Viewing page 12 of 27

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

126

THE CRISIS

that they were helpless to cope with the mob and were disarmed by young girls and women- some class for the uniform, wonder what cousin Bill (The Kaiser) would say to see that in print, and the glorious American Army coming over to fight him. The State of Illinois has colored militia, the Federal Government has colored regiments, but it would be a shame to send one of these regiments to quall a race riot, the girls and women wouldn't be so successful and only a third of the number sent to East St. Louis would be necessary to quell any race riot that starts in America. 

The bravery of the white man is only shown where he is in the majority, then he is a lion; and to hear him boast would make one think when angered he would move mountains, but if he sees death staring him in the face he is as meek as a lamb. During my many years of service in the Army I have had the pleasure of witnessing a great deal of the white man's bravery on the battlefield. But the answer to where can the black man get just treatment is right here in the United States, but you have to fight for it like the red man and other men that have a right to live. This old pleading and praying at the hands of a murderous mob don't save you, and the talk of getting the right man in office has got to be a fish tale, a white man is a white man, many good promises are given you until he has secured the office then he forgets you exist. 

A FRIEND.

The Europeans want the black people, all right. They are eager for their labor, for their fields, even for their women, but they do not want them to learn the use of firearms and be trained as soldier. The British want the Hindus, their labor, their money, their markets, their services, but not as fellow citizens. The Americans and the Europeans are now after the Chinese, though international jealousies and the political position of Japan have made it impossible for them to grab China and treat it altogether as their property. 

America has gone to war to crush Germany, to make the world safe for Anglo-Saxon supremacy. The great humanitarian who rules at the White House and gives long sermons on the rights of small nationalities, on the blessings of democracy, and on abstract notions of right and justice always excludes the African and the Asiatic from his calculation. The nations of Europe, the peoples of Europe and America, the organized nations of the world, are the objects of his love and solicitude. The blacks, the yellows and the Hindus (who are neither one nor the other) are out of consideration. They do no fall in his purview. He has no thought for them. He wants them to continue as beats of burden for the benefit of his fellow whites. He has not a word of sympathy for the black victims of his white countrymen. He is mum about Memphis and East St. Louis. 

But he is mistaken. The European dominance over Asia and Africa is not more than 200 years old and by the grace of God it shall not last for more than a century at the most. And then the day of retribution will come. The future is with the colored people. They are able-bodied, brave and industrious. They do not lack in brains and are eager to learn. They are still virgin. Let them keep away from the vices of civilization. Let them unite and organize.

A Voice From the Orient.

Franklin, Pa.
I wonder why, in your enumeration of Negro military leaders, on page 60 of the June CRISIS, you do not mention the very greatest of them all, Antonio Maceo, the Cuban general? I know he is sometimes spoken of as "part Negro," but, as a matter of fact, I greatly doubt if he had a drop of white blood in his veins. I never saw any sign of it.
I had the honor to command in the Cuban Army of Liberation a corps known as the "Black Rifles." I organized it in the army of General Gomez, at first with a few white men in it, and later eliminated them, and it was entirely composed of Negroes. I commanded that corps under Gomez; for a few weeks under Maceo, again under Gomez, and finally, until the close of the war, under Garcia. In all, we were under fire a hundred and forty-six times in seventeen months, and in a hundred and twenty-six actual fights. Never once during that time did a single soldier of the colored troops prove himself anything other than a good soldier and a brave man. 
During the few weeks when we served under General Maceo I came to respect him very highly. Given the opportunity, he would have proved himself a very great 

THE OUTER POCKET 127

man, not only as a soldier but as a statesman. I shall never forget a remark he made one night when some of his officers were raising the question, "What will we get out of it?" He was sitting by the fire listening to them and suddenly lifted himself and said: "I'll tell you what we shall get out of it. We shall get a country where little children will laugh as they play around the cabin door and sing as they toddle on their way to school."
It was less than a week after that when he was killed leading a charge. I have never ceased to regret that before the day the Black Rifles were separated from him and sent back to Gomez, for, had we ridden with him (we were mounted) as we did in more than one fight, the outcome would have been different. 
I expect to take part in the present war and I have told the War Department of my willingness and desire to command colored troops, not because I think colored troops should necessarily have white officers, but because I know I can make magnificent soldiers out of Negroes.
GUILLERMO MAC FERGUS.

HAMPTON.
New York City.
Having been a student at Hampton for five years, I thank you for your letter to Miss J. E. Davis. 
(From a Student).

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Your letter on the Hampton situation makes the matter very clear and convincing to me. I find myself puzzling over the possible - or impossible - reasons for so strange an attitude on Hampton's part. The white people supporting it are most generous with their purses, but singularly narrow, it would seem, in their intellectual and social vision.
(From a White Woman.)

"With the Colors."
The coming generation is bound to demand a different policy of Hampton Institute.
Sir, your editorial on Hampton is excellent...
As I am a graduate of Hampton, I trust you will not glean from my words that I am disloyal to my Alma Mater. I am not. I am ready to fight for Hampton's welfare. Nevertheless, I must congratulate you for putting into words the thought of thousands in regard to Hampton. 
(FROM A GRADUATE)

Woodmere, L. I.
Your article on Hampton in the November CRISIS is positively the truth. It is the best summing up of that institution that I have yet seen.
It would take some time to discuss at length the many reasons I have for the above statement; however, I might say that I have studied - silently - for sometime the methods, the teachers, and general aims of Hampton; and have, also, had personal contact with some f the most generous donors of the North. It grieves me to say that I have gradually come to realize "the truth about Hampton." It is hard to have one's confidence so sadly shake, and very bitter to speak the truth against one's Alma Mater, but for the same of those coming after me,  cannot sit in untruthful silence to what I feel is an injustice to the ambitious and talented members of our race. My own personal struggle in trying to make college entrance in New York is proof enough for your statement regarding the actual time and money that is practically wasted in order to make good. 
(A Hampton Graduate).

THE MEMPHIS SUPPLEMENT.
Memphis, Tennessee.
SAY "NIGGER" YOU HAAVE SAID LOTS MROE THAN A BRUTE SHOULD SAY. COME DOWN; WE WILL SHOW YOU WHERE THE EL PERSON TREE IS. NO FIRE THERE NOW - JUST PLENTY ROPE. COME NIGGER, AND SEE. YOU CAN GO AWAY EASY. WE WILL SEE TO IT. 
(ANONYMOUS.)

THE SILENT-PROTEST-PARADE
Atlanta, Georgia.
HAVE read with inspiration reports of the "Silent Protest Parade." I think it is wonderful and wish that it might be repeated in many northern and border cities, then the southern cities.
We must now very speedily become free, or saddle slavery upon ourselves for the next one hundred years. The ability of us United States Negroes to break the shackles now will answer to a large extent what will be the rating of Negroes the world over, and what will be the fate of the Negro in Africa, for he will necessarily become the great burden bearer of European exploitation after the war. Shall we make him a free burden bearer or a slave?
JOHN HOPE.