Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1936-07-02
THE MYTH OF
RACIAL SUPREMACY
BY T. F.. Rutledge Beale.


judice means that accidents of color,
and tongue, and difference in culture,
are made the standards of evaluating
people, rather than their own per-
sonal development and worth.
Race prejudice is a fragrant denial
of the spirit Of Christianity. God
hath made of one blood all nations
of men," said Paul to the ancient
Athenians, and this was one Of his
truest expositions of the point of view
of the founder of Christianity.
Open-minded study of the history
and facts Of life gives abundant sup
port to this position. in spite Of the
assumptions of some white people.
and the arrogant claims of so-called
Nordics, as expressed by such writer's
as Stoddard or given poetic form by
such as Kipling. No truly scientific
study reveals any biologically fixed
races. but simply variations in de-
velopment of various sections of one
race-the human race, variations de-
termined by environment and exper-
fence.
The race problem as we understand
it today is largely of recent origin.
1t is very recent weed in the gar
den of human relations. Paul Hutch
inson makes that fact vivid in his
book, Religion and World Revolu-
tion." He comments on Paul Robe
son. the great Negro actor, playing in
Shakespeare's "Othello" in London.
In this play a son of Africa and a
daughter of proud house in Eu-
ropes proudest city" are shown as
lovers. Even in London the presenta-
ton caused murmur, reports Mr..
Hutchinson, but the mere attempt
to produce this masterpiece in the
same way in America, would undoubt-
eddy jeopardize his life and lead to
public riot" All of which emphasizes
the regency of this race consciousness,
for as late as Shakespeare's day there
was no idea of anything intrinsically
wrong in such situation.
Lord Byrce, in his lecture on Race
Sentiment as a Factor in History"
says, Down until the time of the
French Revolution there has been
very little in any country or at any
time of self-conscious race feeling"
We forget that the ascendancy of the
white people is only three or four
hundred years old, and has been based
on their cheapest asset-the ability
to fight and dominate. We forget
that India, Africa, China and other
such groups had achieved a civiliza-
ton and culture long before our fore
fathers had learned to make their
first suit of clothes. Before the white
man saw this continent there existed
in South America a civilization in
which physics, geometry and astron-
omy has achieved high development
We forget, if we have ever realized
it, that the progress of the Amer
lean negro since emancipation, has
never been surpassed, if equalled, by
any other group in history.
Benjamin Kidd who stood for the
control of the Tropics as a white
mans trust, nevertheless had to con-
fess, Neither in respect to color, nor
OF descent, nor even of the possession
Of high intellectual capacity, can
science give us any warrant for
speaking of one race as superior to
another"
Almost humorous as a comment
on the pride of White blood" is a re-
cent communication from one of our
medical missionaries in China. A
member of his own family needed a
blood TRANSMISSION. He says, TESTS
failed to find any of our American
group whose blood just matched our
little boys. A young Chinese nurse
had such blood. She was radiantly
happy to be able to help little Paul"
He adds, isn't it queer how modern
science with it's blood groupings,
brings evidence that the Bible is right
**** He hath made of one blood all
nations of men,"
Despite such facts the world tcday
is tortured by race prejudice. Ger
many persecutes the Jews as an in
ferior people. Britain is reluctant to
recognize capacity for self-govern-
ment in colored peoples. Despite the
Constitution the Negro in America is
largely deprived of his civic rights,
and subject to many economic handi-
caps. Hindus under the Union Jack
in India cannot live under the Union
Jack in Canada. The American i'm
migration laws gratuitously insult the
Japanese as an inferior people.
How blind we are to the excel
lencies of the people about us, If they
do not look like us. That close stu
dent of life, Charles Darwin, once
saw an old negro woman dash her
self to pieces over a precipice, in
order to escape her pursuers. I'm a
Roman matron," he writes, "this
would have been called the noble love
of freedom: in a poor negress it is
called brutal obstinacy" And how
blind we are to the fact that contempt
for and abuse of two-thirds of the
human race by one third cannot go
on indefinitely.
What is the cause of this blindness?