The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-09-07
~. 3. wo.kme.
W. b. Woskmon
Suggest Muslins COlOnize Alaska

If the Black Musims of Amer
lea really want a homeland" OF
their own somewhere in the Unit
ed States, as their leader declar-
ed earlier this month, they might
well turn their sights on Alaska.
Americas 18th state still has
vast areas Of undeveloped land,
almost free for the asking, and
much of it adapted to CONVEX
sion into habitable territory. But
the physical price of develop
ment may be more than the
Black Muslims are willing to
pay.
AT st Louis about 10 days ago,
Elijah Muhammad (bom Elijah
Poole, of Georgia) called upon
the government to give the Ne
gro people mice place to live
and help them to get started.
Whether the virgin lands of
Alaska can be called "a nice
place to live" is open to ques-
ton. But at least Uncle Sam
stands ready to help homestead
ers get started there if they
have the hardihood to tackle the
job.
! Not General Attitude
The Black Muslims' demand
for a "homeland' represents an
other of their departures for the
general attitude of most Ameri
can Negroes. This militant group
of Negro nationalists preach
Black supremacy" and avoid
ance of contact with white peo-
pie. They are segregationiSts of
the most extreme sort, and cla
NOR for the establishment of a
"black nation" within a nation.
Obviously these Black Mus
Inns would much prefer to have
a section of the continental Uni
ted States set aside for their ex-
elusive occupancy. We might re-
call that also, back around 1923.
the Communists were agitating
for a major portion of the South
to be converted into a Negro ter
ritory of the United States.
But when the Black Muslims
advocate a separate homeland
they run counter to the history
and the philosophy of most
American Negroes. With a few
exceptions. American Negroes
have shown a complete lack of
interest in anything smacking of
black colonization - even when
proposed by such eminent men
as Thomas Jefferson. Daniel
Webster, or Abraham Lincoln.
Those great humanitarians
recommended that the nations
Negro slaves be resettled, either
in Africa or in some other land
Lincoln suggested South Ameri-
ca, to the CONSERVATION of gov
ornamental officials of that con-
tinent).
In the years following the Con-
federate War, the only success
full effort at such colonization
was the movement of between
$1,000 and 10000 former slaves
from the United States to Lii
IBERIA. Even this project, how
ever, failed to attract more than
a comparative handful of Ameri-
can Negroes.
In the 1920's, Jamaica born
Marcus Carney stirred up an &C
tive but short-lived interest in
Negro colonization The move
ment never did gain any con-
tinuing support from the mass of
American Negroes.
Said Lacking Desire
Actually. Negroes lack the de-
sire for effective migration and
colonization, contends William
H. Thomas, author of The
American Negro" and himself
Negro. He points to the general
failure of Negroes to take ad-
vantage of the demonstrating op-
portunities offered in the West,
saying that the Negro. despite
occasional roamings, is
content only in aggregated rae
ial habitations Of fixed locality
and defined bounds"
The intense nationalism of the
Black Muslims may be diff
ferent story, however. and
these black supremacists con
ceivably may have the determ-
nation to create homeland for