NEGRO “AUNT” AND “UNCLE.”
A correspondent of the Atlanta Constitution, who signs himself or herself “Georgia,” asks:
Editors Constitution: Why is it that so many of the respectable white people of this country claim blood affinity with the Negro race by condescending to call them “aunt” and “uncle”? An “aunt” is a father’s or mother’s sister, an “uncle” is a father’s or mother’s brother. Now, why should a Negro be made to believe that he is a blood relation of white families by calling them “aunt” and “uncle,” terms of the highest family respect? Is there any wonder that some Negroes think they are as good as a white man, when they are called by these endearing names? The Negro is an imitator of the white man, and if we are to keep the races apart, let no such example be set for the Negro’s imitation.
What absurdity this is, and withal how insulting to the colored people. Not unlikely the person who wrote it was brought up by a colored nurse. The genuine affection with which many of the Southern white people speak of the old colored uncle and aunty is often very touching. They belong, however, to the “Old South.” The “New South” is speaking another kind of language. When Mr. Grady in his speech at the New England Society’s dinner in New York informed his auditors that the New South recognized fully the Negro’s rights, it must have been in grim sarcasm. Did he mean by the New South the white people of Georgia? That interpretation of his language would save the other Southern States from the censure of his misrepresentation. But Georgia, by the recent conduct of its Legislature in the discussion and manipulation of the Glenn bill, contradicts nearly everything Mr. Grady said in that speech on that subject. The right to be legislated against, to be branded with essential and eternal inferiority as a race, to be insulted, to be abused, to be discriminated against at every point,—this is what the white people of Georgia believe if the voice and conduct of their legislators mean anything. We presume Mr. Grady did not know this when he made that speech. If he did know it, he violated the hospitality that honored him as its guest.
But the colored people will have their rights. The time is not yet, but it is coming. Hostile legislation and violence cannot prevent it. Christian education will solve the problem.
YOUNG MEN IN THE SOUTH.
The friends of the South look to the young men for regeneration, and yet the situation is complicated by a peculiarly unfortunate circumstance. A Southern boy that was six years old in 1860 was allowed to run the streets, boss the slaves, and do anything but study. It can be stated as a general proposition that the Southern-born men in the prime of life in the South to-day—that is from 30 to 35 or 38—are uneducated. A man with gentle blood in his veins and a patch of weeds in his head, so to speak, is no ornament to any community, and the chances are that he will be a danger to it. If one would understand the full application of this fact let him run over the lists of the Southern Legislatures and note the ages of the members that make the most trouble. Again, the migration of young men is a cause of disquietude. Through the low country from the Carolinas to Louisiana, where agriculture is at a low ebb in consequence mainly of the credit system, the young men are continually becoming dissatisfied and leaving. Our Northwest is full of these ambitious Southern men. Certain Southern States are for various reasons putting premiums unwittingly upon emigration. Kentucky has been almost swept as with a broom, the better class of young men having been carried across the Ohio River. This is not the case with Tennessee, which is twenty-five years ahead of Kentucky in civilization. Tennessee seems destined to become one of the most important educational centers of the South, and it is in a fair way of holding its young men. Texas is another State which is holding its young men. This is a matter that the law-makers of the South will do well to consider. A commonwealth that cannot hold its young men cannot hold its own in the race for supremacy.—Springfield (Mass.) Republican.
A partial confirmation of the above views is furnished in the action of the Georgia Legislature respecting the co-education of the races. Mr. Glenn is a young man. His wild followers are in the main young men. Just now these youth are in the saddle and they are not backward to show the world what kind of men they are. In our opinion, there have been greater and wiser statesmen. It is something of an explanation, however, to know that in all probability they are men of no education. The works of ignorance are very apt to be works of darkness.