Part 37 (2/2)

Both white and Negro leaders agree that race mixture ought to be stopped.

251. PRESENT POLITICAL CONDITION.--The Fifteenth Amendment declared that ”the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Yet in many southern states the Negro is barred from the polls. In many northern cities where the Negro is allowed the ballot, his ignorance and irresponsibility make him the prey of political ”bosses” who control his vote. The question of Negro suffrage will be treated later; [Footnote: See Chapter x.x.xIII.] here we may content ourselves with noting that the Negro's right to vote is often restricted. In the South, at least, it is also true that the Negro has but little share either in making the laws or in administering them.

252. URGENT NATURE OF THE NEGRO PROBLEM.--The Negro problem was never of more pressing importance than it is to-day. Illiteracy is still perilously high, Negro crime is becoming more serious, and the cityward tendency of the Negro is increasing his susceptibility to disease and vice. In spite of prohibitive laws, racial intermixture is continuing, and the problem of the mixed blood is becoming more and more acute. Social unrest among the ma.s.ses of southern Negroes is increasing. The World War created new aims and aspirations among thousands of Negroes. New leaders are arising to preach racial equality for the Negro; old leaders are in many cases becoming more impatient with the att.i.tude of the white population.

253. HESITANCY IN ATTACKING THE PROBLEM.--The American people have been singularly backward about grappling with the problem of fitting ten million Negro citizens into the fabric of American democracy. One explanation of this backwardness is that until recently many have believed that the Negro would die out under freedom. This expectation has not been realized, for while the Negro population is increasing less rapidly than is the white population, it is nevertheless increasing. The Negro is not dying out. Nor can he be deported to Liberia or other colonies, as was often suggested in the last century.

The Negro is here to stay, and his problems must be solved.

254. NEED OF A CONSISTENT PROGRAM.--Many inst.i.tutions and individuals have attacked various phases of the Negro problem with courage and success, but we are in need of a unified and comprehensive program rather than of a series of unrelated endeavors. Above all what is needed is not impa.s.sioned opinion or cure-all schemes, but rather the development of a sound and comprehensive program which shall attack the problem from a number of angles at the same time. Such a program must have a double end in view: First, the immediate needs of the Negro must be met; second, we must permit the Negro to be trained toward a position in which he will be able to play a useful and honorable role in our national life. Thus the great comprehensive purpose of this program is to help the Negro adapt himself to American life, to aid him in fitting in with our economic, social, and political inst.i.tutions, and to encourage him to contribute to the development of American culture to the best of his ability.

255. EDUCATION.--Education is the most important element of any program designed to help the Negro. Ability to read and write, the habit of study, training in correct thinking, all are of such basic value that it is difficult to understand why we have so long neglected the education of the Negro. We spend three or four times as much for the education of the white child _per capita_ as for the education of the Negro child. Negro schools are spa.r.s.ely distributed; they are poorly equipped, and they are sadly hampered by lack of competent teachers. Clearly we must spend vast sums on Negro education, if we are to expect marked improvement in the Negro's social and economic condition. We cannot expect the Negro to cease being a problem until he has been trained in the fundamentals of citizens.h.i.+p. ”The inadequate provision for the education of the Negro,” says the Southern University Race Commission, ”is more than an injustice to him; it is an injury to the white man. The South cannot realize its destiny if one third of its population is undeveloped and inefficient.”

256. ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT.--The Negro cannot be expected to become a thrifty, responsible citizen until he is rendered capable of earning a decent living at productive work. He must acquire the habit of working steadily and efficiently under a system of free contract. This economic readjustment, many students of the Negro problem believe, will be attained largely through industrial education. We already have several excellent industrial training schools for Negroes, including Hampton and Tuskegee. The latter was made famous by Booker T.

Was.h.i.+ngton, an ex-slave who devoted his life to the economic readjustment of his people.

A great deal more must be done in this direction. In spite of the excellent beginnings made at Hampton and Tuskegee, not more than one per cent of our Negroes have the privilege of industrial education.

More adequate instruction is needed in methods of agriculture and stock raising, in the various crafts, and in those professions for which the Negro seems fitted. The South needs labor badly, but she cannot use her millions of Negroes effectively until they are turned into competent and dependable workers. The Negro appears to have little apt.i.tude for mechanical work, or for mill and factory employment. Diversified agriculture on a small scale seems to be the most promising industry for him, and one in which he ought consistently to be encouraged.

257. THE NEED FOR COoPERATION.--No permanent solution of the Negro's difficulties can be attained without the friendly cooperation of all parties concerned. Most of our Negroes live in the South, but the Negro is no more a purely southern question than j.a.panese immigration is a purely Californian problem. We are one nation, and the problems of one section are the problems of the whole. The South must not be left alone, either to neglect the Negro, or to struggle with his difficulties as best she can. Generous aid must be extended her by the North, East, and West, before we can expect a solution of the Negro question.

Furthermore, there must be cooperation between the leaders of the Negro and white races, otherwise energy will be wasted and inter- racial bitterness created. Very promising beginnings in this direction have recently been made in the South. Nevertheless it is to be regretted that many leaders, both white and Negro, are still p.r.o.ne to propose ”remedies” for the Negro problem which serve their own interests, but which show little or no regard for the rights of the other group, or for the welfare of the nation.

Above all, there must be a firm resolve to work toward a fair solution, and an earnest desire to be just and humane. Hard and unpleasant facts cannot be argued away, but at least they can be treated rationally. No solution can be reached except through law and order. Neither violence nor deceit can solve this or any other problem. Race riots and lynchings are proof that those who engage in them are unfit to carry on the work of American democracy.

258. THE PROMISE OF THE NEGRO.--There is a good deal of discussion as to whether or not the Negro race is merely backward, or whether it is an inferior race. Those contending that the Negro is only backward believe that ultimately he can be fitted into the fabric of American life; those insisting that he is inferior declare that all attempts to adapt the Negro to American life will prove unavailing.

Academic discussions of this sort are not to the point. As to whether or not the Negro is backward or inferior, and as to precisely what each of these terms implies, there must always be a good deal of dispute. For practical purposes it is enough to admit that the Negro cannot now do many of the things which the average white man can do, and that in so far as this is true, the Negro is less effective as a citizen.

At the same time, it should be frankly recognized that the Negro has shown himself capable of substantial progress. It will be more appropriate to discuss the inferiority of the Negro when he has failed to react to the most comprehensive, intelligent, and consistent program which we are able to draw up. This we have not yet done, and until it is done, we shall have less cause to deny to the Negro a capacity for civilization than the Negro will have cause to complain of our unhelpful att.i.tude toward him. So far as we now know, there is no scientific justification for believing that the ma.s.ses of American Negroes cannot ultimately be trained to a useful sphere in American life.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. How were Negroes first introduced into this country?

2. When did the modern Negro problem come into existence?

3. What proportion of our population is Negro?

4. Where are most of our Negroes found?

5. What is meant by saying that the Negro is adaptable?

6. In what particulars has the Negro made substantial progress since the Civil War?

7. What is the present economic condition of the Negro?

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