The northwestern bulletin-appeal., 1925-01-03
''Heme Africanus" Article in
Magazine Contains Interesting
Facts; Says MObbism Outcome
of White Mans Fear.

Inc Wn1te SOutneTuer KNOWS less
about the black man, understands
him less than any one on this plan
et," according to L. NJ. Hussey, writ
ing in the January American Mer-
curry Magazine. edited by H. L..
Mencken, 703 Fifth Ave-, N. Y. G.
What the white Southerner calls a
good nigger," according to Mr.. Hus-
sey, IL simply an accomplished actor,
playing a part, and deluding the dom
inant race in order that he may be
permitted to live in the South, the
while he laughs up his sleeve at his
dupe. Mr.. Hussey's article, written
in a jocose vein, while employing en-
pressions that will offend many col
ored readers, nevertheless states in
teresting facts and it is because of
these facts and despite many distaste-
full phrases that the N. A. A. c. p.
calls attention to the article.
Ability to Play Part.
The price of life for the Negro in
the South, says Mr.. Hussey, is ability
to play a part. The colored people
he observed, adopted in their inter
course with me, with every white
man, the voice and gesture familiar
in all mines. They were enacting,
subtly, ineffably, very persuasively, a
self-imposed role. They We're play
ing a part in a comedy!" The object
of the comedy is to delude the white
man into thinking them submissive.
In this the Negro is completely sue
cessful, and the Southern white man
thinks of him either as a good Uncle
Tom or else as a criminal. ..---
MIR. Hussey goes on to point out
that there is another fallacy besides
the one that the white man under
stands the niger" This fallacy is
to the effect that the Negro is better
treated in the South than elsewhere.
"The superior favors and condos
cension allotted the good niger OF
the Confederacy do not derive from
the supereminent kindness of the
Southern gentleman's heart nor from
his better understanding of the
blackamoor. They derive, instead,
from the fact that the Southern gen
tleman is the dupe of the good mig
gers histrionic wiles. He is the vic
tim of hundreds of thousands of
black Salvinis, playing their parts
naturally, almost instinctively, under
the brutal urge of mere biologic
Fronting, yet withal superlatively.' y
Fear Prompts Mob.
The Negroes c1owning plays upon
the vanities of theadominant race, but
at times the Southern whites come to
doubt their own superiority" espe-
cially when the Negro distinguishes
himself as a business man or in the
arts and professions. Then the white
man begins to fear that white su-
periority" is not inherent but re
suits from the accidents Of numbers
and conyentions-not from higher
talents" It is this fear of jeopardy
to white supremacy" that prompts
the mob, says Mr.. Hussey. "Shorn
of his sense of mastery, the hysterical
overman feels his own skull in dan
ger," when a white woman has been
stared at, or some crime committed,
"he sees, abruptly, horde of good
niggers' ripping off their masks, no
longer paying tribute to his acci-
dental eminence. And forthwith he
and his brothers in hysteria bear
down in overwhelming numbers upon
the first isolated cabin at hand-and
proceed to lynch a niger"
Meanwhile, the colored man is
cynical, says Mr.. Hussey, and laughs
bitterly to himself He is coming to
repudiate the role of good niger"
ITO the white brethren seeking civ
ilized amusement, to the Nordic
overman a bit soured by the pallid
timidities of his accustomed journals.
I recommend a trial glance at such
Negro papers as THE CRISIS, THE
MESSENGER AND OPPORTUNITY"
Comments on Editorial.
In concluding his article, Mr.. Hus-
sey has this to say: According to
the concerted opinion of all the know
ing Ethiopians that have approach
ed, two or three hundred years hence
there will be but one race on these
shores! Shocked as / am for the
sake of all my Confederate friends. ]
CONTINUED on page Al