The Enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 192?-1930, 1928-02-10
Light Skin and
Good Hair Is Best
CONTINUED from Page u

uance cOmpanlon, put Sne no
I body"
! mo? How's that? Why's she in
! here, them"
"Why is she here? Don't be fun
ny! You know they'd never leave
cut girl as light as that--so long
as she wanted TO come
learned that the girl was Polly
Pepsin, 1.-The notorious Polly Pep
/ sin as | sat out the next dance
with my companion. Polly's mother
was white, and her father would
have been white, too, anywhere else
in the United States. Polly had left
her husband TO live with another
man and, with his cooperation, had
contributed TO the Hubs popula-
ton. Later, she had left the other
man (who, incidentally, was a Bach
MARI and was now with third.
The women. true to the tradition
of their sex, scorned her, but the
gallants literally danced attendance
upon her. Not only was she early
booked for every dance of the eve
ming, but she could have extended
her dancing to the middle of next
summer. Having learned the iden-
tity of the madonna, | begged
dance Of dark brown girl who had
entered with a fairer friend and had
been completely ignored by her
hosts | learned that she was a Sc
nior at one of New England's best
colleges, the holder of a Phi BIZ,
Kappa key and a charming lady
But mine was the only dance she
got that evening!
.
/ overheard last summer one fair
skinned young woman say to an
ether, following the Dach-mar's an.
nual bungalow frolic: at was sim
ply grand! 1t was really superb!
Why, every girl there could easily
pass for white
cite the Bach-mars as typical
In any social gathering in these col
ored United States the young man
of genuinely African color and fea-
lures must be thrice the superior OF
his ighter-skinned competitor, else
he will lose. This is true whether
the prize be ladys hand or Sim
pay her smile. Ii the black boy
with chinchilla hair drives car, is
fairly intelligent and a fooI with his
money he may perhaps capture even
the fairest lady-but only provided
fair-skinned gallant, with similar
qualifications, does not press his
suit simultaneously. Unless, how
ever, the black youth has these ap-
purtenances, he is hopelessly done
for. Even the blacklist sister will
accept him only as a final and des-
perate resort to escape spinsterhood
and a lifetime of domestic drudg-
cry. The fair one will have none
of him.
/ know splendid brown girl who
will go through life with a canker
| Gus grievance against light-skinned
ladies generally and one in particu
lar. According to story she often
| repeats, she met her fair friend
| downtown one day, but the fair one,
being then in the company of
\ white girl, ignored her dusky play
7 mate. Meeting again, later, the
7 near-Nordic was amazed that her
| Negroid chum should feel agrieved.
why" she demanded, when sh
understood, should l offend my
|
Her tone bristled with Indignation.
What can you give, me If lose
| them?" she asked.
"offend your white friends?
Howl"
Now you're playing dumb, You
know how white people are. They
| don't like to be seen with anybody
who is all the time speaking to a
| lot of Negroes"
submit that there are many
whites who are more liberal on this
question than most Negroes are.
There come instantly to mind num-
bers of them, men and women, who
would sacrifice their friendships
with their own people rather than
be accused of such scurvy treatment
of their black friends. But the Ku
Klux Khan psychology permeates the
colored brothers and sisters sys-
tens. There are numerous recorded
instances OF Negroes being refused
courtesies by their own kind be-
cause some Caucasian has withheld
courtesies There is nowhere a ty-
rant more oppressive than the ARA
merican lackey at the door of Jim
crow theater, eating place or apart
,ment house Such men often employ
a huskfer brand of force and bit
terer spleen when ejecting their
blood brothers, than any whites
would exhibit. Vicariously, these
! peculiar folk, in such a situation,
enjoy all the thrills of klansmen al
| . nEia.ieainni human harhpcup