The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-12-03
The President in the South.
Editorial reprinted from THE APP
PEAL, St. Paul, Minnl

The president IN the, South.
Editorial reprinted from THE AP-
PEAL, St. Paul, MIMI
President Harding recently made
two speeches in the South, one at
Birmingham, Ala, the other at At
lanta, Ca, on the race question, in
which he displayed remarkable lack
of information on the subject evil
IDENTIFY due to the fact that he had
studied only one side of the question.
,.,-.s Of course, Mr. Harding is right,
when he says that the co1ored man
should have political, educational and
economic rights, but he is wrong
when he says that he is not entitled
to every right to which every other
group of Americans is entitled. The
president has no right to say that
, fone-eighth of the population of the
United States must be differentiated
in any way from the other seven
eighths.
In his special message to the Con-
gress which met March 4, Mr.. Hard
ing said that he looked with favor on
the idea of the appointment Of an in
ter-racial commission to study racial
conditions in the United States.
There, was no need for haste in an
nouncing his view on question which
could not have been studied properly
in the short time since he, in June,
1921, announced his intention to do,
owing to his many and pressing Off
cial duties, and it seems that the
President has taken advantage of an
opportunity and thrust his views upon
the public ear, for the purpose Of ere
ating a sentiment in favor Of his ideas
on the subject, which were evidently
obtained from individuals and books
favorable to the South but inimical to
the real interests of the colored peo-
pie.
The President enormously con-
Pounds "social equality" with amalga-
nation. He says that amalgamation
cannot be, but it exists, it has always
existed and always will exist. The
combined efforts of the law and pub
lie opinion have failed to prevent the
mixing of the races. Throughout the
ages there has been so much racial
mixing that today the scientists and
ethnologists agree that there is no
such thing as pure race. In no
other country on the globe has there
been more racial mixing than in the
United States which is the melting
pot of the world The majority of
the people of the United States are
mixtures of various races and the
greater part of this majority is COM
posed of people with more or less
Negro blood. The racial mixing in
the South is almost wholly illegitimate
as the laws make marriage between
the races a CRIME.
Now as to social equality, that ex-
lists in some part of the United
States and it is only in those parts
of the country which have more or
less of social equality that the colored
peorle have any rights which the
white people respect. The very words,
"social equality" imply that all rights
are secure. In the South there is
neither equality nor respect for rights.
The contempt for the colored man is
largely due to his inferior social
Status, which extends through all hu-
man relationships in that benighted
section of the country. Even at the
speech of the President the colored
people were segregated and the dis
patches say, "In the white section
there was silence which was abso-
lutte and stony, only one light f1utte1
Of applause came when the President
IN
aged to be the best possible Negro
and not the best possible imitation Of
the white man, This seemed tc
please few of the whites who evi:
IDENTIFY visioned ''good' Negro" OF
slavery days, who hat in hand bowed
low when cole massa", approached. -
The South has a queer idea of so:
cial equality. In the North "socia
I'D s+o 1,ot1
mate social mingling in private house
the South the idea is distorted so thai
- it Includes civic rights, hence the jim
crow car, the iimcrow school, the
jimcrow library, the jimcrow park, t.le
jimcrow telephone booth and so on &C
nauseam. -,
When Harding was a candidate fol
President, THE APPEAL doubted
that he would give colored people
square deal and was not disposed tt
support him but we were reassuret
, by letters signed by Chairman Hay!
and Secretary Miller and1many lead
ing Republicans, as we'll as the Jim
crow campaign bureau that he Wouit
be just to his allies. Alsp Editor WI
liam Monroe Trotter sag that ne ma ne
President and he had prsmised to ali
in eliminating segregation. The
came speech to number of colore
delegations from the Harding from
porch, which began with, "Fello1
Americans" and ended with. "Colore
men, America will not fail you.
These assurances caused THE AP
PEAL to give candidate Hardin
enthusiastic support. Our supper
probably. had little to do with tn
victory, but is mentioned to show tina
this paper was not prejudieed agalns
him.
his duties it was Noticed that g
seemed to forget his promises. 81
grepation in the departments
WASHINGTON was continued, three
fon1 i;n,erow colored men were al
pointed to jimcrow government pos
~ lions, Colored youth were segregate
in the army training camps and co
ored men were not allowed to enli
in the navy. In every way the Har,
inc administration has stood for tt
segregation of colored citizeis and
is sad to relate that some Jlmcro
men accent this jimcrow sfttleme1
of matters.
THE APPEAL does not hlieve, {
Mr.. Harding puts it, that pere is
Fundamental, eternal and lunescal
able difference between TIL RACES
To do 81 would be to challnge &c
and Christianity. It is ditinct d