Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1923-02-10
Then follows further comment:

Negro problem. We think of our prob.
EN- here as the Negro problem, but
we know more or less clearly that the
problem of the American Negro ia
very different from rire problem of the
South African Negro or the problem
of the Nfgerian Negro or the problem
or the South American Negro. We
have not hitherto been so clear as to
the way in which the problem of the
Negro in the United States differs
from the problem of tire Negro in the
West Indies. For long time we have
been told, and we have believed that
the race problem in the West Indies.
and particularly in jamaica. has viz.
tually been settled
1t seems that DR.. Du Bots purpose
Is to drive a wedge so to speak be.
tween the West Indian and the Amer.
can Negroes. He refuses to accept 1t
as being fact that any considerable.
number Of the latter are connected
with the movement. While evidently
Marcus Carney did not authorize him
to write his biography and of the
men in the world to be chosen. he
would be the last one to be chosen by
the brilliant leader, he proceeds with
the job, free Of expense to the subject,
upon whose career he has devoted so
much time and attention. He says:
Let us note the facts. Marcus Gar
vey was born on the northern coast OF
Jamaica in 1887. He was a poor black
boy, his father dying later in the aims
house. He received a little training in
the Church of England grammar
school, and then learned the trade OF
printing, working for years as fore
man Of printing plant Then he went
TO europe and wandered about Eng
land and France, working and observ-
ing until he finally returned to Jamaj-
ca. He found himself facing a stone
wall. He was poor, he was black, he
had no chance for university edu-
cation, he had no likely chance for pre-
ferment in any line, but could work
an artisan at small wage for the rest
OF his life
Moreover, he knew that the social
Jamaica was not complete; that as a
matter of fact throughout the Yves.
Indies the development has been like
this: most white masters had cohabit.
ed with Negro women. and some had
actually married them; their children
were free by law in most cases. but
We're not the recognized equals of the
whites either socially, politically. or
economically. Because of the numbers
OF the free Negroes as compared with
the masters. and because of their con.
tinued growth in wealth and inteIli-
gence. they began to get political pu,.
err. and they finally either expelled
the whites by uniting with the blacks
as in Haiti, or forced the whites to re-
celve the mulattoes, or at least the
lighter-hued ones, as equals
Then he proceeds to drive that
wedge" between West Indian Negroes
and the American "citizens of color"
This is the West Indian solution OF
the Negro problem. The mulattoes are
virtually regarded and treated as
- "
will by continued white intermarriage
bleach out their color as soon as poss,
bic. There survive, therefore, few
white colonials save new Corners, who
are not Of Negro descent in some more
or less remote ancestor. Mulattoes in
termarry, then. largely with the
Writes, and the so-called disappear
an"e OF the color-line is the disappear
ance of the line between the whites
and mulattoes and not between the
whites and blacks or even between
the mulattoes and the blacks.
Thus the privileged and exploiting
group in the West Indies is compose =
of whites and mulattoes. while the
poorly paid and ignoia ant proletariats
ere the blacks. forming a peasantrv
vastly in the majority. but socially.
politically. and economically helpless
and nearly voiceless. This peasantry.
moreover. has been systematically de-
Drivfd Of its natural leadership be-
cause the black boy who showed init
ntve or who accidentally gained
wealth and education soon gained tho
recognition OF the white-mulatto
group and might be incorporated with
hi particularly if be married one "
Nncm. Thus his Interests and efforts
were Identified with the mulatto-whifN
crouD.
There must naturally arise more
or less insistent demand among tic
beck peasants for se'f-cXnression grd
for on exposition of their grievances
nv one Of their own proup. Such lead
ers have indeed arisen from time 10
time and Marcus Garvcv wac orc Ne
notorietv comes not from hi~ abili,v
and accomplishment. but from tho
Groof War. Not that hn wae witfrof;
"NilHv He w"e y fnci1o crcn'o- obto
10 EXPRESS himself In grammatical and