To stimulate group morale and solidify the sentiments of Negroes for unified opposition to what they regard as oppressive measures of white people, many tactics are employed. The most common of these is that of interpreting the aims and ambitions of Negroes to white persons and of defending themselves generally against criticism. A selection of types of this "defensive" sentiment is given.
A Negro attorney said:
The only way to gain favorable public opinion is to create favorable press notices. A certain amount of agitation is necessary on the part of colored papers to educate the race as to what it is entitled to. The American white race has been very successful in its propaganda that colored people are not entitled to certain things. This has caused many Negroes to believe that they are not as good as the white people.
The press can be a source of evil or of good. It depends upon the point of view. The difficulty lies in the fact that the white press has the wrong attitude, usually. A great deal of harm is done by paid workers who will give interviews that will sustain the viewpoint of the papers. Others desirous of newspaper notoriety are guilty of the same offense. Usually those interviewed are not capable of giving exact opinions and viewpoints. Those capable of doing justice to the situation are not sought by reporters. During the time when there is more calm and people are in a position to give thoughtful consideration to the question, no effort is made to find out the attitude of substantial citizens. If this were done the papers would get somewhere.
A letter from a Negro thanking the editor of a northern paper for a fair editorial said:
The colored citizens realize fully the extent to which propaganda is spread against them in the average newspaper under the guise of news, and when they find someone who knows that too, and who is strong enough to help, as is the —— [newspaper], they thank him with all the strength of their hearts, although their lips may remain mute.
Negro sentiment regarding racial news in the white press.—A Negro weekly paper said:
Whatever be the cause or the motive there is apparently a well organized plan to discredit the race in America and to bring estrangement between fellow Americans. A short-sighted ... press is contributing to this estrangement by playing upon the passions of the undiscriminating and thoughtlessly by its glaring and sensational headings, emphasizing rumours of alleged crimes by Negroes.
Flattery as a means of promoting tolerance.—A popular Negro orator said:
I think that the great trouble with us already is that we have allowed the white people to settle too many things for us. The nation gave you constitutional freedom, but no man can make you truly free except you yourself. The white man hates nothing worse than a coward, and the American white man is the most remarkable human being the world ever knew. He is God's superman. As white and black have one destiny beneath the Stars and Stripes, so have we the common duties of citizenship....