kelly miller--an appeal to conscience--america's code of caste, a disgrace to democracy (1920)

8/2/2019 Kelly Miller--An Appeal to Conscience--America's Code of Caste, A Disgrace to Democracy (1920)

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ANAPPEALTOCONSCIENCE

185.61IN631920Ic.lROBARTS KELLY MILLER


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^Presented to theLIBRARIES o/r/i^

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTOby

RICHARD ROMAN

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c:)OuK Ko.. a^l


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AN APPEAL TO CONSQENCE


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THE MACMILLAN COMPANYNFW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO - DALLASATLANTA SAN FRANCISCOMACMILLAN & CO., LimitedLONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTAMELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.TOKONTO


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AN APPEAL TOCONSCIENCEAmerica's Code of CasteA Disgrace to Democracy

BYKELLY MILLER

Dean of the College of Arts and Sciencesof Howard University, Washington

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BYALBERT BUSHNELL HART

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY1920

AU rights reserved


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COPTBIGHl*, 1918By the MACMILLAN COMPAlTr

Set up and cicctrotyped. Published June, 1918.


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TORIGHT MINDED AMERICA


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'Ring out false pride in place and blood,The civil slander and the spite;Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good."


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INTRODUCTIONProfessor Miller raises in this bookthe question to which a solution hasnever yet been found. How is it pos-sible to reconcile in the United Statesof America a system of discrimina-tions against a race which counts atenth of the population, with the greatnational principles of equality of op-portunity and civil and political rightsfor the remaining nine-tenths? Themost candid and sympathetic readermay therefore find some of the au-thor's positions out of focus withprevious observations. For instance,while cordially appreciating the workand its spirit, it is not essential to ac-cept the author's dictum that "a physi-cal and spiritual identity of all peoplesoccupying common territory is a log-ical necessity of thought." The bookis written with excellent temper and


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INTRODUCTIONan admission of difficulties which arevery deep seated if not irremovable.The main thesis is a protest against theapplication of one standard to blackmen and another to white men. Thatsuch a discrimination exists is clear,and the evil consequences are well setforth.

The chapter on Lawlessness is ajust though spirited protest againstlynching, an offence which does thewhite race ten times as much harm asthe negroes, for it brutalizes the law-making and law-applying section ofthe population. It thrusts down thewhite farmer or townsman or working-man to a level below that of the worstnegro criminal, because the lyncherglories in his crime. The chapter onSegregation exposes the brutality anduselessness of Jim Crow Laws andmight go further by pointing out thatthere is never any segregation of ne-gro purchasers who have the money tobuy from white salesmen and store-keepers.


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INTRODUCTIONThe main thesis is summed up in the

chapter on Righteousness. ProfessorMiller does not in the least deny thatthe presence of the two races side byside brings difficulties and jealousiesfor which neither side is primarily re-sponsible. What he does insist uponis that the principles of justice, im-partiality and fair dealing, the rela-tion of morals to conduct, rightly ap-ply as much to men of negro blood asto other races, and should especiallybe observed by the whites in relationto the negroes. It all goes back toEmerson's great saying, "If I put achain upon a slave, I fix the other endaround my own neck." The book isa powerful appeal to the dominantrace to protect itself by a fair treat-ment of the unorganized race. As theauthor puts it, "Prosperity will take nopride in the deeds of this day whichdeprive the humblest citizen of hishuman rights in order that others mayenjoy a larger measure of easement."

Kelly Miller is a disputant of proof.


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INTRODUCTIONIt is not necessary to agree with every-thing he says in order to find commonground. Some arguments and someillustrations might be left out withoutweakening his case. The merit of thebook is its vigorous and well statedappeal to reason, a call for a just ap-plication of the moral principles ofwhich America is proud. It is a log-ical, human, reasonable appeal tothe doctrines of Christianity and ofdemocracy, of which the nation isso proud. Its motto might well be"Physician heal thyself."

Albert Bushnell Hart.


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CONTENTSPAGERace Contact 13

Lawlessness 29Segregation 52Negro Patriotism and Devotion . 68Righteousness 87


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AN APPEAL TO CON-SCIENCECHAPTER IRACE CONTACT

The contact, adjustment and attri-tion of the various races of mankindconstitute the gravest problem of mod-em civilization. This problem is notlimited by local or national bounda-ries; is not confined to continental orhemispheric divisions of the earth'ssurface; but is world wide in its scopeand operation. The conflict of racesis the dominating problem of Europe,Asia, Africa, Australia, North andSouth America, and the scattered is-lands of the seas. The political and

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEeconomic issues which now threatendisruption of the foundation of socialorder, on deeper analysis, will befound to have their root in the deeperissue of race.

In the United States we have but aninfinitesimal fraction of the universalrace problem; and yet, the AmericanNegro problem presents certain uniqueand peculiar features which cause thestudents of social subjects to bestowupon it a degree of attention accordedto no other point of race contactthroughout the globe. Among thesepeculiar features may be mentioned:(1) In the United States we have themost gigantic instance in history wherethe weaker race has been brought intothe territory of the stronger as a serv-ile element. The stronger race usu-ally overruns the territory of theweaker, reduces it to subjection, andimposes upon the subdued people itslordly regime, (2) The Negro andthe European represent widely diverg-ent ethnic types. The experiment of

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RACE CONTACTadjusting markedly different races onterms of equality, imder democraticinstitutions, is here being tried for thefirst time in tlie history of race re-lationship. The weaker element isgreatly outnumbered by the stronger,and is unevenly distributed over thegeographical area. The numericalinferiority of the Negro renders hispresence less menaceful in the judg-ment of the more populous and morepowerful race; while his segregationin the South produces a state of un-balanced pressure of public sentimentconcerning his place and part in thegeneral political and social scheme.The traditional attitude of the Northand the South grows out of this un-evenness of numerical distribution.The United States thus becomes the

world's most interesting laboratory forworking out the intricate issues of raceadjustment. Well might the socialphilosopher observe with keenest in-terest this tremendous experiment;for, if this experiment succeeds, it will

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEfurnish a sure criterion for the solu-tion of the various race problemswhich are coterminous with the endsof the earth.

Voltaire, the famous French philos-opher, states that it is more difficultand more meritorious to civilize thebarbarian than it is to wean men fromtheir prejudices. Here we have thedual nature of the race problem ex-pressed in the clear terms of a Frenchaphorism. How can the white race befreed of prejudice while the Negro isbeing lifted to the level of surround-ing civilization? Either of theseproblems is sufficient to tax human in-genuity. But when we roll the twointo one, the world stands bewilderedat the task. To add to its bewilder-ment, these two features seem to beincompatible, the one with the other.The more progressive and ambitiousthe Negro becomes, the less tolerablehe seems to be to his white lord andmaster. The good old Negro slavewho was ever faithful and loyal to the

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RACE CONTACTwelfare of his lord and master wasalways acceptable to him. But hismore ambitious son, with a college di-ploma in his knapsack, is persona nongrata. The Negro coachman candrive his white master to the depot, sit-ting side by side and cheek by jowl,with complaisant satisfaction; but adifferent situation is created shouldthey become joint occupants of a setteein a railway coach, where each payshis own fare and rides on terms ofequality.

The attitude of the white race to-wards the Negro must be accountedfor in the light of the origin of theirrelationship. The Negro was broughtto this country for the purpose ofperforming manual and menial labor.No more account was taken of hishigher susceptibilities than of thehigher faculties of the lower animals.His function was supposed to be aspurely mechanical as that of the oxwho pulls the plough. There was nomore thought of incorporating him

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEinto the body social than of thus en-nobling the beasts of burden. Theinstitution of slavery made no requi-sition upon the higher human facul-ties of the Negro, and, consequently,its philosophers denied their existence.Those who assumed not only the good-ness, but also the piety of their dayand generation, at one time stoutlydenied that the Negro possessed a soulto be saved; and he was, therefore,refused the rite of Christian baptism.And then the wise ones declared thathe did not possess an intellect thatcould be enlightened after the Euro-pean formulas. They said that theNegro's skull was too thick to learn,and, in order to make the predictionwork out its own fulfilment, they forth-with passed laws forbidding the at-tempt. What nature decreed he couldnot do, man declared he should not try.It is always an indication of uncertaintyof thought and disquietude of con-science when men begin to re-enact thelaws of the Almighty. The institu-

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RACE CONTACTtion of African slavery sought to ex-ploit the Negro's utility as a tool, inutter disregard of his higher humanqualities. The Negro has had to fighthis way upward from this low level ofvaluation of his animal and mechan-ical powers to a just appraisement ofhis intellectual, moral and spiritualendowments which differentiate himfrom the brute creation. The oneclear ray of hope of the ultimate satis-factory adjustment of the races is seenin the fuller degree of recognitionwhich the unfolding human facultiesof the Negro command from an unwill-ing world. The superiority of theblack man's spiritual endowment isnow universally conceded. Whetheror not his skull is less thick than for-merly, no one now affects to doubthis ability to learn, except those whothemselves need to be pitied for theirincapacity to grasp the truth. Onfinal analysis, it will be found that itis not flesh and blood, but intellectual,moral and spiritual qualities that con-

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEstitute the controlling factor in humanrelationship.

The earlier philosophers of Negrosubordination maintained, with infal-lible dogma, that the Negro was in-herently and unalterably inferior inhuman qualities as a part of God'scosmic scheme of things. This in-feriority of nature was assumed to beample justification for all the treat-ment which was bestowed upon him.But the progress of events plays havocwith preconceived notions. Inferior-ity and superiority are relative andtemporary terms. The rapidly devel-oping powers and faculties of theNegro are making all but the infalliblesceptical concerning the basis of theirphilosophy. It is interesting to notehow these philosophers of Negro sub-ordination have been compelled toshift from one discredited theory to an-other, like a frightened bird that flut-ters and flits from twig to twig, as theybend and break beneath its tremulousweight. There seems to be a touch

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RACE CONTACTof primeval jealousy which is alwaysfearful of the under man, lest hestretch fortli his hand and partake ofthe tree of civilization and eat andlive and become as one of us. Thefear is well founded. It is only acomprehensive knowledge of humanwelfare that frees us from fear.

Those who reason thus tell us thatthis is a white man's civilization. Be-cause the Negro has no clearly trace-able historical connection with thiscivilization, they tell us that it is noneof his. But they forget the moral ofthat Scripture parable in which the la-borer coming into the vineyard at theeleventh hour was received in terms ofcompensatory equality with those whohad borne the heat and burden of theday. Other men have labored, andwe have entered into their labors.The white race today is in the fore-front of the civilized movements of theworld. They are the trustees of civi-lization, and, if true to their trust, itmust be administered not only for the

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEwelfare of their own breed after theflesh, but for all of the sons anddaughters of men. Like all of tliehigher values of life, civilization willdie unless it is propagated among allwho are capable of embracing it. InRomeo and Juliet, Shakespeare hasstated the self-enlarging law of humanaffectionthe more I give, the more Ihave. Universal law is reversible; itis as true when stated backward aswhen stated forward. The less of tliehigher values we give, the less wehave. If an individual tries to keephis religion to himself, he will soonhave no religion. And so it is withthe higher form of civilization andculture.

The attitude of the white mind to-wards the Negro is understandable inthe light of the former relationship ofmaster and slave. The normal hu-man attitude is conservative and re-sents alteration and change. We donot like to see our erstwhile inferiorassume equality. It is expecting, per-

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IL\CE CONTACThaps, too much of human nature, tosuppose that the soutliem white manwould accept with satisfaction of feel-ing a sudden transformation of theslave into the freeman, or of a formerinferior into an equal, ^e mustawait the propitiating element of timeto assuage the animosities and bias ofmind engendered by ages of assertedand accepted dogma.To bolster up the cherished dogma,

it is declared that race prejudice is anatural antipathy, and, therefore, isnot subject to regulation and control.Henr}^ W. Grady, not only the mouth-piece, but the oracle of the South, de-clared in one of his deliverances, thathe believed that natural instinct wouldhold the races asunder, but, if suchinstinct did not exist, he wouldstrengthen race prejudice so as tomake it hold the stubbornness andstrength of instinct. Analysis of thenature and theory of race prejudicewould lead too far into the realm ofphilosophic speculation for the pur-

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEposes of the present undertaking. Itis sufficient to say, however, that thecriterion of an instinctive characteris-tic is tested by its modifiability. Aquality that is easily modified is notconsidered the product of heredity,but the acquisition of environment.Race prejudice is stronger on thepart of the white race in Richmond,Virginia, than it is in Boston, Massa-chusetts. It is stronger in the UnitedStates today than it was a generationago. It is immeasurably stronger inthe adult than in the child. Its mani-festations on the part of the same in-dividual, under the same stimulus,varies with time, place and circum-stances. The Civil War suddenlyraised the thermometer of public feel-ing to such a degree that it seemed, fora time, that, on the part of many in-dividuals, race prejudice would bewiped out altogether. The intensityof race feeling is proportionate to thenumber of Negroes in the community.Race prejudice takes on a different

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RACE CONTACTform of manifestation in communitieswhere slavery once existed and inthose communities where it did notprevail. If race antipathy is a nat-ural endowment, it would, necessarily,be reciprocal in its operation. It isnot claimed that it asserts itself on thepart of the Negro against the whiteman, but always in the opposite direc-tion. It is sometimes asserted thatthe Negro seeks unwarranted associa-tion with the white race, in preferenceto his own blood relation. If true,this assertion would destroy the foun-dation upon which belief in innaterace antagonism rests. It shows thatthe desire for contact wdth superiorattainment early nullifies whateverstubbornness and strength the assumedantipathy of race may possess. Andthus, in various ways, it is clearlymanifest that the feeling which we callrace prejudice is profoundly modifi-able by time, circumstance and condi-tion. It is equally clear that what-ever inherency it may possess, it is

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEsufficiently controllable to permit theNegro to enjoy the full and free exer-cise of his rights and prerogatives asa citizen in a democratic republic.We may as well dismiss without ar-gument the various theories of the out-come of race contact as being inappli-cable to the present situation. It ismerely necessary to mention exter-mination and expulsion to prove theirself-absurdity. Absorption of the Ne-gro by the white race is too remote tobe considered as a practicable propo-sition. I may be permitted to repeathere what I have said elsewhere:

"It must be taken for granted inthe final outcome of things that thecolor line will be wholly obliterated.While blood may be thicker thanwater, it does not possess the spissi-tude or inherency of everlasting prin-ciple. The brotherhood of man ismore fundamental than the fellowshipof race. A physical and spiritualidentity of all peoples occupying com-mon territory is a logical necessity of

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RACE CONTACTthought. The clear seeing mind re-fuses to yield or give its assent to anyother ultimate conclusion. This con-summation, however, is far too re-moved from the sphere of presentprobability to have decisive influenceupon practical procedure. It runsparallel with tlie prophecy that everyvalley shall be exalted and every hillshall be brought low. This is a phys-ical necessity. Under the continuinglaw of gravitation, everv' stream thattrickles down tlie mountain side, everydownpour of rain, and ever)' passinggust of wind removes infinite particlesand shifts them from a higher to alower level. This tendency to lowerthe one and lift the otlier will continueeverlastingly until equalit\' has beenestablished as the final condition ofstable equilibrium. In the meantime,however, the human race must adjustitself to the existence of mountain andvalley as a lasting, if not everlasting,reality. Likewise, perpetual attritionof races must ultimately wear away all

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEdistinction and result in a universalblend. But the approximation of thisgoal is too slow and imperceptible tohave any effect upon the present planof race adjustment. We are con-cerned with persistent, stubborn reali-ties which we have the power neitherto influence nor affect, and must dealwith conditions as they are in our dayand generation, and not as we mayvainly or vaguely imagine them in theages yet to be." . . .

The two races will continue to existside by side. They are linked to acommon destiny of good or evil andtheir relations should be characterizedby amity rather than by enmity. TheNegro appeals to the white race in thelanguage of Ruth to Naomi:

"Entreat me not to leave thee, or toreturn from following after thee: forwhither thou goest, I will go; andwhere thou lodgest, I will lodge; thypeople shall be my people, and thyGod my God. Where thou diest will Idie, and there will I be buried."

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CHAPTER IILAWLESSNESS

The spirit of lawlessness against theNegro culminates in tlie practice oflyTiching. The whole civilized worldis frequently shocked at the horriblelynchings of human beings such astook place at Waco, Memphis and EastSt. Louis. These horrible happeningsare but eruptive symptoms of the raceproblem which break forth ever andanon with Vesuvian violence. Theseperiodic outbreaks of lawlessness arebut the outgrowth of the disfavor anddespite in which the Negro is heldby public opinion. During the pastthirty years nearly three thousand Ne-groes have been hTiched in variousparts of the countrv^ Scores havebeen burned alive at the stake. Even

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEthe bodies of women have been fed tothe flames. Thousands of localitiesin various parts of the Union have ex-perienced these outrages. A map ofthe United States with these localitiesindicated in blood spots would be agruesome spectacle indeed. Our fairland of liberty is blotted over withthese blood spots which cannot bewashed out by all the waters of theocean. It is not easy to calculate thetotal number of persons who havebeen involved in these lynchings,either as active participants, or asacquiescent lookers-on, every one ofwhom is a potential murderer, with thesame guilt of conscience which Paulimparted to himself when he con-sented unto the death of Stephen. Sogeneral and widespread has becomethe practice that lynching may well becharacterized as a national institution,to the eternal shame and disgrace ofthe land of the free and the home ofthe brave.

The practice of lynching is not in-[30]


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LAWLESSNESSfluenced by the ascendancy of any po-litical party. It prevailed with equalfreedom under the administrationof Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley,Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson. TheseAmerican statesmen have all ex-pressed their abhorrence of the prac-tice, but have declared their impotenceto deal with the evil. During the ad-ministration of President McKinleythe riot in Wilmington, North Caro-lina, occurred. A horrible lynchingtook place in Alexandria, a few milesfrom the White House, which the Pres-ident might have observed through hisfield glasses. The Atlanta riot oc-curred under the administration ofPresident Roosevelt, the one greatAmerican who has an all-consumingpassion for righteousness. But hewas impotent to remedy by reason ofthe theory of government. The au-thor had the privilege of introducingPresident Taft, who addressed theAlumni Association of Howard Uni-versity on the subject of lynching.

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEHe denounced the practice with all theardor and indignation of his high-minded and generous nature, but therewas not the slightest suggestion ofan effective remedy through federalagency. Under the present adminis-tration, the burning at Waco, the au-tomobile mob at Memphis, and thehorrible outbreak at East St. Louisare still fresh in our memory, andhave only been met with an expressionof impotent regret. Grover Cleve-land, with robust and untrammelledAmerican spirit, was disposed to in-voke the federal machinery to sup-press local lawlessness, beyond anyother President before or since histime.We can hardly take up a dailynewspaper without seeing startlingheadlines about Negroes lynched orburned at the stake. At first, itshocked and horrified the conscience,but according to the law of psychiceconomy, the public conscience has be-come so accustomed to these horrors

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LAWLESSNESSas to be no longer shocked at theirrecurrence. I remember to have readin a great journal the description of al>Tiching in which it was stated thatthe victim was lynched, but tliat nocruelt\' was perpetrated. In truth andin deed,"Vice is a monster of such frightful mien,That to be hated, needs but to be seen;Yet seen so oft, famiHar to our face,We first endure . . . then pity . . . thenembrace."The nation has allowed itself to be-

come so accustomed to lynching that ithas accepted it with complaisant tol-eration. The nation's conscience hasbecome sere, and responds but feeblyto the quickening power of moral ap-peal.

Lynching is not limited to the south-em states, although it occurs more fre-quently there than elsewhere becauseof the relatively larger number ofNegroes in the total population.There have been l>Tichings and bum-

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEings in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio,Indiana, Illinois, Colorado, Kansasand other northern and western states.The evil is indeed national in rangeand scope.

Striking, indeed, is the analogy be-tween the spread of lawlessness todayand the spread of slavery two genera-tions ago. Like slavery, lynching andlawlessness cannot be localized.Neither the evil nor the virtue of thenation can be held in airtight com-partments, separating state from state,or section from section. As the nationcould not exist half slave and halffree under Abraham Lincoln a halfcentury ago, so it cannot exist halflaw-abiding and half lawless today.The evil always tends to obscure thegood, just as the darker phase over-laps the brighter in the waning moon.If the Negro is lynched in the Southwith impunity, he will soon be lynchedin the North; so easy is the commu-nicability of evil suggestion. Thelynching of Negroes has become fash-

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LAWLESSNESSionable in some parts of the country,and is rapidly becoming fashionablein the nation at large. When a blackman is accused of wrongdoing,"Lynch the Negro!" is the cry thatsprings spontaneously to the lips ofman, woman and child. "Rapemeans rope," says the sententious SamJones. But the unlegalized rope hasbeen the badge of ignominious deathon the part of the black man only; justas the cross was the symbol of igno-miny to be inflicted only on those whowere not Roman citizens. If the in-stitution of human slavery could havebeen separated and isolated in theSouth, it doubtless would have had amuch longer lease of life. The FreeSoil party sprang into existence not asa means of exterminating slaver^% butfor the purpose of keeping it out ofthe uncontaminated territory. Butthere could be no free soil in Americaunless all the soil were free. Iflynching could be localized, the nationas a whole would have less pretext

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEfor interfering. But this cannot bedone. Senator Tombs of Georgiaboasted that he would call the roll ofhis slaves under tlie shadow of theBunker Hill monument, an ambitionwhich, doubtless, might have beengratified had not the nation arisen inits moral might and blotted out the in-iquitous institution altogether. Andso the Negro may yet be lynched, notonly under the shadow of the BunkerHill monument, but under the dome ofthe Capitol itself, unless the nationputs an effective stop to the evil prac-tice.

Lynching cannot be confined to theNegro race. Hundreds of white menhave been made the victims of sum-mary violence. Although the Negro isat present tlie chief victim of lawless-ness, yet, like any other disease, itcannot be limited by racial lines.The Jewish race has been made to feelthe sting of race prejudice, culminat-ing in the lynching of Leo Frank inGeorgia, arousing the resentment of

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LAWLESSNESSall Jewry at the deep damnation of histaking off. Italians were lynched inLouisiana, almost precipitating inter-national controversy.

It is needless to attempt to place theblame on the helpless Negro. In theearly stages of these outbreaks therewas an attempt to fix an evil and lech-erous reputation on the Negro as lyingat the basis of lynching and lawless-ness. Statistics most clearly refutethis contention. The great majorityof the outbreaks cannot even allegerapeful assault in extenuation. It isundoubtedly true that there are im-bruited and lawless members of theNegro race, as there are of the whiterace, capable of committing any out-rageous and hideous offence. TheNegro possesses the imperfections ofhis status. As long as the race is heldin general despite, just so long will itproduce a disproportionate number ofimperfect individuals of evil propen-sity. There are millions of Negroeswho, like Topsv, "just growed."

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEThey have missed the beneficent influ-ence of home, school, church and so-ciety and cannot but show a lack ofmoral quality. It is folly to supposethat the neglected Negro, without thereinforcement of heredity, ennoblingenvironment or formal education, willmeasure up to the highest standardof moral accountability. The wliitechild with the advantage of heredityand environment must have his facul-ties carefully trained to meet the re-quirements of civilization. The Negrois susceptible to the ordinary influ-ences that ennoble or degrade human-ity. To relegate the Negro to a statusthat encourages the baser instincts,and then denounce him because hedoes not stand forth as a model ofperfection, is of the same order ofironical cruelty as shown by the bar-barous Teutons in Shakespeare's TitusAndronicus who cut off" the hands andhacked out the tongue of the lovelyLavinia, and then upbraided her fornot calling for perfumed water to

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LAWLESSNESSwash her delicate hands. The Negrois neither angelic nor diabolical, butmerely human, exemplifying tlie vir-tues and vices which belong to thestatus which he has been forced tooccupy.

The Negro should be encouraged inall right directions to develop his bestmanly and human qualities. Whowill say that he does not respond tohumane treatment? The Negroes whohave had the proper influences broughtto bear upon their lives show as higha degree of conduct and manly de-meanor as any other element of ourpopulation. When the black man de-viates from the recognized standardsof conduct he should be punished bydue process of law, no whit augmentedor abated because of his race identity.It is a fatuous philosophy that wouldresort to cruel and unusual punish-ment as a deterrent of crime. Lynch-ing never made one Negro virtuous,nor implanted the seeds of right doingin the heart of any human being. On

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEthe other hand, it has lowered the sen-sitiveness of the conscience of thewhite race, and has damaged themoral reputation of the nation.

Lecherous assault cannot be provedto be an innate characteristic of theNegro. The practice is not uncom-mon among all civilized nations. TheUnited States military authoritieshave recently hanged an American sol-dier in France for rapeful assault andmurder. Violation of feminine chas-tity meets with as condign punishmentin Africa as in civilized lands. Dur-ing the days of slavery it was unheardof. In the midst of the Civil War,when the white men of the South lefttheir fortunes and their families in thekeeping of the black man whose chainsthey were endeavoring to tighten onthe field of battle, he returned invio-late all that was committed to his care.In the West Indies, and, indeed, in theentire world range of race contact, thischarge is not lodged as a peculiarcharacteristic of the Negro race.

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LAWLESSNESSThe contact, adjustment and attri-

tion of the various races of mankindconstitute a problem which is cotermin-ous with the ends of the earth. Thelighter and stronger breeds of men arecoming in contact with the darker andweaker ones. How does it happen thatin the United States alone of all civil-ized lands, these atrocious outrages areheaped upon the helpless Negro? Noother helpless people anywhere in theworld have been made the victims ofsuch lawlessness and outrage. TheEnglish nation has had the largest co-lonial experience and success of anypeoples since the destruction of theRoman empire, and has come into re-lationship with the various weakerbreeds of men in all parts of theworld. But lynching never prevailsunder the British flag. In the WestIndies, where the Negroes outnumberthe whites 20 to 1, the word has notyet found place in the local vocabu-lary. In Brazil and other SouthAmerican states, which are involved

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEin a more complex racial situationthan that in the United States of Amer-ica, racial peace and good will pre-vail, and racial prejudice and passionare controlled and held in restraint.The United States enjoys the evil dis-tinction, among civilized nations ofthe earth, of taking delight in the mur-der and burning of human beings.Nowhere else do men, women andchildren dance with ghoulish glee andfight for ghastly souvenirs of hurnanflesh and mock the dying groans of thehelpless victim, which sicken the air,while the flickering flames of the fu-nereal pyre lighten the midnight skywith their dismal glare. The blood ofthe Negro cries from the ground untothe conscience of the nation.

The evil is, indeed, national. Somust the remedy be. It is but hollowmockery of the Negro, when he isbeaten and bruised and burned in allparts of the nation, and flees to the na-tional government for asylum, to bedenied relief on the ground of doubt-

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LAWLESSNESSful jurisdiction. The black man asksfor justice and is given a theory ofgovernment. He asks for protectionand is confronted with a scheme ofgovernmental checks and balances.If democracy cannot control lawless-ness, then democracy must be pro-nounced a failure. The old adagestill holds true:"For forms of government let fools con-

testWhatever's best administeredis best."The nations of the world have a right

to demand of us the working out intheir integrity of our institutions athome before they are promulgatedabroad. The outrages of which theBelgians so deeply and so justly com-plain are but merciful performancesby gruesome comparison with thesedaily inflictions upon the AmericanNegro. Our frantic wail against thebarbarity of Turk upon Armenian,Russian against Jew, German againstBelgian, are belied and made of no

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEeffect. It cannot be said that theseoutbreaks are but the spontaneousebullitions of popular feeling, withoutgovernmental sanction or approval.They occur all over the nation andgive it an evil reputation in the eyesof the world. Sins of permission areas reprehensible as sins of commis-sion. A nation that permits evil prac-tices to go unchecked and hides be-hind a theory of government is as rep-rehensible in the eyes of the world asthe nation that assumes responsibilityfor them.A few years ago a Turkish ambas-sador became persona non grata to thegovernment for calling attention to themoral inconsistency of the UnitedStates in denouncing the outrages per-petrated by Turks upon Armenians,while condoning or ignoring thosecommitted by whites upon blacks.The nation is compelled, in a spirit ofhumility, to accept the reproach whichthe world hurls into our teeth : "Thouhypocrite, first cast the beam out of

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LAWLESSNESSthine own eye ; and then shalt thou seeclearly to cast the mote out of tliybrother's eye." Every high-mindedAmerican must be touched with atinge of shame when he contemplatesthat the rallying cry of the land of thefree and the home of the brave ismade a delusion and a snare by rea-son of racial barbarities. The worldis at war with the Teutonic powers be-cause the German government openlydeclared an international treaty to bea mere scrap of paper. But, long be-fore this avowed declaration, the Four-teenth and Fifteenth Amendmentsthe vital parts of the Constitution ofthe United Stateswere made scrapsof paper by the practice and condona-tion of the American people.An outspoken governor of one ofthe states of the Union was widely de-nounced throughout the length andbreadth of the land for saying: "Tohell with the Constitution where therace issue is involved!" It was notthe substance, but the unceremonial

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEand explosive form of the utterancethat evoked popular condonation.The nation cannot face its own con-duct. It accepts the fact, but shrinksfrom the phrase. It, therefore, mustblot out lynching and lawlessness inorder to safeguard its moral reputa-tion.

At Houston, Texas, a group of Ne-gro soldiers, goaded to desperation byreflex racial passion, inflicted a heavytoll of fatality upon the whites, revers-ing the usual order of perpetrator andvictim. The white race, accustomedto centuries of self-restraint and socialcontrol, swiftly overrides the exactionsof civil and divine law in reaction tothe virus of race passion. The Negro,in turn, made delirious by the samepassion, overleaped the rigors of mil-itary discipline.The American conscience has been

touched and quickened by the East St.Louis and Houston outbreaks as it hasnever been before. Press and pulpithave tried to forget these outrages.

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LAWLESSNESSAt each fresh outbreak they wouldlash themselves into a spasm of virtueand exhaust the entire vocabulary ofdenunciation, but, forthwith, wouldlapse into sudden silence and acquies-cent guilt. By some fatuous delusionthey seem to think that the atrocitiesof Springfield, Wilmington, Waco, At-lanta, Memphis and a thousand otherplaces of evil report would never berepeated, nor the memory rise up tocondemn the nation. But silence andneglect merely result in compoundingatrocities. The East St. Louis andHouston occurrences convinced the na-tion, as it has never been convincedbefore, that the time for action hascome. The press is not content witha single editorial ebullition, but, byrepeated utterances, insists that the na-tion shall deal with its most malignantdomestic evil. Reproach is cast uponthe American contention for the de-mocratization of the world in face ofits lamentable failure at home. Ex-President Roosevelt has openly pro-

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEclaimed, in a dramatic declaration,that these outbreaks make our moralpropaganda for the liberation of man-kind but a delusion and a snare. Canthis nation hope to live and to grow infavor with God and man on the basisof a lie? A nation with a stultifiedconscience is a nation with stuntedpower.

Experience shows that there can beno effective reform of widespread. evilby local or state authority. Slavery,long regarded as a local institution,could be destroyed only by the firmhand of the national government.Polygamy, traffic in vice, the whiteslave trade, prohibition, peonage andthe divorce evil cannot be controlledby state action, but must be wiped outby an all-embracing federal law.Lawlessness and lynching are more in-sidious and widespread than any othernational evils. They ramify through-out the entire nation, flourishing moreabundantly in some sections and lo-calities under fostering local condi-

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LAWLESSNESStions. This evil taints the nationalcharacter and cries loudly for na-tional remedy.

In time of war it is necessary tocentralize authority in the hands ofthe federal government. The Presi-dent, in the midst of the world war,has been given all but dictatorialpowers. It is necessary to resort toautocratic methods in order to destroyhated autocracy. The federal gov-ernment controls our common carriersand dictates w^hat we shall eat andwhat we shall drink and what w^e shallor shall not say. All of this is justi-fied on the basis of militar^^ necessity.But ample means to blot out lawless-ness would be justified on the groundof moral necessity.

The United States has the largestpercentage of murders and homicides,and the lowest average of legal execu-tions, of any nation on the face ofthe earth. Ex-President Taft, in anotable address before the Civic Fo-rum of New York City in 1908, stated

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEthat there had been 131,951 murdersand homicides in the United Statessince 1885, and only 2,286 legal exe-cutions. In 1912 there were 9,152homicides and 145 executions. Thelaxity of the law lies at the root of theevil. In a new country like ours,where pioneer conditions prevailed,and where the stronger race was con-fronted by two more primitive races,and where authority was subject to lit-tle or no legal constraint, the spirit oflawlessness survives long after theevoking conditions have passed away.

Pioneer conditions and the racialsituation, in the earlier days, devel-oped a sense of personal liberty andlocal freedom on the part of the whiteman which was intolerant of restrainteven by the federal government.Robert Bums, committing the commonlogical fallacy of misconstruing an in-cidental circumstance into a casual re-lationship, in one of his frenziedoutbursts, exclaimed: "Whisky andfreedom go together." Subsequent

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LAWLESSNESSexperience has shown that they are asmutually antagonistic as evil andgood. And they are not only unre-lated, but, in the long run, one is de-structive of the other. By parity oferror, the wild spirit of lawlessness,which seems to flourish as a baytreein the boasted land of the free andhome of the brave, might be disposedto insist that lynching and liberty gotogether. But the error is delusiveand fatal. The principles are mutu-ally destructive, like vice and virtue.The nation must destroy lawlessnessor lawlessness will destroy the nation.

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CHAPTER IIISEGREGATION

The two races in America occupyseparate social areas, with only inci-dental and temporary points of con-tact. In all purely personal andpleasureable relations of life, the tworaces are almost as distinct aa if sepa-rated by interplanetary space. Theraces meet in matters of barter andbusiness, but when these relations arereleased, each goes into his own com-pany.Under the old dispensation of mas-

ter and slave, there was an understoodoverlapping area of social intimacy.A zone of social neutrality was estab-lished by complaisant condescensionon the part of the whites and willingself-subordination on the part of the

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SEGREGATIONblacks. By domestic contact and fa-miliarity the Negro was made an ac-cepted member of the household and,under definitely understood limitationsand restrictions, mingled with thewhites on terms of social satisfaction.Much of the harshness and severity ofslavery was relieved through such con-tact. Indeed, the advocate of slaverydefended it as a patriarchal institu-tion, where master and servant werebound together by satisfactory^ ties ofmutual interest and kindly feeling.The inhuman barbarities of the sys-tem, such as were revealed in "UncleTom's Cabin," were exhibited mainlyin the commercial aspect where the cir-cle of ownership became too large tobe covered by the personal contact ofhuman s}Tnpathy of the master class,which had to rely for hired intermedi-aries upon overseers who neither un-derstood nor felt the ennobling bondof human sympathy.

But the Emancipation Proclamationdestroyed this patriarchal relationship,

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEsocial domain to enlarge itself so asto include the entire area of humanrelationship. Because the Negro mustbe kept socially apart from the whiteman, he is not allowed to work at thesame trade, be domiciled in the samelocality, attend the same school, ridein the same coach, worship in the samechurch or be buried in the same grave-yard. Social affinity, which is essen-tially voluntary and spontaneous,transcends its proper sphere when itattempts to exclude those outside ofthe charmed circle from enjoyment oflife, liberty and the pursuit of happi-ness.

During the last extra session of Con-gress, numerous bills were introducedby southern members for the purposeof segregating employes of the federalgovernment. But under the guidanceof wiser and more comprehensiveleadership, such regulations were rele-gated to the pigeonhole of Congres-sional oblivion. Several southern cit-ies enacted laws separating the resi-

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SEGREGATIONdential areas of the two races, butsuch statutes have been nullified by adecision of the Supreme Court of theUnited States. The writer sat as anauditor in the Supreme Court whenthis case w^as being argued. It sohappened that M. Vivian, Ex-Premierof France, member of the French HighCommission sent from tlie democracyof France to make an appeal to the de-mocracy of America, was a guest ofthe Chief Justice on this occasion.This gallant representative of the gal-lant French Republic was confrontedby the ridiculous anomaly of witness-ing the highest tribunal in the domi-nant democracy of the world tn'ing todetermine whether or not the rights ofan American citizen at home to buyand occupy property should be limitedby race and color. Great indeedwas the triumph of democracy when aright decision was reached on thisissue.

The effect of segregation would beto fix upon the American nation a

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SEGREGATIONthis government, today, to declare thatthe Negro shall not enjoy identicalrights and privileges witli the rest ofhis fellow-citizens would be equivalentto the re-enactment of the discrediteddogma of Judge Taney. Indeed, theprinciple involved is just as vital tothe ideal of the nation today as it wassixty years ago, although the publicconscience may be less keenly aliveto it.

The war amendments to the Consti-tution reaffirmed the original intentionthat tliere should be no race distinc-tion recognized by the national gov-ernment. These great amendmentswritten into the Constitution by thepoint of the bayonet dipped in patri-otic blood can never be erased northeir purpose ultimately defeated.Race discrimination is mentioned onlyto be forbidden. Mindful of the ex-istence of these amendments, the statesthat have enacted laws repugnant totheir spirit and letter, have sought cir-cumvention bv cunningly devised

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEphrases and tricky contrivances.Every such revised constitution bearsthe stamp of righteous condemnationin its phraseology.

The American people for two gene-rations have been divided in localalignment as to the relation of theNegro race to the federal government.The South has always been opposed tothe recognition of the Negro as a fed-eral citizen, and has striven inces-santly to reduce him to governmentalnullity. It would deny him both theright to vote and the privilege of hold-ing office. Every southern senatorvoted to repeal the Fifteenth Amend-ment when that proposition was addedas a rider to important legislation be-fore Congress. No northern senatorvoted for this proposition, because itdoes not represent the spirit or pur-pose of his state or section. The pol-icy of segregating the Negro is the out-growth of the same local spirit. Theleaders of southern thought and opin-ion do not hesitate on all occasions to

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SEGREGATIONdeclare their fixed and unalterablepurpose to eliminate the Negro fromall political and governmental consid-eration. The policy is well under-stood and accepted as the politicaldogma of that section.In the duel for national supremacybetween the North and South, duringthe generation preceding the CivilWar, the South was hopelessly over-matched. Today it constitutes lessthan one-third of the population of theUnited States and has fallen far belowits former rival in wealth, educationand liberal ideas. This is in no sensea reflection upon the South, w^hich hasstriven heroically to measure up to thestandard of excellence set by theNorth, under severe and serious handi-cap. But it is a plain statement ofpalpable fact pertinent to the issuenow under discussion. Massachu-setts and Iowa, rather than Mississippiand Georgia, embody and typify thenational spirit. The southern atti-tude on the race question has become

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEprovincial, while the northern positionis national.

This race has all but universally fa-vored and followed the part of theNorth. The anti-slavery crusade de-veloped in the North against the pro-slavery obsession of the South; the oneupheld the cause of liberty and union;the other was devoted to secession andslavery; the one imbibed the spirit ofprogress; the other, that of reaction;the one stood for the rights of man;the other, for the arrogance of race.The Negro's cause was caught up inthe vortex of the whirlwind of patri-otic fervor, sweeping from the higherlatitudes and lashing itself against thebarriers of the lower tiers of States.The party of the North rode trium-phant on the storm, while the party ofthe South bore the brunt of its fury.Sections and parties for the time beingbecame connotative, like up and downin ethics; the North was synonymouswith patriotism; the South, with dis-loyalty. To the mind of the uncrit-

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SEGREGATIONical Negro, the North and the friendsof the Negro race were one and insep-arable in the advocacy of all of hispolitical and civil rights, while theSouth and his enemies were united inthe bonds of iniquity to antagonize hisprogress. And yet, the southernwhite man's attitude toward the polit-ical status of the Negro has alwaysbeen determined by circumstances ofracial situation rather than from anyabstract theory of government. Hispolitical tenets are the outcome of cir-cumstances and environment ratherthan of any inherent principle of partycreed. The differentiating principle,which lies deeper than lines of polit-ical division, is that communities withheavy Negro population are hostile topolitical and civil equality, whilethose with thinly scattered numbersare either friendly or indifferent tothat proposition. There is no psycho-logical division of the white race de-terminative of the status of the blackmember within their midst.

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEIt is imperative that the federal

statutes should be forever free fromrace proscription, whatever afflictedstates may feel forced to do under thepressure of acute issues. California,if unrestrained, might pass laws for-bidding Japanese ownership of landin that state, but this would furnishno justification for the federal govern-ment to sanction or adopt such policy.

The policy of social separatiou ofthe races, alleged in justification ofsuch measures, is a matter with whichthe federal government has nothing todo. The intimate social and personalrelationship of citizens do not fallwithin the scope or purview of the fed-eral authority. Its concern is with tliecomprehensive relations of all citi-zens. Matters of minor detail are leftto local and subordinate jurisdictions.

The general government cannot findwarrant for such action in the exampleof the several southern states. Dis-criminatory laws in the states aresought to be justified on the ground

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SEGREGATIONthat the greater number of Negroes areunprepared for participation in gov-ernment or for free intermingling withthe whites without seriously loweringthe tone and standard of civilization.The federal government has abso-lutely no such basis of excuse. TheNegro represents at present less thaneleven percent of the total population.This ratio is growing less with thepassing of the decades. So far, nostate with so slight a Negro element hasdeemed it necessar}^ to adopt a code of"Jim Crow" laws. The federal gov-ernment leaves each citizen sociallywhere it finds him.

Those who advocate the policy ofsegregation permit themselves to in-dulge in the fallacy that it is for thebest advantage of the Negro. It wasonce said that slavery was best for theNegro; later we heard that "Jim-Crow"cars were enacted especially for thebenefit of the Negro; and then disfran-chisement was intended for his well-being. It remains for some grim hu-

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEmorist to rise up and declare thatlynching is encouraged for the blackman's peculiar and especial benefit.It does seem strange that iniquitouspractices, which are universally con-demned by mankind, are regarded asfor the best welfare of the Negro race.When the Negro contends for publicequality, he is often accused of the de-sire to force himself into associationwherein he is not wanted. If this werehis motive, the accusation would bejustified. If Negroes walk on thenorth side of the street on a summer'safternoon, it is not because they desireto force association with whites whooccupy the same thoroughfare, butthey are both seeking shelter from thescorching rays of the burning sun, andthe fact that they are thrown togetheris incidental to their common quest ofthe same advantage. When the Negroseeks a residence where white peoplehappen to live, it is not that he wishesto force himself into unwelcome asso-ciation. The whites, representing the

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SEGREGATIONmore numerous and wealthy elementsof the population, are apt to occupythe more advantageous localities andsections.

The Negro is in quest of a fairchance to work out his own destiny,and to contribute his share to the com-mon honor and glory of the nation.This he cannot do if handicapped andcircumscribed by laws separating himfrom the rest of his fellow men. Al-ready handicapped by tradition andenvironment, it is poor sportsmanshipon the part of his white fellow citizensstill further to handicap him in therace of life. Equality of opportunityis the most that the Negro asks, and theleast that a democratic nation can af-ford to grant.

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CHAPTER IVNEGRO PATRIOTISM AND DEVOTIONPatriotism consists in the love of

country, the love of home and of thelocal community. It is essentially anemotional attribute. The Negro is en-dowed with high emotional qualitieswhich find outlet in outbursts of patri-otic fervor. He possesses a sense oflocal attachment akin to that which theJews manifested for beloved Zion.No sooner had the African captive for-gotten the pang caused by violentseverance from his native land than hefell in love with the land of his cap-tivity. He early forgot the sunnyclime and palmy wine of the nativesoil for the "cotton, com and sweetpotatoes" of Virginia. The trans-planted Negro contributed the only

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XEGRO PATRIOTISMoriginal American music to the reper-ton* of song. The cit}' of Jerusalemand the region around about Jordanhave become protot^-pes of the land ofpromise, merely because the humblepeople who lived there poured outtheir souls in joy and sorrow, express-ing their patriotic attachment as tran-scending their chief joy. The Hebrewcaptive hung his harp upon a willowtree and refused to sing the songs ofZion in a strange land. But thetransplanted African has glorified theland of his captivity- by the songs ofsorrow which sprang from his heart.These "spirituels** are but the expres-sion of blind, half-conscious poetn-',breaking through tlie aperture ofsound before the intellect had time toformulate a definite cast of statement.The emotional element of patriotismis not manifested merely in epochs andepisodes which produce reno^sTiedwarriors and statesmen, but in the com-mon deeds and endearments of thehumble folk, which make the deepest

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEimpression upon the human memoryand imagination. It is the folk songwhich manifests the folk soul.

The red Indian, the aboriginalowner of this country, has left nomonument of enduring patriotism in-terpretable in terms of Europeanthought and feeling. Anomalouslyenough, it was reserved to an Anglo-Saxon poet, Longfellow, to catch upthe thread of the Indian's patriotic de-votion in the legend of Hiawatha, andto the son of Africa, S. Coleridge Tay-lor, to give it musical expression. Itis difficult to describe the current offeeling that flows through the soul ofthe speculative auditor as he listensto Negro voices in a choral renditionof Hiawatha, uttering with lyricpathos the patriotic soul of the red In-dian, as portrayed by the Anglo-Saxonpoet, and colored musically by thegenius of the African composer.Robert Bums, the national poet ofScotland, has seized upon the joys andsorrows, the deeds and endearments

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NEGRO PATRIOTISMof the humblest cotters of that land,and woven them into soulful songwhich has made old Scotia ever dearto human memory and imagination.Who would not gladly go to the ex-pense of a European trip in order toretrace the steps of the immortalizedTam O'Shanter, or to review the sceneof Marypoor, departed shade?

If human memory and imaginationever turn to our Southland with a pas-sionate yearning for a manifestationof the outpouring of the human spirit,it will not be in quest of the deeds anddoings of renowned warriors andstatesmen, but rather in quest of thesongs and sorrows and soul strivingsof humble black folk embodied inplantation melodies. "Swanee River,""My Old Kentucky Home," and"Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny,"spiritualize these regions beyond anyother expression which they have yetevoked. Even the motif of the musi-cal inspiration of the southern Con-federacy, the world-renowned "Dixie,"

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEwas but the embellishment of the ex-pression of longing of a Negro for hishomeland, where he was bom "on anautumn day and a frosty morning."Which of America's patriotic songswould we not willingly exchange for"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," or "StealAway to Jesus"? There is no tone ofbitterness in these songs. On the con-trary, an undertone of love and devo-tion runs like a minor chord throughthem all. The plantation melodieswhich have come up from the lowgrounds of sorrow portray in sub-con-scious form the patriotic as well asemotional capacity of this transplantedrace.

They sometimes tell us that Americais a white man's country. The state-ment is understandable in light of thefact that the white race constitutesnine-tenths of its population, andexerts the controlling influence overthe various forms of material and sub-stantial wealth and power. But thisland belongs to the Negro as much as

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NEGRO PATRIOTISMto any other, not only because he hashelped redeem it from the wildernessby the energy of his arm, but becausehe has bathed it in his blood, wateredit with his tears, and hallowed it withthe yearnings of his soul.

The Negro's patriotism is vicariousand altruistic. It seems to be an ano-maly of fate that the Negro, the manof all men who is held in despite,should stand out in conspicuous reliefat every crisis of our national history.His blood offering is not for himselfor for his race, but for his country.His blood flows like a stream throughour national history, from BostonCommons to Carrizal. Crispus At-tucks was the first American to givehis blood as an earnest of Americanindependence. His statue on BostonCommon stands as a mute reminder ofthe vicarious virtues of a transplantedrace. The Negro was with Washing-ton in the dark days of Valley Forge,when the lamp of national liberty flick-ered almost to extinguishment. The

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEblack troops fought gallantly withJackson behind the fleecy breastworksat New Orleans. Two hundred thou-sand black boys in blue responded tothe call of the immortal Lincoln forthe preservation of the Union. TheNegro was the positive cause of theCivil War and the negative cause ofthe united nation with which we facedie world today.

The reckless daring of Negro troopson San Juan hill marked the turningpoint in that struggle which drove thelast vestige of Spanish power fromthe western world. The nation buriedwith grateful honor at Arlingtoncemetery the Negro soldiers who fellface forward while carrying the flagto the farthest point in the heart ofMexico, in quest of the bandit whodared place hostile foot on Americansoil. In complete harmony with thissplendid patriotic record, it so hap-pened that it was an American Negrowho proved to be the first victim ofruthless submarine warfare after

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NEGRO PATRIOTISMPresident Wilson had distinctly an-nounced to Germany that the continu-ance of such outrage would be con-sidered tantamount to war. In all ofthese ways has the Negro shown, pur-posely or unconsciously, his undevi-ating association with the glory andhonor of the nation. Greater lovehatli no man than this, that a man laydown his life for his country.

It is related that a Negro soldier wasin hot-footed pursuit of a Mexican whohad crossed the border line. Thecaptain, noticing the pursuit, called asharp retreat as the line of demarca-tion was approached. Upon his re-turn, the captain said in a commenda-tory tone: "You certainly gave hima hot chase, but, you know, you mustnot cross the international boundaryline." Thereupon the powder-col-ored son of thunder quickly re-sponded: "Captain, if these Mexi-cans keep on fooling with us, we'lltake up this international boundaryline and carry it down to the Panama

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCECanal." This reply, so aptly spoken,expresses the attitude of every rightminded Afro-American. Whereverthe boundary line of American oppor-tunity, privilege and prestige is to beflung, the American Negro will do hisfull share in pushing it thitherward.

The Negro's vicarious patriotism isbut one form of manifestation of hisvicarious nature. The devotion of theblack mammy to the offspring of hermistress gives a new meaning and defi-nition to that term. Out of the super-abundance of her simple, unsophisti-cated soul she was able to satisfy theneeds of the child of her heart, thoughnot of her flesh, as nothing else coulddo. The man-slave, during the CivilWar, in complete reversion of the lawof self-interest, remained absolutelyloyal to the family and fortune of hismaster, who at that very time wasfighting to tighten the chains thatbound him to lasting bondage.

Though not often proclaimed, it isa well known fact that several colored

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NEGRO PATRIOTISMregiments enlisted under the bannerof the Confederacy. Had the Rich-mond government carried out its ten-tative purpose to enlist Negro soldierson a wholesale plan, there is littledoubt but that colored soldiers wouldhave followed the leadership of Lee asvaliantly as they did that of Grant.This altruistic quality of loyalt}' anddevotion is not destroyed by freedomand education, but translated and ex-pressed in other terms.

Fifty years after the glorious vic-tory at Appomattox, the lingeringremmants of the boys in blue marcheddo^^Tl Pennsylvania Avenue in the cityof Washington, in semi-centennial cele-bration of that great event. Therewas not a dry eye on that Avenue, aswhite and black veterans, broken withthe weight of years, marched withfeeble tread to the reminiscent strainsof friendly reunion: "Should AuldAcquaintance Be Forgot?" One yearlater the rapidly thinning ranks ofthose who followed the fortune of the

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEConfederacy marched down the samethoroughfare in celebration of theirtriumphant defeat. There was anoticeable intersprinkling of Negroesin their ranks also. The Negro's par-ticipation in these two parades epito-mizes and expresses both his self-inter-ested and his altruistic patriotism.

Ethnic character is too deep-rootedto be transformed by a political pro-gram. The Christ-like quality oflong-suffering, forgiveness of spiritand loving-kindness is a natural co-efficient of the Negro's nature.Booker Washington merely embodiedand expressed the folk sense of hisrace when he said: "No man couldbe so mean as to make me hate him."The Negro, in the issue now upon us,will not sulk in his tent, nursing hisgrievances, like Achilles before thewalls of Troy. He has no quarrelwith the Germans. But he is fightingat the behest of his country. It is notto be wondered at if the German gov-ernment, supposing that the Negro

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NEGRO PATRIOTISMholds animosity and resentment withthe stubbornness of the Teuton, shouldjudge that he might furnish a fertilefield in which to sow the seed of traitor-ous disloyalty. But such seed fallson stony ground. There is no depthof earth in the Negro's nature for itsnourishment. The Negro will notdeny or belittle his just grievances.He simply holds them in abeyance un-til the war is ended.

If it be a political as it is a sacredprinciple that without the shedding ofblood there is no remission of sins,when we consider the blood of theAfrican captive making red the At-lantic Ocean on his way to cruel bond-age, the blood of the slave drawn bythe lash, the blood of the black soldiershed in behalf of his country, we cansay with Kipling: "If blood be theprice of liberty. Lord God! the Negrohas paid in full."

At such a time as this, when the na-tional life and honor are involved inthe prevailing struggle, the govem-

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEment must make careful appraisementof all available resources of both menand material. Mind power, manpower and money power are the indis-pensable elements of success. TheNegro, constituting one-tenth of thepopulation, may be relied upon to con-tribute more than his quota of manpower. There need not be the slight-est apprehension concerning hisloyalty, soldierly efficiency or willing-ness to serve his country. The Negrois sometimes called the Afro-Ameri-can, and classified etymologically withthe hyphenated citizens. But nohyphen separates his loyalty from thatof his white fellow citizens.

The Negro's patriotism is an innateand spontaneous feeling. The race isendowed with emotional qualitieswhich find outlet in an outburst ofpatriotic fervor. Strains of martialmusic and the Stars and Stripes float-ing on the breeze quicken his ardorand awaken his militant spirit. Hedoes not stop to reason why, but is

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NEGRO PATRIOTISMwilling to follow the flag even untodeath. He has also an attachment forlocality which is the \ery essence ofpatriotism. He has hallowed theland of his enslavement by the sorrowsongs that gushed from his heart.There is no tone of bitterness, but anundertone of love and devotion runsas a minor chord through it all.

"To the victor belong the spoils" isa righteous and just motto if the spoilsbe liberty. Those who fight for thehonor and glory of the flag areworthy of a full measure of freedomand privilege under that flag. Noright-minded American will care todispute this proposition, and none willdare refute it. The reverse of thisproposition is also true. No classthat refuses to defend the flag in thehour of peril has any just claim to itsprotection in time of peace. Thepresent war is a struggle for democ-racy; for the uplifting and ennoble-ment of the man farthest down. Ra-cial and religious barriers are being

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEswept away. Christian and heathen.Catholic and Protestant, Jew and Gen-tile, Asiatic and European, Africanand Aryan are all involved in onetitanic struggle for freedom and hu-manity.

The world is engulfed in the redruin of war. The present conflict isnot due to the inherent deviltry of onenation or the innate goodness of theother. The cumulative ethical ener-gies of society for generations havebeen damned up by barriers of hatredand greed. They seek outlet throughthe easiest crevice. The stored-uppower is now breaking through thebarrier as a cataclysmic convulsion ofnations. The foundations of socialorder are being undermined by theshocks of doom. As an outcome ofthe war, the re-adjustment of the socialstructure will be more radical thanthat effected by the French Revolution.The transforming effect upon thestatus of the Negro will be scarcely less

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I

NEGRO PATRIOTISMmomentous than that produced by theEmancipation Proclamation.

The democratization of the world,coined as a fitting phrase, will betranslated into actuality. The Decla-ration of Independence, penned by aslaveholder, sounded the death knellof slaver)^ although three quarters ofa century elapsed between promiseand fulfilment. The democratizationof the world is but a restatement ofthis doctrine in terms of the presentday. Political autocracy and racialautocracy will be buried in the samegrave. The divine right of kings andthe divine right of race will suffer acommon fate. Hereafter no nation,however strong, will be permitted tooverride a weaker neighbor by sheerdominance of power; and no race willbe permitted to impose an unjust andruthless regime upon the weakerbreeds of men through assumption ofrace superiority.

The people of all lands who are[83]


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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEheavy laden and overborne will be thechief beneficiaries of this war. TheNegro problem is involved in the prob-lem of humanity. The whole isgreater than any of its parts. TheNegro will share in the general mo-mentum imparted to social welfare.

The Negro has been politically dis-franchised in the South and indus-trially disfranchised in the North.Already he has been admitted to in-dustrial opportunity in the North withmanifest reflex action upon the harshregime in the South. National prohi-bition, which is borne forward on thewave of the world war, will immenselyimprove his moral status.Thousands of Negroes have been en-listed, and seven hundred Negroeshave been commissioned as officers inthe army of the United States. ANegro has been made assistant cabinetofficer whose function is to adjust har-moniously the race's relation to theimpending struggle. The improvedattitude of the white race towards the

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCENegro is apparent in two affirmativedecisions rendered by the SupremeCourt of the United States with unan-imous concurrence.

The Negro will emerge from thiswar with a redoubled portion of privi-lege and opportunity. The Negrowill be loyal and patriotic, despiteinjustices and discriminations whichtry his soul. If he prevails, thesetrials and tribulations will work outa more exceeding weight of ad-vantage. But if he allows them toovercome him, woeful will be his lotindeed! To stand sulkily by in re-sentful aloofness would be of the samekind of folly as to refuse to help ex-tinguish a conflagration which threat-ens the destruction of one's native city,because he has a complaint against thefire department. The Negro will helpput out the conflagration which threat-ens the world, and thus make the worldhis lasting debtor. He will standshoulder to shoulder with his whitefellow citizens to fight for the freedom

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEof tlie world outside of our own na-tional circle, and then hold them tomoral consistency of maintaining ajust and equitable regime inside ofthat circle.

The tide of democracy is sweepingthrough the world like a mighty river.Race problems and social ills are asmarshes, backwaters, stagnant pools,estuaries, which have been shut offfrom free circulation with the maincurrent. But the freshet of freedomis now overflowing its bed and purify-ing all the stagnant waters in its on-ward sweep to the ocean of humanliberty and brotherhood, bearing uponits beneficent bosom all those wholabor and are overborne.

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CHAPTER VRIGHTEOUSNESS

The presence of the weaker race inthe midst of a stronger is apt to developthe evil propensities on the part of tliestronger. The same moral code is notapplied to the weaker race. The an-cient limitation of ethics which in-cludes in its ennobling bond only one'sneighbor is made to apply. Ethicstakes on ethnic quality. Herein con-sists the inherent nature of the evilgrowing out of the contact of diver-gent races. Man is always prone tojustify his unrighteous deeds by claim-ing that the object of his despite doesnot belong to the same ethical regimeas himself. This is the attitude whichthe Jew is wont to exhibit toward theGentile, rich toward poor, white to-

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEward black. All of the discrimina-tion against the Negro rests on thisbasis. He was brought to this coun-try as a slave because he was not con-sidered of the same moral order as thewhite man. He is disfranchised andsegregated and lynched for the samereason.

The supremacy of science restsupon the inexorability of natural lawwhich pays no heed to the prejudicesand predilections of man. The lawof gravitation and the binomialtheorem apply with absolute impar-tiality^ to all men, everywhere and atall times. They admit of no ethnicvariation to accommodate human arro-gance or caprice. By those who un-derstand the principles of these laws,the prediction of their outcome may berelied upon with undeviating certainty.According to the foundation of Chris-tian ethics, moral principles are asabsolute in nature as natural law.The Ten Commandments, the Sermonon the Mount and the Golden Rule are

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RIGHTEOUSNESSas universal and impartial in theiroperation as the fixed principle innatural or physical science. Just aswe could have no science of chemistryif the atoms could be made to obeyone law to suit the racial pretensionsof the Germans, and another to suit theJapanese, so our moral scheme is frus-trated where the same formula is in-terpreted according to the manner ofman to which it is to be applied.A double standard in morals isas dangerous as a double standardin mathematics. A democracy thatdeals in double standards for its citi-zens is doomed. Identity is the es-sence of equality in all public func-tions. Two non-interchangeable partscannot long maintain their originalparity. There cannot be a differentstandard of weights and measures forthe two races. A double yardstickwould be an abomination to commonsense. Although a sagacious states-manship might decree that the twoyardsticks should have the same

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCElength, and that the racial poundsshould have the same weight, underthe imperfections of human naturethe Negro would soon be receiving theshorter measure and the lighter weight.If there were two standards of coinageof the same weight and fineness forthe two races, provided only that oneset should for ever circulate amongNegroes and the other among whites,the black man's coinage would imme-diately depreciate in value. Paritycan only be maintained by free inter-changeability. The criterion of astandard of value consists of its easycurrency and universal acceptance.The merchant who has one set ofprices for the Negro and another forhis white customers is considered dis-honest. The physician who wouldtreat his white patient according toone formula and his Negro patient withthe same ailment according to anotherwould violate the integrity of the sci-ence of therapeutics. The doublemoral standard of which the Negro is

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RIGHTEOUSNESSmade the victim is manifest in thewhite man's general attitude towardshim. To mistreat a Negro is notdeemed a violation of the moral code.Even to kill a Negro is not considereda serious offence on the part of thewhite man in many sections of thecountr}^ So general has become thisattitude and practice that the governorof a southern state in a notable procla-mation stated that the open season forkilling Negroes has closed in his state.Of the thousands and scores of thou-sands of Negroes who have been mur-dered in the South, few indeed are theinstances where tlie perpetrator hasbeen brought to justice. But wherethe race relation is reversed and theNegro kills a white man, condign pun-ishment is swift and sure. That mur-der is murder by whomever committedought to be an axiomatic assertion.But in actual experience murder is notmurder where the perpetrator is whiteand the victim is black.The impression which this attitude

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEleaves on the mind of the Negro is ob-vious. He is forced to feel that he isa moral alien, and is not considered apart of the ennobling bond of humansympathy. It would seem that en-lightened self-interest on the part ofthe white race would lead them to holdup to the Negro the beneficent meaningand purpose of the law through its justand impartial enforcement. This isthe practice of the English governmentin dealing with the natives in its col-onies. In Bermuda and Jamaica theNegro swears absolutely by the integ-rity of British law, because it is en-forced impartially on white and blackalike, without the slightest suggestionof a double standard. But the Negroin the South no longer expects the im-partial enforcement of the law wherethe feelings and passion of the whiterace are involved; and, consequently,he is led to look upon the law not asan instrument for preserving justicebetween man and man, but as a devicefor keeping him in subjection and sub-

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RIGHTEOUSNESSordination to the white race. TheNegro appeals to the white man to en-force his own law. It is a poorsportsman who will not play the gameaccording to the rules, especially whenhe makes the rules. The white manboasts of his God-given right to rule,but he should prove his right to ruleby ruling right.A nation that would endure mustbase its conduct upon the law ofRighteousness. Moral grandeur ismore enduring than material exploita-tion. A nation, like an individual,that walketh uprightly, walketh se-curely, because the centre of gravityfalls inside the basis of support.Without fixed moral purpose, a nation,like a pyramid resting on its apex, isin unstable equilibrium.Abraham Lincoln possessed the

clearest understanding of any Ameri-can statesman before or since his time.He was one of the few moral geniusesof the human race. He had an un-clouded vision of moral values and an

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AN APPEAL TO CONSCIENCEintuitive conception of ethical relation-ships. Our great national saviortold us that this nation was conceivedin liberty and dedicated to the propo-sition that all men are created equal.A nation that falls below the level ofits fundamental ideals and goes inquest of false idols cannot hope toescape the fate of all apostate peoplesof whom history makes rec

kelly miller--an appeal to conscience--america's code of caste, a disgrace to democracy (1920)

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