CHAPTER XIV
WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE NEGRO—A FEW CONCLUSIONS
The deeper one delves into the problem of race, the humbler he becomes concerning his own views. Studying a black man, he discovers that he must study human nature. The best he can do, then, is to present his latest and clearest thought, knowing that newer light and deeper knowledge may modify his conclusions. It is out of such expressions of individual thought (no one man has or can have all the truth) and the kindly discussion which follows it (and why shouldn’t it be kindly?) that arises finally that power of social action which we call public opinion. Together—not otherwise—we may approach the truth.
The world to-day is just beginning to meet new phases of the problem of race difference. Improved transportation and communication are yearly making the earth smaller. As Americans we are being brought every year into closer contact with black and yellow people. We are already disturbed not only by a Negro race problem, but on our Pacific coast and in Hawaii we have a Japanese and Chinese problem. In the Philippine Islands we have a tangle of race problems in comparison with which our Southern situation seems simple. Other nations are facing complexities equally various and difficult. England’s problems in both South Africa and India are largely racial. The great issue in Australia, where Chinese labour has become a political question, is expressed in the campaign slogan: “A white Australia.”
What Is the Race Problem?
Essentially, then, what is the race problem?
The race problem is the problem of living with human beings who are not like us, whether they are, in our estimation, our “superiors” or “inferiors,” whether they have kinky hair or pigtails, whether they are slant-eyed, hook-nosed, or thick-lipped. In its essence it is the same problem, magnified, which besets every neighbourhood, even every family.
In our own country we have 10,000,000 Negroes distributed among 75,000,000 white people. They did not come here to invade us, or because they wanted to come. We brought them by force, and at a fearful and cruel sacrifice of life. We brought them, not to do them good, but selfishly, that they might be compelled to do the hard work and let us live lazily, eat richly, sleep softly. We treated them as beasts of burden. I say “we,” for the North owned slaves, too, at first, and emancipated them (by selling them to the South) because it did not pay to keep them. Nor was the anti-slavery sentiment peculiar to the North; voices were raised against the institution of slavery by many Southern statesmen from Jefferson down—men who knew by familiar observation of the evil of slavery, especially for the white man.
Differences Between Southern and Northern Attitudes Toward the Race Problem