Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1923-02-24

that he is profound student. But
what DR.. Ferris left unsaid in abus.
md ridicu.e, his distinguished CHIEF
tain supplied. for Marcus Garvey in
his reply fed the masses of his follow
ers with just such literary food as
TREY desired in his merci.ess castigat
ION OF the able lecturer and scholar
DR.. w. h b. Du Bots. But we desire 10
continue Cur review of the philippe oi
Dl. Du Bots. He said:
Thus the bubble OF Garveyism burs.
but its Significance. its meaning, Re
mains. After e. one has to get within
Garvey to know him. TO understand
him. He is not simply liar and blat
ant fool. Something OF both to be sure.
is there; but that is not all. He is the
type of dark man whom the Wits
world is making daily, holding mar.
ring. tossing to the air. All his life
whites have laughed ana sneereu a,
him and torn his soul. All his life he
has hated the half-whites who. reject
ing their darker blood. have gloried III
their pale shame. He has stormed
and fought within, and then at last il
all burst out. He had to guard himself
before the powers and be careful of
Jaw and libel and hunger, but where
he could be free he snarled and cursed
at the whites. insulted the mulattoes
with objectionable epithets. and bitter
ly reviled the blacks for their coward
ice.
At one fell swoop. he essays to ar
raign the white folks and the mulat-
toes against the black chieftain of the
Universal Negro Improvement Associ-
alton. But the language speaks for it.
self. 1t shows that DR.. Du Dois Is
angry with Hon. Marcus Garvey clean
through" and that he will not stop at
anything to unmask, what he regards
IS one Of the most dangerous enemies
20 the colored people and to our form
OF government. In dealing with the
subject of the attack he is displaying
the essence of radicalism in all of its
vitriolic severity. He says:
Suppose. now, for a moment THAT
Carney had been man of first-rate
ability, canny, shrewd. patient, dogg.
cd? He might have brought world
war of races q generation nearer, he
might have deprived civilization OF
that precious generation OF respite
where we have yet time to sit and con.
slider if difference of human color
ri IV III
blood. AS a matter of fact, Garvey did
not know how to approach his self-ap
POINTED task; he had not the genius 10
wait and laboriously learn. yet he
pompously seized the pose; he kept
extremely busy. rushed hither and
thither. He collected and squandered
thousands. almost millions He would.
he must, succeed. He appeared in the
uniforms of his dream triumphs in
1921 with an academic cap and gown
weird in colors; in 1922 with cooked
hat, gold lace. and sword-the com.
mander-in-chief of the African Legion!
He did not quite dare call himself
King Marcus l, but he summed himself
awhile in the address of "your Males
ty." He held court and made knights
lords. and dukes; and yet, as he fever
ishly worked he knew he had failed !;
he knew he had missed the key to
some dark arcanum. He grew SUSPECT
obs, morose, complaining furious at
the fools" and "scoundrels" who were
plotting" his ruin and the overthrow
of his cause. With all the provincial,
backwoods love Of courts and judges.
he rushed into and reveled in Iitiga'
tion, figuring in at least fifty suits.
suing for libel breach Of contract,
SANDER divorce. assault-everything
and anything; while in turn his per.
sonal enemies sued him rioted against
him, and one shot him so that tOda,
he dares not2stir without a sturdy
body-guard. ~
* ;.-;, :.5;fss 2
Could literary castigation be worse
inflicted? All of this discussion is for
the renefit Of n white clientele for DR.
Bots did not publish this literary pro.
duction in the columns of his own
magazine. the Crisis, but he went into
the columns of that widely read and
influential publication, the Century
Magazine. Du Bois's words will go ten
times to Garvey's once with the audi
ence tina; the former is addressing. As
for Garvey he has been abused, ham
strung, 1ambasted and condemned, be
fore an audience of white folks, be
fore whom. he cannot get even a heo
,ng DR.. Du Bots continues.
Beaten and overwhelmed with loss
and disappointment he will not vel
surrender, and seeks by surrounding
himself with new officials and by an
nouncing new enterprises-a daily
paper. new line of steamships. and
the like-to reform his lines. So he
sits today. He is a world figure In
minute microcosm. On larger field
with fairer opportunity, he might
have been great. certainly notorioug
He is today little puppet. serio-comit
funny, yet swept with a great veil y,
tragedy: meaning in himself little
more than passing agitation. moving
darkly and uncertainty from little
island of the sea to the painting hall
submerged millions of the first world
state. And yet he means something