Evening star., 1920-01-28
CRISIS
OF THE NEGRO RACE
Neville H. Thomas Demands
Justice and Civil Rights
Under Government.

| The negro has been in this country
as long as the Ansle-Saxon white
| man He has helped in proportion
! to his numbers to make il the great
and powerful nation that it is. He
pays taxes. he obeys its laws. he sheds
his blood to defend it. Yet the negro
is denied his civil rights almost
everywhere in the land. He does not
! enjoy the liberty he has earned. The
crisis has come to the negro i'm the
United States. He must demand his
rights. He must fight for them. He
| must appeal for aid to the millions
of white men in America who love
Justice enough to give the negro his
due.
Foregoing Is the gist of speech
! entitled Agitation the Social Lever
OF the World made by Neville H.
| Thomas. teacher of Greei, ard Roman
history in Dunbar High School. at a
meeting in Plymouth Congregational
Church colored. last night.
Discusses President's Attitude.
The attitude of President Wilson
| toward the civil status of the negro
citizen was sharply criticized by the
speaker. who described Postmaster
! General Burleson as the Ignorant
autocrat of the Post Office Depart
ment. said to have some interest in a
peonage farm in Texas" and who eX-
co-iated Attorney General Palmer and
Secretary of the Navy Daniels.
discrimination is being practiced
against the colored man III America
today by everybody from President
wilson down." said Mr. Thomas. We
nave got to agitate without thought
. or personal sacrifice in order to win
justice Remember. freemen through
out history have won no rights with
out fighting for them.
The business of lynching negroes
N IniS country has he c
and IL is going to be stopped We
must win the rights to patronize' the
best restaurants, theaters ard hotels
and to enjoy the best transportation
conVeniences. Until we do we bear
the stamp of inferior beings And
when you are considered an inferior
man YOU invite lynchings."
Quotes Senate Document.
reading from Senate document No.
LED. communication sent to the Cap
itol by the Attorney General on the
subject of negro radicalism. the
speaker criticised that official for con-
sldering as lawleSS those colored peo-
pie who agitate, and for failing to
prosecute the lawless mobs that lynch
negroes.
Remember the Attorney General is
your servant and mine. He wants to
keep the negro from hollering when
he is kicked
We negroes have found a cure
Tor mob violence against US. 1t is
armed resistance. BY that 1 do not
mean armed aggression. but seif-de-
fense. We will meet mob law with
played in storming the heights near
Metz in the great war Every man
must make his home his castle and de-
fend it with his life
1t is the duty of the northern negro
to teach his southern brother to de-
mand and secure the free use of the
vote. Mr.. Thomas asserted. The col
ored man of the south must be able
to enjoy the best of accommodations.
Sees Attempt Mt Suppression.
THE Attorney General and the Sen
ate cannot suppress 100000 people
determined to get their civil rights"
he went on TO say. The declaration
Every time the authorities repress
one man who agitates they make a
thousand converts to the cause. They
are deportfng men for agitation. but
they are not deporting their ideas.
Eolshevism can't be suppressed with
force, but it can be met successfully
with true democracy
The speaker repeatedly paid CRATE
ful tribute to the French people for
their attitude of fraternity toward the
colored American soldier. He said
America is the only one of twenty
seven nations represented at the
| peace table that draws the color line.
While Wilson preached democracy
there" he declared, "our 300-odd rep
resentatives in the peace conference
knew that in America the negro citi-
zen was suffering under the cruelest
autocracy that ever cursed the world"
No Desire for Social Equality.
But we must make it clear to the
world that we don't want social as
sociation. We want the white man
to know that we have no desire to
marry his daughter or visit him. as
one white man with another. in his
home. AS / said, we don't want social
association. We want to cooperate
with the white citizen in making
America a real democracy. Just plain
justice lis all we ask"
In conclusion the speaker bitterly
assailed race segregation in the gov
ernment departments. The exclusion
of negroes from the government navy
and military academies was target
for red-hot rhetoric. Yes. despite
! President Wilson's bombast on de-
mocracy,' he finished. I'VE have none
there
S. VI. Kendrick, deacon in the
church. presided. and made brief ad-