records and
scholarly achievements of black stu
dents who made their illnstrious
marks side by side with tho best,
white brains that America could
muster. Yet, in spite of the abund-
ance Of evidence which proves it's
presumption false. Prejudice shuts
its eyes and shouts in the face OF
fact its blind belief in a lie.
Serious students, who have delve&
into the subjects with honest minds,
are convinced that the fathers of the
present world civilization were not
white, but were black people, the
founders of ancient Ethiopia and
Egypt. DR.. Scholes, in his book,
"Glimpses of Ethiopia" writes: