The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1927-01-22
/. The Negro and State Rights.
z. "A Rich Mans Profession
The Negro and State Rights

Ill, III MS ADDRESS 10 lnc NduOnal bar
Association last summer, gave Of a
fund Of knowledge and logic in his
description of the effects Of the doc
trine Of state rights upon the aspiring
Negro group Of America. In these
days when national characters such as
Governor Richie, Of Maryland; Gov
ernor Smith, Of New York; Senator
Blease, Of South Carolina, continue to
drive home the alleged virtue of al
most absolute state sovereignty, it.
behooves the Negroes Of the country
constantly to refresh their recollection
Of the meaning Of the doctrine Of state
rights; for, as Attorney Bates ably
showed, the state rights doctrine, par
ticularly as interpreted by southern
democracy, is the most dangerous bar
rier which the Race has to face during
the next half-century.
The Constitution Of the United
States clearly states that each native
born or naturalized citizen Of Amer
lea is Q) a citizen Of the United
States, and ~ citizen Of the state
in which he resides. Under this doc
trine, such a citizen owes allegiance
to the United States, as a unit, and to
that state area or part Of the United
States in which he resides. In turn,
the United States as unit and the
State as an entity sovereign owe to
that citizen certain protection and
privileges 1t is in the assignment Of
these privileges and this protection
that the alleged encroachment, SO
vigorously protested against by exec
utives like Governor Richie OF Mary
land, is said to take place, followed by
the question as to how far the. United
States, as unit, can 60 in providing
civic peace and political and social
freedom to citizens Of the United
States, who, daily, are concurrently
subject to the police power and super
vision of a State.
In other words, may the United
States enforce the Fifteenth Amend
ment, SO frequently described by the
states rights protagonists as being
contrawise to state statutes? May a
Federal anti-lynching bill be passed
and made effective III the face Of State
machinery to punish crimes? May
Jim-Crow laws, under state statutes,
continue to flourish, though not an
ticipated by the Federal Constitution?
The latter have, Of course, been up
held by judicial precedent, state and
federal, time and time again. In fact,
it is upon the sacredness Of the
precious" states rights doctrine that
segregation and Jim Crowism continue
to flourish without abortive remedies.
Yet, when an international war is in
the saddle, no state has the power to
deprive the United States Of the serv-
ices Of a single citizen in the protec-
ton which is needed BY the parent
government, in its guardianship Of it.
self as a whole, and its component
parts. In peace, however, the parent
government can 60 only limited dis
lance in preserving and stimulating
the rights which citizen may expect
from his state sovereignty Why? Oh,
we'll, that would be encroachment,-a
sitting to states rights.
Mechanically, we know that no
single part Of a whole unit is as great,
as strong, or as potent as the whole
unit itself In the offing, however, we
learn as practical truth that the doc
trine Of states rights can expand or
contract the civic comforts Of a citi-
zen, dependent upon whether or not,
for instance, the citizen resides in New
York or Alabama.
Amid the present trend Of the doc
trine, there is nothing which the Ne
gro should study as zealously as his
rights, as bounded by Federal and
State citizenship. He has the right
to seek to achieve the highest benefits
in each zone, Federal and State; and
when he realizes that he is receiving
only lesser benefits, it is high time for
him to take his case to the hustings Of
American opinion and precedent; for,
alas, If the states rights doctrine con-
tinues to develop, the Negro is facing
the dungeons Of neglect in the decades
to come.
So