African Americans; United States -- Race relations
I am introducing to you the following declarations of the attitude
made by Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist candidate for President, and by
other members of the party. Compare its straight-forward,
uncompromising utterances with what the other two parties have said
and done; then look yourself in the face and say whether it is worth
you while to sell your birthright and your future freedom—yes, and
that of your children and your children's children—for a mess of
political pottage.
THE NEGRO AND THE NEWSPAPERS
It is not an easy task to plead in the courts of the oppressor against
oppression and wrong. It is not easy to get the judgement of the white
men of the world against the white man's injustice to the black. But
nevertheless the attempt must be made and made again until the seared
conscience of the civilized world's hall throbs with righteous
indignation at such outrage. "To sin by silence when we should protest
makes cowards out of men. The human race has climbed on protest. Had
no voice been raised against injustice, ignorance and lust, the
Inquisition yet would serve the law and guillotines decide our least
disputes. The few who dare must speak and speak again to right the
wrongs of many."
The urgent need of speaking out is shown by the following
communication from Mr. J. Ellis Barker of London in an interview given
to a correspondent of =The New York Age= and published in that paper
on December 29th 1910.
"We people in Europe," says Mr. Barker, "do not understand the race
problem, and we do not know the colored people, for the simple reason
that there are not any colored people in Europe. In London, where I
live, there are only a few hundred colored students whom one does not
meet. Before I came to the United States my prejudice against the
colored people was as great as that of any Southern planter. My
prejudice against your race, as I believe the prejudice of most white
people, was due rather to ignorance than to ill-will. I had been told
in the books and papers published in Europe that the colored people
were a race of barbarians and savages. I had been told that the
colored people were a worthless set of people, dressed in rags,
working a day or two during the week, and loafing during the rest of
the time. I was told that the colored people were idle, diseased and
vicious. So I imagined that all of them lived in slums and alleys and
that the aristocracy of the race consisted of the waiters and railway
porters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account