The Enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 192?-1930, 1927-09-16
seattIe b. di.appointed at Die fail.

Seattle 10 disappointed at the ran
ure of the A. M. E. Conference to
reappcint Rev. Thomas F. Jones as
pastor of the First A. M. e. Church.
The reappointment of Rev. Jones
would have been a wise step on the
part of the A. M. f. Conference as
his record for the past five years
had been such as to merit the strong
est commentator from all who have
the interests of our colored COM
munity at heart. As pastor of the
First A. M. +. Church and president
of the Colored Citizens Council a
constructive program that means
much for the welfare of the colored
citizens had been outlined by Rev.
Jones. To abruptly change or tenn
porarily stop, the policy which he
was pursuing, by the appointment of
a new pastor unfamiliar with the
many problems of our colored citi-
zens will materially slow down, if
not obstruct that development and
progress, so essential to the welfare
of our people which is now being
successfully pursued.
Negroes who get mad because they
are black, or because they are called
Negroes, always seem silly to US.
They lack the courage to rise above
taunts and vindicate themselves. We
need to become, not whittier, but more
powerful. Color is only a factor in
this world according as to how strong
or how weak you are. If the position
of the races in America were revers-
ed, who would have "good" hair and
IL L.s
color would be more desirable?
Those who are inclined to laugh at
Liberia where high hats are more nu-
mefous than volumes in the public
library would sober up if Liberians
could pay a visit to the average large
American city.
The African visitors would see
nearly half as many silk stockings on
the heads of American women and
boys as on their legs. The stocking
cap is shocking American institu-
ton used to keep the hair slick and
in array.
If these stocking capped individ-
uals could be kept in their bed rooms
where they belong, there would be
creased head pieces are worn in the
streets, to school, and to theatre as
is the case, it is time for public SEN
timent to manifest itself.
There ought to be some midway
point between the Liberians' high hat
and the American stocking cap.
Negroes are still carrying the tin
cup. Yesterday they carried it in
knarled and toilbent hands, reaching
out from a frayed coat sleeve. To-
day they jingle the cup still, but the
hand that holds it has manicured
nails and the coat sleeve is likely to
be of hand-tailored broadcloth or inn
ported braid. The man who yester-
day cried for help from an humble
shanty or a broken down buggy. to-
day walls for aid from a Louis XVI
drawing room or the tilted upholstery
of a luxurious sedan.
This summer and particularly this
SUNNI. hundreds upon hundreds of
Negr, nave been travelling hithet
and va , this and that convention
or to sen this or that friend or rela.
tive. Many have made the journeys
in expensive motor cars. Among
those who trekked to Idlewild, the
popular Mich. summer resort, was
at least one young Miss who brought
along twenty dresses for a ten-day
stay. Her case can doubtless be dup.
Heated many times over. Cadillacs,
Lincolns, Locomobiles, Packards,
Pierce-Arrows, Cunninghams, Rolls
Royces and even a few foreign cars
we have now. Fur coats, sport ward
robes, formal and informal wear we
have in profusion. Marble-lobbied
apartments, town and country homes
and lake cottages now house us. In
increasing numbers we 20 abroad
each year. And yet, all these, CON-
prising our scrubbed and shining
faces, cannot hide the smudges and
rings OF dirt about. our ears and
necks.
We who make the grand gestures
so well, why cannot we stop the beg
ging2 Why not be genuine? Why
pour our gold into the lap of luxury
while we shake the tin cup in the
face of the white man to maintain
our necessities? Our schools 90 beg
ging while their alumni parade to
annual football games in $4,000 cars;
our sick must depend upon the COM
passion of white philanthropists for
hospitals while the gay and giddy
10 on with their full dress parties
our INDECENT, delinquents and other
social inadequates depend upon COM
munity chests which our grand strut
ters subscribe to but never pay.
OF course, sixty years Is short