St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1941-04-11
Facing
the
Facts
By VIM. L. Sheriff.
Take Long Look
Constantly Being
A Government
Praising
Fear and Faith

|
vanity and egotism and for once
be honest with yourself as you an
swer this question-"Am I really
what most of my friends think I
ann" No alibis, no buck passing,
no sef-pity, no ifs or buts-just
for once summon the courage to
face the truth about yourself. This
is a good exercise and should be
taken frequently. A long look
into your own soul may be the
thing you need.
WE ARE CONSTANTLY BE-
ING disillusioned; our cherished
ideal shattered. Many of our be-
liefs and practices may be credited
to our devotion to the past and our
cowardice in frankly facing the
present and the future. We are
more or less victims of the mass
mind. What the crowd thinks, we
think, and we often fear to express
an opinion unless we are sure it
will meet with popular favor. Too
many of us are towards.
A GOVERNMENT that discrimi-
mates among it's citizens and gives
benefits to part of the people at
the expense of the other is not
democratic government and what is
worse, it is not a just government.
All citizens are entitled, by every
law of humanity, to an equal oppor-
tunity under the law and before the
law. Efficiency ought to be the
standard and honesty the guarantee
by which the worth of a man is
measured.
PRAISING THE achievements of
the white race, and being satisfied
with looking on while the white
man builds and makes history is
unbecoming a thinking people.
Things that have made the white
people rich and powerful also make
black people rich and powerful.
Cannot we marshal the intelligence
and courage? Let US try their
methods. At least we can be no
worse off than we are today.
EARTHQUAKES do not shake
faith; bombs and fires do not win
over courage and ambition. 1t is
only when the heart and spirit of
a people breaks that they get the
worst of it. Human senses may
suffer, bodies may be marred and
broken, but as long as the heart
pushes onward and upward the
people will build again on the
foundation of deeper faith and
greater experience.
FEAR AND FAITH spring from
a common root in language. Their
similarity is very apparent. Fear
is responsible for the "ghosts" of
life, the unreal, narrowing, I'M
canny materializations which hover
like the odor of damp sepulchres
around our being. To Danish the
"ghosts" of your life is necessary
for the attainment of success.
AS LONG AS fifteen million Ne
groes in America are a part of
America, America is going to be
in a large measure just what these
fifteen millions are. If they are
ignorant, America is just that much
ignorant; if they are poems, Ameri-
cans are that much enslaved. White
America cannot hurt the Negro to
any large degree without injuring
itself.
Either there must be an Amer
lea fit for all citizens or there will
be an America unfit for any citi-
zens.
| SELFISHNESS is so very gen.
eral in the relations of mankind
that it may reasonably be regarded
as a common inheritance that
makes for weakness whether in the
individual or in the nation. We
find selfishness and it's "side-kick,"
greed, on every hand; and if we
are neither selfish nor greedy we
have a time of it in dealing with
those who are, as they are invari-
ably an INSCRIPTIONS lot, and will
hesitate at nothing to satisfy their
desires. Man is so selfish that he
does not seem to realize that there
is anyone else in the world other
than himself. AS it is with man so