The broad ax., 1923-01-27

actuated by "color prejudice" and
desire to hold the Negro down
What queer Association for any
white woman to get into. if she wants
to do any harm to the Negro race
what queer books she has written on
the subject-and what queer speeches
she is always making. Think of it,
she attacks the enemies OF the Negro
race more uncompromisingly than do
the Negroes themselves. and certainly
more boldly than the ATLANTA indie
pendent" ever dared to do it. In the
last ten years she has given more to-
wards the advancement of the Amer
lean Negro - without reward - than
any other person, who has lived in
that time; invaluable services, without
a cent Of pay, with added contributions
in cold cash And as for Moorheld
Storey, another white person who
must be very queer, if, as the "Inde-
pendent" states, he means to "proft"
by his connection with this Associa-
ton, has given services that could not
have been bought; he has rescued the
editor of the Independent" from resi-
Dental egregation-from grandfather
clauses"-and while that paper was
busy tipping its scandalous little page,
Moorheld Storey was busy trying to
save its editor and all its readers from
"pednage" by pleading the Arkansas
Cases before the Supreme Court with
out a cent Of pay. When Storey res
cued the ATLANTA Independent" staff
from the awful damnation of residen-
tial segregation in Georgia, he did not
receive from them or from anybody
else, even a centsfor his expenses from
Boston to Washington and back. And,
besides this inestimable indirect Civ
ing, Moor6eld Storey has given into
the treasury of the N. A. A. G. P. in
cash, more than six thousand dollars.
The Association, then, has cost Moor
field Storey more in cash and services
than it has cost any other person in
they world, and Mary White Ovington
has donated more in unpurchasable
and devoted services than any other
mortal Perhaps the benevolent liar
accused them Of making profits" just
in order to give us a good chance to
tell how much they have been Civ
ing.
And lie No. 3, is about the nastiest
of all. Why on earth should Negro
newspaper ever strike an attitude Of
hostility toward Jews? How can the
Negro scorn the cooperation of the
Jews? The only reason why a goodly
number of leaders of the Jewish race
can understand the Negroes struggle,
is that experience, the only teacher.
has made them know what race preju-
dice is. And one of the most credit
able things in human nature is, that
some Jews, wealthy and independent,
have given the American Negro a lift
by their services and their money
through the N. A. A. Q. P.
About the only thing that saves US
from disastrous effects Of lying page
like that in the Independent" is, that
most of these white people have
worked so long and so intimately with
colored men and women, that they
now know that although some colored
folk, like some white folk, are venal,
cheap-spirited, short-visioned and I'M
truthful; still there are other kinds of
Negroes. That is why the petty insult
cannot shake their faith and loyalty
nor break their cooperation.
1t must be said, too, not as a state
ment Of policy nor as thing va1u-
able in itself, but merely as a fact in
contradiction Of the falsehood Of the
Independent The colored element,
not the white, controls the destiny Of
the N. A. A c. p. The truth of the
matter is, that there are not nearly
enough white people in it, and it is
always problem how to get more of
them more interested. So far, only
the most hberal-minded whites can en-
dorse the Associations program, and
we know that no race question" can
ever be settled by one race alone.
All the races concerned in any inter
racial matter must get together in
some agreement before an abiding set
Element can be reached.
But meanwhile, the N. "A. "A. 9. p.
and the just cause Of the American
Negro will 60 forward with or with
out "The Atlanta Independent"
(Signed) William Pickens
New York City, January, 1923.