Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1921-07-23
\. y. a. {. l.. ISSUES CALL TO
NATION,
Twelfth Annual Conference at De-
troit Demands Square Deal
for Negro.

The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, 70
tltth Avenue, New York, today pub
lishcd the call to the Nation adopted
by resolution at Tie final meeting Of
the twelfth annual conference in De-
troit. The call was presented by
Harry &c. Davis, colored member of
the Ohio Legislature, and read as
follows:
Call TO the Nation.
The National Association for tho
Advancement of Colored People in
It's twelfth annual conference, meet
ing in this great crisis of the world
reconstruction, would remind the ma
ton that from our very first confer
enco we have planted our agitation
ana action upon careful and thor
ough investigation of the truth con-
corning the Negro problem. Often
when we have published in our or
gan, The Crisis, and in letters and
articles in the press, our findings and
conclusions we have been accused of
eXaggcrating. Today we stand vim
dictated before the world in the reve-
lations of Georgia, and knowing that
Georgia is little, if any, worse than
half n dozen other States, we sol
emily adjure this nation to give
more serious attention and more car
nest action to this fostering social
sore.
Lynching and mob violence
against Negroes still looms as our
most indefensible national crime,
and unless the present administra-
ton takes early action by legal
enactment it will stand condemned
of all thoughtful citizens north and
south. Increasingly the Negro at
Washington, Chicago and Tulsa has
been forced to give his life in self
defense. No man can do less for
his family and people, and it is a
cruel campaign of lying that repre-
sents this fight for life as organized
aggression. Negroes are not fools.
Eleven million poor laborers do not
seek war on hundred million pow
erful ncighbors. But they cannot
and will not die without raising
hand when the nation lets its Off
scourings and bandits insult, harry,
loot and kill them.
What is the cause of the new con-
ilict OF race in America? 1t is not
simply growing sense of manhood
on the part of the blacks, it is in
creased lack of sympathy and sense
of justice on the part of the whites,
and this arises from the swapping
Of those human bonds which must
exist between neighbors. If the Ne
gro child is not educated; if the
Negro is segregated in federal de-
partments and Oklahoma cities: if
he is publicly insultod by "Jim
Crow" cars; if he is treated mjustly
in the courts as in the twelve pend
ing Arkansas peonage cases; if in
the army and navy the Negro is
grossly and continually discrimi-
mated against and faces plans for
further discrimination in the ma
tional guard; if he has no voice in
the administration of the law espe-
cially as to- labor, agriculture and
education; and if finally the nation
is being honeycombed by secret So
cieties like the Ku KluX Khan, who
stir up race hatred by innuendo and
appeal to the lowest brute instincts
If all these things are done, how
can we help but kill the human SYM
pathy, the spirit of the Prince Of
Peace, the strong faith and the de-
sire for humble effective cooperation
which alone can save civilization?
Men and women of America, the
program of those who would save
America from bitter racial hatred
and conflict and murder is short and
simple:
l. The right to vote under the
same conditions as other persons
vote.
2. a federal law against lynching
and mob violence.
3. Justice for the convicted poems
in Arkansas.
4. Equitable treatment for Negro
soldiers and sailors.