Light Ahead for the NegroJohnson, Edward A. (Edward Austin)
Science
Light Ahead for the Negro
Johnson, Edward A. (Edward Austin)
African Americans; United States -- Race relations
“If the Negro has a greater native tendency to crime than the other
races, as is urged by some, then it is necessary to take more care
in protecting him against it. If his disease is of a more malignant
type than ordinary when it attacks him, then the more heroic should
be the remedy. It is as illogical to apply a system of education to
a child who is not prepared for it as it would be to treat a patient
for appendicitis when he has the eczema. _Results_ are what the state
wants, and if the schools now established are not giving them, the
system should be changed to one that for thirty years has been a
success. The money sent South by Northern charity has not been wasted.
Some people think it has destroyed some farm hands--this may be true,
but it has created larger producers in other lines fully as beneficial
to the state as farming.
“The state is suffering because of its criminal class both white and
black, and it will continue to do so until this cloud is removed, and
in undertaking the education of its citizens, the state is not working
for the farmers especially (as some seem to imply by their arguments on
this subject) but for a higher type of citizenship along _all_ lines.
‘More intelligence in farming, mining, manufacturing, and business’ is
the motto, a general uplift in which all shall be benefited. Neither
the farmer, the miner nor the manufacturer can hope to build up a
serf class for his special benefit. The state has not established the
school system for that purpose, and should the theory once obtain that
it was so established, the handwriting would at once appear on the
wall. The ideal school system is that in which each citizen claims his
part with all the rest. No line should be drawn in the division of the
funds to the schools, and as a fit corollary to this, they should not
be established to foster the financial interests of any one class of
citizens as against another. _Pro bono publico_ is their motto and may
it ever remain so!”
* * * * *
I might add that as a substantial proof of the great success of the new
system of Negro education the Southern states have joined in preparing
a great Negro Exposition, open to Negroes all over the world, in which,
it is expected, a fine showing will be made by members of the race in
almost every field of human endeavor.
CHAPTER X
SAD NEWS FOR IRENE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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