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Front Matter
Frontispiece
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Title Page and Credits
PHILOSOPHY AND OPINIONS OF MARCUS GARVEY
Compiled by AMY JACQUES GARVEY
PART II
Sons and Daughters of Ethiopia!
Let nothing deter you in your duty
Toward bleeding Mother Africa.
-- A. J. G.
Truth crushed to earth shall rise again,
The eternal years of God are hers;
But Error, wounded, writhes in pain
And dies among his worshippers.
-- Bryant.
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DEDICATED TO THE TRUE AND LOYAL MEMBERS OF The Universal Negro Improvement Association and The Friends of the Negro Race
In the Cause of African Redemption
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A Request
Not to be read with the eye or mind of prejudice, but with a righteous desire to find the truth, and to help in the friendly and peaceful solution of a grave world problem for the betterment of humanity.
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Errata
Page
xiv For "Geroge Aexander" read "George Alexander"
11 line 8 For "practicing" read "practising"
14 line 3 For "fagots" read "faggots"
14 line 4 For "Terrence" read "Terence"
40 line 35 For "Libera" read "Liberia"
59 line 35 For "skillful" read "skilful"
60 line 11 For "skillful" read "skilful"
64 line 10 For "Nyassaland" read "Nyasaland"
82 line 19 For "skillfully" read "skilfully"
85 line 85 For "skillfully" read "skilfully"
85 line 31 For "skillful" read "skilful"
86 line 4 For "skillful" read "skilful"
86 line 8 For "skillfully" read "skilfully"
113 line 12 For "practicing" read "practising"
147 line 30 For "Paintiff-in-Error" read "Plaintiff-in-Error"
175 line 36 For "corrollary" read "corollary"
177 line 13 An "A" should be inserted
177 line 36 For "count" read "court"
184 line 22 For "Silvertsone" read "Silverstone"
Plate facing p. 186. For "Wheatly" read "Wheatley" (twice)
192 line 37 For "McGil" read "McGill"
199 line 19 For "auxilliary" read "auxiliary"
203 lines 1, 2 and 3; 12, 22 and 26 For "Cargil" read "Cargill"
216 footnote For "Cockbourne" read "Cockburn"
218 line 6 For "skillful" read "skilful"
239 line 12 For "Napolean" read "Napoleon"
246 line 7 For "Healy" read "Healey"
252 line 25 For "skillfully" read "skilfully"
260 line 15 and line 21 For "Healy" read "Healey"
262 last line For "Healy" read "Healey"
264 line 6th from bottom For "skillful" read "skilful"
265 line 26 For "skillfully" read "skilfully"
310 line 7th from bottom For "Japenese" read "Japanese"
315 line 25 For "Who" read "who"
320 line 17 For "mullatoes" read "mulattoes"
334 line 38 For "Jessie" read "Jesse"
335 line 37 For "skillful" read "skilful"
348 line 3 For "peole" read "people"
354 line 29 For "skillfully" read "skilfully"
357 line 6th from bottom For "aggrevated" read "aggravated"
361 line 13 For "Smut's" read "Smuts"
369 line 13 For "Crichlow" read "Critchlow"
379 line 25 For "depedent" read "dependent"
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Preface
Less than a decade ago Marcus Garvey appeared in Harlem -- that crowded section
of New York city which has been termed the "Mecca" of the Negroes
of the world. Coming unheralded, like John the Baptist, he brought a message
which carried conviction to all open-minded listeners. For many years previous
Garvey had studied the hard lot of his race everywhere on God's earth. He had
witnessed their political and economic oppression and noted the sufferings and
discriminations which they experienced. He had himself drunk to the dregs of
this bitter cup. As to Moses of old, so to Garvey, there came a clear call to
duty and leadership. As a member of a race free from the spirit of retaliation
and vindictiveness, with the desire to treat all mankind as brothers without
regard to differences in creed, race or country, this young man, while respecting
the rights and admiring the progress of alien people, resolved to make the material,
political, social and spiritual development of his blood-kin wherever found,
and the fostering within them of the spirit of self-reliance, and self-determination,
the sole consecrated purpose of his life, to the end that the Negro might eventually
take his God-given place in the fraternity of man. Whatever successes Garvey
has achieved, whatever efforts have failed of fruition, all were conceived and
undertaken in the sincere and honest determination to attain for his race this
great goal.
Not long ago Bishop Bratton, the white Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi, wrote a book dealing with the Negro under the title "WANTED LEADERS." The following is a statement of this friendly author. "The Negro has had, and still has, the tremendous task laid upon him of making the place which is his in life; and of taking it, not because he demanded it, but because he has successfully made that place. In general, he who has to DEMAND his place has never earned it. In general, too, he who has MADE a place has deserved it, and in the long run, it will be accorded him."
This is Garvey's philosophy in a nutshell as the unbiased and discriminating reader will discern in this collection of addresses and documents, by which the man must be judged rather than by the opinions of his adversaries or the miscarriage of any of his subsidiary undertakings. Garvey knew full well that the Negro had to make his place. Other leaders had either demanded or begged, but this new leader, the very type which the race wanted according to Bishop Bratton, came preaching to the Negro the necessity of making a place for himself which the
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world would be compelled to recognize and therefore to accord him.
Advocating and promoting racial organization, racial solidarity and racial self-government, he stimulated in Negroes both in this country and abroad, the spirit of nationalism and the desire for a republic of their own in their ancestral homeland. Millions enlisted under the banner of Marcus Garvey shouting the slogan "Africa for the Africans."
His phenomenal success, as well as his philosophy expressed in his vivid speeches which were broadcast throughout civilization, challenged the attention of those alien nations which dominate Africa and the antagonism of jealous and hostile Negro leaders in the United States of America. Demetrius of Ephesus, when he saw his occupation as a maker of gods threatened by the preaching of St. Paul against idolatry, called a convention of his fellow silversmiths to conspire against the great Apostle whose success would result not only in the cessation of the worship of the goddess Diana but the annihilation of the craft which had brought them wealth. These evil fellows led a mob through the streets of the city, and threw Ephesus into such confusion that the municipal authorities were compelled to take action, resulting in the departure of St. Paul to other parts. The professional Negro leaders of America have duplicated in many ways the strategy of Demetrius. No invective was too violent to express their censure, sarcasm and abuse; no shaft of contempt, ridicule or vilification too sharp to hurl at Garvey; no name in the lexicon too bad to be applied to him. He was called fool, fanatic, freak, deceiver, agitator and described as black, ugly, and an emissary of the Ku Klux Klan. "Garvey must go" was their war cry, and after pursuing various subterranean devices they succeeded in bringing about his imprisonment and are still hoping for his subsequent deportation from America.
Whether Garvey be in prison or out of prison, whether Garvey be living or dead, his vision of a free Africa, in which Negroes shall enjoy nationhood in governments of their own, shall one day become a reality. The Almighty Ruler of men and nations has predestined and spoken it, and Marcus Garvey is but the herald of a free and restored Africa. Newspaper reporters of both races treated Garvey's philosophy and preachments with levity, magnifying and exaggerating his commercial reverses. They intentionally or unintentionally hailed him as the Moses of a wholesale "Back to Africa" pilgrimage, a scheme which Mr. Garvey has never advocated nor
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planned. It is to be noted, however, that many publicists of the white race
are approaching the viewpoint of Garvey and suggesting to America that she give
aid and fostering oversight to the attainment of the aims of the Negroes within
her borders, who desire to enjoy liberty in a government of their own in Africa.
Marcus Garvey's place in Negro history is secure for all time, despite his misfortunes which have been brought about both by opposition from without and treachery from within the camp. This man has felt the pulse of his people, and inspired them with race consciousness and hope in their future destiny more than any other leader, past or present. The great movement of which he has been the creator will "go on forever" like Tennyson's Brook until it reaches its consummation, for it is, in reality, a spiritual movement. Whether Garvey be in the flesh or in the spirit, the soul of the movement which he has fanned into flame, and the spiritual yearnings of his legions of converts will not be extinguished. Shed of its present physical habiliments the soul will be reincarnated and "go marching on."
To his followers Marcus Garvey is more than a leader. To them he is the outstanding prophet as well as the trail-blazer of the universal freedom of a noble race. Outsiders fail to understand the psychology of the disciples of Garvey, but the writer of this Preface (who is not ashamed to acknowledge that he is an open follower of this great teacher, rather than one of the numerous Nicodemuses who are secret disciples for fear of criticism or opposition) finds the reason for our devotion in the conviction that no man has spoken to us like this man, inculcating pride and nobility of race and pointing out to a down-trodden and discouraged people their Star of Destiny. This writer deems it an honor to prepare the foreword for this volume and seizes the opportunity to plead before the bar of an enlightened and fair-minded public opinion for Marcus Garvey, a man greatly misunderstood in his plans for reformation. For, let it be known and acknowledged, Garvey is no idle dreamer, no empty visionary, no frenzied enthusiast, but rather a true reformer to whom it has been permitted to arouse his people from a condition of apathy growing out of hopelessness and through good report or ill to suffer persecution, yea martyrdom for his race and the cause of truth, justice and liberty.
It is not Garvey who is being weighed in the balance of the world's judgment, but his race, and particularly his jealous and unworthy rivals who conspired against him. The Greeks gave Socrates, the greatest of their philosophers, the cup of hemlock.
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The Bohemians burned John Huss, their pioneer reformer, at the stake. Luther,
Savonarola and others suffered imprisonment and hardships for the truth's sake,
but they were God's noblemen. So with Marcus Garvey, a man of intellectual power
and penetrating vision; a man who discovered the only solution of the problem
confronting the Negro people the world over; and had the courage to preach the
new gospel of salvation from permanent economic and political servitude. Disgruntled
leaders who delight in the fleshpots of Egypt or accept gratefully, the crumbs
which fall from the political master's table, while secretly protesting against
the injustices of the color-line, concentrated their attack upon Garvey for
proclaiming this a white man's country with a white man's government in which
the black man's place is strictly limited and clearly defined, and beyond which
it has been declared he "shall not pass."
While in theory they have vehemently denied this doctrine of Garvey, they have been compelled to accept it in practice, vainly hoping for the political and social millennium in America, when they shall hold the highest offices of State and enjoy the fullest privileges of society. But because Garvey believes with all his soul, and preaches with all his fervid eloquence the doctrine of racial integrity to be secured and maintained in a Negro country and government free from the pollution of miscegenation, his rivals who claim that at all hazards they must fight on American soil for their social, political and economic rights, have heaped approbrium upon him.
Marcus Garvey in prison, with a conscience untainted from the guilt of fraud to deceive and prey upon his own people for personal gain, poor in pocket, although he has handled millions of dollars, eagerly and willingly contributed by his followers, suffers gladly with determined soul and unbroken spirit. No trace of cowardice has been found in him, even by his bitterest foes, for it is his courage to proclaim his convictions and to attempt the realization of his vision which has removed him from the sphere of his activities. Consecration of a great cause still leads to Calvary, but Calvary is not the scene of the final act of a people's redemption or of a reformer's victory. "Via Crucis" is still the path to permanent achievement, glory and honor. Garvey's work shall endure throughout the ages. His dream of "Africa for the Africans" shall surely be fulfilled.
Geroge Aexander McGuire,
Archbishop and Primate of the African Orthodox Church.
New York City,
October 28, 1925.
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Table of Contents
PART I. Page
An Appeal to the Soul of White America 1
Racial Reforms and Reformers 7
The Crime of Injustice 11
World Materialism 15
Who and What Is a Negro 18
An Appeal to the Conscience of the Black Race 22
Christ, the First Great Reformer 27
The Negro's Place in World Re-organization 34
Aims and Objects of Movement, etc 37
Will Negroes Succumb to the White Man's Plan, etc 44
An Analysis of Warren G. Harding 51
An Expose of the Caste System Among Negroes 56
Africa's Wealth 63
The Negro, Communism, and His Friend 69
Capitalism and the State 72
Governing the Ideal State 74
The "Colored" or Negro Press 77
What We Believe 81
History of the Negro 82
The Internal Prejudices of Negroes 84
A Tribute to the Late Sir Isaiah Morter 90
A Speech on the Principles of the U. N. I. A. 93
A Speech Delivered at Carnegie Hall 101
A Speech on Disarmament Conference, Telegram Sent and Reply 110
A Speech Delivered at Madison Square Garden 118
The Negroes Greatest Enemy 124
Declaration of Rights of the Negroes of the World 135
PART II. Was Justice Defeated? 145
Brief for Plaintiff-in-Error 150
Testimony of Mailing Clerk 169
Decision of Circuit Court of Appeals 173
Stripping the Effect to Show Crime 178
Last Speech Before Incarceration in Tombs Prison 180
Address to Jury at Close of Trial 184
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Statement to Press on Release From the Tombs Prison
228
First Speech After Release From the Tombs Prison 231
First Message From Atlanta Prison 237
Using the Government, etc., to Defeat Justice 240
Application for Pardon and Reply 241
A Strange Comparison 272
Salaries to Officers of U. N. I. A. & Oaths They Took 279
A Race That Steals From and Double-Crosses Itself 287
Eight Negroes vs. Marcus Garvey 293
W. E. B. Dubois -- A Hater of Dark People 310
Why I Have Not Spoken in Chicago 321
A Message From Atlanta, August, 1925 324
Statement of Conviction 331
How Alleged Crimes Are Disposed Of 336
The Ideal of Two Races 338
An Answer to the Appeal (Speech by Mr. John Powell) 339
PART III. The Plot 352
Scene Africa 355
Scene Liberia, W. Africa, etc 362
Letter From Com. Garcia to Pres. King and Reply 363
Liberian Committees Suggestions, etc 371
Petition to Liberian Senate 386
Robbing the Negro's Values 395
Scene Aboard Ship "Paris" 396
Eli Garcia's Confidential Report 399
Scene League of Nations 406
Scene Harlem 406
The Betrayal of a Struggling Race 408
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FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS Page
Amy Jacques-Garvey Frontispiece
Letter of Request for Compilation X
The Late Sir Isaiah Morter 90
Group of African Legion of U. N. I. A. 99
Black Star Line Band in Parade 111
Group of Juveniles in Convention Parade 135
Marcus Garvey Hand-cuffed to U. S. Marshalls 148
S. S. Yarmouth 184
S. S. Orien 186
S. S. Maceo 198
Group of Ladies Motor Corps of U. N. I. A. 219
Black Star Line's Office Buildings 248
River Boat Shadyside 255
S. S. Gen. G. W. Goethals 264
The Reply to Application for Pardon 271
U. N. I. A. Officials Reviewing Convention Parade, 1922 281
Archbishop George Alexander McGuire 285
Group of Black Cross Nurses of U. N. I. A. 312
Scene at Court Reception in New York 316
The Reply to Letter 330
U. N. I. A. Experts Sent to Liberia in 1921 365
U. N. I. A. Delegates and Liberian Officials in Monrovia 370
Group of Experts Sent to Liberia in 1924 388
U. N. I. A. 1924 Delegates and Native Chiefs in Monrovia 397
U. N. I. A. Delegates to League of Nations 406
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The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey or Africa for the Africans
Part I
An Appeal to the Soul of White America
(Written October 2, 1923)
Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God. Matt. V. 9.
Surely the soul of liberal, philanthropic, liberty-loving, white America is not dead.
It is true that the glamor of materialism has, to a great degree, destroyed the innocence and purity of the national conscience, but, still, beyond our politics, beyond our soulless industrialism, there is a deep feeling of human sympathy that touches the soul of white America, upon which the unfortunate and sorrowful can always depend for sympathy, help and action.
It is to that feeling that I appeal for four hundred million Negroes of the world, and fifteen millions of America in particular.
There is no real white man in America, who does not desire a solution of the Negro problem. Each thoughtful citizen has probably his own idea of how the vexed question of races should be settled. To some the Negro could be gotten rid of by wholesale butchery, by lynching, by economic starvation, by a return
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to slavery, and legalized oppression, while others would have the problem solved
by seeing the race all herded together and kept somewhere among themselves;
but a few -- those in whom they have an interest -- should be allowed to live
around as the wards of a mistaken philanthropy; yet, none so generous as to
desire to see the Negro elevated to a standard of real progress and prosperity,
welded into a homogeneous whole, creating of themselves a mighty nation, with
proper systems of government, civilization and culture, to mark them admissible
to the fraternities of nations and races without any disadvantage.
I do not desire to offend the finer feelings and sensibilities of those white friends of the race who really believe that they are kind and considerate to us as a people; but I feel it my duty to make a real appeal to conscience and not to belief. Conscience is solid, convicting and permanently demonstrative; belief is only a matter of opinion, changeable by superior reasoning. Once the belief was that it was fit and proper to hold the Negro as a slave, and in this the bishop, priest and layman agreed. Later on, they changed their belief or opinion, but at all times, the conscience of certain people dictated to them that it was wrong and inhuman to hold human beings as slaves. It is to such a conscience in white America that I am addressing myself.
Negroes are human beings -- the peculiar and strange opinions of writers, ethnologists, philosophers, scientists and anthropologists notwithstanding. They have feelings, souls, passions, ambitions, desires, just as other men, hence they must be considered.
Has white America really considered the Negro in the light of permanent human progress? The answer is NO.
Men and women of the white race, do you know what is going to happen if you do not think and act now? One of two things. You are either going to deceive and keep the Negro in your midst until you have perfectly completed your wonderful American civilization with its progress of art, science, industry and politics, and then, jealous of your own success and achievements in those directions, and with the greater jealousy of seeing your race pure and unmixed, cast him off to die in the whirlpool of economic starvation, thus getting rid of another race that was not intelligent enough to live, or, you simply mean by the largeness of your hearts to assimilate fifteen million Negroes into the social fraternity of an American race, that will neither be white nor black! Don't be alarmed! We must prevent both consequences. No real race loving white man wants to destroy the purity of his race, and no real Negro conscious of himself, wants to die,
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hence there is room for an understanding, and an adjustment. And that is just
what we seek.
Let white and black stop deceiving themselves. Let the white race stop thinking that all black men are dogs and not to be considered as human beings. Let foolish Negro agitators and socalled reformers, encouraged by deceptive or unthinking white associates, stop preaching and advocating the doctrine of "social equality," meaning thereby the social intermingling of both races, intermarriages, and general social co-relationship. The two extremes will get us nowhere, other than breeding hate, and encouraging discord, which will eventually end disastrously to the weaker race.
Some Negroes, in the quest of position and honor, have been admitted to the full enjoyment of their constitutional rights. Thus we have some of our men filling high and responsible government positions, others, on their own account, have established themselves in the professions, commerce and industry. This, the casual onlooker, and even the men themselves, will say carries a guarantee and hope of social equality, and permanent racial progress. But this is the mistake. There is no progress of the Negro in America that is permanent, so long as we have with us the monster evil -- prejudice.
Prejudice we shall always have between black and white, so long as the latter believes that the former is intruding upon their rights. So long as white laborers believe that black laborers are taking and holding their jobs, so long as white artisans believe that black artisans are performing the work that they should do; so long as white men and women believe that black men and women are filling the positions that they covet; so long as white political leaders and statesmen believe that black politicians and statesmen are seeking the same positions in the nation's government; so long as white men believe that black men want to associate with, and marry white women, then we will ever have prejudice, and not only prejudice, but riots, lynchings, burnings, and God to tell what next will follow!
It is this danger that drives me mad. It must be prevented. We cannot allow white and black to drift along unthinkingly toward this great gulf and danger, that is nationally ahead of us. It is because of this that I speak, and now call upon the soul of great white America to help.
It is no use putting off. The work must be done, and it must be started now.
Some people have misunderstood me. Some don't want to
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understand me. But I must explain myself for the good of the world and humanity.
Those of the Negro race who preach social equality, and who are working for an American race that will, in complexion, be neither white nor black, have tried to misinterpret me to the white public, and create prejudice against my work. The white public, not stopping to analyze and question the motive behind criticisms and attacks, aimed against new leaders and their movements, condemn without even giving a chance to the criticised, to be heard. Those of my own race who oppose me because I refuse to endorse their program of social arrogance and social equality, gloat over the fact that by their misrepresentation and underhand methods, they were able to have me convicted and imprisoned for crime which they calculate will so discredit me as to destroy the movement that I represent, in opposition to their program of a new American race; but we will not now consider the opposition to a program or a movement, but state the facts as they are, and let deep souled white America pass its own judgment.
In another one hundred years white America will have doubled its population; in another two hundred years it will have trebled itself. The keen student must realize that the centuries ahead will bring us an over-crowded country; opportunities, as the population grows larger, will be fewer; the competition for bread between the people of their own class will become keener, and so much more so will there be no room for two competitive races, the one strong, and the other weak. To imagine Negroes as district attorneys, judges, senators, congressmen, assemblymen, aldermen, government clerks and officials, artisans and laborers at work, while millions of white men starve, is to have before you the bloody picture of wholesale mob violence that I fear, and against which I am working.
No preaching, no praying, no presidential edict will control the passion of hungry unreasoning men of prejudice when the hour comes. It will not come, I pray, in our generation, but it is of the future that I think and for which I work.
A generation of ambitious Negro men and women, out from the best colleges, universities and institutions, capable of filling the highest and best positions in the nation, in industry, commerce, society and politics! Can you keep them back? If you do so they will agitate and throw your constitution in your faces. Can you stand before civilization and deny the truth of your constitution? What are you going to do then? You who are just will open the door of opportunity and say to all and sundry,
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"Enter in." But, ladies and gentlemen, what about the mob, that starving
crowd of your own race? Will they stand by, suffer and starve, and allow an
opposite, competitive race to prosper in the midst of their distress? If you
can conjure these things up in your mind, then you have the vision of the race
problem of the future in America.
There is but one solution, and that is to provide an outlet for Negro energy, ambition, and passion, away from the attractions of white opportunity and surround the race with opportunities of its own. If this is not done, and if the foundation for same is not laid now, then the consequence will be sorrowful for the weaker race, and disgraceful to our ideals of justice, and shocking to our civilization.
The Negro must have a country and a nation of his own. If you laugh at the idea, then you are selfish and wicked, for you and your children do not intend that the Negro shall discommode you in yours. If you do not want him to have a country and a nation of his own; if you do not intend to give him equal opportunities in yours. then it is plain to see that you mean that he must die, even as the Indian, to make room for your generations.
Why should the Negro die? Has he not served America and the world? Has he not borne the burden of civilization in this Western world for three hundred years? Has he not contributed of his best to America? Surely all this stands to his credit. But there will not be enough room and the one answer is "find a place." We have found a place; it is Africa, and as black men for three centuries have helped white men build America, surely generous and grateful white men will help black men build Africa.
And why shouldn't Africa and America travel down the ages as protectors of human rights and guardians of democracy? Why shouldn't black men help white men secure and establish universal peace? We can only have peace when we are just to all mankind; and for that peace, and for the reign of universal love, I now appeal to the soul of white America. Let the Negroes have a government of their own. Don't encourage them to believe that they will become social equals and leaders of the whites in America, without first on their own account proving to the world that they are capable of evolving a civilization of their own. The white race can best help the Negro by telling him the truth and not by flattering him into believing that he is as good as any white man without first proving the racial, national, constructive metal of which he is made.
Stop flattering the Negro about social equality, and tell him to go to work and build for himself. Help him in the direction of doing
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for himself, and let him know that self-progress brings its own reward.
I appeal to the considerate and thoughtful conscience of white America not to condemn the cry of the Universal Negro Improvement Association for a nation in Africa for Negroes, but to give us a chance to explain ourselves to the world. White America is too big, and when informed and touched, too liberal, to turn down the cry of the awakened Negro for "a place in the sun."
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Racial Reforms and Reformers
Who thinks of the poor but the poor? The rich and self-satisfied are too busily
engaged in the enjoyment of their own pleasures, and the patronage of their
own class, to halt to any great extent to give the underdogs of human society
a thought that would help them rise above their condition.
The missionary work that is being done to lift the unfortunate to the height of a new social order is surrounded with hypocrisy and professionalism; hence, its usefulness is not seen or felt among those to be served.
As in the struggle to lift the unfortunate poor we have no real, honest effort; so, in the struggle of race to find a place in the affairs of the world, we get very little, if any, sympathy and encouragement from the progressive and successful.
There is a vast difference between the white and black races. The two are at extremes. One is dazzlingly prosperous and progressive; the other is abjectly poor and backward.
The fight is to lift the backward and non-progressive to the common standard of progress and civilization; but, apparently, no appreciable number of the prosperous and progressive desire this change The selfishness of class and monopoly of standing seem to dictate a prejudice of race that creates a barrier to the accepted Christian belief that all men are brothers, and a God is our common Father.
In this conflict of life each human being finds a calling. Some of us are called to be preachers, ministers of the Gospel, politicians, statesmen, industrialists, teachers, philosophers, laborers and reformers. To the reformer, above all, falls the duty or obligation of improving human society, not to the good of the selfish few, but to the benefit of the greatest number.
Persecution of Reformers
The history of the world and of the human race tells us the story of the reformer, of his trials, persecution and suffering in his efforts to reach the heart of man, in creating there a common sympathy for his brother. If it was not a Christ, it was a St. Augustine, a Luther or a Caesar, Alfred the Great, Garibaldi, Lincoln or a McSwiney. But all down the line of human progress we have met the man ready to suffer and to die to make others free while a light-hearted, selfish populace laughs at him and passes by the effort.
Twentieth century humanity and civilization have not changed much, except to their discredit, since the time of Christ, Caesar and Lincoln. Christ sought to help and save a world of human souls, and His fellows nailed Him to a cross; Caesar, in the fullness of his
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human love and his patriotism to Rome, fought for the elevation of his countrymen,
and the ascendency of his country, but there was one to strike him even to the
fall at the base of Pompey's statue; Lincoln, as stated, had a burning love
for all humanity, not desiring to see half slave and half free, but all free,
for the practice of which love he was shot by an assassin, and withal we have
not gone far in solving the peace of the world. We are still in chaos. We are
still drifting toward the universal pit of destruction, and that is why we need
reformers now, those who are not afraid to suffer and die for a cause; men,
despite the opposition of an organized social system, of a malicious and malignant
school of oppression, who will stand up for the good of the larger humanity,
and tell the world of its mistakes and blunders.
Revenge Guiding Force of Human Destruction
And it is here that we must call the attention of the white race to the wrong and injury that they are inflicting upon the rest of the world. It is all well for those who revel in their immediate power to turn a deaf ear to the cries of the suffering races, to oppress, exploit, and even murder them, but what of the consequence?
We live not by ourselves. It is either Providence, God, the First Cause or Nature -- any one you wish to call it -- that will call us to our judgment, not so much in the world to come, as in the retribution of our own lives; and when that time comes what will the white, once powerful and oppressive race say if another should be lifted to power and supported there by the Grace of Divine Authority?
History, religious and profane, have so many beautiful lessons to teach that none of us should doubt the wonders of God or Nature. In the one age or period the one race or people rule and triumph, while the other stalks under the heel of oppression -- the Jews in Egypt, the Britons in Rome, the Negroes in America -- to say nothing of the rest in Europe and Asia who have had similar experiences. What do we gather therefrom, but the spirit of revenge, a spirit that has traveled up to the twentieth century and which seems to be the guiding force of human destruction?
Why we have not gone farther in our civilization is because we are still fearful and suspicious of each other. We have done each other so many wrongs and inflicted so many injuries and injustices that we are just afraid to loosen up, believing that the other fellow's time will come. It is natural, because of sin, for the robber to protect his loot; so do we find reason for even the powerful races to still crush and grind the less fortunate. The murderer has to continue murdering so as to protect his own
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life, but generally there is a hangman; so in the eternal fitness of things
all human power hath an end, today for me, tomorrow for thee.
Good Will to All Will Save World
Realizing all that has been written is reason why the world's greatest reformers strive to make a human race with love and sympathies, not having the one group, whether white or black, hating the other, but living in peace, good will and brotherhood without endangering the rights of either. It is such a reformation that will save the world; not the building of battleships, guns, aeroplanes or the invention of gas, but a reasonable coming together of the human groups that will rescue us from our human doom.
If the great statesmen and religious leaders of the world would only forget the selfishness of their own races, and call their conferences and give out their edicts not from the Anglo-Saxon, Teutonic, Celtic or Anglo-American point of view, but from the view of all humanity considered, then we would indeed come face to face with a new world evolving a new civilization.
Friends, white cannot prosper to the disadvantage of black. Yellow cannot prosper to the disadvantage of brown, for in so doing we but pile up confusion and remorse for our children. This is history; it tells the tales of the past, it will of the future. Then why not make the future right?
Few the reformers are who struggle for such an ideal. Here and there a white man and a woman, a yellow, brown and black man, while the great army of selfish pleasure-seekers and their slaves march on to their doom. Gandhi in prison, a George V. in his castle; a Congo native massacred; an Albert of Belgium drinking his wine; a Senegalese Negro kicked on the plantation of his master; a Poincare driving in his landau in the Champs d'Elysees; a Negro lynched in Georgia; a Wilson, Harding or Coolidge talking about a world court or league; a Chinaman shot down at Kia Chow and the Emperor of Japan drinking tea in his palace at Tokio; a Jew murdered on the borders of Eastern Europe, and His Holiness the Pope seeing no further than the Vatican, will not save the human race. But that lonely man or woman, of whatsoever race, who cries out for justice to all humanity, including Europe with its whites, Asia with its browns and yellows, Africa with its blacks, and America and the rest of the world with their mixed populations, will, even though there be persecution and injustice done to him, bring succor and aid,
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late though it be, to the rest of us mortals that we may see everlasting life.
Black Reform
There is a fraternity of humanitarians, unknown though it be, that is working for a true solution of our human problems. Wilberforce, Clarkston, Buxton, Lovejoy, John Brown, white though they were, had the vision of the future of men. They worked for the freedom of black humanity, therefore, in the midst of our sorrow and in the racial thought of revenge come up the spirits of such great humanitarians that silence the tongue of evil; as in the white race, so among the blacks, our beautiful spirits stand out, for wasn't there a Douglass, a Washington and even the typical Uncle Tom?
We hope that the humanitarians of today of all races will continue to work in furtherance of that ideal -- justice, liberty, freedom and true human independence, knowing thereby no color or no race.
The Negro of the world, and America in particular, needs a national homeland with opportunities and privileges like all other peoples. If we work and fight for this why should others jeer and laugh at us? Why should they say that we are "ignorant" and "benighted"? Was it ignorance to free Britain from the grasp of the invader? Was it ignorance to free America from the heel of the oppressor? Was it ignorance to liberate France from the yoke of the tyrant? Surely not. Then why is it ignorant for Negroes to work for the restoration of their country, Africa?
Broad and liberal-minded white men, although surrounded by the selfishness of a material environment, will not condemn and persecute the work of even black reform, but for justice's sake give unto each and everyone his due.
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The Crime of Injustice
(Written from The Tombs Prison, August 2, 1923)
There is no crime like that of injustice, and it is the cause that will ultimately bring about the ruin of the world.
Men in all ages have demonstrated against this evil, the responsibility for which has caused so many human changes. When we think of the injustice of Henry to John, we, without much difficulty, find the reason of the latter for practicing his revenge upon the former. And so, right through the affairs of the human race, we can trace the cause for the perpetuation of revenge one upon the other. But the crime is not traceable to individuals only, but to races and nations.
The history of the world will show that most, if not all, of the differences between races and nations have been caused through the infliction of injustice of the one race or nation upon the other.
In the family life the son will avenge the injury done to the father by the neighbor, and so on we go to the third, fourth and fifth generations. In the national life the free and developed nation will revenge the crime of the other when it finds itself strong enough to do so, as in the case of France now revenging Germany for the war of 1870, and so of the Germans revenging the French, or the French revenging the English, of the slave revenging his master.
Those who desire the peace of the world and the permanent settlement of all our human ills should not seek to do so by mere economic and political conferences, but first by the establishment of real justice to all men. Not the justice that is based upon the like or dislike of the individual, race or nation, but justice for justice's sake!
There are but few, if any, of the people of the world who have and practise the true sense of justice.
If we were permitted to see ourselves as we administer justice to others, we would be surprised to realize, if we believe ourselves Christians, how near we approach hell in the exhibition of our supposed good virtues.
The World of Wrong
The world is full of wrong and injustice, the continuation of which will change our civilization and life beyond present recognition. We will go from Czarism, Kaiserism, Monarchism, Republicanism, Sovietism to God knows what; all for the chance of getting "justice." But, although the world in its political and social
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systems changes to meet the justice of man, we will find ourselves farther and
farther from the ideal.
If we take the political and social systems of England we will find the people divided into many classes, each fighting against the other, under the belief that the crime of injustice is practised against it; and so also of France, Italy and America.
As we witness the struggle of injustice among the classes, so do we have it among the races. No one will gainsay the fact that the injustice of the one race to the Japanese makes them resentful, restless and revengeful, and the same injustice to the Indian and the Negro will ultimately drive them to a union of spirit that may yet develop a new civilization and a new ideal.
As Negroes, no one suffers from the infliction of injustice more than we do. It is practised against us in every walk of life -- politically, socially, industrially, educationally, commercially, judicially, and even religiously.
For three hundred years the Negro has cried out against the crime of injustice, and he is no nearer being heard today on his own account than when he first raised his voice. In the general order of things the weak suffers most from the crime of injustice. The strong man will be unjust to the weak, and the strong nation will in like manner oppress the less fortunate. The whole situation, it seems, therefore, hangs on the developed strength of the individual, race or nation. It is the realization of this that causes the Universal Negro Improvement Association to preach the propaganda of "coming together" among Negroes.
If we must have justice, we must be strong; if we must be strong, we must come together; if we must come together, we can only do so through the system of organization.
When the Britons were weak and scattered, they received no justice. When the French were weak and divided, they suffered in the same manner; but with unity, strength was developed, and with strength came national, racial justice. When we can successfully bring together the majority of the four hundred million Negroes of the world, we will have not only racial, collective and individual justice, but national justice as well.
The best that we can do is to work and pray for the hastening of the time when we, too, will have become a united and strong people able by our force of character and achievement to demand not sympathy but justice from all men, races and nations. Let us not waste time in breathless appeals to the strong while we are weak, but lend our time, energy and effort to the accumulation of strength among ourselves by which we will voluntarily attract the attention of others.
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Jack Johnson, Harry Wills and Firpo attract the attention of other men because they have developed their bodies and muscles to protect themselves against the attack of their rivals. England, France, Italy, Japan and America attract the attention of other nations because of their powerful military and naval strength; and so the Negro can only arrest the attention of the rest of mankind in the quest for justice, for fair play, when we can produce to the world the "real stuff" that makes man feel, if he doesn't hear.
There can be no argument against the Negro's acquisition of strength and power. This is needed, not only in our racial life but in our national life. We must have a country -- and government -- of our own. We must make our own impression upon a world of injustice and convince men by the same means or methods of reasoning as others by their strength do.
No Justice But Strength
Don't be deceived; there is no justice but strength. In other words, might is right, and if you must be heard and respected you have to accumulate nationally, in Africa, those resources that will compel unjust man to think twice before he acts.
Our consolation should be, however, that each and every race will have its day; and there is no doubt that the Negro's day is drawing near. We may not trust to the abnormal strength and progress of others to believe that the world and humanity are settled, for in the twinkling of an eye all creation can pass away, and men, races and nations be no more. In a short hour Pompeii fell, and in a shorter time still Germany was crushed beyond the hope of immediate resurrection, to say nothing of ancient Greece and Rome. What has happened in the past to other races and nations will happen again, so let us work and pray, for surely our day of triumph and authority to mete out justice will come and Africa may yet teach the higher principles of justice, love and mercy, yea, true brotherhood.
Some of us become at times drunk with our power and authority, and, in the fullness of our narrow conceit, wreak our vengeance upon others under the guise of justice. Oh, how wanton is man! Irresponsible in his conceit! Vain in the realization of his power! Even vicious to the point of vengeance! But we glory in the fact that he is only man, and in the natural course of life will pass away, the wretch, with injustice written upon his soul, like the dog, to be unwept and unmourned, in the higher spiritual sense; to be another subject of hell, perdition and the dust from which no pleasant memory springs.
Some of us think that we live only in the physical; but are we not really conscious of a higher life? If there is, and there is, then why
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die like the dog? Why not die like a Christ, a John the Baptist, a St. Augustine,
a Caesar, even at the base of Pompey's statue, a Joan of Arc, even with the
fagots around her; a Robert Emmet, with his head upon the block; a Terrence
MacSwiney, in Mountjoy jail. Oh, what honor and glory we give to man for the
service he renders unselfishly to his brother! With what disgust we curse the
wretch who lives for self, and for those of his kind around him; yes, he who
has no knowledge of truth, whose soul is filled with corruption, bribery and
injustice!
Negroes, shall we not choose between right and wrong? Shall we not pattern the lives of those men, races and nations that have prospered by justice? Surely we shall, for in so doing we will have removed ourselves from the curse of a heartless, sinful, unjust world to a new temporal sphere, where man will live in peace and die in the consciousness of a new resurrection.
Such will be Africa's day, when a new light will encircle the earth, and black men lift their hands to their God and Princes come out of our country. For this we will not give up hope, but fight and struggle on, until the Angel of Peace and Love appears.
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World Materialism
The wonderful force of organization is today making itself felt in every branch
of human effort. Whether in industry, society, politics or war it is the force
of organization that tells; hence, I can advise no better step toward racial
salvation than organization among us.
We have been harassed, trampled upon, and made little of, because of our unfortunate condition of disorganization. The disorganization of our race for hundreds of years made us easy prey to those who sought profit out of human slavery, and with a similar disorganization we are bound to lose out in the great scramble of life for the survival of the fittest group.
The Universal Negro Improvement Association is a movement that seeks unlimited racial union and co-operation. We desire to draw humanity closer together than we have been before, for we realize that with East pulling against West, North pulling against South, there will be nothing left to us but utter ruin.
We can well imagine ourselves as one great united people, having one aim, believing in one God and having one destiny. To see four hundred millions of us standing together as one man is the desire of those of us who lead the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
It is true that twentieth century materialism has so scattered the interests of races and nations that the realization of human ideals becomes more remote, but we dare not sink or destroy holy principles because of the wantonness and soullessness of our age. Time cannot save itself; it is for us to save and redeem Time; hence, the work that lies before us is not so much to identify ourselves with the scattered purpose and greed of others, but to create for ourselves a central ideal and make our lives conform to it in the singling out of a racial life that shall know no end.
It is unfortunate that we should find ourselves at this time the only disorganized group. Others have had the advantage of organization for centuries, so what seems to them unnecessary from a racial point of view becomes necessary to us, who have had to labor all along under the disadvantage of being scattered without a racial aim or purpose.
No race or people can well survive without an aim or purpose. We must know beforehand the progress of our existence. Our racial program of today is a united, emancipated and improved people.
We need improvement in every line -- socially, religiously, industrially, educationally and politically. We need the creation of a common standard among ourselves that will fit us for companionship and equitable competition with others.
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Man and God to Settle the World
The world is not in the disposition to divide the spoils of materialism, but on the contrary every group is seeking the aggrandizement of self at the expense of those who have lost or who ignore the trend of human effort in the direction of self-preservation.
The Negro, surrounded as he is, has no other alternative than going forward in the atmosphere of racial self-interest, working for the generation of the present and providing for those of our posterity. In the service of race the Universal Negro Improvement Association finds its program, and for its advocacy or promotion we offer no apology.
It is foolish for us to believe that the world can settle itself on chance. It is for man and God to settle the world. God acts indifferently and His plan and purpose is generally worked out through the agency of human action. In His directed, inspired prophecy He promised that Ethiopia's day would come, not by the world changing towards us, but by our stretching out our hands unto Him. It doesn't mean the mere physical test, but the universal and independent effort to surround ourselves with the full glory of man.
No human apologies are needed for the moving or going forward of any people, so none will expect that we will apologize for the efforts we are making to unite our race the world over, and the creating for ourselves of a political superstate wherein we will find the representation and protection that will make us secure in the selfish adjustment of a material world.
Go ahead, Negroes, and organize yourselves! You are serving your race and guaranteeing to posterity of our own an existence which otherwise will be denied them.
Ignore the traps of persuasion, advice and alien leadership. No one can be as true to you as you can be to yourself. To suggest that there is no need for Negro racial organization in a well-planned and arranged civilization like that of the twentieth century is but to, by the game of deception, lay the trap for the destruction of a people whose knowledge of life is incomplete, owing to the misunderstanding of man's purpose in creation.
Vision of New Life
With the vision of a new life the Universal Negro Improvement Association shall direct the course of the four hundred million members of our race, enemies from within and from without notwithstanding.
The campaign of abuse against your leaders and their imprisonment is but a part of the plan to harass and discourage you on the way towards destiny. But no sober-minded Negro will allow himself
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to be fooled by the design of the wicked. The wicked we have always had, and
will ever have. The wicked and unjust have opposed reforms in every age and
under all circumstances. They crucified a Christ and drove His apostles from
pillar to post. They made, by their wicked acts, martyrs of those who have lived
and died for a principle and an idea; so let them go on. They, too, in this
age shall drink the bitter dregs of sorrow and remorse, even as succeeding generations
of those who crucified Christ and persecuted His disciples have become the cursed
creatures of righteousness. Let our traitors sell themselves to the propaganda
of the enemy who seeks to destroy the race! They, too, like the character of
old, will find no use for the bits of silver.
Let us pray for our enemies, whosoever they be! Let us all over the world pray daily for God's handling of our enemies! Pray hard and earnestly, at least twice a day, for God's dealing with our enemies. At twelve o'clock midday and twelve o'clock midnight let us in silent prayer for thirty seconds send up our supplications and appeal to God for the correction of those who oppose us even against His divine will that we should stretch out our hands unto Him.
Surely God will answer our prayers against the wicked and unjust and strengthen us for the great work that must be done in His name and to His glory. Remember, our duty is to be firm in the Faith.
Personally, I am glad to suffer for the cause. My contribution to the race and to Africa is small, but it is gladly given without any regrets. Some of us will contribute through our ability and our lives, others through service of other kind; but whatever it be, let us give it freely.
Do not falter or faint by the wayside, but let us, with confidence in ourselves and our God go forth in the call for service to our race and to Ethiopia.
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Who and What is a Negro?
(Written January 16, 1923)
The New York World under date of January 15, 1923, published a statement of Drs. Clark Wissler and Franz Boaz (the latter a professor of anthropology at Columbia University), confirming the statement of the French that Moroccan and Algerian troops used in the invasion of Germany were not to be classified as Negroes, because they were not of that race. How the French and these gentlemen arrive at such a conclusion is marvelous to understand, but I feel it is the old-time method of depriving the Negro of anything that would tend to make him recognized in any useful occupation or activity.
The custom of these anthropologists is whenever a black man, whether he be Moroccan, Algerian, Senegalese or what not, accomplishes anything of importance, he is no longer a Negro. The question, therefore, suggests itself, "Who and what is a Negro?" The answer is, "A Negro is a person of dark complexion or race, who has not accomplished anything and to whom others are not obligated for any useful service." If the Moroccans and Algerians were not needed by France at this time to augment their occupation of Germany or to save the French nation from extinction, they would have been called Negroes as usual, but now that they have rendered themselves useful to the higher appreciation of France they are no longer members of the Negro race, but can be classified among a higher type as made out by the two professors above mentioned. Whether these professors or France desire to make the Moroccans other than Negroes we are satisfied that their propaganda before has made these people to understand that their destiny is linked up with all other men of color throughout the world, and now that the hundreds of millions of darker peoples are looking toward one common union and destiny through the effort of universal cooperation, we have no fear that the Moroccans and Algerians will take care of the situation in France and Germany peculiar to the interest of Negroes throughout the world.
Let us not be flattered by white anthropologists and statesmen who, from time to time, because of our success here, there or anywhere, try to make out that we are no longer members of the Negro race. If we were Negroes when we were down under the heel of oppression then we will be Negroes when we are up and liberated from such thraldom.
The Moroccans and Algerians have a splendid opportunity of proving the real worth of the Negro in Europe, and who to tell
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that one day Africa will colonize Europe, even as Europe has been endeavoring
to colonize the world for hundreds of years.
Negroes Robbed of Their History
The white world has always tried to rob and discredit us of our history. They tell us that Tut-Ankh-Amen, a King of Egypt, who reigned about the year 1350 B. C. (before Christ), was not a Negro, that the ancient civilization of Egypt and the Pharaohs was not of our race, but that does not make the truth unreal. Every student of history, of impartial mind, knows that the Negro once ruled the world, when white men were savages and barbarians living in caves; that thousands of Negro professors at that time taught in the universities in Alexandria, then the seat of learning; that ancient Egypt gave to the world civilization and that Greece and Rome have robbed Egypt of her arts and letters, and taken all the credit to themselves. It is not surprising, however, that white men should resort to every means to keep Negroes in ignorance of their history, it would be a great shock to their pride to admit to the world today that 3,000 years ago black men excelled in government and were the founders and teachers of art, science and literature. The power and sway we once held passed away, but now in the twentieth century we are about to see a return of it in the rebuilding of Africa; yes, a new civilization, a new culture, shall spring up from among our people, and the Nile shall once more flow through the land of science, of art, and of literature, wherein will live black men of the highest learning and the highest accomplishments.
Professor George A. Kersnor, head of the Harvard-Boston expedition to the Egyptian Soudan, returned to America early in 1923 and, after describing the genius of the Ethiopians and their high culture during the period of 750 B. C. to 350 A. D. in middle Africa, he declared the Ethiopians were not African Negroes. He described them as dark colored races . . showing a mixture of black blood. Imagine a dark colored man in middle Africa being anything else but a Negro. Some white men, whether they be professors or what not, certainly have a wide stretch of imagination. The above statements of the professors support my contention at all times that the prejudice against us as Negroes is not because of color, but because of our condition. If black men throughout the world as a race will render themselves so independent and useful as to be sought out by other race groups it will simply mean that all the problems of race will be smashed to pieces and the Negro would be regarded like anybody else -- a man to be respected and admired.
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The Hybrids of South Africa
More than a year ago the natives of South Africa started to press the limited white population to the wall in the demand of "Africa for the Africans." The prejudiced Boers and others were willing then to let down the color bar and admit to their ranks, socially and otherwise, the half-breed colored people whom they once classified as impossible hybrids, to be despised by both whites and natives. Now they are endeavoring to make common cause with these so-called half-breeds of South Africa, so as to strengthen their position against the threatening ascendency of the demand for a free and redeemed Africa for the blacks of the world.
In an editorial dated March 29, 1923, the Abantu-Batho of Johannesburg states among other things:
"The Cape colored people have been promised absorption by politicians, particularly those of the Dutch race. . . . Indeed we are suspicious that all this talk about absorption is a political trap which has been set to capture the colored vote in the Cape. It is the business of the politician to strengthen his position by getting as many supporters as possible. To do this, he must, of necessity, be diplomatic. That is to say, he must know how to get around the people, and the only way to get around the people is to put before them a beautiful picture of what one intends to do. There can be no doubt that to the Cape colored people the idea of their absorption by the white race presents a beautiful ideal for the attainment of which they are prepared to sacrifice everything. They cannot be blamed for this. As a distinct community they have no past, no traditions, no laws, and no language which things constitute the pride of every race of mankind. These sons of Hagar are in an awkward position. They despise the people of Hagar, because Hagar's people are despised by the people of Abraham. They are suffering because of the gulf that exists between their mothers' people and those of their fathers. . . . The difference between the treatment meted out to the colored people and the Africans does not in any way signify that the whites have more consideration for the colored people. It will be remembered that when Lord Selborne left this country in 1909, he warned the white people of South Africa against putting the Cape colored people in the same category as Africans because that would unite the two sections of the African peoples to fight for their common rights. Since then the policy has been to differentiate in the treatment of the two sections so as to make combined action impossible. Thus it is not saying too much to aver that the real object of the white
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race is to make the Cape colored people a buffer between the Africans and Europeans.
As a buffer, the Cape colored people can never have the same rights as whites.
Now the question is: What are they to do? Will they be satisfied with a position
of this kind? Or will they follow the lead of our cousins in America and classify
themselves as Africans? In our opinion this is the only way to the salvation
of the Cape colored people. They are Africans and not Europeans. And the sooner
they realize it the better."
White people will seek every opportunity to fraternize with any race in the world, even the one despised yesterday, if by so doing they can strengthen their position, whether it be in Europe, Africa or elsewhere, but it is for 400,000,000 people who have been discriminated against throughout the world to take a decided stand and for once we will agree with the American white man, that one drop of Negro blood makes a man a Negro? So that 100 per cent. Negroes and even 1 per cent. Negroes will stand together as one mighty whole to strike a universal blow for liberty and recognition in Africa.
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An Appeal to the Conscience of the Black Race to See Itself
It is said to be a hard and difficult task to organize and keep together large
numbers of the Negro race for the common good. Many have tried to congregate
us, but have failed, the reason being that our characteristics are such as to
keep us more apart than together.
The evil of internal division is wrecking our existence as a people, and if we do not seriously and quickly move in the direction of a readjustment it simply means that our doom becomes imminently conclusive.
For years the Universal Negro Improvement Association has been working for the unification of our race, not on domestic-national lines only, but universally. The success which we have met in the course of our effort is rather encouraging, considering the time consumed and the environment surrounding the object of our concern.
It seems that the whole world of sentiment is against the Negro, and the difficulty of our generation is to extricate ourselves from the prejudice that hides itself beneath, as well as above, the action of an international environment.
Prejudice is conditional on many reasons, and it is apparent that the Negro supplies, consciously or unconsciously, all the reasons by which the world seems to ignore and avoid him. No one cares for a leper, for lepers are infectious persons, and all are afraid of the disease, so, because the Negro keeps himself poor, helpless and undemonstrative, it is natural also that no one wants to be of him or with him.
Progress and Humanity
Progress is the attraction that moves humanity, and to whatever people or race this "modern virtue" attaches itself, there will you find the splendor of pride and self-esteem that never fail to win the respect and admiration of all.
It is the progress of the Anglo-Saxons that singles them out for the respect of all the world. When their race had no progress or achievement to its credit, then, like all other inferior peoples, they paid the price in slavery, bondage, as well as through prejudice. We cannot forget the time when even the ancient Briton was regarded as being too dull to make a good Roman slave, yet today the influence of that race rules the world.
It is the industrial and commercial progress of America that causes Europe and the rest of the world to think appreciatively of the Anglo-American race. It is not because one hundred and
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ten million people live in the United States that the world is attracted to
the republic with so much reverence and respect -- a reverence and respect not
shown to India with its three hundred millions, or to China with its four hundred
millions. Progress of and among any people will advance them in the respect
and appreciation of the rest of their fellows. It is such a progress that the
Negro must attach to himself if he is to rise above the prejudice of the world.
The reliance of our race upon the progress and achievements of others for a consideration in sympathy, justice and rights is like a dependence upon a broken stick, resting upon which will eventually consign you to the ground.
Self-Reliance and Respect
The Universal Negro Improvement Association teaches our race self-help and self-reliance, not only in one essential, but in all those things that contribute to human happiness and well-being. The disposition of the many to depend upon the other races for a kindly and sympathetic consideration of their needs, without making the effort to do for themselves, has been the race's standing disgrace by which we have been judged and through which we have created the strongest prejudice against ourselves.
There is no force like success, and that is why the individual makes all efforts to surround himself throughout life with the evidence of it. As of the individual, so should it be of the race and nation. The glittering success of Rockefeller makes him a power in the American nation; the success of Henry Ford suggests him as an object of universal respect, but no one knows and cares about the bum or hobo who is Rockefeller's or Ford's neighbor. So, also, is the world attracted by the glittering success of races and nations, and pays absolutely no attention to the bum or hobo race that lingers by the wayside.
The Negro must be up and doing if he will break down the prejudice of the rest of the world. Prayer alone is not going to improve our condition, nor the policy of watchful waiting. We must strike out for ourselves in the course of material achievement, and by our own effort and energy present to the world those forces by which the progress of man is judged.
A Nation and Country
The Negro needs a nation and a country of his own, where he can best show evidence of his own ability in the art of human progress. Scattered as an unmixed and unrecognized part of alien nations and civilizations is but to demonstrate his imbecility,
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and point him out as an unworthy derelict, fit neither for the society of Greek,
Jew nor Gentile.
It is unfortunate that we should so drift apart, as a race, as not to see that we are but perpetuating our own sorrow and disgrace in failing to appreciate the first great requisite of all peoples -- organization.
Organization is a great power in directing the affairs of a race or nation toward a given goal. To properly develop the desires that are uppermost, we must first concentrate through some system or method, and there is none better than organization. Hence, the Universal Negro Improvement Association appeals to each and every Negro to throw in his lot with those of us who, through organization, are working for the universal emancipation of our race and the redemption of our common country, Africa.
No Negro, let him be American, European, West Indian or African, shall be truly respected until the race as a whole has emancipated itself, through self-achievement and progress, from universal prejudice. The Negro will have to build his own government, industry, art, science, literature and culture, before the world will stop to consider him. Until then, we are but wards of a superior race and civilization, and the outcasts of a standard social system.
The race needs workers at this time, not plagiarists, copyists and mere imitators; but men and women who are able to create, to originate and improve, and thus make an independent racial contribution to the world and civilization.
Monkey Apings of "Leaders"
The unfortunate thing about us is that we take the monkey apings of our "so-called leading men" for progress. There is no progress in aping white people and telling us that they represent the best in the race, for in that respect any dressed monkey would represent the best of its species, irrespective of the creative matter of the monkey instinct. The best in a race is not reflected through or by the action of its apes, but by its ability to create of and by itself. It is such a creation that the Universal Negro Improvement Association seeks.
Let us not try to be the best or worst of others, but let us make the effort to be the best of ourselves. Our own racial critics criticise us as dreamers and "fanatics," and call us "benighted" and "ignorant," because they lack racial backbone. They are unable to see themselves creators of their own needs. The slave instinct has not yet departed from them. They still believe that
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they can only live or exist through the good graces of their "masters."
The good slaves have not yet thrown off their shackles; thus, to them, the Universal
Negro Improvement Association is an "impossibility."
It is the slave spirit of dependence that causes our "so-called leading men" (apes) to seek the shelter, leadership, protection and patronage of the "master" in their organization and so-called advancement work. It is the spirit of feeling secured as good servants of the master, rather than as independents, why our modern Uncle Toms take pride in laboring under alien leadership and becoming surprised at the audacity of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in proclaiming for racial liberty and independence.
But the world of white and other men, deep down in their hearts, have much more respect for those of us who work for our racial salvation under the banner of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, than they could ever have in all eternity for a group of helpless apes and beggars who make a monopoly of undermining their own race and belittling themselves in the eyes of self-respecting people, by being "good boys" rather than able men.
Surely there can be no good will between apes, seasoned beggars and independent minded Negroes who will at least make an effort to do for themselves. Surely, the "dependents" and "wards" (and may I not say racial imbeciles?) will rave against and plan the destruction of movements like the Universal Negro Improvement Association that expose them to the liberal white minds of the world as not being representative of the best in the Negro, but, to the contrary, the worst. The best of a race does not live on the patronage and philanthropy of others, but makes an effort to do for itself. The best of the great white race doesn't fawn before and beg black, brown or yellow men; they go out, create for self and thus demonstrate the fitness of the race to survive; and so the white race of America and the world will be informed that the best in the Negro race is not the class of beggars who send out to other races piteous appeals annually for donations to maintain their coterie, but the groups within us that are honestly striving to do for themselves with the voluntary help and appreciation of that class of other races that is reasonable, just and liberal enough to give to each and every one a fair chance in the promotion of those ideals that tend to greater human progress and human love.
The work of the Universal Negro Improvement Association is clear and clean-cut. It is that of inspiring an unfortunate race
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with pride in self and with the determination of going ahead in the creation
of those ideals that will lift them to the unprejudiced company of races and
nations. There is no desire for hate or malice, but every wish to see all mankind
linked into a common fracternity of progress and achievement that will wipe
away the odor or prejudice, and elevate the human race to the height of real
godly love and satisfaction.
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Christ the Greatest Reformer: Speech Delivered at Liberty Hall, New York, U.
S. ., December 24, 1922
When man had fallen in sin from his spiritual kinship to his Creator and disgust
reigned even in heaven among the angels and the Holy One, who brought out of
chaos the great universe, there sprang up divine sympathy, divine love -- a
sympathy and love within the Trinity caused the Son of God to vouchsafe Himself
as the Redeemer of mankind, as the Redeemer of the world. He betook to Himself,
with the authority of His father, the duty, the work, the labor, the sacrifice,
to bring man nearer to his Creator, to bring man nearer to his God.
The angels on that first Christmas morn notified the world that the Christ was to be born. He did not of Himself come down in His spiritual image from the heaven on high, but for the purpose of drawing Himself nearer man He took on the flesh and was born of a virgin woman, and in that stable at Bethlehem; the whole world, through the message of the angels, was told of the great happening and men journeyed from far and near to see the Christ. To some, His birth was a disappointment, because He was born lowly; He was born amid poor conditions and circumstances; He was not born of the reigning household; He was born only of a carpenter, an humble laborer, and therefore to many His birth was a disappointment. The prophets foretold the birth of Christ; the prophets foretold the birth of the Redeemer, and men were looking for Him everywhere. The race to which he was to be born expected a redeemer in pomp and glory, and when He came in a manger they were disappointed; they were disgusted and they denied Him as the Christ. They said He was not the Christ; He was not the Promised One; He was not the Son of God; He was an imposter; but others who had faith believed that He was the Christ. And the lowly babe that was born to us in the sinful world 1922 years ago grew up amidst the surroundings of prejudice, amidst the surroundings of disgust and dissatisfaction to take on His work, to perform His labor as the Christ, as the redeemer of man, as the redeemer of the world.
Christ As a Living Example to Man
The man who took on flesh physical as ours, moved among us even as we go about our daily business and occupation today. They could not believe that He was the Son of God, but in Him there was that which no man knew, which no man had; in Him was a spotless soul, was a spotless character never yet known to
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the world beyond the Christ in all God's creation. There never came into the
world a character like Jesus, pure, spotless, immaculate, divine like unto God,
as God would have each of us to be. When God created man and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, when God gave to man a living soul, God expected
that man would live the spiritual life of the Christ, and when man sinned, when
man fell from grace, God became disgusted, God became dissatisfied. If we could
see the sufferings of Christ, if we could see the patience of Christ, if we
could see the very crucifixion of Christ, then we would see the creature, the
being spiritual that God would have us be; and knowing ourselves as we do, we
could well realize how far we are from God. For man to see his God, for man
to face His judgment and become one of the elect of the High Divine, of the
Holy One, is for man to live the life of the Christ, the spotless life, the
holy life, the life without sin, and that is a journey that every one in the
Christian world is called upon to make. If we cannot make it, we cannot expect
to see our God. Man has fallen so low, man has fallen so far from his high estate
as created and given him by God that even now man does not know himself except
in the physical, but the physical does not make the man complete. Man is part
physical as well as part spiritual; the physical life we live here to our satisfaction,
the spiritual life we give to God when He calls us. And how many of us in the
world today, if called for the spiritual life, will give that life as spotless
as Jesus by His example taught? When we look at the world today we think of
sin, we think of injustice, of iniquity, a world where man because of his strength,
because of his advantage abuses the rights of his brother. When we look upon
the oceans of injustice that are placed in the path of the weak, how much must
we not realize the far distance that we are from God and the far distance that
we are from the man Christ, who tried to teach us the life by which we should
see salvation, the life that He came to redeem.
His Doctrine Rejected by the Classes
Christ brought a mission to the world. It was that of love to all mankind; that which taught man to love his brother, to be charitable, and when He taught that doctrine after He had assumed the form of manhood, what did the world do to Him? The world derided Him; the world scoffed at Him; they called Him all kinds of names. He was an imposter; He was a disturber of the public peace; He was not fit to be among good society; He was an outcast; He was a traitor to the king. That is what they said of Jesus when He went about teaching and preaching to men the way of salvation, pointing them to the
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light by which they would see their Heavenly Father. And even though He was
the Son of God, even though He had power from on high, even though He worked
miracles to prove that He was not only an ordinary man, they did not believe
Him and they did not heed Him. The very people among whom He was born, the very
people whom probably He loved most were the people who cried out for the destruction
and the death of this man, and even though He was the Christ, the Son of God,
He could not save Himself from the dissatisfied rebels of His day and of His
time. He went about Jerusalem, He went about the holy places, teaching the multitude;
He appealed to the masses of the people to save them from their sins, and when
the masses attempted to hear Him, when the masses indicated that they would
follow Him, the classes who always rule said that He was a disturber of the
peace. "We cannot allow this man to travel at large, disturbing the peace
of the community. This man threatens the power of the state, therefore we must
imprison Him. We must place Him out of the way so that He will not teach these
people this new doctrine, the doctrine of love, the doctrine of human brotherhood
and the doctrine of equality."
The Character of Man
Christ was the first great reformer. Christ did not go exclusively to the classes. He devoted His life to all; the classes rejected Him because He was not born of high birth, of high parentage, because He was not born in their immediate circle, He was not born of the physical blood royal, therefore they could not follow such a man -- "His doctrine is unsound, and He is receiving the plaudits of the people; He is getting the sympathy of the crowd; can we allow it?" And the answer was no. And even the Son of God -- not man only, but the Son of God -- was sought by the classes who have always held down the masses, because of His teaching for the spiritual glory (if not the physical) of the people whom He loved.
And so while we commemorate the birth of the Christ today, we must bear in mind the sufferings He underwent, the agony He underwent for the purpose of carrying out completely His mission, -- the mission that brought Him down from heaven to earth. Christ came to save a sinful world; the world rejected him, and even at the last hour, after He had preached for years to the people; after He had aroused the suspicion and the curiosity of the masses of His time, when He was about to leave the world, He had not even twelve men who were honest enough to profess the faith; He had not made twelve faithful converts, and He was the Son of God. That proves to you the state of man's mind; that proves to you the character of
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man, and man has not changed much since Christ was here. If he has changed he
has done so for the worse. And that brings me to the thought whether if Christ
should come back to the world today in what way would He be received? If Christ
were to return to the world today, born in the same lowly state, born of the
same humble parentage, and attempted to preach the same redemption, He would
be imprisoned, He would be executed, He would be crucified in this twentieth
century even as He was crucified nineteen hundred years ago on the Mount of
Calvary. Man has not changed much.
Christianity a Moving Force
But there is one lesson we can learn from the teachings of Christ. Even though man in the ages may be hard in heart and hard in soul, that which is righteous, that which is spiritually just, even though the physical man dies, the righteous cause is bound to live. Because the preaching of Jesus, the teaching of Jesus was not something physical; if it was something physical it would have died. The teaching of Jesus, the preaching of Jesus, was something spiritual, and where there is righteousness of spirit there is length of life. Jesus the man was not respected, Jesus the man was not adored, Jesus the man was not even loved by His own people, and for that they crucified Him; but the spiritual doctrines of Jesus were righteous; the doctrines of Jesus were just, and even though He died nearly nineteen hundred years ago, what has happened? After the lapse of nineteen hundred years His religion is the greatest moving force in the world today, morally and spiritually. It shows you, therefore, the power of spiritual force; it shows you, therefore, the power of a righteous cause.
Jesus, who was the first great reformer, taught us the way; after Him followed the other great reformers who shared the same fate Born, perhaps, in the same lowly station of life, feeling with the masses of people who suffered like them, they have gone out, whether it be Luther or Saint Augustine or some other great reformer, but they have all gone out and they preached their doctrine, to suffer in their time for the doctrine, to rise again on the wings of time and to flourish as the green bay tree.
Man's Kinship With His Creator
Christmas symbolizes something other than the amusement that it affords today. Christmas brings us to the realization of the fact that hundreds of years ago, when man was practically lost in his spiritual kinship with his Creator and the world probably was to be wiped away, the Son of God Himself came down from His throne on high for the purpose of saving you and saving me. We rejected Him
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in the past; our attitude now suggests no better consideration for Him if He
should return, but with that patience, but with that love, but with that mercy,
with that charity that caused Him to look down, not in revenge, but in the belief,
in the hope, that some time man will change his ways -- man will get to realize
his true kinship with his Creator and be what his God expected him to be.
But before we reach this point we need a better understanding of self, as individuals, and may I not appeal to the strong and mighty races and nations of the world for a better and a closer consideration and understanding of the teachings of the man Christ, who went about this world in His effort to redeem fallen man? May I not say to the strong, may I not say to the powerful, that until you change your ways there will be no salvation, there will be no redemption, there will be no seeing God face to face? God is just, God is love, God is no respecter of persons; God does not uphold advantage and abuse to His own people; God created mankind to the same rights and privileges and the same opportunities, and before man can see his God, man will have to measure up in that love, in that brotherhood that He desired us to realize and know as taught to us by His Son Jesus.
Let us realize that we are our brother's keeper; let us realize that we are of one blood, created of one nation to worship God the common Father. It does not, therefore, suggest a proper understanding of our God or a proper knowledge of ourselves when in our strength we attempt to abuse and oppress the weak -- as is done to Negroes today.
The Selfishness of Mankind
The statesmen of the world cry out for peace. They are meeting in many conferences with the hope that they will have peace; but I wonder if they understand the meaning of peace. There can be no peace until that peace reflects the spirit of the message of the angels of nineteen centuries ago. The real peace actuated by love, love as the Christ came to the world to give us; love for the high and mighty, love for the meek and lowly, love for all is the only peace that will reign, is the only peace that will draw man nearer to his God.
Man is so selfish that he does not seem to realize that there is anyone else in the world but himself. The statesmen who lead America seem to believe that there is no one else in the world but the people who make up America, the statesmen who lead the British Empire (even though they cry for peace and desire peace) seem to believe that no one else lives in the world but men within the British Empire.
Up to now we have not yet got the message of the angels; up to
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now they have not yet fully interpreted the spirit of Christ. Christ came into
the world not to save one set of humanity, otherwise He would not have been
the Christ. Christ came into the world to save mankind; therefore, His love
must be for all; His love could not be sectional; His love could not be partial;
His love was general and universal. Therefore, before we can have peace on earth,
before we can welcome the spirit of the high God; before we can get a true understanding
of the spirit of the Christ, who came to us born in the lowly stable at Bethlehem,
we must get to realize the brotherhood that exists, realize it in truth; realize
it in fact, and practise it whether we be white, black or some other hue.
God Not Interested in the Physical Activities of Man
Realizing that Christ came to save all mankind from the fallen state, to restore man to his spiritual kinship with his God, let us practise a spirit of love, a spirit of charity, a spirit of mercy toward mankind; because in so doing we will be bringing God's kingdom down to earth. Let us live that true life, that perfect life in ourselves as spiritual beings, not forgetting that we are physical also; man must not fail to understand his dual personality.
In being charitable and sympathetic like the Christ would have us to be does not mean to say that we must ignore our physical needs. Christ was not so much interested in the physical responsibility of man; neither is God interested in the physical activities of man. That may be something strange to say at this hour when you have heard so much about religion. Christ cared so little for the physical that He offered Himself up and was satisfied to go on the cross and let the physical die. God the Father is interested in the spiritual of man, but man's physical body is for his own protection; is for his own purpose. Whatsoever you want to do with the physical God does not interfere, and I trust at this time when we are going to contemplate Christ that we will get a better understanding of Him and get a better understanding of the religion that He taught, because some of us seem to have some peculiar ideas about the religion of Jesus. Some of us seem to believe that Christ and God the Father are responsible for all our ills -- physical ills. They have nothing to do with our physical ills. I repeat, God is not and Jesus is not interested in the bodies of men. If you want to care for your body, that is the privilege and prerogative given to you by God. If you want to destroy it, that is the same privilege and prerogative He has given. If you want to commit suicide, that is your business. If you want to live, that is your business. God has given you the power; He has made you a free agent as far as the physical in life goes. All that God is interested in is the spiritual; that you
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cannot kill, because the moment you destroy the physical body God lays claim
to the spiritual with which you are endowed. The spiritual is never yours. The
spiritual is always God's, but the physical is your own property. If you want
to break your physical life up, that is all your business. God does not interfere
and that should be the Negro's interpretation in this twentieth century of Christ's
religion. It is no use to blame God and Christ for the things that happen to
us in the physical; they are not responsible; they have absolutely nothing to
do with it. If one man enjoys life and another does not, God has absolutely
nothing to do with the difference between the two individuals. That is to say,
if one man lives in a palace across the street and enjoys life and the other
fellow lives in the gutter, God has nothing to do with the difference between
them. It is purely a physical regulation left to man himself.
Make your interpretation of Christianity scientific -- what it ought to be, and blame not God, blame not the white man for physical conditions for which we ourselves are to be blamed.
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The Negro's Place in World Reorganization: Written March 24, 1923
Gradually we are approaching the time when the Negro peoples of the world will
have either to consciously, through their own organization, go forward to the
point of destiny as laid out by themselves, or must sit quiescently and see
themselves pushed back into the mire of economic serfdom, to be ultimately crushed
by the grinding mill of exploitation and be exterminated ultimately by the strong
hand of prejudice.
There is no doubt about it that we are living in the age of world reorganization out of which will come a set program for the organized races of mankind that will admit of no sympathy in human affairs, in that we are planning for the great gigantic struggle of the survival of the fittest group. It becomes each and every one engaged in this great race for place and position to use whatsoever influence possible to divert the other fellow's attention from the real object. In our own sphere in America and the western world we find that we are being camouflaged, not so much by those with whom we are competing for our economic, political existence, but by men from within our own race, either as agents of the opposition or as unconscious fools who are endeavoring to flatter us into believing that our future should rest with chance and with Providence, believing that through these agencies will come the solution of the restless problem. Such leadership is but preparing us for the time that is bound to befall us if we do not exert ourselves now toward our own creative purpose. The mission of the Universal Negro Improvement Association is to arouse the sleeping consciousness of Negroes everywhere to the point where we will, as one concerted body, act for our own preservation. By laying the foundation for such we will be able to work toward the glorious realization of an emancipated race and a constructed nation. Nationhood is the strongest security of any people and it is for that the Universal Negro Improvement Association strives at this time. With the clamor of other peoples for a similar purpose, we raise a noise even to high heaven for the admission of the Negro into the plan of autonomy.
Black Africa
On every side we hear the cry of white supremacy -- in America, Canada, Australia, Europe, and even South America. There is no white supremacy beyond the power and strength of the white man to hold himself against the others. The supremacy of any race is not permanent; it is a thing only of the time in which the race finds itself powerful. The whole world of white men is becoming nervous as
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touching its own future and that of other races. With the desire of self-preservation,
which naturally is the first law of nature, they raise the hue and cry that
the white race must be first in government and in control. What must the Negro
do in the face of such a universal attitude but to align all his forces in the
direction of protecting himself from the threatened disaster of race domination
and ultimate extermination?
Without a desire to harm anyone, the Universal Negro Improvement Association feels that the Negro should without compromise or any apology appeal to the same spirit of racial pride and love as the great white race is doing for its own preservation, so that while others are raising the cry of a white America, a white Canada, a white Australia, we also without reservation raise the cry of a "Black Africa." The critic asks, "Is this possible?" and the four hundred million courageous Negroes of the world answer, "Yes."
Out of this very reconstruction of world affairs will come the glorious opportunity for Africa's freedom. Out of the present chaos and European confusion will come an opportunity for the Negro never enjoyed in any other age, for the expansion of himself and the consolidation of his manhood in the direction of building himself a national power in Africa.
The germ of European malice, revenge and antagonism is so deeply rooted among certain of the contending powers that in a short while we feel sure they will present to Negroes the opportunity for which we are organized.
Disablement of Germany Not Permanent
No one believes in the permanent disablement of Germany, but all thoughtful minds realize that France is but laying the foundation through revenge for a greater conflict than has as yet been seen. With such another upheaval, there is absolutely no reason why organized Negro opinion could not be felt and directed in the channel of their own independence in Africa.
To fight for African redemption does not mean that we must give up our domestic fights for political justice and industrial rights. It does not mean that we must become disloyal to any government or to any country wherein we were born. Each and every race outside of its domestic national loyalty has a loyalty to itself; therefore, it is foolish for the Negro to talk about not being interested in his own racial, political, social and industrial destiny. We can be as loyal American citizens or British subjects as the Irishman or the Jew, and yet fight for the redemption of Africa, a complete emancipation of the race.
Fighting for the establishment of Palestine does not make the
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American Jew disloyal; fighting for the independence of Ireland does not make
the Irish-American a bad citizen. Why should fighting for the freedom of Africa
make the Afro-American disloyal or a bad citizen?
The Universal Negro Improvement Association teaches loyalty to all governments outside of Africa; but when it comes to Africa, we feel that the Negro has absolutely no obligation to any one but himself
Out of the unsettled state and condition of the world will come such revolutions that will give each and every race that is oppressed the opportunity to march forward. The last world war brought the opportunity to many heretofore subject races to regain their freedom. The next world war will give Africa the opportunity for which we are preparing. We are going to have wars and rumors of wars. In another twenty or thirty years we will have a changed world, politically, and Africa will not be one of the most backward nations, but Africa shall be, I feel sure, one of the greatest commonwealths that will once more hold up the torchlight of civilization and bestow the blessings of freedom, liberty and democracy upon all mankind.
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Aims and Objects of Movement for Solution of Negro Problem
Generally the public is kept misinformed of the truth surrounding new movements
of reform. Very seldom, if ever, reformers get the truth told about them and
their movements. Because of this natural attitude, the Universal Negro Improvement
Association has been greatly handicapped in its work, causing thereby one of
the most liberal and helpful human movements of the twentieth century to be
held up to ridicule by those who take pride in poking fun at anything not already
successfully established.
The white man of America has become the natural leader of the world. He, because of his exalted position, is called upon to help in all human efforts. From nations to individuals the appeal is made to him for aid in all things affecting humanity, so, naturally, there can be no great mass movement or change without first acquainting the leader on whose sympathy and advice the world moves.
It is because of this, and more so because of a desire to be Christian friends with the white race, why I explain the aims and objects of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
The Universal Negro Improvement Association is an organization among Negroes that is seeking to improve the condition of the race, with the view of establishing a nation in Africa where Negroes will be given the opportunity to develop by themselves, without creating the hatred and animosity that now exist in countries of the white race through Negroes rivaling them for the highest and best positions in government, politics, society and industry. The organization believes in the rights of all men, yellow, white and black. To us, the white race has a right to the peaceful possession and occupation of countries of its own and in like manner the yellow and black races have their rights. It is only by an honest and liberal consideration of such rights can the world be blessed with the peace that is sought by Christian teachers and leaders.
The Spiritual Brotherhood of Man
The following preamble to the constitution of the organization speaks for itself:
"The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities' League is a social, friendly, humanitarian, charitable, educational, institutional, constructive, and expansive society, and is founded by persons, desiring to the utmost to work for the general uplift of the Negro peoples of the world. And the members pledge themselves to do all in their power to conserve the rights of their noble race and to respect the rights
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of all mankind, believing always in the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood
of God. The motto of the organization is: One God! One Aim! One Destiny! Therefore,
let justice be done to all mankind, realizing that if the strong oppresses the
weak confusion and discontent will ever mark the path of man, but with love,
faith and charity toward all the reign of peace and plenty will be heralded
into the world and the generation of men shall be called Blessed."
The declared objects of the association are:
"To establish a Universal Confraternity among the race; to promote the spirit of pride and love; to reclaim the fallen; to administer to and assist the needy; to assist in civilizing the backward tribes of Africa; to assist in the development of Independent Negro Nations and Communities; to establish a central nation for the race; to establish Commissaries or Agencies in the principal countries and cities of the world for the representation of all Negroes; to promote a conscientious Spiritual worship among the native tribes of Africa; to establish Universities, Colleges, Academies and Schools for the racial education and culture of the people; to work for better conditions among Negroes everywhere."
Supplying a Long Felt Want
The organization of the Universal Negro Improvement Association has supplied among Negroes a long-felt want. Hitherto the other Negro movements in America, with the exception of the Tuskegee effort of Booker T. Washington, sought to teach the Negro to aspire to social equality with the whites, meaning thereby the right to inter-marry and fraternize in every social way. This has been the source of much trouble and still some Negro organizations continue to preach this dangerous "race destroying doctrine" added to a program of political agitation and aggression. The Universal Negro Improvement Association on the other hand believes in and teaches the pride and purity of race. We believe that the white race should uphold its racial pride and perpetuate itself, and that the black race should do likewise. We believe that there is room enough in the world for the various race groups to grow and develop by themselves without seeking to destroy the Creator's plan by the constant introduction of mongrel types.
The unfortunate condition of slavery, as imposed upon the Negro, and which caused the mongrelization of the race, should not be legalized and continued now to the harm and detriment of both races.
The time has really come to give the Negro a chance to develop
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himself to a moral-standard-man, and it is for such an opportunity that the
Universal Negro Improvement Association seeks in the creation of an African
nation for Negroes, where the greatest latitude would be given to work out this
racial ideal.
There are hundreds of thousands of colored people in America who desire race amalgamation and miscegenation as a solution of the race problem. These people are, therefore, opposed to the race pride ideas of black and white; but the thoughtful of both races will naturally ignore the ravings of such persons and honestly work for the solution of a problem that has been forced upon us.
Liberal white America and race loving Negroes are bound to think at this time and thus evolve a program or plan by which there can be a fair and amicable settlement of the question.
We cannot put off the consideration of the matter, for time is pressing on our hands. The educated Negro is making rightful constitutional demands. The great white majority will never grant them, and thus we march on to danger if we do not now stop and adjust the matter.
The time is opportune to regulate the relationship between both races. Let the Negro have a country of his own. Help him to return to his original home, Africa, and there give him the opportunity to climb from the lowest to the highest positions in a state of his own. If not, then the nation will have to hearken to the demand of the aggressive, "social equality" organization, known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, of which W. E. B. DuBois is leader, which declares vehemently for social and political equality, viz.: Negroes and whites in the same hotels, homes, residential districts, public and private places, a Negro as president, members of the Cabinet, Governors of States, Mayors of cities, and leaders of society in the United States. In this agitation, DuBois is ably supported by the "Chicago Defender," a colored newspaper published in Chicago. This paper advocates Negroes in the Cabinet and Senate. All these, as everybody knows, are the Negroes' constitutional rights, but reason dictates that the masses of the white race will never stand by the ascendency of an opposite minority group to the favored positions in a government, society and industry that exist by the will of the majority, hence the demand of the DuBois group of colored leaders will only lead, ultimately, to further disturbances in riots, lynching and mob rule. The only logical solution therefore, is to supply the Negro with opportunities and environments of his own, and there point him to the fullness of his ambition.
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Negroes Who Seek Social Equality
The Negro who seeks the White House in America could find ample play for his ambition in Africa. The Negro who seeks the office of Secretary of State in America would have a fair chance of demonstrating his diplomacy in Africa. The Negro who seeks a seat in the Senate or of being governor of a State in America, would be provided with a glorious chance for statesmanship in Africa.
The Negro has a claim on American white sympathy that cannot be denied. The Negro has labored for 300 years in contributing to America's greatness. White America will not be unmindful, therefore, of this consideration, but will treat him kindly. Yet it is realized that all human beings have a limit to their humanity. The humanity of white America, we realize, will seek self-protection and self-preservation, and that is why the thoughtful and reasonable Negro sees no hope in America for satisfying the aggressive program of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, but advances the reasonable plan of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, that of creating in Africa a nation and government for the Negro race.
This plan when properly undertaken and prosecuted will solve the race problem in America in fifty years. Africa affords a wonderful opportunity at the present time for colonization by the Negroes of the Western world. There is Liberia, already established as an independent Negro government. Let white America assist Afro-Americans to go there and help develop the country. Then, there are the late German colonies; let white sentiment force England and France to turn them over to the American and West Indian Negroes who fought for the Allies in the World's War. Then, France, England and Belgium owe America billions of dollars which they claim they cannot afford to repay immediately. Let them compromise by turning over Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast on the West Coast of Africa and add them to Liberia and help make Libera a state worthy of her history.
The Negroes of Africa and America are one in blood. They have sprung from the same common stock. They can work and live together and thus make their own racial contribution to the world.
Will deep thinking and liberal white America help? It is a considerate duty.
It is true that a large number of self-seeking colored agitators and so-called political leaders, who hanker after, social equality
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and fight for the impossible in politics and governments, will rave, but remember
that the slave-holder raved, but the North said, "Let the slaves go free";
the British Parliament raved when the Colonists said, "We want a free and
American nation"; the Monarchists of France raved when the people declared
for a more liberal form of government.
The masses of Negroes think differently from the self-appointed leaders of the race. The majority of Negro leaders are selfish, self-appointed and not elected by the people. The people desire freedom in a land of their own, while the colored politician desires office and social equality for himself in America, and that is why we are asking white America to help the masses to realize their objective.
Ninety odd years ago a thoughtful, liberty-loving white statesman of America made the following speech in Congress:
Claims of Africa: Extract from a Speech Delivered in Congress by Mr. Burges,
of Rhode Island, May 10, 1830
"1. During the last century, a mighty revolution of mind has been made
in the civilized world. Its effects are gradually disclosing themselves, and
gradually improving the condition of the human race. The eyes of all nations
are turned on these United States, for here that great movement was commenced.
Africa, like a bereaved mother, holds out her hands to America, and implores
you to send back her exiled children. Does not Africa merit much at the hands
of other nations? Almost 4,000 years ago, she, from the then rich store house
of her genius and labor, sent out to them science, and arts and letters, laws
and civilization.
2. Wars and revolutions have exhausted this ancient abundance, and spread ignorance and barbarism over her regions; and the cupidity of other nations has multiplied and aggravated these evils. The ways of Providence cannot always be seen by man. When the Almighty comes out of His cloud, light fills the universe. What a mystery, when the youthful patriarch, lost to his father, was sold into slavery. What a display of wisdom and benignity, when we are permitted to see `all the families of the earth blessed' by the event of their restoration.
3. Shall we question the great arrangements of divine wisdom; or hold parlance with the Power who has made whole countries the enduring monuments of His avenging justice? Let these people go! They are citizens of another country, send them home. Send them home instructed and civilized, and
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imbued with the pure principles of Christianity; so may they instruct and civilize
their native land, and spread over its wide regions the glad tidings of human
redemption. Secure to your country, to your age, to yourselves, the glory of
paying back to Africa the mighty arrears of nations. Add another New World to
the civilized regions of the globe.
Do you say your State will be depopulated; your fields left without culture. In countries equal in fertility, and under the same laws, you cannot create a void in population; as well might you make a vacuum in the atmosphere. Better, more efficient labor will come to your aid. Free men, observant of the same laws, cherishing the same union, worshipping the same God with you, will place themselves by your side. This change of moral and physical condition in our population will follow the removal of that pernicious cause, now so productive of alarming difference in political opinions; jealousies, incident to our present state, shall give place to a glorious emulation of patriotism; and, O my country! If God so please, thou shalt be united, and prosperous, and perpetual."
Help the Negro to Return Home
Surely the time has come for the Negro to look homeward. He has won civilization and Christianity at the price of slavery. The Negro who is thoughtful and serviceable, feels that God intended him to give to his brothers still in darkness, the light of his civilization. The very light element of Negroes do not want to go back to Africa. They believe that in time, through miscegenation, the American race will be of their type. This is a fallacy and in that respect the agitation of the mulatto leader, Dr. W. E. B. DuBois and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is dangerous to both races.
The off-colored people, being children of the Negro race, should combine to re-establish the purity of their own race, rather than seek to perpetuate the abuse of both races. That is to say, all elements of the Negro race should be encouraged to get together and form themselves into a healthy whole, rather than seeking to lose their identities through miscegenation and social intercourse with the white race. These statements are made because we desire an honest solution of the problem and no flattery or deception will bring that about.
Let the white and Negro people settle down in all seriousness and in true sympathy and solve the problem. When that is done, a new day of peace and good will will be ushered in.
The natural opponents among Negroes to a program of this kind are that lazy element who believe always in following the
-- 43 --
line of least resistance, being of themselves void of initiative and the pioneering
spirit to do for themselves. The professional Negro leader and the class who
are agitating for social equality feel that it is too much work for them to
settle down and build up a civilization of their own. They feel it is easier
to seize on to the civilization of the white man and under the guise of constitutional
rights fight for those things that the white man has created. Natural reason
suggests that the white man will not yield them, hence such leaders are but
fools for their pains. Teach the Negro to do for himself, help him the best
way possible in that direction; but to encourage him into the belief that he
is going to possess himself of the things that others have fought and died for,
is to build up in his mind false hopes never to be realized. As for instance,
Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, who has been educated by white charity, is a brilliant
scholar, but he is not a hard worker. He prefers to use his higher intellectual
abilities to fight for a place among white men in society, industry and in politics,
rather than use that ability to work and create for his own race that which
the race could be able to take credit for. He would not think of repeating for
his race the work of the Pilgrim Fathers or the Colonists who laid the foundation
of America, but he prefers to fight and agitate for the privilege of dancing
with a white lady at a ball at the Biltmore or at the Astoria hotels in New
York. That kind of leadership will destroy the Negro in America and against
which the Universal Negro Improvement Association is fighting.
The Universal Negro Improvement Association is composed of all shades of Negroes -- blacks, mulattoes and yellows, who are all working honestly for the purification of their race, and for a sympathetic adjustment of the race problem.
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Will Negroes Succumb to the White Man's Plan of Economic Starvation?
(Written March 31, 1923.),
Every day we are discovering new evidence to bear out and support the stand taken by me, -- that it is only a question of time when the entire white race will be inflamed against the Negro and all weaker peoples not sufficiently strong and organized to hold their own in the competition of life. I have also contended that the race problem was not absolutely confined to the United States of America, but it was only a question of environment that prevented the other great white nations from treating the Negro as he was being treated in the United States of America. If we were to place the same number of Negroes in any of the European countries as we have in America, that we would have the same problem of hostility, riots, lynchings and burnings.
I have also held and still believe that it is only a question of time when the Negro, economically dependent as he is on the white man, would be forced to the wall, and that the solution of the problem in the future would not be so much by wholesale killing or wiping out of Negro populations by fire or force of arms, but by a well-organized plan of economic starvation.
It is not surprising to us how unreasonable and selfish certain people can make themselves. The English, above everybody else, owe a debt of gratitude to the Negro for nearly all that they possess. Everybody knows that the British have built themselves up on the blood and wealth of the Negroes, especially of Africa and the West Indies. Whilst these "Christian" Britishers are going out to the colonies robbing and exploiting our people, murdering them for their lands and their wealth, we find that in their home, England, they look upon it as an imposition for Negroes to go into their midst, not to exploit, but to seek employment. This convinces us beyond the shadow of a doubt that as far as the economic political interest of the Englishman goes, he has no soul. He believes that he alone is entitled to everything that is worth while, and that others have absolutely no claim upon those things that are necessary to life, except that which he does not want. Following is an article that speaks for itself: --
Nigger Problem Brought to London -- Black Not Wanted in England
(Daily Graphic, London, England, March 6, 1923.) The all-black cabaret which, staged at the Empire, is to
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be the great attraction of the Darker London season, will be as black as night.
"Indeed, Robert Law, the scenic artist, who is to paint a plantation scene so that niggers can act in front of it, said yesterday that they are even bringing over a black cook. So "Aunt Jemima," of Virginia, the Coal-Black Mammy of all time, will make waffles which, he said, "You could eat forever, and still want more."
Black Cabaret
"I suppose Black and White whisky and black coffee will also be sold at the cabaret -- that is, of course, if the black cabaret is ever opened.
I print this proviso because Lord Decies, a prominent member of the London County Council, said yesterday, "When I saw the news that negroes were to act in the cabaret, I thought there must be some mistake. I do not think the L. C. C. will grant the license for a minute.
The license comes up for consideration this afternoon. But, since Sir Percy Simmons, the chairman of the Theatre and Music-Hall Committee, says that, when the license was recommended, he had no idea that black artists were to be employed, there is no doubt that the matter will be referred back."
Protest to the L. C. C.
Protests against black cabarets were heard in all sorts of places in London yesterday. Naturally, the strongest came from Albert Voyce and Monte Bayly, the chairman and organizer of the Variety Artistes' Federation, who were so indignant that they immediately sent the Clerk of the London County Council a protest against the license for a cabaret being granted if negro artistes were to be imported to act in it. A copy of this letter was sent also, to scores of L. C. C. members.
Imported Blacks
"We think it would be a disgrace to both theatrical and music-hall performers if permission were granted to exploit imported black men and women in this way," they said, "while hundreds of talented British artistes are on the verge of want through lack of engagements."
"Over 2,000 variety artistes are unemployed in England," said Mr. Voyce, "and the stories I hear every day of want are heartrending. When employed, these artistes earn anything from £10 to £100 a week; but, so bad is the shortage
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of money in England, that no fewer than 250 of the smaller music halls which
used to employ from four variety acts are now saving money by showing second-class
pictures instead.
No Objection to White Americans
"We have no objection to American artistes coming to England. In fact, ninety per cent. of those who come here join our federation and are welcome. There are also in England negro turns that behave themselves and keep their place. But we view with the greatest apprehension a cabaret where black artistes would actually mix with the white folk at the tables."
Spirit of Hate Revealed
The above article reveals the spirit of hate on the part of the Englishman for the Negro in his country. Nevertheless, this same Englishman expects the Negro to exhibit an overabundance of love and obedience to him in his (the Negro's) country. These twentieth century white men are indeed crazy when they believe that self-respecting and ambitious Negroes are going to stand for it without a murmur.
We of the Universal Negro Improvement Association cede to the white man the right of doing as he pleases in his own country, and that is why we believe in not making any trouble when he says that "America is a white man's country," because in the same breath and with the same determination we are going to make Africa a black man's country. The appeal to Christian love is a farce, and the white man, especially the Englishman, preaches it only to suit his own conveniences. In the tropics, when he wants to rob our wealth, mineral and agricultural, he brings us a Bible and a hymn book, and tells us how much he loves us and that we are all children of one common Father, and points us to the hope of a glorious day when all of us will meet around the throne of heaven; but when we meet him on his own soil, he tells us a different tale, even as is being told in the article herein mentioned. After he has robbed our diamond mines and stripped Africa of part of its wealth and taken it all to England, they come to us to tell us that the black man is not wanted there, even as we are being told in America that we are not wanted here. There is but one alternative for ambitious and self-respecting Negroes, and that is to make it warm for all aliens in Africa, so that in the days to come when the line of demarcation between black and white will be more
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ferociously drawn in countries of whites, we will have a haven of refuge --
the land of our fathers.
Whilst the prejudiced whites in England are depriving Negroes of the right to earn a livelihood, in the United States of America, the same methods are employed but on a larger scale, and the plan of economic starvation is more vigorously and rigidly pursued.
The time is coming, as I have often stated, when the Negro will have a hard time finding a place in the economic arrangements of the other races of the world, when not only in Europe but in America, it will become difficult for him to find even the opportunity to work in the most menial occupations, in that the surplus populations of the other races will seek to perform even the most menial work to the exclusion of any other competitor.
Very few persons would have thought that the white man in America would have sought to compete with Negroes even in the occupation of picking cotton; but the following news article speaks for itself.
Caruthersville, Mo., March 2, 1923.
A carefully organized campaign of intimidation has driven more than 2,000 Negro workers from the cotton fields of Southeastern Missouri within the last thirty days, according to complaints made to local officials here. Negro leaders charge that threats and warnings were sent to the Negroes by white laborers fearful of losing their jobs by the influx of Negroes into the recently reclaimed section. Ambrose Young, Negro, appealed for protection after he had received several warnings. "Nigger, get to hell out of here; this is a white man's country," was one notice delivered by five hooded men. Young says: The next night I found another note on my front porch weighed down with a cartridge box, which said, "Nigger, if you cannot read, run. If you cannot run, you are as good as dead."
What happened at Caruthersville, Missouri, is what is happening throughout America, as for instance:
South Bend, Indiana, Sept. 12, 1923.
South Bend, once a haven for escaped Negro slaves from the South, is witnessing an exodus of Negroes as the result of a rumor of a threatened race riot. A number of letters addressed to several Negro leaders on the west side of the city caused the flight. Approximately 2,000 Negro men, women and children are said to have fled, some leaving their belongings.
Shortly after this occurrence at South Bend, Indiana, a
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similar occurrence took place at Johnstown, Pa., an industrial center, where
there has been a great deal of unemployment among the white workers, leaving
the town over-run with unemployed whites and Negroes, as well as employed Negroes.
The unemployed whites were waiting for an opportunity to run the employed and
unemployed Negroes out of town, so as to brighten their prospects for employment.
The opportunity presented itself when two policemen were shot in one of the
labor districts of the city. It is apparent that the white labor leaders seized
upon the opportunity of getting the Mayor to take immediate action, which he
did not fail to do. The result was that thousands of Negroes were driven out
of town by the order of Mayor Joseph Cauffiel, with the following declaration
as his ultimatum, which cannot be mistaken: --
Johnstown, Pa., Sept. 15, 1923.
"I don't care what authority I have; for their own safety and for the safety of the Johnstown public, the Negroes are going out of this city. Most of them are out, and the rest of them are going fast. If the rest of them don't get out soon, I'll arm police and send them into the colonies to walk the Negroes out at the point of a gun."
Similar occurrences have taken place in East St. Louis, Tulsa and other industrial centers, accompanied by bloodshed and fire, and will happen in hundreds of instances again; more so as the reaction sets in, in the American labor market. As soon as the country returns to normal, and as soon as employment for the working classes becomes more remote, we will find other mayors all over the United States of America making similar declarations, and in a short while, except where the Negro has created for himself some haven of refuge, he will become the unfortunate man without a country and without a shelter.
What are Negroes going to do? Are we going to live under this farcical impression that one of these days the hearts of the white people will change toward us and give us a square deal? This is preposterous, and that is why we are fighting for the restoration of Africa to the Negro peoples of the world; that is why we are advising American and West Indian Negroes to look forward to the building up of a country of their own, a nation of their own, because all over the world there is an emphatic line of demarcation drawn between the interests of black and white peoples industrially, socially and politically.
The Annoyance of "Misleaders"
It is rather annoying to the conscientious Negro who desires a proper solution of this great race problem to have the socalled
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"leaders" of the race playing with this great question. Instead of
settling down to a sober and practical handling of the situation, we find these
"misleaders" of ours trying to point us to every other possible solution
than that which is practical.
If some unfriendly acquaintance of yours threatens to burn down your house, there is only one resort for the sensible man, and that is to surround himself and his home with sufficient protection as to make it impossible for the enemy to carry out his threat, instead of hoping that the enemy will have a change of heart and mind and refrain from carrying out the threat. In the same way, after being told that this is a white man's country; after being advised time and again that the Negro must "find his place," these so-called "race leaders" insist that the future of the Negro is alongside of the white man in countries where he dominates.
They try to force upon us the belief that later on this good white neighbor and fellow citizen will change his mind and will not carry out his desire of really making America a white man's country. This is foolhardiness of the worst sort, and I trust that Negroes in America and throughout the world where we live as a minority group in a majority white population, will get to realize the fallacy of such a belief.
Political, social and industrial America will never become so converted as to be willing to share up equitably between black and white.
The Solution
It can plainly be seen, that in the question of self-preservation and self-interest the whites nowhere, whether in America, England or France, are going to give way to the Negro to the detriment of their own. We need not look for constitutional protection, or even for philanthropic Christian sympathy, because if that is to be shown it will be to the race that is able to bestow it.
Hence, the Universal Negro Improvement Association has but one solution for this great problem, and that is to work unceasingly for the bringing about of a National Homeland for Negroes in Africa, so that when this wholesale declaration against Negroes takes place we can have a National Home of our own to look to.
Members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association all over the world are pushing forward our program so that the time for its realization and accomplishment will be hastened. We would like to be in a position to start real nation building for the Negro in a short while, but this can only be done when
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we have succeeded in bringing together sufficient Negroes who are determined
to stand behind the idea. If we can get eight or ten million out of the fifteen
million Negroes in the United States, and the millions of other Negroes in other
parts of the world, to stand behind us, there is absolutely no reason why we
cannot get the American Government, along with the governments of Europe, to
acquiesce in the demand of creating for the Negro a government in a nation of
our own than to have us scattered throughout the universe, driven from pillar
to post at the whim and caprice of any mob, governor or official of white governments
or communities of the world.
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An Analysis of Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the U. S.
The hand of death has removed from our midst Warren G. Harding, President of
the United States, and a voice that was once loud and clear, that resounded
around the world, is now silent, to be heard no more.
Notwithstanding opinions to the contrary, Harding was, to my way of thinking, a true friend of the Negro race, as far as we can expect friendship from members of the opposite race who have not yet discovered their souls.
The President's speech at Birmingham in 1921, on the race question, was one that revealed his depth of thought for the Negro and marked him as a careful student of world psychology.
If President Harding did not openly do any good for the Negro, it was because he was but a slave to system and environment which took extraordinary courage to rebuff and surmount, with the intention of doing that which was right and justifiable. Not only Harding, but any President or leader who prefers to please his immediate acquaintances and human circle rather than the voice of God, speaking through the oppressed, is bound to do as he did in all things affecting human rights, liberty and justice, without realizing his mistake.
Mr. Harding was not a Roosevelt, who would do what he thought was morally right, irrespective of what his associates thought. He would not have dined a Booker T. Washington, if he believed it would have hurt him in the opinion of his friends and large numbers of people; but a Roosevelt did that, because he believed it was right, and he said, "Public opinion be hanged, if it flares against the right." President Harding was too physically kind, gentle and considerate to knowingly offend by introducing innovations or changes, and that is why, although he felt for and sympathized with the Negro, he was unable to openly do anything for him, because he was just afraid of hurting public opinion.
To do good, and that which must be permanent, we have to offend public opinion. No better example of the price one has to pay in doing good can be found than that given us by the man Jesus, who, in a life of public activity, taught us that to do good is to offend, and to suffer therefor.
His Soul Humanly Right
President Harding's soul was humanly right. He had a deep sense of human love. He desired to see all men free and happy. He prayed for that. He loved peace and justice, but he was not
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a Christ; he was not a Reformer. He was but a bold, courageous and sympathetic
twentieth century human leader, who dared not break the bounds set by human
public opinion. He was bold and courageous, however, to have gone further than
anyone else, excepting Wilson, in pointing to us that which we should do. If
he had done it himself he would have been a Christ, and who knows if life did
not fail Warren Gamaliel Harding because he failed to act the Christ? He failed
to do the deed that would justify the righteousness of his own soul and elevate
him above the rest of men.
If the world is God's, if the creatures therein are the children of God, and we essay to lead because we know better than the rest of those who sin and suffer, then it becomes our duty and obligation not to only act human, but to act as a Christ in dispensing justice, love and mercy to all those who look to us as leaders and representatives of the ONE who should rule, but who does so through us, his agents.
Service to Humanity and What It Means
For man, elevated to the position of leader, teacher or law giver, having under his control the children of God, not knowing that his act in regulating the affairs of his fellows must be based upon the conscience or soul of a Christ, and not man makes him unfit for the call of service to humanity and misrepresentative of the Divinity of God.
There is nothing in the world as serious as leadership. We can all follow, but we cannot all lead. Christ was a leader, and the greatest of them all. He came to a new and modern age and set the example we should follow, and those who must lead man after Christ cannot but expect to fail, if they act not as He would.
We cannot mix the human and spiritual of life in leadership of humanity. We cannot love and then hate. We cannot be merciful and then revengeful; we cannot take from Paul and give to John. All these irregularities can be, however, if we do not lead; but if we lead, we must do as Christ would do or else we ourselves suffer and not those whom we lead.
Wilson and Harding came nearest to playing the Christ in the leadership of the American people, and in their lessons to the world, than any other human political leader of recent times. Wilson and Harding went up to the Cross, but they were afraid of the crucifixion. One fainted on the wayside; the other, because his life and works were in the immediate hand of God, died, and in his death we mourn, because we know he was only man,
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and not a Christ. The responsibility of leadership in a modern world after Christ
is exceedingly great, and none of us, because of our imperfections, can see
the glory of our work. In our sins of omission, caused through the preponderance
of our human over our spiritual, we destroy the good of our work, as, no doubt,
planned from the most righteous desire of service to humanity. No one will doubt
that Harding planned to do good, and all will believe that he did his best as
far as the human in him went. No one will dispute that Harding was a successful,
illustrious human being, that he attempted great things for humanity as a leader,
but his soul failed him as a Christ in being just to all men.
Leadership of the Soul
The leadership of this age must be of the soul and not only of the head, if we are to be just to our fellows and win the love of God. This does not mean to say that our leaders should be bishops and priests, rather than statesmen. The bishop or priest is not a statesman, but the statesman must be bishop, priest and himself. To lead and be spiritual, does not mean that we must be all humility and obliging; we must be ourselves; we must be like Christ; we must resist, yet not resist; we must fight, yet not fight; we must be JUST.
How just Warren Harding was, his God will tell, but those who follow him, and those who must lead, should learn that the responsibility is great, that it is not a mockery; it is a calling, and to each and every one there will come a summons to report the deeds of love, justice and mercy to the greatest of Judges, who pardons not after the judgment.
The World Still in Chaos
Harding has left the world still in chaos, although he humanly tried his best to save it without taking into consideration all the elements that contribute to its undoing. Not only Harding, but Wilson before him, tried to save the world without first realizing that the world holds peoples of different races, whose claim to right and justice is as obligatory and potential as those addressed. Harding addressed himself to white America and Europe, but forgot black Africa, not because the ills of the Negro race were not of the human race, but because he would not offend his associates and human circle. That kind of leadership takes man no further than his grave, but that which is of Christ, that knows not bonds, limits, creeds or races, elevates the soul of the deceased to the realms of glory. Yet, Harding has done more than others. He expressed, if nowhere else, at Birmingham, his sympathy for the Negro, and we must take him
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at his word and give him credit for being a great and generous man.
Africa has still its lesson to teach the world. We will teach man the way to life and peace, not by ignoring the rights of our brother, but by giving to everyone his due. We glory in Africa's new responsibility, for we know that the Psalmist made no mistake in prophesying that "Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands." The hand of justice, freedom and liberty shall be extended to all mankind, so that in the death of our leaders not only man will mourn, but the angels will rejoice in admitting into the kingdom of everlasting glory the faithful servants of the Son of Righteousness.
Telegraphed Message of Condolence Sent to Mrs. Harding on Death of President Harding
July 31, 1923.
Madam -- The world has lost one of its greatest advocates of peace and justice, and America one of her truest and noblest sons. Not only the nation, but the world of grateful, peace-loving humanity mourns the loss of your illustrious husband, and shall never forget the courage, manhood and character of Warren Gamaliel Harding. Four hundred million Negroes of the world and fifteen million of America, in particular, will ever remember your dear husband as a true and sincere friend of our race. His speech and advice to our race at Birmingham, Ala., is a classic in the utterances of American statesmen on the race problem.
We believe he was true and honest in his desire to see the Negro elevated to the standard of man; therefore, how could we do other than mourn with you from our deepest feeling of sorrow and regret in losing a true friend who was your loving and devoted husband, the like of whom the world may never see again.
In the history of our race your beloved husband, as a friend and well-wisher of our progress, shall have a place, and our children shall be taught and they shall remember that amidst all the horrors of prejudice and injustice to the Negro in the civilization of the twentieth century they had one, in the person of your husband, who was always kind and considerate and who never failed to lend a helping hand.
Be assured, dear Madam, that the world of Negroes at this hour mourn with you and pray for the entrance of the President's soul into the realms of Paradise.
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An Expose of the Caste System among Negroes
(Written from the Tombs Prison August 31st, 1923)
The policy of the Universal Negro Improvement Association is so clean-cut, and my personal views are so well known, that no one, for even one moment, could reasonably accuse us of having any other desire than that of working for a united Negro race.
The Program of the Universal Negro Improvement Association is that of drawing together, into one universal whole, all the Negro peoples of the world, with prejudice toward none. We desire to have every shade of color, even those with one drop of African blood, in our fold; because we believe that none of us, as we are, is responsible for our birth; in a word, we have no prejudice against ourselves in race. We believe that every Negro racially is just alike, and, therefore, we have no distinction to make, hence wherever you see the Universal Negro Improvement Association you will find us giving every member of the race an equal chance and opportunity to make good.
Unfortunately, there is a disposition on the part of a certain element of our people in America, the West Indies and Africa, to hold themselves up as the "better class" or "privileged" group on the caste of color.
This subject is such a delicate one that no one is honest enough to broach it, yet the evil of it is working great harm to our racial solidarity, and I personally feel it my duty to right now bring it to the attention of all concerned. The Universal Negro Improvement Association is founded on truth, and, therefore, anything that would menace or retard the race must be gotten out of the way, hence our stand in this direction. During the early days of slavery our people were wrested from the bosom of our native land -- Africa -- and brought into these climes. For centuries, against their will, our mothers were subjected to the most cruel and unfair treatment, the result of which has created among us a diversity of colors and types, to the end that we have become the most mixed race in the world.
The Abuse of Our Race
The abuse of our race was, up to eighty-five years ago in the West Indies and fifty-seven years ago in America, beyond our control, because we were then but chattel slaves of our masters; but since emancipation we have had full control of our own moral-social life and cannot, therefore, complain against anyone
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other than ourselves, for any social or moral wrongs inflicted upon us.
The Universal Negro Improvement Association realizes that it is now our duty to socially and morally steady ourselves, hence our desire to bring about a united race with one moral code and principle. The types in our race should not be blameable to our generation, but to the abuse and advantage taken of us in the past; but that should not be reason for us to further open ourselves to a continuation of this abuse and thereby wreck our racial pride and self-respect. The Universal Negro Improvement Association believes that the time has come for us to call a halt, and thus steady ourselves on the basis of race and not be allowed to drift along in the world as the outcasts or lepers of society, to be laughed at by every other race beneath their social breath.
Near Whites
Some of us in America, the West Indies and Africa believe that the nearer we approach the white man in color the greater our social standing and privilege and that we should build up an "aristocracy" based upon caste of color and not achievement in race. It is well known, although no one is honest enough to admit it, that we have been, for the past thirty years at least, but more so now than ever, grading ourselves for social honor and distinction on the basis of color: That the average success in the race has been regulated by color and not by ability and merit; that we have been trying to get away from the pride of race into the atmosphere of color worship, to the damaging extent that the whole world has made us its laughing stock.
There is no doubt that a race that doesn't respect itself forfeits the respect of others, and we are in the moral-social position now of losing the respect of the whole world.
There is a subtle and underhand propaganda fostered by a few men of color in America, the West Indies and Africa to destroy the self-respect and pride of the Negro race by building up what is commonly known to us as a "blue vein" aristocracy and to foster same as the social and moral standard of the race. The success of this effort is very much marked in the West Indies, and coming into immediate recognition in South Africa, and is now gaining much headway in America under the skillful leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of "Colored" People and their silent but scattered agents.
The observant members of our race must have noticed within recent years a great hostility between the National Association for the Advancement of "Colored" People and the Universal
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"Negro" Improvement Association, and must have wondered why Du Bois
writes so bitterly against Garvey and vice versa. Well, the reason is plainly
to be seen after the following explanation:
Group That Hates Negro
Du Bois represents a group that hates the Negro blood in its veins, and has been working subtly to build up a caste aristocracy that would socially divide the race into two groups: One the superior because of color caste, and the other the inferior, hence the pretentious work of the National Association for the Advancement of "Colored" People. The program of deception was well arranged and under way for success when Marcus Garvey arrived in America, and he, after understudying the artful doctor and the group he represented, fired a "bomb" into the camp by organizing the Universal "Negro" Improvement Association to cut off the wicked attempt of race deception and distinction, and, in truth, to build up a race united in spirit and ideal, with the honest desire of adjusting itself to its own moral-social pride and national self-respect. When Garvey arrived in America and visited the office of the National Association for the Advancement of "Colored" People to interview Du Bois, who was regarded as a leader of the Negro people, and who had recently visited the West Indies, he was dumfounded on approach to the office to find that but for Mr. Dill, Du Bois, himself and the office boy, he could not tell whether he was in a white office or that of the National Association for the Advancement of "Colored" People. The whole staff was either white or very near white, and thus Garvey got his first shock of the advancement hypocrisy. There was no representation of the race there that anyone could recognize. The advancement meant that you had to be as near white as possible, otherwise there was no place for you as stenographer, clerk or attendant in the office of the National Association for the Advancement of "Colored" People. After a short talk with Du Bois, Garvey became so disgusted with the man and his principles that the thought he never contemplated entered his mind -- that of remaining in America to teach Du Bois and his group what real race pride meant.
Garvey at N. A. A. C. P.'s Office
When Garvey left the office of the National Association for the Advancement of "Colored" People, to travel through and study the social life of Negro America, he found that the policy of the Association was well observed in business and professional life, as well as in the drawing room, etc., all over the
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country. In restaurants, drug stores and offices all over the nation where our
people were engaged in business it was discoverable that those employed were
the very "lightest" members of the race -- as waitresses, clerks and
stenographers. Garvey asked, "What's the matter? Why were not black, brown-skin
and mulatto girls employed?" And he was told it was "for the good
of the trade." That to have trade it was necessary and incumbent to have
"light" faces, as near white as possible. But the shock did not stop
there. In New York, Boston, Washington and Detroit, Garvey further discovered
the activities of the "Blue Vein Society" and the "Colonial Club."
The West Indian "lights" formed the "Colonial Club" and
the American "lights" the "Blue Vein" Society. The "Colonial
Club" would give annual balls besides regular or monthly soirees and no
one less than a quadroon would be admitted, and gentlemen below that complexion
were only admitted if they were lawyers, doctors or very successful business
men with plenty of "cash," who were known to uphold the caste aristocracy.
At St. Philip's Church, New York, where the Very Rev. Dr. Daniels held sway
and dominion, the "society" had things so arranged that even though
this man was a brown-skin clergyman, and his rector a very near white gentleman,
he had to draw the line and give the best seats in the church and the places
of honor to the "Blue Veins" and the others would have a "look
in" when they, by fawning before and "humbling" themselves and
by giving lavishly to the church, admitted the superiority of caste. (By the
way, Dr. Daniels was also an executive officer or director of the National Association
for the Advancement of "Colored" People.) In Washington one or two
of the churches did the same thing, but in Detroit the Very Rev. "Bob"
Bagnall, now director of branches of the National Association for the Advancement
of "Colored" people held sway. In his church no dark person could
have a seat in the front, and, to test the truthfulness of it after being told,
Garvey, incog, one Sunday night attempted to occupy one of the empty seats,
not so very near the front, and the effort nearly spoiled the whole service,
as Brother Bob, who was then ascending the pulpit, nearly lost his "balance"
to see such a face so near the "holy of holies." Brother Bob was also
an officer of the National Association for the Advancement of "Colored"
People. On Garvey's return to New York he made (incog) a similar test at St.
Philip's Church one Sunday, and the Rev. Daniels was nearly ready to fight.
Now, what does all this mean? It is to relate the hidden program and motive of the National Association for the Advancement
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of "Colored" People and to warn Negro America of not being deceived
by a group of men who have as much love for the Negro blood in their veins as
the devil has for holy water.
Scheme to Destroy Race
The National Association for the Advancement of "Colored" People is a scheme to destroy the Negro Race, and the leaders of it hate Marcus Garvey, because he has discovered them at their game and because the Universal Negro Improvement Association, without any prejudice to color or caste, is making headway in bringing all the people together for their common good. They hate Garvey because the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Black Star Line employed every shade of color in the race, according to ability and merit, and put the N. A. A. C. P. to shame for employing only the "lightest" of the race. They hate Garvey because he forced them to fill Shiladay's place with a Negro. They hate Garvey because they had to employ "black" Pickens to cover up their scheme after Garvey had discovered it; they hate Garvey because they have had to employ brown-skin "Bob" Bagnall to make a showing to the people that they were doing the "right" thing by them; they hate Garvey because he has broken up the "Pink Tea Set"; they hate Garvey because they had been forced to recognize mulatto, brown and black talent in the association equally with the lighter element; they hate Garvey because he is teaching the unity of race, without color superiority or prejudice. The gang thought that they would have been able to build up in America a buffer class between whites and Negroes, and thus in another fifty years join with the powerful race and crush the blood of their mothers, as is being done in South Africa and the West Indies.
The imprisonment of Garvey is more than appears on the surface, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People knows it. Du Bois and those who lead the Association are skillful enough to be using the old method of getting the "other fellow" to destroy himself, hence the activities of "brown-skin" Bagnall and "black" Pickens. Walter White, whom we can hardly tell from a Southern gentleman who lives with a white family in Brooklyn, is kept in the background, but dark Bagnall, Pickens and Du Bois are pushed to the front to make the attack, so that there would be no suspicion of the motive. They are to drive hard and hot, and then the silent influence would bring up the rear, hence the slogan, "Garvey
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must go!" and the vicious attacks in the different magazines by Pickens,
Du Bois and Bagnall.
Garvey Caught the Tune
Gentlemen, you are very smart, but Garvey has caught your tune. The conspiracy to destroy the Negro race, is so well organized that the moment anything interferes with their program there springs up a simultaneous action on the part of the leaders. It will be observed that in the September issue of the "Crisis" is published on the very last page of its news section what purports to be the opinion of a Jamaica paper about Marcus Garvey and his case. The skillful editor of the "Crisis," Dr. Du Bois, reproduces that part of the article that would tend to show the opinion about Garvey in his own country taken from a paper called the "Gleaner," (edited by one Herbert George de Lisser) and not the property of Negroes.
The article in the original was clipped from the "Gleaner" when it appeared, and was sent by a friend to Garvey, so that he knew all that appeared in it. In it the editor extolled the leadership and virtues of Dr. Du Bois, and said it was the right kind of leadership for the American Negro people, and bitterly denounced Garvey. Du Bois published that part that denounced Garvey, but suppressed the part that gave him the right of leadership; and he failed to enlighten his readers that the editor of the "Gleaner" is a very light man, who hates the Negro blood of his mother and who is part of the international scheme to foster the Blue Vein Society scheme. Dr. Du Bois failed to further enlighten his readers that he visited Jamaica and was part of the "Colonial Society" scheme; he also failed to state that in the plan De Lisser is to "hold down" the West Indian end of the "caste scheme" and he and others to "hold down" the American end, while their agents "hold down" the South African section.
Entire Race Must Get Together
But now we have reached the point where the entire race must get together and stop these schemers at their game. Whether we are light, yellow, black or what not, there is but one thing for us to do, and that is to get together and build up a race. God made us in His own image and He had some purpose when He thus created us. Then why should we seek to destroy ourselves? If a few Du Boises and De Lissers do not want their progeny to remain of our race, why not be satisfied to abide their time and
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take their peaceful exit? But why try in this subtle manner to humiliate and
destroy our race?
We as a people, have a great future before us. Ethiopia shall once more see the day of her glory, then why destroy the chance and opportunity simply to be someone else?
Let us work and wait patiently, for our day of racial triumph will come. Let us not divide ourselves into castes, but let us all work together for the common good. Let us remember the sorrow of our mothers. Let us not forget that it is our duty to remedy any wrong that has already been done, and not ourselves perpetuate the evil of race destruction. To change our race is no credit. The Anglo-Saxon doesn't want to be a Japanese; the Japanese doesn't want to be a Negro. Then, in the name of God and all that is holy, why should we want to be somebody else?
Let the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People stop its hypocrisy and settle down to real race uplift.
If Dr. Du Bois, Johnson, Pickens and Bagnall do not know, let me tell them that they are only being used to weaken the race, so that in another fifty or a hundred years the race can easily be wiped out as a social, economic and political force or "menace."
The people who are directing the affairs of the National Association for the Advancement of "Colored" People are keen observers, it takes more than ordinary intelligence to penetrate their motive, hence you are now warned.
All the "gas" about anti-lynching and "social equality" will not amount to a row of pins, in fact, it is only a ruse to raise money to capitalize the scheme and hide the real motive. Negroes, "watch your step" and save yourselves from deception and subsequent extermination.
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Race Purity a Desideratum
It is the duty of the virtuous and morally pure of both the white and black
races to thoughtfully and actively protect the future of the two peoples, by
vigorously opposing the destructive propaganda and vile efforts of the miscegenationists
of the white race, and their associates, the hybrids of the Negro race.
Miscegenation will lead to the moral destruction of both races. and the promotion of a hybrid caste that will have no social standing or moral background in a critical moral judgment of the life and affairs of the human race.
The lower animals, some of even similar but opposite species, do not mate, living voluntarily in keeping with the laws of nature; yet man, the highest type of creation, has to be restrained, in some cases by severe human laws and punishment, from mating with even other species of the lower animals. Something is wrong.
The agitation about and for social equality is but a sham, and all self-respecting whites and blacks should frown upon the extraneous arguments adduced by its advocates.
The Black race, like the white, is proud of its own society and will yield nothing in the desire to keep itself pure and ward off a monstrous subjugation of its original and natural type, by which creation is to be judged, as a race responsible for its own acts, and held accountable in the final analysis for the presentation of itself, before the Judgment seat of God. The Ethiopian cannot change his skin; and we shall not.
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Africa's Wealth
(Written April 18, 1923.)
Gradually, we, as Negroes, are witnessing an increasing encroachment upon our rights on the continent of Africa by the adventurous European races. Already the great colonizing governments of Europe have established themselves all over Africa by way of political control, and we find that they are calling upon their different nationals to go out and take up their residence on the continent for the purpose of exploiting the country and its natural resources.
The following is a news article which appeared in the New York Tribune under date of April 15, 1923: --
PROSPERITY SWEEPS OVER AFRICA IN ALL LINES OF INDUSTRY
New Railways and Harbors Are Being Constructed to Empty Mineral and Agricultural Wealth of World
"CAPE TOWN. -- Probably at no period in the last twenty-five years has there been such manifold activity in the development of Africa's resources as at present. In the southern sub-continent, the Union of South Africa is constructing many new railway lines and electrifying several important existing routes. Projects for new harbors from Cape Town to Kosi Bay are under consideration, while the Portuguese are spending millions in port and railway equipment at Delagoa Bay and Beira.
Portuguese capitalists are discussing other projects of equal magnitude in the Portuguese colonies in conjunction with American, British and Belgian capital.
In the Belgian Congo, which admittedly is the most progressive part of Africa today, the central spine of the Cape to Cairo route is still broken by the existing breach from the Congo to the Nile, but no less than five railway routes are being surveyed for early construction, while a magnificent system of equatorial roads is materializing to synchronize with the growing motor traffic, connecting thereby the numerous profitable mines and tropical plantations with the river steamers and existing main railroads in this prosperous Belgian colony.
In the Nile Valley, from the Delta to Lake Victoria Nyanza, is to be found Africa's richest Pandora's box, which
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only awaits opening to surprise the world with its great mineral treasures.
To the east, along the coast of the Red Sea, there are rich oil wells and huge
phosphate deposits.
In Kenya Province there is a great industrial activity, both by the government and the settler community. In Tanganyika territory there are great fertile plantation areas with immense mineral potentialities, and American capitalists are being urged to come there and develop them.
Indications of coal and metaliferous wealth have been found in the Portuguese colonies of Nyassaland and Zambesi, but there is no country that commands sufficient resources to develop them except the United States. Foreign residents of Africa say there are fortunes to be made here by those who are willing to undertake the work of development."
Africa today is the biggest game in the hunt of nations and races. Africa today is regarded, as I have always said, as the richest spot in the world, to be exploited by those who are keen enough and appreciative enough to invest their money and their interests in the development of that continent.
An open appeal is now being made to the white capitalists of different countries to invest in the exploitation of the oil fields, diamond, gold and iron mines of the "Old Homeland." This means that in a short time Africa will become the centre of the world's commercial activities, at which time the black man will naturally be relegated to his accustomed place of being the "under-dog" of the New African civilization. This is about to happen in the face of a highly-developed Negro civilization in the Western world, wherein men of the Negro race seek the same opportunities in things economic as the other races of the world.
White Capitalists Looking Toward Africa
Can we not realize that we of the Negro race have slept for hundreds of years, allowing during that period of time the great Caucasian race and the other great races to develop their own countries, their own homes and habitats until they have reached the point of exhaustion? They have practically extracted from their own countries all the wealth those countries could produce, whilst we have remained dormant for 300 years, ignoring the possibilities of our own country, ignoring the wealth of our own country. Now these other peoples are leaving their own countries -- over-exploited and over-developed -- and going into Africa to develop and rob its vast resources. What does that mean? It means that in another fifty or one hundred years, if European
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and American capital develops and exploits Africa, it will become like Europe
and the United States of America -- the future home of the white man. Wherein
with a small amount of investment, with a small amount of capital, they will
have so exploited the country as to cause it to produce an abundance of wealth
and make Africa the wealthiest country and continent in the world, with probably
the greatest civilization that the world will see in another one hundred or
two hundred years, which will be a civilization owned and controlled by white
men, where negroes in that period of time, will fall back into the natural life
of that country, (just as we are in the United States of America at the present
time) as a secondary part of the civilization when we will have to beg for jobs
and beg for a chance, as we are now doing in the United States of America. Because
when the white man invests his money for the development of Africa it means
that he is going to employ labor in doing this, and the same Negroes who say
they have lost nothing in Africa, when men like John D. Rockefeller are ready
to develop the oil resources there, they will carry them by the thousands to
Africa. They will go as quickly as they went from the West Indian Islands to
dig the Panama Canal, and West Indian Negroes know well the treatment they received
at the hands of white Americans after the Panama Canal was completed. When men
like Gary are ready to develop the coal and iron mines they will carry Negroes
by the thousands to Africa, and they will go as readily as they go to Pennsylvania
to work in the mines. Yet we say we have lost nothing in Africa; while Africa
offers to us its possibilities, its untold opportunities. Why should we not
go there and take an interest in its development, not for white men, but for
Negroes. The white man is now doing it, not with the intention of building for
other races, but with the intention of building for himself -- for the white
race.
The Value of Minerals
Most of us know, or ought to know, the value of minerals and oil. In Oklahoma, Texas and some of the Western States of America, men wake up over night and find themselves millionaires and rich men because oil happens to be discovered on their property. An acre or two of land with oil represents thousands of dollars, every day, according to the quantity of oil the well produces; because oil is being consumed all over the world in every line of industry. As of oil, so of coal, iron, copper and all the other minerals, which are to be found in Africa in abundance. Lately parsonite, a new radium-bearing mineral, has been found in the Belgium Congo. Radium is the most
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precious mineral in the world. It is sold at $120,000 per gram and is used extensively
in scientific experiments, so we can readily realize the vast amount of wealth
lying buried in Mother Africa awaiting development.
Native Africans Exploited by White Men
The native Africans unfortunately have not been schooled in the appreciation of the valuable mineral wealth of Africa. They have not been schooled in the methods of exploiting mineral wealth. For a long time they were unable to appreciate the value of diamonds, until the white man went there with his scientific commercial knowledge and took away the diamond fields of Kimberley, Johannesburg and the entire Union of South Africa, where the greatest quantity of diamonds is found. The native Africans once owned all the wealth of South Africa, but Cecil Rhodes and other white men robbed and exploited them, and today the diamond fields are owned by white men, who have practically reduced the native Africans (who once owned the lands) to slavery, and by the system of forced labor, compelled them to mine the diamonds and other minerals and to live on reservations, herded together like cattle, under conditions wholly unsuited to human beings. The British Empire today owes its present financial existence to the wealth which has been recruited from Africa, the wealth that we Negroes could have controlled fifty years ago, when there was not so much interest in Africa. It is only within this period of time that Italy, France, England, Portugal and Belgium have started a wholesale colonization and exploitation of Africa. As for Belgium's contact with the native African in the Congo Basin, every Negro who knows anything about the "Leopoldian System" shudders at the mention of the word Belgian. This system out-rivals any of the most fiendish wholesale massacres and atrocities ever committed by human beings, and all for rubber and ivory. Villages were compelled to furnish a certain amount of rubber every week as a tax. Natives were not allowed to cultivate the soil, all their time was spent in getting rubber. Men, women and children were utilized in rubber getting, hence they died in large numbers from starvation and over work. When certain areas became non-productive by being over-worked, the inhabitants of these areas were massacred by the soldiers who were sent out to collect the rubber, and instead of returning with rubber, they returned with trophies of hands and other parts of the human body, to prove that they had done their work. This system in its entirety lasted for twenty years, with a loss of life of over twenty million black men, women and children.
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In the last world war Negroes from every clime were called out to protect "poor
Belgium" from the "brutal Hun." In the coming struggle of the
"survival of the fittest," we may be able to repay "poor Belgium"
measure for measure for her colonization of over one million square miles of
African territory
All Negroes Should Protect Africa
Europe today is bankrupt and cannot advance much capital for the development of African industries, and therefore they are trying to interest American capitalists in the exploitation of the wealth of the great Continent. There is absolutely no reason why the 400,000,000 Negroes of the world should not make a desperate effort to re-conquer our Motherland from the white man, in that, whether he be English, French, German, Italian or Spanish, his one and only interest is selfish exploitation and domination. If native Africans are unable to appreciate the value of their own country from the standard of Western civilization, then it is for us, their brothers, to take to them the knowledge and information that they need to help to develop the country for the common good.
Why should we allow Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and England to build up and rehabilitate their bankrupt nations and civilization out of the wealth and resources of our country? They have no room for us in their countries, and surely we have absolutely no room for them as exploiters in our country. We have allowed cowardice and fear to take possession of us for a long time, but that will never take us anywhere. It is no use being afraid of these nations and peoples. They are human beings like ourselves. We have blood, feelings, passions and ambitions just as they have. Why, therefore, should we allow them to trample down our rights and deprive us of our liberty? Negroes everywhere must get that courage of manhood that will enable them to strike out, irrespective of who the enemy is, and demand those things that are ours by right -- moral, legal and divine.
Black Millionaires a Possibility
Let us as Negroes, prepare ourselves throughout the world for the conflict that is bound to ensue between the rivalling forces for the ultimate domination of our country -- Africa. For we are not going to give up easily, and allow these European intruders to rob, exploit and dominate the land of our fathers.
If the oil of Africa is good for Rockefeller's interest; if iron ore is good for the Carnegie Trust; then surely these minerals are good for us. Why should we allow Wall Street and the
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capitalist group of America and other countries to exploit our country when
they refuse to give us a fair chance in the countries of our adoption? Why should
not Africa give to the world its black Rockefeller, Rothschild and Henry Ford?
Now is the opportunity. Now is the chance for every Negro to make every effort
toward a commercial, industrial standard that will make us comparable with the
successful business men of other races.
Africa invites capital to develop its resources. Let not that capital, whether it be financial or man-power, be supplied by white men, but let us as Negroes make our contribution. All that Africa needs is proper education. The Western Negro has much of that, and it is our duty to so prepare our brothers as to place them on guard against the tricky exploiters of Europe who have been deceiving and robbing them of their possessions.
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The Negro, Communism, Trade Unionism and his (?) Friend
"Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts"
If I must advise the Negro workingman and laborer, I should warn him against the present brand of Communism or Workers' Partizanship as taught in America, and to be careful of the traps and pitfalls of white trade unionism, in affiliation with the American Federation of white workers or laborers.
It seems strange and a paradox, but the only convenient friend the Negro worker or laborer has, in America, at the present time, is the white capitalist. The capitalist being selfish -- seeking only the largest profit out of labor -- is willing and glad-to use Negro labor wherever possible on a scale "reasonably" below the standard white union wage. He will tolerate the Negro in any industry (except those that are necessarily guarded for the protection of the whiteman's material, racial and assumed cultural dominance) if he accepts a lower standard of wage than the white union man; but, if the Negro unionizes himself to the level of the white worker, and, in affiliation with him, the choice and preference of employment is given to the white worker, without any regard or consideration for the Negro.
White Unionism is now trying to rope in the Negro and make him a standard wage worker, then, when it becomes generally known that he demands the same wage as the white worker, an appeal or approach will be made to the white capitalist or employer, to alienate his sympathy or consideration for the Negro, causing him, in the face of all things being equal, to discriminate in favor of the white worker as a race duty and obligation. In this respect the Negro if not careful to play his game well, which must be done through and by his leaders, is between "hell and the powder house."
The danger of Communism to the Negro, in countries where he forms the minority of the population, is seen in the selfish and vicious attempts of that party or group to use the Negro's vote and physical numbers in helping to smash and over-throw, by revolution, a system that is injurious to them as the white under dogs, the success of which would put their majority group or race still in power, not only as communists but as whitemen. To me there is no difference between two roses looking alike, and smelling alike, even if some one calls them by different names. Fundamentally what racial difference is there between a white Communist, Republican or Democrat? On the appeal of
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race interest the Communist is as ready as either to show his racial ascendancy
or superiority over the Negro. He will be as quick and eager as any to show
the Negro that he is white, and by Divine right of assumption has certain duties
to perform to the rest of us mortals, and to defend and protect certain racial
ideals against the barbarian hordes that threaten white supremacy.
I am of the opinion that the group of whites from whom Communists are made, in America, as well as trade unionists and members of the Worker's party, is more dangerous to the Negro's welfare than any other group at present. Lynching mobs and wild time parties are generally made up of 99½ per cent. of such white people. The Negro should keep shy of Communism or the Worker's party in America. Since they are so benevolent let them bring about their own reforms and show us how different they are to others. We have been bitten too many times by all the other parties, -- "Once bitten, twice shy" -- Negroes have no right with white people's fights or quarrels, except, like the humble, hungry, meagre dog, to run off with the bone when both contestants drop it, being sure to separate himself from the big, well fed dogs, by a good distance, otherwise to be overtaken, and then completely outdone.
If the Negro takes my advice he will organize by himself and always keep his scale of wage a little lower than the whites until he is able to become, through proper leadership, his own employer; by so doing he will keep the good will of the white employer and live a little longer under the present scheme of things. If not, between Communism, white trade unionism and worker's parties he is doomed in the next 25, 50 or 100 years to complete economic and general extermination.
The Negro needs to be saved from his (?) "Friends," and beware of "Greeks bearing gifts." The greatest enemies of the Negro are among those who hypocritically profess love and fellowship for him, when, in truth, and deep down in their hearts, they despise and hate him. Pseudo-philanthropists and their organizations are killing the Negro. White men and women of the Morefield Storey, Joel Spingarn, Julius Rosenwald, Oswald Garrison Villard, Congressman Dyer and Mary White Ovington type, in conjunction with the above mentioned agencies, are disarming, dis-visioning, dis-ambitioning and fooling the Negro to death. They teach the Negro to look to the whites in a false direction. They, by their practices are endeavoring to hold the Negroes in check, as a possible dangerous minority group, and yet point them to the impossible dream of equality that shall
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never materialize, as they well know, and never intended; at the same time distracting
the Negro from the real solution and objective of securing nationalism. By thus
decoying and deceiving the Negro and side-tracking his real objective, they
hope to gain time against him in allowing others of their race to perfect the
plan by which the blacks are to be completely destroyed as a competitive permanent
part of white majority civilization and culture. They have succeeded in enslaving
the ignorance of a small group of so-called "Negro intellectuals"
whom they use as agents to rope in the unsuspicious colored or Negro people.
They have become resentful and bitter toward the Ku Klux Klan, and use the influence
of their controlled newspapers (white and colored) to fight them, not because
they so much hate the Klan, where the Negro is concerned, but because the Klan,
through an honest expression of the whiteman's attitude toward the Negro, prepares
him to help himself.
This hypocritical group of whites, like Spingarn and Storey, have succeeded an earlier group that fooled the Negro during the days of Reconstruction. Instead of pointing the Negro to Africa, as Jefferson and Lincoln did, they sought to revenge him, for the new liberty given him, by imprisoning him in the whiteman's civilization; to further rob his labor, and exploit his ignorance, until he is subsequently ground to death by a newly developed superior white civilization. The plot of these Negro baiters is wretched to contemplate, hence their hatred of me and their influence to crush me in my attempt to save the black race.
Between the Ku Klux Klan and the Morefield Storey National Association for the Advancement of "Colored" People group, give me the Klan for their honesty of purpose towards the Negro. They are better friends to my race, for telling us what they are, and what they mean, thereby giving us a chance to stir for ourselves, than all the hypocrites put together with their false gods and religions, notwithstanding. Religions that they preach and will not practise; a God they talk about, whom they abuse every day -- away with the farce, hypocrisy and lie. It smells, it stinks to high heaven. I regard the Klan, the Anglo-Saxon clubs and White American societies, as far as the Negro is concerned, as better friends of the race than all other groups of hypocritical whites put together. I like honesty and fair play. You may call me a Klansman if you will, but, potentially, every whiteman is a Klansman, as far as the Negro in competition with whites socially, economically and politically is concerned, and there is no use lying about it.
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Capitalism and the State
Capitalism is necessary to the progress of the world, and those who unreasonably
and wantonly oppose or fight against it are enemies to human advancement: but
there should be a limit to the individual or corporate use or control of it.
No individual should be allowed the possession, use or the privilege to invest on his own account, more than a million, and no corporation should be allowed to control more than five millions. Beyond this, all control, use and investment of money, should be the prerogative of the State with the concurrent authority of the people.
With such a method we would prevent the ill-will, hatred and conflicts that now exist between races, peoples and nations.
Modern wars are generally the outgrowth of dissatisfied capitalistic interests either among foreign or strange peoples or nations.
Until a universal adjustment takes place the State or nation should have the power to conscript and use without any obligation to repay, the wealth of such individuals or corporations through whose investments or interests, in foreign countries, or among foreign or strange peoples wars are fomented and made; in which the nation is called upon to use its military or naval power as a protection of the rights or interests of such citizens when the conflict cannot be prevented or settled otherwise.
The innocent citizens of the country should not be called upon to make sacrifices in men, money and other resources, as is generally done in times of war, and those most interested or responsible by their acts of selfishness go free, or only bear but a proportionate part of the burden.
The entire burden of the war should rest upon and be the responsibility of those whose interests brought about the difficulties, and they should be made to pay the full cost of such a war.
Men like Morgan, Rockefeller, Firestone, Doheny, Sinclair and Gary should not be allowed to entangle the nation in foreign disputes, leading to war, for the sake of satisfying their personal, individual or corporate selfishness and greed for more wealth at the expense of the innocent masses of both countries.
Oil "concessions" in Mexico or Persia; rubber "concessions" in Liberia, West Africa; sugar or coffee "concessions" in Haiti, West Indies, to be exploited for the selfish enrichment of individuals, sooner or later, end in disaster; hence ill-feeling, hate, and then war. Let us unite and stop it for the good of the people and the nation.
The trick of the selfish capitalist is to stir up local agitation
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among the nations; have them shoot or kill some citizen of the capitalist's
country, then he influences the agencies of his Government to call upon the
home authorities for protection. A harsh diplomatic note is sent that inspires
an insult or further injury, then an ultimatum is served or a demand made for
indemnities or war declared with the hope of arresting from the particular weak,
unfortunate country such territories where oil, rubber or other valuable minerals
or resources are to be found.
This kind of dollar diplomacy is a disgrace to our civilization and for the sake of humanity should be stopped.
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Governing the Ideal State
Our modern systems of Government have partly failed and are wholly failing.
We have tried various forms, but none has measured up to the Ideal State. Communism was the last attempt, and its most ardent advocates have acknowledged its limitations, shortcomings and impossibility.
The reason for all this failure is not far to seek. The sum total of Governmental collapse is traceable to the growing spirit of selfishness, graft and greed within the individual. Naturally, the state cannot govern itself: it finds expression and executes its edicts through individuals, hence the State is human. Its animation is but the reflex of our human characters. As a Nero, Caesar, Alexander, Alfred, William, Louis, Charles, Cromwell, Napoleon, Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt or Wilson thinks, so expresses the majesty of the State.
If we must correct the maladministration of the State and apply the corporate majesty of the people to their own good, then we must reach the source and there reorganize or reform.
Under the pressure of our civilization, with its manifold demands, the individual is tempted, beyond measure, to do evil or harm to others; and, if responsible, to the entire State and people, and by thus acting he himself profits and those around him, there arises corruption in Government, as well as in other branches of the secular and civil life.
All other methods of Government having been tried and failed, I suggest a reformation that would place a greater responsibility upon the shoulders of the elect and force them either to be the criminals, that some of us believe they are, or the good and true representatives we desire them to be.
Government should be absolute, and the head should be thoroughly responsible for himself and the acts of his subordinates.
When we elect a President of a nation, he should be endowed with absolute authority to appoint all his lieutenants from cabinet ministers, governors of States and Territories, administrators and judges. He should swear his life as a guarantee to the State and people, and he should be made to pay the price of such a life if he deceives, grafts, bows to special privilege or interest, or in any way undermines the sacred honor and trust imposed upon him by acts of favoritism, injustice or friendly or self-interests. He should be the soul of honor, and when he is legally or properly found to the contrary, he should be publicly
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disgraced, and put to death as an outcast and an unworthy representative of
the righteous will of the people.
A President should, by proper provisions made by the State, be removed from all pecuniary obligations and desires of a material nature. He should be voted a salary and other accommodations so large and sufficient as to make it reasonably impossible for him, or those dependent upon him, to desire more during his administration. He and his family should be permanently and substantially provided for after the close of his administration, and all this and possibly more should be done for the purpose of removing him from the slightest possible material temptations or want. He, in turn, should devote his entire time to the sovereign needs and desires of the people. He should, for all the period of his administration, remove himself from obligatory, direct and fraternal contact with any and all special friends. His only friends outside of his immediate family should be the State. He should exact by law from all his responsible and administrative appointees a similar obligation, and he should enforce the law by penalty of death.
His administrators and judges should be held to strict accountability, and on the committing of any act of injustice, unfairness, favoritism or malfeasance, should be taken before the public, disgraced and then stoned to death.
This system would tend to attract to the sacred function of Government and judicial administration, only men and women of the highest and best characters, whom the public would learn to honor and respect with such satisfaction as to obliterate and prevent the factional party fights of Socialism, Communism, Anarchism, etc., for the control of Government, because of the belief that Government is controlled in the interest of classes, and not for the good of all the people. It would also discourage the self-seekers, grafters, demagogues and charlatans from seeking public offices, as the penalty of discovery of crime would be public disgrace and death for them and their families.
The State should hold the wife of a President, and the wives of all administrative officials, solely responsible for their domestic households, and they should be required by law to keep a strict and accurate public account of all receipts and disbursements of their husbands during their administrative terms, and if any revenue comes into the household other than provided by law, should be promptly reported to the responsible officer of the State for immediate action, and should the wife conceal or refuse to make such a disclosure, and that it be discovered afterwards, and it was an act of crime against the dignity and high
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office of the incumbent, she and her husband should be publicly disgraced and
put to death, but any child or member of the family who, before discovery, reports
the act, should be spared the disgrace and publicly honored by the populace
for performing a duty to the State.
The State should require that the husband and his consort under the severest penalty for non-performance, report the full amount of his entire wealth to the State before taking office, and that all incomes and salaries legally authorized be reported promptly to the wife to enable her to keep a proper public account.
Whenever a President or high official during his term has performed solemnly and truly all his duties to the people and State, and he is about to retire, he should be publicly proclaimed and honored by the populace, and all during his life he and his family should occupy a special place of honor and respect among the people. They should be respected by all with whom they come in contact, and at death they should be granted public funerals and their names added to the niche in the Hall of Fame of the Nation. Their names should be placed on the Honor Roll of the Nation, and their deeds of righteousness should be handed down to the succeeding generations of the race, and their memories sung by the poets of the nation.
For those who have abused their trusts, images of them should be made and placed in a national hall of criminology and ill fame, and their crimes should be recited and a curse pronounced upon them and their generations.
Government left to the free and wanton will and caprice of the individual in an age so corrupt as this, without any vital reprimand or punishment for malfeasance, other than ordinary imprisonment, will continue to produce dissatisfaction, cause counter agitations of a dangerous nature and upheavals destructive to the good of society and baneful to the higher hopes and desires of the human race.
This plan I offer to the race as a means to which we may perfect the establishment of a new system of Government, conducive to the best interest of the people and a blessing to our disorganized society of the twentieth century.
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The Colored or Negro Press
The "Colored" or Negro press is the most venal, ignorant and corrupt
of our time. This is a broad statement to make against an entire institution,
and one so essential to the educational and corporate life of a people; but
to be honest and to undeceive the Negro, whom I love above all God's creatures,
the truth must be told. I make and again emphasize the statement without any
regard for friendship, and with the full knowledge that the said false, vicious
and venal press will unmercifully criticise me for telling the truth to the
unfortunate of my race.
Unfortunately, the "Colored" or Negro press of today falls into the hands of unprincipled, unscrupulous and characterless individuals whose highest aims are to enrich themselves and to find political berths for themselves and their friends, or rather, confederates.
The white press of today has its element of venality and corruption, but the higher ethics of the profession are generally observed and maintained, and at no time will you find the influence of white journalism used to debase or humiliate its race, but always to promote the highest ideals and protect the integrity of the white race everywhere.
The Negro press, to the contrary, has no constructive policy nor ideal. You may purchase its policy and destroy or kill any professed ideal if you would make the offer in cash.
Negro newspapers will publish the gravest falsehoods without making any effort to first find out the authenticity; they publish the worst crimes and libels against the race, if it pays in circulation or advertisements. A fair example of the criminality of the Negro press against the race is reflected through its most widely circulated sensational publications, namely, "The Chicago Defender" of Chicago, and "The Afro-American" of Baltimore. These newspapers lead all others in their feature of crime, false news and libels against the race.
The primary motive of Negro newspaper promoters is to make quick and easy money. Several of such promoters are alleged to have made large fortunes through their publications, especially through corrupt politics and bad advertisements that should have been refused in respect for the race.
It is plain to see, and is well known, that the sole and only purpose of these promoters is to make money -- with absolutely no race pride or effort to help the race toward a proper moral, cultural and educational growth, that would place the race in the category so much desired by the masses and those honest leaders
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and reformers who have been laboring for the higher development of the people.
To attempt reform or the higher leadership that would permanently benefit the race, is to court the most vicious and cowardly attack from the promoters of Negro newspapers. If you are not in a "ring" with them to support their newspapers or "split" with them, what they would term the "spoils" then you become marked for their crucifixion. All the Negro leaders or organizations that escape the merciless criticism and condemnation of the Negro press are those who stoop to "feed" their graft or who as fellows of the same fold, "scratch each other's backs." To be honest and upright is to bring down upon your head the heavy hammer of condemnation, as such an attitude would "spoil" the game of the "gang" to enrich itself off the ignorance of the masses who are generally led by these newspapers, their editors and friends.
When I arrived in this country in 1916, I discovered that the Negro press had no constructive policy. The news published were all of the kind that reflected the worst of the race's character in murder, adultery, robbery, etc. These crimes were announced in the papers on front pages by glaring and catchy headlines; other features played up by the papers were dancing and parlor socials of questionable intent, and long columns of what is generally called "social" or "society" news of "Mrs Mary Jones entertained at lunch last evening Mr. So and So" and "Mr. and Mrs. John Brown had the pleasure of entertaining last evening at their elaborate apartment Miss Minnie Baker after which she met a party of friends." Miss Minnie Baker probably was some Octoroon of questionable morals, but made a fuss of because of her "color," and thus runs the kind of material that made up the average Negro newspaper until the Negro World arrived on the scene.
"The Chicago Defender," that has become my arch enemy in the newspaper field, is so, because in 1918-1919 I started the "Negro World" to preserve the term Negro to the race as against the desperate desire of other newspapermen to substitute the term "colored" for the race. Nearly all the newspapers of the race had entered into a conspiracy to taboo the term "Negro" and popularize the term "colored" as the proper race term. To augment this they also fostered the propaganda of bleaching out black skins to light complexions, and straightening out kinky or curly hair to meet the "standard" of the new "society" that was being promoted. I severely criticised "The Chicago Defender" for publishing humiliating and vicious advertisements
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against the pride and integrity of the race. At that time the "Defender"
was publishing full page advertisements about "bleaching the skin"
and "straightening the hair." One of these advertisements was from
the Plough Manufacturing Company of Tennessee made up as follows:
"There were many degrading exhortations to the race to change its black complexion as an entrant to society. There were pictures of two women, one black and the other very bright and under the picture of the black woman appeared these words: `Lighten your black skin,' indicating perfection to be reached by bleaching white like the light woman. There were other advertisements such as `Bleach your dark skin,' `take the black out of your face,' `If you want to be in society lighten your black skin,' `Have a light complexion and be in society,' `Light skin beauty over night,' `Amazing bleach works under skin,' `The only harmless way to bleach the skin white,' `The most wonderful skin whitener,' `Straighten your kinky hair,' `Take the kink out of your hair and be in society,' `Knock the kink out,' `Straighten hair in five days,' etc. These advertisements could also be found in any of the Negro papers published all over the country influencing the poor, unthinking masses to be dissatisfied with their race and color, and to `aspire' to look white so as to be in society. I attacked this vicious propaganda and brought down upon my head the damnation of the `leaders' who sought to make a new race and a monkey out of the Negro."
"The Negro World" has rendered a wonderful service to Negro journalism in the United States. It has gradually changed the tone and make-up of some of the papers, and where in 1914-15-16 there was no tendency to notice matters of great importance, today several of the papers are publishing international news and writing intelligent editorials on pertinent subjects. It has been a long and costly fight to bring this about.
I do hope that the statements of truth I have made will further help to bring about a reorganization of the Negro press. I fully realize that very little can be achieved by way of improvement for the race when its press is controlled by crafty and unscrupulous persons who have no pride or love of race.
We need crusaders in journalism who will not seek to enrich themselves off the crimes and ignorance of our race, but men and women who will risk everything for the promotion of racial pride, self respect, love and integrity. The mistake the race is making is to accept and believe that our unprincipled
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newspaper editors and publishers are our leaders, some of them are our biggest
crooks and defamers.
Situated as we are, in a civilization of prejudice and contempt, it is not for us to inspire and advertise the vices of our people, but, by proper leadership, to form characters that would reflect the highest credit upon us and win the highest opinion of an observant and critical world.
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What we Believe
The Universal Negro Improvement Association advocates the uniting and blending
of all Negroes into one strong, healthy race. It is against miscegenation and
race suicide.
It believes that the Negro race is as good as any other, and therefore should be as proud of itself as others are.
It believes in the purity of the Negro race and the purity of the white race.
It is against rich blacks marrying poor whites.
It is against rich or poor whites taking advantage of Negro women.
It believes in the spiritual Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man.
It believes in the social and political physical separation of all peoples to the extent that they promote their own ideals and civilization, with the privilege of trading and doing business with each other. It believes in the promotion of a strong and powerful Negro nation in Africa.
It believes in the rights of all men.
UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION.
MARCUS GARVEY, President-General.
January 1, 1924.
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History of the Negro
To read the histories of the world, peoples and races written by white men,
would make the Negro feel and believe that he never amounted to anything in
the creation.
History is written with prejudices, likes and dislikes; and there has never been a white historian who ever wrote with any true love or feeling for the Negro.
The Negro should expect but very little by way of compliment from the pen of other races. We are satisfied to know, however, that our race gave the first great civilization to the world; and, for centuries Africa, our ancestral home, was the seat of learning; and when blackmen, who were only fit then for the company of the gods, were philosophers, artists, scientists and men of vision and leadership, the people of other races were groping in savagery, darkness and continental barbarism.
White historians and writers have tried to rob the black man of his proud past in history, and when anything new is discovered to support the race's claim and attest the truthfulness of our greatness in other ages, then it is skillfully rearranged and credited to some other unknown race or people.
Negroes, teach your children that they are direct descendants of the greatest and proudest race who ever peopled the earth; and it is because of the fear of our return to power, in a civilization of our own, that may outshine others, why we are hated and kept down by a jealous and prejudiced contemporary world.
The very fact that the other races will not give the Negro a fair chance is indisputable evidence and proof positive that they are afraid of our civilized progression.
Every falsehood that is told by the historian should be unearthed, and the Negro should not fail to take credit for the glorious and wonderful achievements of his fathers in Africa, Europe and Asia.
Black men were so powerful in the earlier days of history that they were able to impress their civilization, culture and racial characteristics and features upon the peoples of Asia and Southern Europe. The dark Spaniards, Italian and Asiatics are the colored offsprings of a powerful black African civilization and nationalism. Any other statement by historians to the contrary is "bunk" and should not be swallowed by the enlightened Negro.
When we speak of 400,000,000 Negroes we mean to include several of the millions of India who are direct offsprings of that ancient African stock that once invaded Asia. The 400,000,000 Negroes of the world have a beautiful history of their own, and no one of any other
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race can truly write it but themselves. Until it is completely and carefully
written, for the guidance of our children and ourselves, let us think it.
The white man's history is his inspiration, and he should be untrue to himself and negligent of the rights of his posterity to subordinate it to others, and so also of the Negro. Our history is as good as that of any other race or people, and nothing on this side of Heaven or Hell will make us deny it, the false treaties, essays, speculations and philosophies of others notwithstanding.
Give the Blacks a Chance
If the Negro is inferior why circumvent him; why suppress his talent and initiative;
why rob him of his independent gifts; why fool him out of the rights of country;
why imprison his intelligence and exploit his ignorance; why keep him down by
the laws of inequality? Why not leave him alone to his own intelligence; why
not give him a chance to grow and develop as he sees fit; why not free him from
the incubus of a "forced upon" superiority; why not allow him, free
and unhampered, to travel toward nationhood? If the whites are good sports,
they will give the blacks a chance, and, I predict, that in fifty years, undisturbed
or unmolested, I will show you a nation of proud, refined and cultured black
men and women, whose comeliness will outshine that of the age of Solomon.
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The Internal Prejudices of Negroes: Those who want to be white and those who
want to remain black
Very few persons, besides those who are deeply and sincerely interested in the
Negro race, understand and fully realize the great internal conflict that is
silently being waged for the defeat and ultimate destruction of the real Negro
who has given a race, character and history to the world.
The unthinking whites and blacks drift along recklessly, and careless of racial consequences. To them, everything happens by chance, hence no effort to regulate or arrange their own lives and outlook. They give no thought toward the future of their respective races; they drift along with the tide. But there is always a number, even though small, of active minds, ever ready and prepared to lay out the course of salvation; and it is to these we look for direction in all those things that affect the human race.
The black and white races are now facing the crucial time of their existence. The whites are rightfully and properly crying out for a pure white race, and the proud and self-respecting blacks are crying out for a morally pure and healthy Negro race. Between both, we have a new school of thought, advanced by the "near white" or "colored" man, W. E. B. DuBois and his National Association for the "Advancement" of "Colored" people, who advocate racial amalgamation or general miscegenation with the hope of creating a new type of colored race by wiping out both black and white.
Gradually the DuBois School has succeeded in the West Indies and South America -- in such places like Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbadoes, British Guiana and some of the Central American countries.
They have defeated the whites in the tropics and brought them to terms, hence, in these places the hybrid may intermarry among the pure whites with all freedom. After a generation or two the descendants boldly classify themselves as white, and, like the Rhinelander case in New York, make it difficult to tell who is white and who is not.
By skillfully engineered efforts the DuBois School is winning out in America. Already they have cornered the best governmental and other positions, in the name of the Negro or "Colored" race, with which positions they are better able to entrench themselves for the silent but determined fight to win out against both races.
The men of the DuBois School have succeeded in getting the ear of the Republican government and the leading Republican
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politicians of the country, to the extent that they can get anything done from
the White House to the Department of Labor. They can get one of their group
appointed an assistant attorney general, ambassador extraordinary, or demand
and get the dismissal of any white government employee, as in the case of the
white official who was recently dismissed in Richmond, Va., or they can have
imprisoned anyone they desire.
This school of "colored" leaders is skillfully using the numerical and voting strength of the darker Negroes to strengthen their position and to force their claim, at the same time having no more social or honest fraternal use for them than the most prejudiced southern white man.
The group that holds to and fosters the term "colored" has a deeper meaning behind the use of the term than can be imagined on the surface. "Colored" doesn't mean black or Negro. It has a literal meaning for the group, in so much so that when you speak of "colored" in the West Indies where the group has already succeeded, everyone knows you do not mean a black, dark or Negro person, but a socially superior person in the class of the whites.
Du Bois has visited the West Indies and has made a keen study of this West Indian arrangement, and he and his association are making great efforts to make it the adopted social policy of America as well as internationally.
All the people who call themselves "colored" are not part of this scheme or plan. The majority of the people called "colored" are satisfied to be classified as Negroes or blacks, with the hope of redeeming the race through the promotion of a modern moral standard. These people, like the blackest Negro, want to see the race morally united into one, and for this they are steadily working, but with the hostile opposition of the skillful "colored" leaders who have social ambitions, designs and plans of their own.
According to the arrangement of the "colored" leaders, the following plan is decided and acted upon; it is made very successful in the West Indies, and is now being successfuly fostered in America and elsewhere:
In countries where the blacks outnumber the whites, the "colored" build up a buffer society, through the financial assistance and patronage of the minority whites. They convince the minority whites that the blacks are dangerous and vicious, and that their only chance of successfully living among them is to elevate to positions of trust, superiority and overseership the "colored" element who will directly deal with the blacks and exploit them
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for the general benefit of the whites. The whites being not strong enough to
stand alone, accept or acquiesce and thus the "colored" element is
elevated to a superior position and naturally becomes attached to the whites.
The skillful group, however, by its ability to acquire wealth, through the privileged
positions allowed, immediately starts out to socially equip itself educationally
and culturally to meet the whites on equal terms. They also skillfully strengthen
their positions by stirring up the blacks against the whites, explaining to
the former that all their ills are caused by the whites, then they go back to
the whites and intimidate them by drawing their attention to the great danger
of the dissatisfied blacks, and offer as a solution the uniting of the whites
and "colored" in a social and economic union to offset the supposed
common danger from the blacks. By this artful method the "colored"
elements of the colonies have socially subdued the white man, who now looks
on and sees the prosperous "colored" gentleman leading away his sister
or daughter in the bonds of marriage without the ability to raise the voice
of protest.
The "colored" elements have arranged it so that the blacks are always kept down, so that they can use their dissatisfaction and disaffection as an argument to strengthen and further perpetuate their positions of social equality and economic privilege and preferment with the whites.
Such is the game that is being played over in America by the DuBois, Weldon Johnson group of "colored" persons of the National Association for the "advancement" of "Colored" people. The Universal Negro Improvement Association stands in opposition to this association on the miscegenation question, because we believe in the racial purity of both the Negro and white races. We feel that the moral disadvantage of slavery should not be perpetuated. That where our slave masters were able to abuse our slave mothers and thereby create a hybrid bastardy, we ourselves, at this time of freedom and culture, should not perpetuate the crime of nature.
We desire to standardize our race morally, hence our advocacy of all elements and shades within the race coming together and by well understood and defined codes build up a strong and healthy Negro race with pride and respect in itself, rather than seeking, as the DuBois group does, to practise an unrestricted intercourse of miscegenation.
All the hate that the leaders of the small "colored" group can find has been levied at me for my interference with and interruption of their plans. My indictment, conviction and imprisonment is but a small effort of theirs to help destroy and ruin me
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because of my effort to save the Negro race from extinction through miscegenation.
The "colored" group has scientifically arranged their method of propaganda. In America and the colonies, they hold out certain baits and hopes to the educated and financially prosperous men of the darker groups; such as encouraging them to marry the very lightest element of their women, and adopting them into their society. These darker men, for the special privilege and "honor" are used as active propagandists to deceive the great mass of dark people so that they would not suspect the motive or the design of the "colored" element. Generally the darker men who marry the very lightest "colored" women, who sometimes pass off as white, become more hostile to their kind in the mass as well as by individual contact than the very leaders, as the leaders are generally careful not to attract or arouse suspicion of their motive. The majority of the "colored" leaders who seek after white women and the darker men who marry very light "colored" women, are seldom on social terms with their own mothers if they are dark. If they have their mothers in their homes, which is generally never so, they hide them away either in the kitchen or a back room where they do not come in contact with either their light "colored" or white guests. Sometimes a mother is referred to, if seen, as one of the servants.
Such is the great problem that I have sought to solve, and no one will wonder why I have been made a criminal in the struggle to rescue and save the Negro race from itself and from continuous suffering and ultimate extermination.
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A Race Paradox
The Negro or "Colored" race is developing a class of millionaires
or money-hoarders, much more dangerous to the race's life and existence than
any similar group of men among any other race.
The rich Negro is not philanthropic to his race. He does not proportionately give to or help his racial institutions as the white people of wealth do. A Rhodes, Rockefeller or Carnegie or any other rich white person will create foundations, schools of research and science, clinics, hospitals or scholarships, but the Negro would prefer subscribing or donating to these white institutions to show off rather than to do for his own race.
When the exceptional in the race happens, then you may positively rest assured that it was done merely for show, and to gain some special personal internal racial advantage.
Not half of one per cent. of the rich or wealthy of the Negro or "colored" race gives away for charity or uplift work among their own people, or help to find employment for them. Most of the charity bestowed upon Negro schools, churches, hospitals and institutions and employment comes from the considerate and philanthropic of the white race. The middle class and poor element of the race, however, are doing everything for the good of the race, and were it not for them, truly the race would have been in a more pitiable condition.
The rich are selfish and foolish, and their primary purpose in life is to ape the whites, and as quickly as possible seek their company with the hope of social absorption, and jumping over the race line.
Any ordinarily rich Negro or "colored" person would prefer to give away ninety-nine and one-half per cent. of his wealth to become white, rather than to remain as he is, and to use such wealth in the promotion of racial ideals or industry that would help the mass of his people.
Any well prepared white person may easily influence the rich Negro or "Colored" person to part with his wealth for social patronage and company, while another worthy Negro seeking help in any racially helpful effort or enterprise would be insulted and treated with suspicion and contempt if he were to approach the same individual for help that would result to mutual benefit.
The new "intellectuals" of the race are adepts in agitating for the possession of those things promoted and contributed to by members of other races, if there is the slightest argument to in any way support the claim, such as Negroes moving into
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new communities previously settled wholly by whites. The Negro "intellectuals"
argue and agitate to show such a school, college, hospital, library or institution,
or the political representation of such a district should be run, manned or
represented by a Negro, and generally a very light "colored" person
at that, because so many Negroes live in the district or community, not taking
into consideration that ninety-five per cent. of the Negroes are squatters or
rent payers subjected to be moved at any time according to the economic stress
(to which these "intellectuals" pay no attention, and the leaders
skillfully ignore), and that the real substantial individuals of the district
are the owners of the properties in which the Negroes live and the businesses
that the Negroes support are belonging to white people. Sometimes, in sheer
disgust, the whites who live in the community give up their rights to quiet
the agitators. But how long will this last, is the question the thoughtful and
energetic Negroes of the Universal Negro Improvement Association are asking?
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A Tribute to the Late Sir Isaiah Morter
He bequeathed to the Universal Negro Improvement Association about $100,000
in property, for the work of African Redemption, which bequest is being contested
in the courts of Belize, British Honduras. Unscrupulous white lawyers of New
York and British Honduras have been trying to deprive the Association of this
legacy. A fierce legal battle has been waging since the application for probate
of the will. The Association at great expense has had to send barristers and
agents from other British colonies to represent them at court. There has been
more than five postponements extending over a period of one year. Finally the
Association to save the tremendous cost has had to retain a native barrister
of British Honduras. The Hon. J. A. G. Smith, member of the Legislative Council
of Jamaica, British West Indies, and one of the ablest barristers of the British
Empire, represented the Association at the first hearing in Belize and secured
the probate of the will, pending another hearing on adjournment. He was unable
to return to Belize at the time of the adjournment. Since then many adverse
rulings have been made. Failing justice for the Association in Belize, the case
will be taken to the Privy Council of England.
(Reprint from Negro World)
April 29, 1924.
Sir Isaiah Morter, Knight Commander of the Distinguished Service Order of Ethiopia, another Prince of Africa, has fallen. He, to us as a race, is physically dead, but, spiritually, to us he lives. It is not every man who cometh into the world who lives forever. The absence of the millions who pass away is generally never observed, because their deeds for the good of humanity, their race and their nation were never registered. And ofttimes no attempt was made to serve any but themselves. But not so with Isaiah Emanuel Morter, of Belize, British Honduras, Central America. He was a Negro of lowly parentage, who grew up fighting the oppositions and difficulties generally surrounding one born to his condition, until he lifted himself to the highest pinnacle of service to his race and to his country. In his mature years, after he had honestly accumulated a fair portion of wealth, which he worked for and thriftily secured, he became identified with movements for the uplift of his race, notably
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among them the Universal Negro Improvement Association, of which he was a staunch
member and supporter.
He, unlike the majority of Negroes who accumulate wealth, did not seek to find association socially and otherwise among other races, but he was satisfied to confine his success to his race and give his race credit for everything that he accomplished. Most West Indian and Central American Negroes, whenever they accumulate wealth, generally seek to dissipate it either by marriage into the white race, or by fawning before the social patronage of that race, which generally seeks rather to deprive them of their wealth than to accept them as social equals and members of their fraternity.
Sir Isaiah Morter was true to his race, and has written his name down as the first of that successful type of Negro who did not forget Africa and its relationship to the rest of the Negroes throughout the world. Not very long ago Sir Isaiah Morter came to New York for the benefit of his health, and the writer had the honor of entertaining him at his home, where he remained a guest for several weeks. It was during the period when the Universal Negro Improvement Association was being hunted by its enemies, in the height of the trial of the celebrated "Black Star Line" case. The injustices done to the Association, and the subject of the enemies' design were so marked that Sir Isaiah Morter felt (as all Negroes did who read and followed the case), that it was not a fight against an individual, but a fight against the race. He became even more impressed then with the work and usefulness of the Universal Negro Improvement Association than he was before. Unfortunately, his health continued failing him, even though he experienced a marked improvement during his stay in America. He returned to Belize, his native home, and there he lingered for several months, until the grim reaper Death visited him on the 7th instant. His memory lives among the members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Negro race forever. Prior to his death, nothing in the world was as dear to him as the principles of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, and as a proof of his attachment to the movement and his desire to help it, he has become the first great benefactor of the cause of African Redemption. In his will he bequeathed to the Universal Negro Improvement Association, for African Redemption, nearly two-thirds of his entire fortune, to the extent of between $75,000 and $100,000.
This is the first large bequest that has been given to the
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Association. It is a fair indication of the loyalty of the members of this great
movement. If other Negroes in America and the West Indies will follow the example
of Sir Isaiah Emanuel Morter in assisting to make the Universal Negro Improvement
Association what it ought to be, then in a few years not only will Africa be
redeemed, but the whole Negro race will be elevated to a position of world recognition.
Formerly, Negroes were disposed to die and leave their fortunes for white friends
and white institutions, and some died without making wills at all, their fortunes
going to the State. Billions of dollars have been lost to the Negro race within
the last fifty years through disloyalty on the part of successful Negroes, who
have preferred to give away their fortunes to members of other races, than to
bequeath them to worthy institutions and movements of their own to help their
own people.
Sir Isaiah Morter has set a wonderful example, and Africa shall not forget him. Surely the Universal Negro Improvement Association shall carry his name down the ages. Shall we not build monuments in Africa to the memory of Isaiah Emanuel Morter? Shall we not pay honor and respect to him for lending help and assistance to the Cause when it needed such assistance? Fifty or one hundred thousand dollars given to the Universal Negro Improvement Association at this time will help it to accomplish much, and now that we are about to assist in building up the Republic of Liberia, this money can be usefully applied in helping the colonists to establish themselves.
The Universal Negro Improvement Association calls upon Negroes throughout the world to honor and revere the name of Isaiah Emanuel Morter, for he was not only a friend of the cause of African Redemption, but a patriot of the foremost rank.
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The Principles of the Universal Negro Improvement Association
Speech Delivered at Liberty Hall, New York City, U. S. A. November 25, 1922.
Over five years ago the Universal Negro Improvement Association placed itself before the world as the movement through which the new and rising Negro would give expression of his feelings. This Association adopts an attitude not of hostility to other races and peoples of the world, but an attitude of self-respect, of manhood rights on behalf of 400,000,000 Negroes of the world.
We represent peace, harmony, love, human sympathy, human rights and human justice, and that is why we fight so much Wheresoever human rights are denied to any group, wheresoever justice is denied to any group, there the U. N. I. A. finds a cause. And at this time among all the peoples of the world, the group that suffers most from injustice, the group that is denied most of those rights that belong to all humanity, is the black group of 400,000,000. Because of that injustice, because of that denial of our rights, we go forth under the leadership of the One who is always on the side of right to fight the common cause of humanity; to fight as we fought in the Revolutionary War, as we fought in the Civil War, as we fought in the Spanish-American War, and as we fought in the war between 1914-18 on the battle plains of France and of Flanders. As we fought on the heights of Mesopotamia; even so under the leadership of the U. N. I. A., we are marshaling the 400,000,000 Negroes of the world to fight for the emancipation of the race and of the redemption of the country of our fathers.
We represent a new line of thought among Negroes. Whether you call it advanced thought or reactionary thought, I do not care. If it is reactionary for people to seek independence in government, then we are reactionary. If it is advanced thought for people to seek liberty and freedom, then we represent the advanced school of thought among the Negroes of this country. We of the U. N. I. A. believe that what is good for the other folks is good for us. If government is something that is worth while; if government is something that is appreciable and helpful and protective to others, then we also want to experiment in government. We do not mean a government that will make us citizens without rights or subjects without consideration. We mean a kind of government that will place
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our race in control even, as other races are in control of their own governments.
That does not suggest anything that is unreasonable. It was not unreasonable for George Washington, the great hero and father of the country, to have fought for the freedom of America giving to us this great republic and this great democracy; it was not unreasonable for the Liberals of France to have fought against the Monarchy to give to the world French Democracy and French Republicanism; it was no unrighteous cause that led Tolstoi to sound the call of liberty in Russia, which has ended in giving to the world the social democracy of Russia, an experiment that will probably prove to be a boon and a blessing to mankind. If it was not an unrighteous cause that led Washington to fight for the independence of this country, and led the Liberals of France to establish the Republic, it is therefore not an unrighteous cause for the U. N. I. A. to lead 400,000,000 Negroes all over the world to fight for the liberation of our country.
Therefore the U. N. I. A. is not advocating the cause of church building, because we have a sufficiently large number of churches among us to minister to the spiritual needs of the people, and we are not going to compete with those who are engaged in so splendid a work; we are not engaged in building any new social institutions, and Y. M. C. A. or Y. W. C. A. because there are enough social workers engaged in those praise-worthy efforts. We are not engaged in politics because we have enough local politicians, Democrats, Socialists, Soviets, etc., and the political situation is well taken care of. We are not engaged in domestic politics, in church building or in social uplift work, but we are engaged in nation building.
Misrepresentations
In advocating the principles of this Association we find we have been very much misunderstood and very much misrepresented by men from within our own race, as well as others from without. Any reform movement that seeks to bring about changes for the benefit of humanity is bound to be misrepresented by those who have always taken it upon themselves to administer to, and lead the unfortunate, and to direct those who may be placed under temporary disadvantages. It has been so in all other movements whether social or political; hence those of us in the Universal Negro Improvement Association who lead, do not feel in any way embarrassed about this misrepresentation, about this misunderstanding as far as the
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Aims and Objects of the Universal Negro Improvement Association go. But those
who probably would have taken kindly notice of this great movement, have been
led to believe that this movement seeks, not to develop the good within the
race, but to give expression to that which is most destructive and most harmful
to society and to government.
I desire to remove the misunderstanding that has been created in the minds of millions of peoples throughout the world in their relationship to the organization. The Universal Negro Improvement Association stands for the Bigger Brotherhood; the Universal Negro Improvement Association stands for human rights, not only for Negroes, but for all races. The Universal Negro Improvement Association believes in the rights of not only the black race, but the white race, the yellow race and the brown race. The Universal Negro Improvement Association believes that the white man has as much right to be considered, the yellow man has as much right to be considered, the brown man has as much right to be considered as well as the black man of Africa. In view of the fact that the black man of Africa has contributed as much to the world as the white man of Europe, and the brown man and yellow man of Asia, we of the Universal Negro Improvement Association demand that the white, yellow and brown races give to the black man his place in the civilization of the world. We ask for nothing more than the rights of 400,000,000 Negroes. We are not seeking, as I said before, to destroy or disrupt the society or the government of other races, but we are determined that 400,000,000 of us shall unite ourselves to free our motherland from the grasp of the invader. We of the Universal Negro Improvement Association are determined to unite 400,000,000 Negroes for their own industrial, political, social and religious emancipation.
We of the Universal Negro Improvement Association are determined to unite the 400,000,000 Negroes of the world to give expression to their own feeling; we are determined to unite the 400,000,000 Negroes of the world for the purpose of building a civilization of their own. And in that effort we desire to bring together the 15,000,000 of the United States, the 180,000,000 in Asia, the West Indies and Central and South America, and the 200,000,000 in Africa. We are looking toward political freedom on the continent of Africa, the land of our fathers.
Not Seeking a Government Within a Government
The Universal Negro Improvement Association is not seeking to build up another government within the bounds or borders
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of the United States of America. The Universal Negro Improvement Association
is not seeking to disrupt any organized system of government, but the Association
is determined to bring Negroes together for the building up of a nation of their
own. And why? Because we have been forced to it. We have been forced to it throughout
the world; not only in America, not only in Europe, not only in the British
Empire, but wheresoever the black man happens to find himself, he has been forced
to do for himself.
To talk about Government is a little more than some of our people can appreciate just at this time. The average man does not think that way, just because he finds himself a citizen or a subject of some country. He seems to say, "Why should there be need for any other government?" We are French, English or American. But we of the U. N. I. A. have studied seriously this question of nationality among Negroes -- this American nationality, this British nationality, this French, Italian or Spanish nationality, and have discovered that it counts for nought when that nationality comes in conflict with the racial idealism of the group that rules. When our interests clash with those of the ruling faction, then we find that we have absolutely no rights. In times of peace, when everything is all right, Negroes have a hard time, wherever we go, wheresoever we find ourselves, getting those rights that belong to us, in common with others whom we claim as fellow citizens; getting that consideration that should be ours by right of the constitution, by right of the law; but in the time of trouble they make us all partners in the cause, as happened in the last war, when we were partners, whether British, French or American Negroes. And we were told that we must forget everything in an effort to save the nation.
We have saved many nations in this manner, and we have lost our lives doing that before. Hundreds of thousands -- nay, millions of black men, lie buried under the ground due to that old-time camouflage of saving the nation. We saved the British empire; we saved the French empire; we saved this glorious country more than once; and all that we have received for our sacrifices, all that we have received for what we have done, even in giving up our lives, is just what you are receiving now, just what I am receiving now.
You and I fare no better in America, in the British empire, or in any other part of the white world; we fare no better than any black man wheresover he shows his head. And why? Because we have been satisfied to allow ourselves to be led, educated, to be
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directed by the other fellow, who has always sought to lead in the world in
that direction that would satisfy him and strengthen his position. We have allowed
ourselves for the last 500 years to be a race of followers, following every
race that has led in the direction that would make them more secure.
The U. N. I. A. is reversing the old-time order of things. We refuse to be followers any more. We are leading ourselves. That means, if any saving is to be done, later on, whether it is saving this one nation or that one government, we are going to seek a method of saving Africa first. Why? And why Africa? Because Africa has become the grand prize of the nations. Africa has become the big game of the nation hunters. To-day Africa looms as the greatest commercial, industrial and political prize in the world.
The Difference Between the U. N. I. A. and Other Organizations
The difference between the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the other movements of this country, and probably the world, is that the Universal Negro Improvement Association seeks independence of government, while the other organizations seek to make the Negro a secondary part of existing governments. We differ from the organizations in America because they seek to subordinate the Negro as a secondary consideration in a great civilization, knowing that in America the Negro will never reach his highest ambition, knowing that the Negro in America will never get his constitutional rights. All those organizations which are fostering the improvement of Negroes in the British Empire know that the Negro in the British Empire will never reach the height of his constitutional rights. What do I mean by constitutional rights in America? If the black man is to reach the height of his ambition in this country -- if the black man is to get all of his constitutional rights in America -- then the black man should have the same chance in the nation as any other man to become president of the nation, or a street cleaner in New York. If the black man in the British Empire is to have all his constitutional rights it means that the Negro in the British Empire should have at least the same right to become premier of Great Britain as he has to become street cleaner in the city of London. Are they prepared to give us such political equality? You and I can live in the United States of America for 100 more years, and our generations may live for 200 years or for 5000 more years, and so long as there is a black and white population, when the majority is on the side of the
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white race, you and I will never get political justice or get political equality
in this country. Then why should a black man with rising ambition, after preparing
himself in every possible way to give expression to that highest ambition, allow
himself to be kept down by racial prejudice within a country? If I am as educated
as the next man, if I am as prepared as the next man, if I have passed through
the best schools and colleges and universities as the other fellow, why should
I not have a fair chance to compete with the other fellow for the biggest position
in the nation? I have feelings, I have blood, I have senses like the other fellow;
I have ambition, I have hope. Why should he, because of some racial prejudice,
keep me down and why should I concede to him the right to rise above me, and
to establish himself as my permanent master? That is where the U. N. I. A. differs
from other organizations. I refuse to stultify my ambition, and every true Negro
refuses to stultify his ambition to suit any one, and therefore the U. N. I.
A. decides if America is not big enough for two presidents, if England is not
big enough for two kings, then we are not going to quarrel over the matter;
we will leave one president in America, we will leave one king in England, we
will leave one president in France and we will have one president in Africa.
Hence, the Universal Negro Improvement Association does not seek to interfere
with the social and political systems of France, but by the arrangement of things
to-day the U. N. I. A. refuses to recognize any political or social system in
Africa except that which we are about to establish for ourselves.
Not Preaching Hate
We are not preaching a propaganda of hate against anybody. We love the white man; we love all humanity, because we feel that we cannot live without the other. The white man is as necessary to the existence of the Negro as the Negro is necessary to his existence. There is a common relationship that we cannot escape. Africa has certain things that Europe wants, and Europe has certain things that Africa wants, and if a fair and square deal must bring white and black with each other, it is impossible for us to escape it. Africa has oil, diamonds, copper, gold and rubber and all the minerals that Europe wants, and there must be some kind of relationship between Africa and Europe for a fair exchange, so we cannot afford to hate anybody.
Negroes Ever Ready to Assist Humanity's Cause
The question often asked is what does it require to redeem a race and free a country? If it takes man power, if it takes
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scientific intelligence, if it takes education of any kind, or if it takes blood,
then the 400,000,000 Negroes of the world have it.
It took the combined man power of the Allies to put down the mad determination of the Kaiser to impose German will upon the world and upon humanity. Among those who suppressed his mad ambition were two million Negroes who have not yet forgotten how to drive men across the firing line. Surely those of us who faced German shot and shell at the Marne, at Verdun, have not forgotten the order of our Commander-in-Chief. The cry that caused us to leave America in such mad haste, when white fellow citizens of America refused to fight and said, "We do not believe in war and therefore, even though we are American citizens, and even though the nation is in danger, we will not go to war." When many of them cried out and said, "We are German-Americans and we can not fight," when so many white men refused to answer to the call and dodged behind all kinds of excuses, 400,000 black men were ready without a question. It was because we were told it was a war of democracy; it was a war for the liberation of the weaker peoples of the world. We heard the cry of Woodrow Wilson, not because we liked him so, but because the things he said were of such a nature that they appealed to us as men. Wheresoever the cause of humanity stands in need of assistance, there you will find the Negro ever ready to serve.
He has done it from the time of Christ up to now. When the whole world turned its back upon the Christ, the man who was said to be the Son of God, when the world cried out "Crucify Him," when the world spurned Him and spat upon Him, it was a black man, Simon, the Cyrenian, who took up the cross. Why? Because the cause of humanity appealed to him. When the black man saw the suffering Jew, struggling under the heavy cross, he was willing to go to His assistance, and he bore that cross up to the heights of Calvary. In the spirit of Simon, the Cyrenian, 1900 years ago we answered the call of Woodrow Wilson, the call of a larger humanity, and it was for that that we willingly rushed into the war from America, from the West Indies, over 100,000; it was for that that we rushed into the war from Africa, 2,000,000 of us. We met in France, Flanders and in Mesopotamia. We fought unfalteringly. When the white men faltered and fell back on their battle lines, at the Marne and at Verdun, when they ran away from the charge of the German hordes, the black hell fighters stood before the cannonade, stood before the charge, and again they shouted, "There will be a hot time in the old town to-night."
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We made it so hot a few months after our appearance in France and on the various battle fronts, we succeeded in driving the German hordes across the Rhine, and driving the Kaiser out of Germany, and out of Potsdam into Holland. We have not forgotten the prowess of war. If we have been liberal minded enough to give our life's blood in France, in Mesopotamia and elsewhere, fighting for the white man, whom we have always assisted, surely we have not forgotten to fight for ourselves, and when the time comes that the world will again give Africa an opportunity for freedom, surely 400,000,000 black men will march out on the battle plains of Africa, under the colors of the red, the black and the green.
We shall march out, yes, as black American citizens, as black British subjects, as black French citizens, as black Italians or as black Spaniards, but we shall march out with a greater loyalty, the loyalty of race. We shall march out in answer to the cry of our fathers, who cry out to us for the redemption of our own country, our motherland, Africa.
We shall march out, not forgetting the blessings of America. We shall march out, not forgetting the blessings of civilization. We shall march out with a history of peace before and behind us, and surely that history shall be our breastplate, for how can man fight better than knowing that the cause for which he fights is righteous? How can man fight more gloriously than by knowing that behind him is a history of slavery, a history of bloody carnage and massacre inflicted upon a race because of its inability to protect itself and fight? Shall we not fight for the glorious opportunity of protecting and forever more establishing ourselves as a mighty race and nation, never more to be disrespected by men. Glorious shall be the battle when the time comes to fight for our people and our race.
We should say to the millions who are in Africa to hold the fort, for we are coming 400,000,000 strong.
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Speech Delivered at Carnegie Hall, New York City, N. Y., U. S. A.
At Opening of the Fourth International Convention of the Negro Peoples of the
World, August 1, 1924.
Delegates to the Fourth International Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World, Ladies and Gentlemen:
The pleasure of addressing you at this hour is great. You have re-assembled yourselves in New York, coming from all parts of the world to this Annual Convention, because you believe that by unity you can alleviate the unfortunate condition in which racially we find ourselves.
We are glad to meet as Negroes, notwithstanding the stigma that is placed upon us by a soulless and conscienceless world because of our backwardness.
As usual, I am not here to flatter you, I am not here to tell you how happy and prosperous we are as a people, because that is all false. The Negro is not happy, but, to the contrary, is extremely miserable. He is miserable because the world is closing fast around him, and if he does not strike out now for his own preservation, it is only a question of a few more decades when he will be completely out-done in a world of strenuous competition for a place among the fittest of God's creation.
Negro Dying Out
The Negro is dying out, and he is going to die faster and more rapidly in the next fifty years than he has in the past three hundred years. There is only one thing to save the Negro, and that is an immediate realization of his own responsibilities. Unfortunately we are the most careless and indifferent people in the world! We are shiftless and irresponsible, and that is why we find ourselves the wards of an inherited materialism that has lost its soul and its conscience. It is strange to hear a Negro leader speak in this strain, as the usual course is flattery, but I would not flatter you to save my own life and that of my own family. There is no value in flattery. Flattery of the Negro for another quarter of a century will mean hell and damnation to the race. How can any Negro leader flatter us about progress and the rest of it, when the world is preparing more than ever to bury the entire race? Must I flatter you when England, France, Italy, Belgium and Spain are all concentrating on robbing every square inch of African territory -- the land of our fathers? Must I flatter you when the cry is being loudly raised for a white
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America, Canada, Australia and Europe, and a yellow and brown Asia? Must I flatter
you when I find all other peoples preparing themselves for the struggle to survive,
and you still smiling, eating, dancing, drinking and sleeping away your time,
as if yesterday were the beginning of the age of pleasure? I would rather be
dead than be a member of your race without thought of the morrow, for it portends
evil to him that thinketh not. Because I cannot flatter you I am here to tell,
emphatically, that if we do not seriously reorganize ourselves as a people and
face the world with a program of African nationalism our days in civilization
are numbered, and it will be only a question of time when the Negro will be
as completely and complacently dead as the North American Indian, or the Australian
Bushman.
Progress on Sand
You talk about the progress we have made in America and elsewhere, among the people of our acquaintance, but what progress is it? A progress than can be snatched away from you in forty-eight hours, because it has been built upon sand.
You must thank God for the last two generations of whites in our western civilization; thank God that they were not made of sterner stuff, and character and a disposition to see all races their rivals and competitors in the struggle to hold and possess the world, otherwise, like the Indian, we would have been nearly all dead.
The progress of the Negro in our civilization was tolerated because of indifference, but that indifference exists no longer. Our whole civilization is becoming intolerant, and because of that the whole world of races has started to think.
Can you blame the white man for thinking, when red and yellow men are knocking at his door? Can you blame the tiger for being on the defensive when the lion approaches? And thus we find that generations ago, when the Negro was not given a thought as a world competitor he is now regarded as an encumbrance in a civilization to which he has materially contributed little. Men do not build for others, they build for themselves. The age and our religion demand it. What are you going to expect, that white men are going to build up America and elsewhere and hand it over to us? If we are expecting that we are crazy, we have lost our reason.
If you were white, you would see the rest in hell before you would deprive your children of bread to give it to others. You would give that which you did not want, but not that which is to be the sustenance of your family, and so the world thinks;
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yet a Du Bois and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
will tell us by flattery that the day is coming when a white President of the
United States of America will get out of the White House and give the position
to a Negro, that the day is coming when a Mr. Hughes will desert the Secretaryship
of State and give it to the Negro, James Weldon Johnson; that the time is just
around the corner of constitutional rights when the next Ambassador to the Court
of Saint James will be a black man from Mississippi or from North Carolina.
Do you think that white men who have suffered, bled and died to make America
and the world what it is, are going to hand over to a parcel of lazy Negroes
the things that they prize most?
Stop flattering yourselves, fellowmen, and let us go to work. Do you hear me? Go to work! Go to work in the morn of a new creation and strike, not because of the noonday sun, but plod on and on, until you have succeeded in climbing the hills of opposition and reached the height of self-progress, and from that pinnacle bestow upon the world a civilization of your own, and hand down to your children and posterity of your own a worthy contribution to the age of human materialism.
We of the Universal Negro Improvement Association are fair and just. We do not expect the white man to rob himself, and to deprive himself, for our racial benefit. How could you reasonably expect that, in an age like this, when men have divided themselves into racial and national groups, when the one group has its own interest to protect as against that of the other?
The laws of self-preservation force every human group to look after itself and protect its own interest; hence so long as the American white man or any other white man, for that matter, realizes his responsibility, he is bound to struggle to protect that which is his and his own, and I feel that the Negro today who has been led by the unscrupulous of our race has been grossly misguided, in the direction of expecting too much from the civilization of others.
The Carpet-Bagger
Immediately after emancipation, we were improperly led in the South by this same group and ultimately lost our vote and voice. The carpet-bagger and the thoughtless, selfish Negro politician and leader sold the race back into slavery. And the same attempt is now being made in the North by that original group, prompted by the dishonest white political boss and the unscrupulous Negro politician. The time has come for both
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races to seriously adjust their differences and settle the future of our respective
peoples. The selfish of both races will not stop to think and act, but the responsibility
becomes more so ours, who have the vision of the future.
Criminals Out of Jail
Because of my attempt to lead my race into the only solution that I see would benefit both groups, I have been maliciously and wickedly maligned, and by members of our own race. I have been plotted against, framed up, indicted and convicted, the story which you so well know. That was responsible for our not having a Convention last year. I thank you, however, for the tribute you paid me during that period in postponing the Convention through respect to my enforced absence. Last August I spent three months in the Tombs in New York, but I was as happy then as I am now. I was sent there by the evil forces that have always fought and opposed reform movements, but I am as ready now to go back to the Tombs or elsewhere as I was when I was forced to leave you. The jail does not make a criminal, the criminal makes himself. There are more criminals out of jail than in jail, the only difference is that the majority of those who are out, are such skillful criminals that they know how to keep themselves out. They have tried to besmirch my name so as to prevent me doing the good that I desire to do in the interest of the race. It amuses me sometimes to hear the biggest crooks in the Negro Race referring to me as a criminal. As I have said before, Negro race leaders are the biggest crooks in the world. It is because of their crookedness that we have not made more progress. If you think I am not telling the truth in this direction you may quizz any of the white political bosses, and those who will tell the truth will reveal a tale most shocking as far as our Negro leaders are concerned. This is true of the group of fellows of our race that lead universally as well as nationally. They will sell the souls of their mothers and their country into perdition. That is why the Universal Negro Improvement Association has to make such a fight, and that is why the opposition is as hard and marked. You can pay the Negro leader to hang his race and block every effort of self-help. This is not commonly so among other races. We must give credit to the great white race, to the extent that they will fight among themselves, that they will cheat each other in business, but when it approaches the future and destiny of the race, a halt is immediately called. Not so with the Negro he does not know when and where to stop in hurting himself.
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Reorganizing the Race
I repeat that we must reorganize ourselves as a people, if we are to go forward, and I take this opportunity, as you assemble yourselves here from all parts of the world, to sound the warning note.
To review the work of our Association for the past two years is to recount the exploits of a continuous struggle to reach the top. Our organization has been tested during the past two years beyond that of any other period in the history of Negro movements. I am glad to say, however, that we have survived all the intrigues, barriers, and handicaps placed in the way. Some of our enemies thought that they would have been able to crush our movement when I was convicted and sentenced to prison. They had depended upon that, as the trump card in their effort to crush the new spirit of freedom among Negroes, but like all such efforts, it was doomed to failure. I will bring to your recollection a similar effort made a little over nineteen hundred years ago when on Calvary's Mount, the Jews after inspiring the Romans, attempted to crucify the man, Christ, the leader of the Christian religion. They thought that after the crucifixion, after he was buried, that they would have silenced the principles of Christianity forever, but how successful they were, is made manifest today when we find hundreds of millions of souls the world over professing the principles for which the man died on Calvary's cross. As in the rise of Christianity, so do we have the spiritual rise of the Universal Negro Improvement Association throughout the world. They tried to crucify it in America, and it has arisen in Africa a thousand fold. They tried to crucify it on the American continent, and it is now sweeping the whole world. You cannot crucify a principle; you cannot nail the souls of men to a cross; you cannot imprison it; you cannot bury it. It will rise like the spirit of the Great Redeemer and take its flight down the ages, until men far and near have taken up the cry for which the principle was crucified.
We of the Universal Negro Improvement Association are stronger today than we ever were before. We are strong in spirit, strong in determination; we are unbroken in every direction; we stand firm facing the world, determined to carve out and find a place for the four hundred millions of our suffering people. We call upon humanity everywhere to listen to the cry of the new Negro. We ask the human heart for a response, because Africa's sun cannot be downed. Africa's sun is rising, gradually rising, and soon shall take its place among the brilliant constellations
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of nations. The Negro wants a nation, nothing less, nothing more; and why shouldn't
we be nationally free, nationally independent, nationally unfettered? We want
a nationality similar to that of the English, the French, the Italian, the German,
to that of the white American, to that of the yellow Japanese; we want nationality
and government because we realize that the American nation in a short while
will not be large enough to accommodate two competitive rivals, one black and
the other white.
Black Man's Aspirations
There is no doubt about it that the black man of America today aspires to the White House, to the Cabinet, and to the Senate, and the House. He aspires to be head of State and municipal governments. What are you going to do with him? He cannot be satisfied in the midst of a majority group that seeks to protect its interest at all hazards; then the only alternative is to give the Negro a place of his own. That is why we appeal to the sober white minds of America, and not the selfish ones. The selfish ones will see nothing more than the immediate present, but the deep thinking white man will see the result of another fifty or one hundred years, when these two peoples will be brought together in closer contact of rivalry. As races we practically represent a similar intelligence today. We have graduated from the same schools, colleges and universities. What can you do with men who are equally and competently fitted in mind, but give them an equal chance, and if there is no chance of equality, there must be dissatisfaction on the one hand. That dissatisfaction we have in our midst now. We have it manifested by W. E. B. Du Bois, by James Weldon Johnson; we have it manifested by the organization known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, that seeks to bring about social equality, political equality, and industrial equality, things that are guaranteed us under the Constitution, but which, in the face of a majority race, we cannot demand, because of the terrible odds against us. In the midst of this, then, what can we do but seek an outlet of our own unless, we intend to fight a losing game. Reason will dictate that there is no benefit to be derived from fighting always a losing game. We will lose until we have completely lost our stand in America.
The Period of Self-Protection
To repeat myself, we talk about progress. What progress have we made when everything we do is done through the good
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will and grace of the liberal white man of the present day? But can he always
afford to be liberal? Do you not realize that in another few decades he will
have on his hands a problem of his own -- a problem to feed his own children,
to take care of his own flesh and blood? In the midst of that crisis, when he
finds not even enough to feed himself, what will become of the Negro? The Negro
naturally must die to give way, and make room for others who are better prepared
to live. That is the danger, men; and that is why we have the Universal Negro
Improvement Association. The condition that I have referred to will not only
be true of America and of continental Europe; it will be true wherever the great
white race lives. There will not be room enough for them, and others who seek
to compete with them. That is why we hear the cry of Egypt for the Egyptians,
India for the Indians, Asia for the Asiatics, and we raise the cry of Africa
for the Africans; those at home and those abroad. That is why we ask England
to be fair, to be just and considerate; that is why we ask France, Italy, Spain
and Belgium to be fair, just and considerate; that is why we ask them to let
the black man restore himself to his own country; and that is why we are determined
to see it done. No camouflage, and no promise of good-will, will solve the problem.
What guarantee have we, what lease have we on the future that the man who treats
us kindly today will perpetuate it through his son or his grandson tomorrow?
Races and peoples are only safeguarded when they are strong enough to protect themselves, and that is why we appeal to the four hundred million Negroes of the world to come together for self-protection and self-preservation. We do not want what belongs to the great white race, or the yellow race. We want only those things that belong to the black race. Africa is ours. To win Africa we will give up America, we will give up our claim in all other parts of the world; but we must have Africa. We will give up the vain desire of having a seat in the White House in America, of having a seat in the House of Lords in England, of being President of France, for the chance and opportunity of filling these positions in a country of our own.
That is how the Universal Negro Improvement Association differs from other organizations. Other organizations, especially in America, are fighting for a political equality which they will never get, and never win, in the face of a majority opposition. We win so much today and lose so much tomorrow. We will lose our political strength in the North in another few years, as we lost it in the South during Reconstruction. We fill one
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position today, but lose two tomorrow, and so we will drift on and on, until
we have been completely obliterated from western civilization.
Changes Among Negroes
You may ask me what good has the Universal Negro Improvement Association done, what has it accomplished within the last six years? We will point to you the great changes that have taken place in Africa, the West Indies and America. In the West Indies, black men have been elevated to high positions by the British Government, so as to off-set and counteract the sweeping influence of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Several of the Colonies have been given larger constitutional rights. In Africa, the entire West Coast has been benefited. Self-government has been given to several of the African Colonies, and native Africans have been elevated to higher positions, so as to offset the sweeping spirit of the Universal Negro Improvement Association throughout the Continent of Africa. In America, several of our men have been given prominent positions; Negro commissions have been appointed to attend to affairs of state; Negro Consuls have also been appointed. Things that happened in America within the last six years to advance the political status, the social and industrial status of the Negro were never experienced before. All that is traceable to the Universal Negro Improvement Association within the last six years. In the great game of politics you do not see the immediate results at your door, but those who are observant will be able to trace the good that is being done from the many directions whence it comes. If you were to take a survey of the whole world of Negroes you will find that we are more highly thought of in 1922 than we were in 1914. England, France and the European and Colonial powers regard the Universal Negro Improvement Association with a certain amount of suspicion because they believe that we are antagonistic. But we are not. We are not antagonistic to France, to England or Italy, nor any of the white Powers in Europe. We are only demanding a square deal for our race. Did we not fight to help them? Did we not sacrifice our blood, give up our all, to save England, to save France, Italy and America during the last war? Then why shouldn't we expect some consideration for the service rendered? That is all we ask; and we are now pressing that claim to the throne of white justice. We are told that God's throne is white, although we believe it to be black. But if it is white, we are placing our plea before that throne of God, asking Him to so touch the hearts of
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our fellow-men as to let them yield to us the things that are ours, as it was
right to yield to Caesar the things that were Caesar's.
As we deliberate on the many problems confronting us during the month of August, let us not lose control of ourselves; let us not forget that we are the guardians of four hundred millions; let us not forget that it is our duty to so act and legislate as to help humanity everywhere, whether it be black or white. We shall be called upon during this month to take up certain matters that are grave, but dispassionately we shall discuss them; and whenever the interest of the different race groups clash, let it be our duty to take the other fellow's feelings into our consideration. If we must be justly treated, then we ourselves must treat all men similarly. So, let no prejudice cause us to say or do anything against the interest of the white man, or the yellow man; let us realize that the white man has the right to live, the yellow man has the right to live, and all that we desire to do is to impress them with the fact that we also have the right to live.
Society and the Selfish Exploiter and Plunderer
Those who make or accumulate their wealth by robbing, exploiting and plundering
the innocent, ignorant and helpless of humanity, are worse than murderers and
hardened criminals; they are fiends, and should be outlawed and ostracized from
society, caring not how munificent their after gifts and philanthropy to care
for those they have already morally destroyed or harmed.
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Speech on Disarmament Conference Delivered at Liberty Hall, New York, U. S.
A., November 6, 1921
Just at this time the world is again preparing for a reorganization. Since the
war of 1914 the world became disorganized. Many conferences have been held,
in which statesmen of all the reputable governments have taken part, for the
purpose of settling a world policy, by which humanity and the world could return
to normal. Several of the conferences were held in France, others in Switzerland
and England. On the 11th of this month will assemble in Washington what is to
be known as an Armament Conference. At this conference statesmen from Great
Britain and her self-governing dominions, statesmen from France, Japan, China,
Norway, Holland and several other countries will there assemble and partake
in the discussion for regulating the armaments of the world.
Every race will be represented at that conference except the Negro race. It is a sad confession to make, nevertheless it is true. The world wants to return to normal and the only people preventing it from returning to normal, apparently, are the white and yellow peoples, and they only are taken into account. I suppose after they have met and discussed the issues, the world will return to normal, but I believe someone has a second thought coming. I have no faith in the disarmament plan of the nations. I am a pessimist as far as disarmament goes. I do not believe that man will disarm until there is universal justice. Any attempt at disarming when half of the world oppresses the other half is but a farce, because the oppressed half will make somebody get armed sooner or later, and I hope Negroes will pay no attention to what is said and what is done at the conference. It does not concern you one bit. Disarmament may sound good for heaven and paradise, but not for this world that we live in, where we have so many robbers and plunderers. You keep a pistol or a gun in your home because the robber is at large, and you are afraid while you sleep he will creep through the window or get through the door and make an attempt to rob your property; and because you know he is at large, and may pay you a visit, you sleep with a gun under your pillow. When all the burglars and all the robbers are put in jail, and we know they are in jail, then we will throw away our pistols and our guns. Now everybody knows that the robber -- the thief -- is at large; he is not only robbing domestic homes, he is robbing continents; he is robbing countries, and how do
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you expect, in the name of reason, for races and peoples to disarm when the
thief is at large trying to get into your country, trying to get into your continent
to take away your land -- your birthright. The whole thing is a farce, and I
trust no sensible Negro will pay any attention to it.
Negroes Must Arm Through Organization
I am not advising you to arm now with the things they have, I am asking you to arm through organization; arm through preparedness. You do not want to have guns and bombs just now; you have no immediate use for them, so they can throw away those things if they want in Washington on Armistice Day. I am saying to the Negro people of the world, get armed with organization; get armed by coming together 400,000,000 strong. That is your weapon. Their weapon in the past has been big guns and explosive shells; your weapon must be universal organization. You are a people most favorably situated today for getting what you want through organization. Why? Because universally Negroes have a common cause; universally Negroes suffer from one common disadvantage. You are not like the other people in that respect. The white people cannot organize as you are organizing. Why? Because their society is disrupted -- is in chaos. Why do I say this? They are so disrupted -- they are in such chaos that they have to fight against themselves -- capital fighting labor, labor fighting capital. There is no common cause between capital and labor, and, therefore, they cannot get together, and will never get together until they realize the virtue of justice -- the virtue of equity to all mankind. You have no fight among yourselves as between capital and labor, because all of us are laborers, therefore we need not be Socialists; we have no fight against party, because all of us are belonging to the "Suffering Party." So when it comes to organization we occupy a unique position.
England cannot organize with France, for England will be looking to rob France, and France looking to rob England, and they will be suspicious of each other. The white races will never get together. They have done so many injustices one to the other that between here and heaven they will never get together. Do you think Germany and England will ever get together? Do you think France and Germany will ever get together? They have no cause that is in common; but 400,000,000 Negroes have a cause that is in common, and that is why I pointed out to you that your strongest armament is organization, and not so much big guns and bombshells. Later on we may have to use some
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of those things, however, because it appears that some people cannot hear a
human voice unless something is exploding nearby. Some people sleep too soundly,
when it comes to a question of human rights, and you have to touch them up with
something more than our ordinary human voice.
Believes Arms Conference Will Be Fiasco
This conference on disarmament, I have said, is all a joke, and every one of them is going there to see what can be gotten. Japan to see what she can get out of America; America to see what she can get out of France; England to see what she can get out of Japan; Italy to see what she can get out of England, and the greatest vagabond will come out with the big stick. Everybody knows that; all sensible statesmen know that. They do not want any conference on disarmament, because you must arm to a certain extent. Swords are in heaven to keep the angels in good order. So since human nature is what it is, the world cannot afford to disarm. But do you know what they are getting together for? Not so much disarmament; they are getting together to form a pact by which they can subdue and further oppress the weaker peoples, who are not as strong as themselves to demand a place in this conference now to be held.
I told you during the war in my speeches throughout the length and breadth of this country and through my writings in The Negro World week by week in 1916 it was planned in England that the Negro should pay the cost of the war. You will remember (some of you) my saying that several years ago it was the determination in Europe that Africa was to be exploited to pay the cost of the war and Negroes everywhere were to be used to supply the source of revenue by which the bankrupt nations would be able to declare themselves once more solvent. Since peace was declared -- since the armistice was signed -- those of you who have seen the conduct of statesmen in Europe, of governments and of subsidized commercial agents, will recall that great demands have been made and are being made to commercialize the raw, and mineral products of Africa, and by the spoils gained out of exploiting Africa they hope to reimburse themselves of the billions of dollars lost in the war of 1914 to 1918.
The Aim of European Statesmen
It does not take the vision of a seer; it does not take the vision of a prophet, to see what the future will be to us, as a race, through the ambitions of the present-day statesmen of Europe.
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They feel that they have a divine right because of the strength of arms; because
of their highly developed power to go into any part of the world and occupy
it, and hold it, if that part of the world is occupied by weaker peoples. The
statesmen of today believe that might makes right, and until they get that feeling
out of them, until they destroy that spirit, the world cannot disarm. They fail
to take into consideration, they fail to take into account, that there are 400,000,000
black men in the world today and that these 400,000,000 people are not going
to allow anybody to infringe upon their rights without asking the question why.
They have been playing all kinds of dodges; they have been practicing all kinds
of schemes and adopting all kinds of tactics, since the armistice was signed,
to keep the Negro in his old-time place, but they have failed; they cannot successfully
do it. When they created the emergency, they called the Negro to battle; they
placed in the Negro's hands the gun and the sword; they told him to go out and
kill -- kill so that the side for which you are fighting might be victorious.
The Negro killed. The Negro fought his way to victory and returned the standard
with honor. After the battle was won, after the victory was declared, the Negro
became a puzzle. He became a puzzle to Great Britain; he became a puzzle to
France; he became a puzzle to America. The American Negro was no longer wanted
in active service by the American Government. What did they do? They disarmed
him; they took away his pistol and his gun before he landed, so that he could
not do any harm with them, and they sent him back South without any armament.
What did the Frenchman do? The Frenchman is puzzled up to now; they cannot send
them back yet.
All this noise they have been making about Negro soldiers being on the Rhineland, it is not because the French want the Negro to be on the Rhineland so much, but they do not know where to send him.
And do you know what they are keeping those Negroes there for? Those Negroes may never be returned to Senegal; they may never be returned to Africa. Those Negroes probably will be kept in France until they die. With the knowledge they have gained in the four years of war, they do not want those Senegalese to go back to Africa with that knowledge. That is why they are now on the Rhineland, and these French statesmen come and tell us it is because they love Negroes so much why they are kept in France. It is because they fear the
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Negroes so much why they have kept those black Senegalese on the Rhineland and
in France.
A Conference of the "Bigger Brotherhood"
They do not know what to do. They are puzzled, and are holding conferences in France, in Switzerland, in England and now in America, and have not decided on anything. Why won't they be honest? Why won't they have a real conference? Why won't they say, "We are going to solve this great human problem; we are going to have peace forever; let us meet, whether it be in Washington, London, or Paris; come on Asia, meet us, too; come on, Africa, let us all sit around the table and let us not call this conference a disarmament conference or any such conference; let us call it a "conference of the bigger brotherhood." That is the conference the world is waiting for, and until that conference is called, it is all a farce talking about disarmament and the rest of it. Until these statesmen get ready to give Asia what is belonging to Asia, to give to Europe what is belonging to Europe, and then, above all, to give to Africa what is belonging to Africa, their conferences will be in vain.
If Great Britain will take my advice she would call a conference tomorrow morning, and say to all Englishmen leave India, leave Africa and go back to England because we want peace. If France takes my advice she will call out her white colonists from her African dominions, because so long as this injustice is perpetrated against weaker peoples there is going to be wars and rumors of wars. It is human nature and the world knows it. If you take my property, and I know it, is a different proposition, to taking my property and my not knowing it. In the past they took our property and we did not know about it, therefore we did not say anything; but they do not seem to count on the change that has come about. We know all about it now. If a man breaks into my house and steals some of my things and I do not know him, I will meet him on the street and shake hands and say, "Brother, how are you?" If he salutes me and says "Hello, how are you?" I will return it. But when I come home and find out that my property is robbed, and that he is the man who robbed my property, I am going to change my attitude. Just give me what is belonging to me. That is the situation between weaker peoples and stronger ones. They have fooled us; they have robbed us, when we did not know any better; but it is a different proposition now.
The new Negro is going to strike back or is going to die; and if David Lloyd George, Briand and the different statesmen believe
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they can assemble in Washington, in London, in Paris, or anywhere and dispose
of black people's property without first consulting them they make a big mistake,
because we have reared many Fochs between 1914 and 1918 on the battlefields
of France and Flanders. It will be a question later on of Foch meeting Foch.
Now the world of oppressed peoples have got the spirit of liberty and from far-off India we hear the cry of a free and independent India; from far-off Egypt we hear the cry of a free and independent Egypt. The Negro loves peace; the Negro likes to disarm, but the Negro says to the world, "Let us have justice; let us have equity; let us have freedom; let us have democracy indeed"; and I from Liberty Hall, on behalf of 400,000,000 Negroes, send a plea to the statesmen at Washington in their assembly on the question of disarmament, give the Negro the consideration due him; give the Hindoo the consideration due him; give the Egyptian the consideration due him; give the weaker peoples of the world the consideration due them, and let us disarm. But until then, I repeat, there will be wars and rumors of wars.
Text of Telegram Sent to the Disarmament Conference
November 11, 1921.
President and Members of the International Conference on Disarmament,
Care of Secretary of Conference,
Pan-American Building,
Washington, D. C.
Honorable Gentlemen:
I salute you in the name of Democracy, and for the cause of Justice on behalf of the four hundred million Negroes of the world. Your Honorable Conference now sitting in Washington has a purpose that has been announced and advertised to the world for several months. You were called together by the President of the Democratic Republic of the United States of America to discuss the problem of armaments, the settlement of which you believe will ensure the perpetual peace of the world. As the elected spokesman of the Negro peoples of the world who desire freedom, politically, industrially, educationally, socially and religiously, as well as a full enjoyment of world democracy and a national independence all our own on the Continent
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of Africa, it is for me to inform you of a little slight that has been shown
to four hundred million Negroes who form a part of this world's population.
At the Versailles Peace Conference, the statesmen who gathered there made the
awful mistake of legislating for the disposition of other people's lands (especially
in Africa) without taking them into consideration, believing that a world peace
could have been established after such a conference. The mistake is now apparent.
There can be no peace among us mortals so long as the strong of humanity oppresses
the weak, for in due process of time and through evolution the weak will one
day turn, even like the worm, and then humanity's hope of peace will be shattered.
All men have brains; some use their abilities for inventing destructive elements
of warfare, such as guns, gun-powder, gas, and other destructive chemicals.
The Negro for hundreds of years has attempted nothing destructive to the peace
and good-will of humanity; in fact, he has not even made an attempt to make
the world know that he is alive; nevertheless, like the worm, the Negro will
one day turn. I humbly ask you therefore that your Honorable Conference act,
not like the one at Versailles, but that you realize and appreciate the fact
that the Negro is a man, and that there can be no settlement of world affairs
without proper consideration being given to him with his rights. President Harding
of America has but recently sounded the real cry of Democracy. He says to his
own country, and I think it should be an advice to the world, "Give the
Negro equality in education, in politics, in industry, because he is entitled
to human rights." I humbly beg to recommend to your Honorable Conference
those quoted words of President Harding. Negroes have blood, they have souls,
and for the cause of Liberty they feel that the conduct of men like Alexander,
Hannibal, Caesar, Napoleon, Wellington, Lafayette, Garabaldi, Washington, is
imitable, and that peace not founded on real human justice will only be a mockery
of the divine invocation, "Peace, perfect peace." I trust your Honorable
Conference will not fail to take into consideration, therefore, that there are
four hundred million Negroes in the world who demand Africa as their rightful
heritage, even as the European claims Europe, and the Asiatic Asia. I pray that
your Conference will not only be one of disarmament, but that it will be a congregation
of the "Bigger Brotherhood," through which Europe will see the rights
of Asia, Asia and Europe see the rights of Africa, and Africa and Asia see the
rights of Europe and accordingly give every race and nation their due, and let
there be peace indeed. On behalf of
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the four hundred million Negroes of the world not represented at your Honorable
Conference.
I have the honor to be
Your obedient servant,
MARCUS GARVEY,
President General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and First Provisional President of Africa, New York City.
REPLY
November 17, 1921.
Conference of the Limitation of Armament,
Secretariat General.
Sir: I am directed by the Secretary General, the Chairman of the Conference, to acknowledge the receipt of your communication, which has been read with attention.
I am charged to express to you his appreciation of the interest and support which you have been so good to evince.
I am, sir,
Yours very truly,
T. G. W. PAUL,
For the Secretary General.
Mr. Marcus Garvey, President-General Universal Negro Improvement Association, 56 West 135th Street, New York.
The Morals of our Time!
It is remarkable to contemplate the deception of man, as practised upon his
brothers. The human race has degenerated into select groups of liars and thieves,
who practise their profession and carry out their depredations through the media
of high-sounding philosophies. Chief among the deceivers who parade as sanctified
moralists and reformers are some of the leading statesmen of the white race.
The white man has given us morals from his head, and lies from his heart.
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Speech Delivered at Madison Square Garden, New York City, N. Y., U. S. A.,
Sunday, March 16, 1924
In Honor of the Return to America of the Delegation Sent to Europe and Africa
by the Universal Negro Improvement Association to Negotiate for the Repatriation
of Negroes to a Homeland of Their Own in Africa
Fellow Citizens:
The coming together, all over this country, of fully six million people of Negro blood, to work for the creation of a nation of their own in their motherland, Africa, is no joke.
There is now a world revival of thought and action, which is causing peoples everywhere to bestir themselves towards their own security, through which we hear the cry of Ireland for the Irish, Palestine for the Jew, Egypt for the Egyptian, Asia for the Asiatic, and thus we Negroes raise the cry of Africa for the Africans, those at home and those abroad.
Some people are not disposed to give us credit for having feelings, passions, ambitions and desires like other races; they are satisfied to relegate us to the back-heap of human aspirations; but this is a mistake. The Almighty Creator made us men, not unlike others, but in His own image; hence, as a race, we feel that we, too, are entitled to the rights that are common to humanity.
The cry and desire for liberty is justifiable, and is made holy everywhere. It is sacred and holy to the Anglo-Saxon, Teuton and Latin; to the Anglo-American it precedes that of all religions, and now come the Irish, the Jew, the Egyptian, the Hindoo, and, last but not least, the Negro, clamoring for their share as well as their right to be free.
All men should be free -- free to work out their own salvation. Free to create their own destinies. Free to nationally build up themselves for the upbringing and rearing of a culture and civilization of their own. Jewish culture is different from Irish culture. Anglo-Saxon culture is unlike Teutonic culture. Asiatic culture differs greatly from European culture; and, in the same way, the world should be liberal enough to allow the Negro latitude to develop a culture of his own. Why should the Negro be lost among the other races and nations of the world and to himself? Did nature not make of him a son of the soil? Did the Creator not fashion him out of the dust of the earth? -- out
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of that rich soil to which he bears such a wonderful resemblance? -- a resemblance
that changes not, even though the ages have flown? No, the Ethiopian cannot
change his skin; and so we appeal to the conscience of the white world to yield
us a place of national freedom among the creatures of present-day temporal materialism.
We Negroes are not asking the white man to turn Europe and America over to us. We are not asking the Asiatic to turn Asia over for the accommodation of the blacks. But we are asking a just and righteous world to restore Africa to her scattered and abused children.
We believe in justice and human love. If our rights are to be respected, then, we, too, must respect the rights of all mankind; hence, we are ever ready and willing to yield to the white man the things that are his, and we feel that he, too, when his conscience is touched, will yield to us the things that are ours.
We should like to see a peaceful, prosperous and progressive white race in America and Europe; a peaceful, prosperous and progressive yellow race in Asia, and, in like manner, we want, and we demand, a peaceful, prosperous and progressive black race in Africa. Is that asking too much? Surely not. Humanity, without any immediate human hope of racial oneness, has drifted apart, and is now divided into separate and distinct groups, each with its own ideals and aspirations. Thus, we cannot expect any one race to hold a monopoly of creation and be able to keep the rest satisfied.
Distinct Racial Group Idealism
From our distinct racial group idealism we feel that no black man is good enough to govern the white man, and no white man good enough to rule the black man; and so of all races and peoples. No one feels that the other, alien in race, is good enough to govern or rule to the exclusion of native racial rights. We may as well, therefore, face the question of superior and inferior races. In twentieth century civilization there are no inferior and superior races. There are backward peoples, but that does not make them inferior. As far as humanity goes, all men are equal, and especially where peoples are intelligent enough to know what they want. At this time all peoples know what they want -- it is liberty. When a people have sense enough to know that they ought to be free, then they naturally become the equal of all, in the higher calling of man to know and direct himself. It is true that economically and scientifically certain races are more progressive than others; but that does not imply
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superiority. For the Anglo-Saxon to say that he is superior because he introduced
submarines to destroy life, or the Teuton because he compounded liquid gas to
outdo in the art of killing, and that the Negro is inferior because he is backward
in that direction is to leave one's self open to the retort "Thou shalt
not kill," as being the divine law that sets the moral standard of the
real man. There is no superiority in the one race economically monopolizing
and holding all that would tend to the sustenance of life, and thus cause unhappiness
and distress to others; for our highest purpose should be to love and care for
each other, and share with each other the things that our Heavenly Father has
placed at our common disposal; and even in this, the African is unsurpassed,
in that he feeds his brother and shares with him the product of the land. The
idea of race superiority is questionable; nevertheless, we must admit that,
from the white man's standard, he is far superior to the rest of us, but that
kind of superiority is too inhuman and dangerous to be permanently helpful.
Such a superiority was shared and indulged in by other races before, and even
by our own, when we boasted of a wonderful civilization on the banks of the
Nile, when others were still groping in darkness; but because of our unrighteousness
it failed, as all such will. Civilization can only last when we have reached
the point where we will be our brother's keeper. That is to say, when we feel
it righteous to live and let live.
No Exclusive Right to the World
Let no black man feel that he has the exclusive right to the world. and other men none, and let no white man feel that way, either. The world is the property of all mankind, and each and every group is entitled to a portion. The black man now wants his, and in terms uncompromising he is asking for it.
The Universal Negro Improvement Association represents the hopes and aspirations of the awakened Negro. Our desire is for a place in the world; not to disturb the tranquillity of other men, but to lay down our burden and rest our weary backs and feet by the banks of the Niger, and sing our songs and chant our hymns to the God of Ethiopia. Yes, we want rest from the toil of centuries, rest of political freedom, rest of economic and industrial liberty, rest to be socially free and unmolested, rest from lynching and burning, rest from discrimination of all kinds.
Out of slavery we have come with our tears and sorrows, and we now lay them at the feet of American white civilization. We cry to the considerate white people for help, because in their midst we can scarce help ourselves. We are strangers in a
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strange land. We cannot sing, we cannot play on our harps, for our hearts are
sad. We are sad because of the tears of our mothers and the cry of our fathers.
Have you not heard the plaintive wail? It is your father and my father burning
at stake; but, thank God, there is a larger humanity growing among the good
and considerate white people of this country, and they are going to help. They
will help us to recover our souls.
As children of captivity we look forward to a new day and a new, yet ever old, land of our fathers, the land of refuge, the land of the Prophets, the land of the Saints, and the land of God's crowning glory. We shall gather together our children, our treasures and our loved ones, and, as the children of Israel, by the command of God, faced the promised land, so in time we shall also stretch forth our hands and bless our country.
Good and dear America that has succored us for three hundred years knows our story. We have watered her vegetation with our tears for two hundred and fifty years. We have built her cities and laid the foundation of her imperialism with the mortar of our blood and bones for three centuries, and now we cry to her for help. Help us, America, as we helped you. We helped you in the Revolutionary War. We helped you in the Civil War, and, although Lincoln helped us, the price is not half paid. We helped you in the Spanish-American War. We died nobly and courageously in Mexico, and did we not leave behind us on the stained battlefields of France and Flanders our rich blood to mark the poppies' bloom, and to bring back to you the glory of the flag that never touched the dust? We have no regrets in service to America for three hundred years, but we pray that America will help us for another fifty years until we have solved the troublesome problem that now confronts us. We know and realize that two ambitious and competitive races cannot live permanently side by side, without friction and trouble, and that is why the white race wants a white America and the black race wants and demands a black Africa.
Let white America help us for fifty years honestly, as we have helped her for three hundred years, and before the expiration of many decades there shall be no more race problem. Help us to gradually go home, America. Help us as you have helped the Jews. Help us as you have helped the Irish. Help us as you have helped the Poles, Russians, Germans and Armenians.
The Universal Negro Improvement Association proposes a friendly co-operation with all honest movements seeking intelligently to solve the race problem. We are not seeking social equality; we do not seek intermarriage, nor do we hanker after
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the impossible. We want the right to have a country of our own, and there foster
and re-establish a culture and civilization exclusively ours. Don't say it can't
be done. The Pilgrims and colonists did it for America, and the new Negro, with
sympathetic help, can do it for Africa.
Back to Africa
The thoughtful and industrious of our race want to go back to Africa, because we realize it will be our only hope of permanent existence. We cannot all go in a day or year, ten or twenty years. It will take time under the rule of modern economics, to entirely or largely depopulate a country of a people, who have been its residents for centuries, but we feel that, with proper help for fifty years, the problem can be solved. We do not want all the Negroes in Africa. Some are no good here, and naturally will be no good there. The no-good Negro will naturally die in fifty years. The Negro who is wrangling about and fighting for social equality will naturally pass away in fifty years, and yield his place to the progressive Negro who wants a society and country of his own.
Negroes are divided into two groups, the industrious and adventurous, and the lazy and dependent. The industrious and adventurous believe that whatsoever others have done it can do. The Universal Negro Improvement Association belongs to this group, and so you find us working, six million strong, to the goal of an independent nationality. Who will not help? Only the mean and despicable "who never to himself hath said, this is my own, my native land." Africa is the legitimate, moral and righteous home of all Negroes, and now, that the time is coming for all to assemble under their own vine and fig tree, we feel it our duty to arouse every Negro to a consciousness of himself.
White and black will learn to respect each other when they cease to be active competitors in the same countries for the same things in politics and society. Let them have countries of their own, wherein to aspire and climb without rancor. The races can be friendly and helpful to each other, but the laws of nature separate us to the extent of each and every one developing by itself.
We want an atmosphere all our own. We would like to govern and rule ourselves and not be encumbered and restrained. We feel now just as the white race would feel if they were governed and ruled by the Chinese. If we live in our own districts, let us rule and govern those districts. If we have a
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majority in our communities, let us run those communities. We form a majority
in Africa and we should naturally govern ourselves there. No man can govern
another's house as well as himself. Let us have fair play. Let us have justice.
This is the appeal we make to white America.
The Policy of the Colored Intellectual
The present day Negro or "colored" intellectual is no less a liar
and a cunning thief than his illustrious teacher. His occidental collegiate
training only fits him to be a rogue and vagabond, and a seeker after the easiest
and best by following the line of least resistence. He is lazy, dull and un-creative.
His purpose is to deceive the less fortunate of his race, and, by his wiles
ride easily into position and wealth at their expense, and thereafter agitate
for and seek social equality with the creative and industrious whites. To every
rule, however, there is the exception, and in this case it must be applied.
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The Negro's Greatest Enemy
This Article, Which Is Largely a Chapter of Autobiography, Appeared in Current
History Magazine, September, 1923
I was born in the Island of Jamaica, British West Indies, on August 17, 1887. My parents were black Negroes. My father was a man of brilliant intellect and dashing courage. He was unafraid of consequences. He took human chances in the course of life, as most bold men do, and he failed at the close of his career. He once had a fortune; he died poor. My mother was a sober and conscientious Christian, too soft and good for the time in which she lived. She was the direct opposite of my father. He was severe, firm, determined, bold and strong, refusing to yield even to superior forces if he believed he was right. My mother, on the other hand, was always willing to return a smile for a blow, and ever ready to bestow charity upon her enemy. Of this strange combination I was born thirty-six years ago, and ushered into a world of sin, the flesh and the devil.
I grew up with other black and white boys. I was never whipped by any, but made them all respect the strength of my arms. I got my education from many sources -- through private tutors, two public schools, two grammar or high schools and two colleges. My teachers were men and women of varied experiences and abilities; four of them were eminent preachers. They studied me and I studied them. With some I became friendly in after years; others and I drifted apart, because as a boy they wanted to whip me, and I simply refused to be whipped. I was not made to be whipped. It annoys me to be defeated; hence to me, to be once defeated is to find cause for an everlasting struggle to reach the top.
I became a printer's apprentice at an early age, while still attending school. My apprentice master was a highly educated and alert man. In the affairs of business and the world he had no peer. He taught me many things before I reached twelve, and at fourteen I had enough intelligence and experience to manage men. I was strong and manly, and I made them respect me. I developed a strong and forceful character, and have maintained it still.
To me, at home in my early days, there was no difference between white and black. One of my father's properties, the place where I lived most of the time, was adjoining that of a white man. He had three girls and two boys; the Wesleyan minister, another white man, whose church my parents attended, also had property adjoining ours. He had three girls and one
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boy. All of us were playmates. We romped and were happy children, playmates
together. The little white girl whom I liked most knew no better than I did
myself. We were two innocent fools who never dreamed of a race feeling and problem.
As a child, I went to school with white boys and girls, like all other Negroes.
We were not called Negroes then. I never heard the term Negro used once until
I was about fourteen.
At fourteen my little white playmate and I parted. Her parents thought the time had come to separate us and draw the color line. They sent her and another sister to Edinburgh, Scotland, and told her that she was never to write or try to get in touch with me, for I was a "nigger." It was then that I found for the first time that there was some difference in humanity, and that there were different races, each having its own separate and distinct social life. I did not care about the separation after I was told about it, because I never thought all during our childhood association that the girl and the rest of the children of her race were better than I was; in fact, they used to look up to me. So I simply had no regrets.
After my first lesson in race distinction, I never thought of playing with white girls any more, even if they might be nextdoor neighbors. At home my sisters' company was good enough for me, and at school I made friends with the colored girls next to me. White boys and I used to frolic together. We played cricket and baseball, ran races and rode bicycles together, took each other to the river and to the sea beach to learn to swim, and made boyish efforts while out in deep water to drown each other, making a sprint for shore crying out "Shark, shark, shark!" In all our experiences, however, only one black boy was drowned. He went under on a Friday afternoon after school hours, and his parents found him afloat, half eaten by sharks, on the following Sunday afternoon. Since then we boys never went sea bathing.
"You Are Black"
At maturity the black and white boys separated, and took different courses in life. I grew then to see the difference between the races more and more. My schoolmates as young men did not know or remember me any more. Then I realized that I had to make a fight for a place in the world, that it was not so easy to pass on to office and position. Personally, however, I had not much difficulty in finding and holding a place for myself, for I was aggressive. At eighteen I had an excellent position as manager of a large printing establishment, having under my control several men old enough to be my grandfathers.
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But I got mixed up with public life. I started to take an interest in the politics
of my country, and then I saw the injustice done to my race because it was black,
and I became dissatisfied on that account. I went traveling to South and Central
America and parts of the West Indies to find out if it was so elsewhere, and
I found the same situation. I set sail for Europe to find out if it was different
there, and again I found the stumbling block -- "You are black." I
read of the conditions in America. I read "Up from Slavery," by Booker
T. Washington, and then my doom -- if I may so call it -- of being a race leader
dawned upon me in London after I had traveled through almost half of Europe.
I asked: "Where is the black man's Government?" "Where is his King and his kingdom?" "Where is his President, his country, and his ambassador, his army, his navy, his men of big affairs?" I could not find them, and then I declared, "I will help to make them."
Becoming naturally restless for the opportunity of doing something for the advancement of my race, I was determined that the black man would not continue to be kicked about by all the other races and nations of the world, as I saw it in the West Indies, South and Central America and Europe, and as I read of it in America. My young and ambitious mind led me into flights of great imagination. I saw before me then, even as I do now, a new world of black men, not peons, serfs, dogs and slaves, but a nation of sturdy men making their impress upon civilization and causing a new light to dawn upon the human race. I could not remain in London any more. My brain was afire. There was a world of thought to conquer. I had to start ere it became too late and the work be not done. Immediately I boarded a ship at Southampton for Jamaica, where I arrived on July 15, 1914. The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities (Imperial) League was founded and organized five days after my arrival, with the program of uniting all the Negro peoples of the world into one great body to establish a country and Government absolutely their own.
Where did the name of the organization come from. It was while speaking to a West Indian Negro who was a passenger on the ship with me from Southampton, who was returning home to the West Indies from Basutoland with his Basuto wife, that I further learned of the horrors of native life in Africa. He related to me such horrible and pitiable tales that my heart bled within me. Retiring to my cabin, all day and the following night I pondered over the subject matter of that conversation, and at
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midnight, lying flat on my back, the vision and thought came to me that I should
name the organization the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African
Communities (Imperial) League. Such a name I thought would embrace the purpose
of all black humanity. Thus to the world a name was born, a movement created,
and a man became known.
I really never knew there was so much color prejudice in Jamaica, my own native home, until I started the work of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. We started immediately before the war. I had just returned from a successful trip to Europe, which was an exceptional achievement for a black man. The daily papers wrote me up with big headlines and told of my movement. But nobody wanted to be a Negro. "Garvey is crazy; he has lost his head." "Is that the use he is going to make of his experience and intelligence?" -- such were the criticisms passed upon me. Men and women as black as I, and even more so, had believed themselves white under the West Indian order of society. I was simply an impossible man to use openly the term "Negro"; yet every one beneath his breath was calling the black man a nigger.
I had to decide whether to please my friends and be one of the "black-whites" of Jamaica, and be reasonably prosperous, or come out openly, and defend and help improve and protect the integrity of the black millions, and suffer. I decided to do the latter, hence my offense against "colored-black-white" society in the colonies and America. I was openly hated and persecuted by some of these colored men of the island who did not want to be classified as Negroes, but as white. They hated me worse than poison. They opposed me at every step, but I had a large number of white friends, who encouraged and helped me. Notable among them were the then Governor of the Colony, the Colonial Secretary and several other prominent men. But they were afraid of offending the "colored gentry" that passed for white. Hence my fight had to be made alone. I spent hundreds of pounds (sterling) helping the organization to gain a footing. I also gave up all my time to the promulgation of its ideals. I became a marked man, but I was determined that the work should be done.
The war helped a great deal in arousing the consciousness of the colored people to the reasonableness of our program, especially after the British at home had rejected a large number of West Indian colored men who wanted to be officers in the British army. When they were told that Negroes could not be officers in the British army they started their own propaganda,
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which supplemented the program of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
With this and other contributing agencies a few of the stiff-necked colored
people began to see the reasonableness of my program, but they were firm in
refusing to be known as Negroes. Furthermore, I was a black man and therefore
had absolutely no right to lead; in the opinion of the "colored" element,
leadership should have been in the hands of a yellow or a very light man. On
such flimsy prejudices our race has been retarded. There is more bitterness
among us Negroes because of the caste of color than there is between any other
peoples, not excluding the people of India.
I succeeded to a great extent in establishing the Association in Jamaica with the assistance of a Catholic Bishop, the Governor, Sir John Pringle, the Rev. William Graham, a Scottish clergyman, and several other white friends. I got in touch with Booker Washington and told him what I wanted to do. He invited me to America and promised to speak with me in the Southern and other States to help my work. Although he died in the Fall of 1915, I made my arrangements and arrived in the United States on March 23, 1916.
Here I found a new and different problem. I immediately visited some of the then so-called Negro leaders, only to discover, after a close study of them, that they had no program, but were mere opportunists who were living off their so-called leadership while the poor people were groping in the dark. I traveled through thirty-eight States and everywhere found the same condition. I visited Tuskegee and paid my respects to the dead hero, Booker Washington, and then returned to New York, where I organized the New York division of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. After instructing the people in the aims and objects of the Association, I intended returning to Jamaica to perfect the Jamaica organization, but when we had enrolled about 800 or 1,000 members in the Harlem district and had elected the officers, a few Negro politicians tried to turn the movement into a political club.
Political Faction Fight
Seeing that these politicians were about to destroy my ideals, I had to fight to get them out of the organization. Then it was that I made my first political enemies in Harlem. They fought me until they smashed the first organization and reduced its membership to about fifty. I started again, and in two months built up a new organization of about 1,500 members. Again the politicians came and divided us into two factions. They took
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away all the books of the organization, its treasury and all its belongings.
At that time I was only an organizer, for it was not then my intention to remain
in America, but to return to Jamaica. The organization had its proper officers
elected, and I was not an officer of the New York division, but President of
the Jamaica branch.
On the second split in Harlem thirteen of the members conferred with me and requested me to become President for a time of the New York organization so as to save them from the politicians. I consented and was elected President. There then sprang up two factions, one led by the politicians with the books and the money, and the other led by me. My faction had no money. I placed at their disposal what money I had, opened an office for them, rented a meeting place, employed two women secretaries, went on the street of Harlem at night to speak for the movement. In three weeks more than 2,000 new members joined. By this time I had the Association incorporated so as to prevent the other faction using the name, but in two weeks the politicians had stolen all the people's money and had smashed up their faction.
The organization under my Presidency grew by leaps and bounds. I started The Negro World. Being a journalist, I edited this paper free of cost for the Association, and worked for them without pay until November, 1920. I traveled all over the country for the Association at my own expense and established branches until in 1919 we had about thirty branches in different cities. By my writings and speeches we were able to build up a large organization of over 2,000,000 by June, 1919, at which time we launched the program of the Black Star Line.
To have built up a new organization, which was not purely political, among Negroes in America was a wonderful feat, for the Negro politician does not allow any other kind of organization within his race to thrive. We succeeded, however, in making the Universal Negro Improvement Association so formidable in 1919 that we encountered more trouble from our political brethren. They sought the influence of the District Attorney's office of the County of New York to put us out of business. Edwin P. Kilroe, at that time an Assistant District Attorney, on the complaint of the Negro politicians, started to investigate us and the association. Mr. Kilroe would constantly and continuously call me to his office for investigation on extraneous matters without coming to the point. The result was that after the eighth or ninth time I wrote an article in our newspaper, The Negro World, against him. This was interpreted as a criminal
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libel, for which I was indicted and arrested, but subsequently dismissed on
retracting what I had written.
During my many tilts with Mr. Kilroe, the question of the Black Star Line was discussed. He did not want us to have a line of ships. I told him that even as there was a White Star Line, we would have, irrespective of his wishes, a Black Star Line. On June 27, 1919, we incorporated the Black Star Line of Delaware, and in September we obtained a ship.
The following month (October) a man by the name of Tyler came to my office at 56 West 135th Street, New York City, and told me that Mr. Kilroe had sent him to "get me," and at once fired four shots at me from a .38-calibre revolver. He wounded me in the right leg and the right side of my scalp. I was taken to the Harlem Hospital, and he was arrested. The next day it was reported that he committed suicide in jail just before he was to be taken before a City Magistrate.
Record-Breaking Convention
The first year of our activities for the Black Star Line added prestige to the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Several hundred thousand dollars worth of shares were sold. Our first ship, the steamship Yarmouth, had made three voyages to the West Indies and Central America. The white press had flashed the news all over the world. I, a young Negro, as President of the corporation, had become famous. My name was discussed on five continents. The Universal Negro Improvement Association gained millions of followers all over the world. By August, 1920, over 4,000,000 persons had joined the movement. A convention of all the Negro peoples of the world was called to meet in New York that month. Delegates came from all parts of the known world. Over 25,000 persons packed the Madison Square Garden on August 1 to hear me speak to the first International Convention of Negroes. It was a record-breaking meeting, the first and the biggest of its kind. The name of Garvey had become known as a leader of his race.
Such fame among Negroes was too much for other race leaders and politicians to tolerate. My downfall was planned by my enemies. They laid all kinds of traps for me. They scattered their spies among the employes of the Black Star Line and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Our office records were stolen. Employes started to be openly dishonest; we could get no convictions against them; even if on complaint they were held by a Magistrate, they were dismissed by the Grand Jury. The ships' officers started to pile up thousands of dollars
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of debts against the company without the knowledge of the officers of the corporation.
Our ships were damaged at sea, and there was a general riot of wreck and ruin.
Officers of the Universal Negro Improvement Association also began to steal
and be openly dishonest. I had to dismiss them. They joined my enemies, and
thus I had an endless fight on my hands to save the ideals of the Association
and carry out our program for the race. My Negro enemies, finding that they
alone could not destroy me, resorted to misrepresenting me to the leaders of
the white race, several of whom, without proper investigation, also opposed
me.
With robberies from within and from without, the Black Star Line was forced to suspend active business in December, 1921. While I was on a business trip to the West Indies in the Spring of 1921, the Black Star Line received the blow from which it was unable to recover. A sum of $25,000 was paid by one of the officers of the corporation to a man to purchase a ship, but the ship was never obtained and the money was never returned. The company was defrauded of a further sum of $11,000. Through such actions on the part of dishonest men in the shipping business, the Black Star Line received its first setback. This resulted in my being indicted for using the United States mails to defraud investors in the company. I was subsequently convicted and sentenced to five years in a Federal penitentiary. My trial is a matter of history. I know I was not given a square deal, because my indictment was the result of a "frame-up" among my political and business enemies. I had to conduct my own case in court because of the peculiar position in which I found myself. I had millions of friends and a large number of enemies. I wanted a colored attorney to handle my case, but there was none I could trust. I feel that I have been denied justice because of prejudice. Yet I have an abundance of faith in the courts of America, and I hope yet to obtain justice on my appeal.
Association's 6,000,000 Membership
The temporary ruin of the Black Star Line has in no way affected the larger work of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, which now has 900 branches with an approximate membership of 6,000,000. This organization has succeeded in organizing the Negroes all over the world, and we now look forward to a renaissance that will create a new people and bring about the restoration of Ethiopia's ancient glory.
Being black, I have committed an unpardonable offense against the very light-colored Negroes in America and the West
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Indies by making myself famous as a Negro leader of millions. In their view,
no black man must rise above them, but I still forge ahead determined to give
to the world the truth about the new Negro who is determined to make and hold
for himself a place in the affairs of men. The Universal Negro Improvement Association
has been misrepresented by my enemies. They have tried to make it appear that
we are hostile to other races. This is absolutely false. We love all humanity.
We are working for the peace of the world, which we believe can only come about
when all races are given their due.
We feel that there is absolutely no reason why there should be any differences between the black and white races, if each stop to adjust and steady itself. We believe in the purity of both races. We do not believe the black man should be encouraged in the idea that his highest purpose in life is to marry a white woman, and we do believe that the white man should be taught to respect the black woman in the same way as he wants the black man to respect the white woman. It is a vicious and dangerous doctrine of social equality to urge, as certain colored leaders do, that black and white should get together, for that would destroy the racial purity of both.
We believe that the black people should have a country of their own, where they should be given the fullest opportunity to develop politically, socially and industrially. The black people should not be encouraged to remain in white people's countries and expect to be Presidents, Governors, Mayors, Senators, Congressmen, Judges and social and industrial leaders. We believe that with the rising ambition of the Negro, if a country is not provided for him in another 50 or 100 years, there will be a terrible clash that will end disastrously to him and disgrace our civilization. We desire to prevent such a clash by pointing the Negro to a home of his own. We feel that all well-disposed and broad-minded white men will aid in this direction. It is because of this belief no doubt that my Negro enemies, so as to prejudice me further in the opinion of the public, wickedly state that I am a member of the Ku Klux Klan, even though I am a black man.
I have been deprived of the opportunity of properly explaining my work to the white people of America, through the prejudice worked up against me by jealous and wicked members of my own race. My success as an organizer was much more than rival Negro leaders could tolerate. They, regardless of consequences, either to me or to the race, had to destroy me by fair means or foul. The thousands of anonymous and other hostile
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letters written to the editors and publishers of the white press by Negro rivals
to prejudice me in the eyes of public opinion are sufficient evidence of the
wicked and vicious opposition I have had to meet from among my own people, especially
among the very light colored. But they went further than the press in their
attempts to discredit me. They organized clubs all over the United States and
the West Indies, and wrote both open and anonymous letters to city, State and
Federal officials of this and other Governments to induc them to use their influence
to hamper and destroy me. No wonder, therefore, that several Judges, District
Attorneys and other high officials have been opposing me without knowing me.
No wonder, therefore, that the great white population of this country and of
the world has a wrong impression of the aims and objects of the Universal Negro
Improvement Association and of the work of Marcus Garvey.
The Struggle of the Future
Having had the wrong education as a start in his racial career, the Negro has become his greatest enemy. Most of the trouble I have had in advancing the cause of the race has come from Negroes. Booker Washington aptly described the race in one of his lectures by stating that we were like crabs in a barrel, that none would allow the other to climb over, but on any such attempt all would continue to pull back into the barrel the one crab that would make the effort to climb out. Yet, those of us with vision cannot desert the race, leaving it to suffer and die.
Looking forward a century or two, we can see an economic and political death struggle for the survival of the different race groups. Many of our present-day national centres will have become overcrowded with vast surplus populations. The fight for bread and position will be keen and severe. The weaker and unprepared group is bound to go under. That is why, visionaries as we are in the Universal Negro Improvement Association, we are fighting for the founding of a Negro nation in Africa, so that there will be no clash between black and white and that each race will have a separate existence and civilization all its own without courting suspicion and hatred or eyeing each other with jealousy and rivalry within the borders of the same country.
White men who have struggled for and built up their countries and their own civilizations are not disposed to hand them over to the Negro, or any other race, without let or hindrance. It would be unreasonable to expect this. Hence any vain assumption on the part of the Negro to imagine that he will one
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day become President of the Nation, Governor of the State, or Mayor of the City
in the countries of white men, is like waiting on the devil and his angels to
take up their residence in the Realm on high and direct there the affairs of
Paradise.
The Character of Races
Black and white are proportionately bad as well as proportionately good, living
under the same conditions and environments of our imperfect civilization.
All beauty, virtue and goodness are the exclusive attributes of no one race. All humanity have their shortcomings; hence no statement of mine, at any time, must be interpreted as a wholesale praise of, or attack upon any race, people or creed.
There are good and bad Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Klansmen. I would not wholesalely condemn any one group of the human race for the selfish good of another. The Negro needs as much moral reformation as anyone else. He lies, he steals, and he breaks the commands of God like any other sinner, and his crimes merit the same punishment as meted out to others. No one can influence me to be against Jews because they are Jews, Catholics because they are Catholics, or Klansmen because they are Klansmen. I condemn evil wheresoever I find it, in friend or foe, but I do not carry prejudice to the innocent because of their friendship for, or association with, the evildoer, for whom they are not responsible.
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Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World
Drafted and adopted at Convention held in New York, 1920, over which Marcus
Garvey presided as Chairman, and at which he was elected Provisional President
of Africa.
(Preamble)
"Be it Resolved, That the Negro people of the world, through their chosen representatives in convention assembled in Liberty Hall, in the City of New York and United States of America, from August 1 to August 31, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and twenty, protest against the wrongs and injustices they are suffering at the hands of their white brethren, and state what they deem their fair and just rights, as well as the treatment they propose to demand of all men in the future."
We complain:
I. "That nowhere in the world, with few exceptions, are black men accorded equal treatment with white men, although in the same situation and circumstances, but, on the contrary, are discriminated against and denied the common rights due to human beings for no other reason than their race and color."
"We are not willingly accepted as guests in the public hotels and inns of the world for no other reason than our race and color."
II. "In certain parts of the United States of America our race is denied the right of public trial accorded to other races when accused of crime, but are lynched and burned by mobs, and such brutal and inhuman treatment is even practised upon our women."
III. "That European nations have parcelled out among them and taken possession of nearly all of the continent of Africa, and the natives are compelled to surrender their lands to aliens and are treated in most instances like slaves."
IV. "In the southern portion of the United States of America, although citizens under the Federal Constitution, and in some states almost equal to the whites in population and are qualified land owners and taxpayers, we are, nevertheless, denied all voice in the making and administration of the laws and are taxed without representation by the state governments, and at the same time compelled to do military service in defense of the country."
V. "On the public conveyances and common carriers in the Southern portion of the United States we are jim-crowed and
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compelled to accept separate and inferior accommodations and made to pay the
same fare charged for first-class accommodations, and our families are often
humiliated and insulted by drunken white men who habitually pass through the
jim-crow cars going to the smoking car."
VI. "The physicians of our race are denied the right to attend their patients while in the public hospitals of the cities and states where they reside in certain parts of the United States."
"Our children are forced to attend inferior separate schools for shorter terms than white children, and the public school funds are unequally divided between the white and colored schools."
VII. "We are discriminated against and denied an equal chance to earn wages for the support of our families, and in many instances are refused admission into labor unions, and nearly everywhere are paid smaller wages than white men."
VIII. "In Civil Service and departmental offices we are everywhere discriminated against and made to feel that to be a black man in Europe, America and the West Indies is equivalent to being an outcast and a leper among the races of men, no matter what the character and attainments of the black man may be."
IX. "In the British and other West Indian Islands and colonies, Negroes are secretly and cunningly discriminated against, and denied those fuller rights of governments to which white citizens are appointed, nominated and elected."
X. "That our people in those parts are forced to work for lower wages than the average standard of white men and are kept in conditions repugnant to good civilized tastes and customs."
XI. "That the many acts of injustices against members of our race before the courts of law in the respective islands and colonies are of such nature as to create disgust and disrespect for the white man's sense of justice."
XII. "Against all such inhuman, unchristian and uncivilized treatment we here and now emphatically protest, and invoke the condemnation of all mankind."
"In order to encourage our race all over the world and to stimulate it to a higher and grander destiny, we demand and insist on the following Declaration of Rights:
1. "Be it known to all men that whereas, all men are created equal and entitled to the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and because of this we, the duly elected representatives of the Negro peoples of the world, invoking the aid of the just and Almighty God do declare all men women and children
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of our blood throughout the world free citizens, and do claim them as free citizens
of Africa, the Motherland of all Negroes."
2. "That we believe in the supreme authority of our race in all things racial; that all things are created and given to man as a common possession; that there should be an equitable distribution and apportionment of all such things, and in consideration of the fact that as a race we are now deprived of those things that are morally and legally ours, we believe it right that all such things should be acquired and held by whatsoever means possible.
3. "That we believe the Negro, like any other race, should be governed by the ethics of civilization, and, therefore, should not be deprived of any of those rights or privileges common to other human beings."
4. "We declare that Negroes, wheresoever they form a community among themselves, should be given the right to elect their own representatives to represent them in legislatures, courts of law, or such institutions as may exercise control over that particular community."
5. "We assert that the Negro is entitled to even-handed justice before all courts of law and equity in whatever country he may be found, and when this is denied him on account of his race or color such denial is an insult to the race as a whole and should be resented by the entire body of Negroes."
6. "We declare it unfair and prejudicial to the rights of Negroes in communities where they exist in considerable numbers to be tried by a judge and jury composed entirely of an alien race, but in all such cases members of our race are entitled to representation on the jury."
7. "We believe that any law or practice that tends to deprive any African of his land or the privileges of free citizenship within his country is unjust and immoral, and no native should respect any such law or practice."
8. "We declare taxation without representation unjust and tyrannous, and there should be no obligation on the part of the Negro to obey the levy of a tax by any law-making body from which he is excluded and denied representation on account of his race and color."
9. "We believe that any law especially directed against the Negro to his detriment and singling him out because of his race or color is unfair and immoral, and should not be respected."
10. "We believe all men entitled to common human respect,
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and that our race should in no way tolerate any insults that may be interpreted
to mean disrespect to our color."
11. "We deprecate the use of the term `nigger' as applied to Negroes, and demand that the word `Negro' be written with a capital `N.'"
12. "We believe that the Negro should adopt every means to protect himself against barbarous practices inflicted upon him because of color."
13. "We believe in the freedom of Africa for the Negro people of the world, and by the principle of Europe for the Europeans and Asia for the Asiatics; we also demand Africa for the Africans at home and abroad."
14. "We believe in the inherent right of the Negro to possess himself of Africa, and that his possession of same shall not be regarded as an infringement on any claim or purchase made by any race or nation."
15. "We strongly condemn the cupidity of those nations of the world who, by open aggression or secret schemes, have seized the territories and inexhaustible natural wealth of Africa, and we place on record our most solemn determination to reclaim the treasures and possession of the vast continent of our forefathers."
16. "We believe all men should live in peace one with the other, but when races and nations provoke the ire of other races and nations by attempting to infringe upon their rights, war becomes inevitable, and the attempt in any way to free one's self or protect one's rights or heritage becomes justifiable.
17. "Whereas, the lynching, by burning, hanging or any other means, of human beings is a barbarous practice, and a shame and disgrace to civilization, we therefore declare any country guilty of such atrocities outside the pale of civilization."
18. "We protest against the atrocious crime of whipping, flogging and overworking of the native tribes of Africa and Negroes everywhere. These are methods that should be abolished, and all means should be taken to prevent a continuance of such brutal practices."
19. "We protest against the atrocious practice of shaving the heads of Africans, especially of African women or individuals of Negro blood, when placed in prison as a punishment for crime by an alien race."
20. "We protest against segregated districts, separate public conveyances, industrial discrimination, lynchings and limitations of political privileges of any Negro citizen in any part of the
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world on account of race, color or creed, and will exert our full influence
and power against all such."
21. "We protest against any punishment inflicted upon a Negro with severity, as against lighter punishment inflicted upon another of an alien race for like offense, as an act of prejudice and injustice, and should be resented by the entire race."
22. "We protest against the system of education in any country where Negroes are denied the same privileges and advantages as other races."
23. "We declare it inhuman and unfair to boycott Negroes from industries and labor in any part of the world."
24. "We believe in the doctrine of the freedom of the press, and we therefore emphatically protest against the suppression of Negro newspapers and periodicals in various parts of the world, and call upon Negroes everywhere to employ all available means to prevent such suppression."
25. "We further demand free speech universally for all men."
26. "We hereby protest against the publication of scandalous and inflammatory articles by an alien press tending to create racial strife and the exhibition of picture films showing the Negro as a cannibal."
27. "We believe in the self-determination of all peoples."
28. "We declare for the freedom of religious worship."
29. "With the help of Almighty God, we declare ourselves the sworn protectors of the honor and virtue of our women and children, and pledge our lives for their protection and defense everywhere, and under all circumstances from wrongs and outrages."
30. "We demand the right of unlimited and unprejudiced education for ourselves and our posterity forever."
31. "We declare that the teaching in any school by alien teachers to our boys and girls, that the alien race is superior to the Negro race, is an insult to the Negro people of the world."
32. "Where Negroes form a part of the citizenry of any country, and pass the civil service examination of such country, we declare them entitled to the same consideration as other citizens as to appointments in such civil service."
33. "We vigorously protest against the increasingly unfair and unjust treatment accorded Negro travelers on land and sea by the agents and employees of railroad and steamship companies
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and insist that for equal fare we receive equal privileges with travelers of
other races."
34. "We declare it unjust for any country, State or nation to enact laws tending to hinder and obstruct the free immigration of Negroes on account of their race and color."
35. "That the right of the Negro to travel unmolested throughout the world be not abridged by any person or persons, and all Negroes are called upon to give aid to a fellow Negro when thus molested."
36. "We declare that all Negroes are entitled to the same right to travel over the world as other men."
37. "We hereby demand that the governments of the world recognize our leader and his representatives chosen by the race to look after the welfare of our people under such governments."
38. "We demand complete control of our social institutions without interference by any alien race or races."
39. "That the colors, Red, Black and Green, be the colors of the Negro race."
40. "Resolved, That the anthem `Ethiopia, Thou Land of Our Fathers,' etc., shall be the anthem of the Negro race."
The Universal Ethiopian Anthem
(Poem by Burrell and Ford.)
I
Ethiopia, thou land of our fathers,
Thou land where the gods loved to be,
As storm cloud at night suddenly gathers
Our armies come rushing to thee.
We must in the fight be victorious
When swords are thrust outward to gleam;
For us will the vict'ry be glorious
When led by the red, black and green.
Chorus
Advance, advance to victory,
Let Africa be free;
Advance to meet the foe
With the might
Of the red, the black and the green.
II
Ethiopia, the tyrant's falling,
Who smote thee upon thy knees,
And thy children are lustily calling
From over the distant seas.
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Jehovah, the Great One has heard us,
Has noted our sighs and our tears,
With His spirit of Love he has stirred us
To be One through the coming years.
CHORUS -- Advance, advance, etc.
III
O Jehovah, thou God of the ages
Grant unto our sons that lead
The wisdom Thou gave to Thy sages
When Israel was sore in need.
Thy voice thro' the dim past has spoken,
Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hand,
By Thee shall all fetters be broken,
And Heav'n bless our dear fatherland.
CHORUS -- Advance, advance, etc.
41. "We believe that any limited liberty which deprives one of the complete rights and prerogatives of full citizenship is but a modified form of slavery."
42. "We declare it an injustice to our people and a serious impediment to the health of the race to deny to competent licensed Negro physicians the right to practise in the public hospitals of the communities in which they reside, for no other reason than their race and color."
43. "We call upon the various governments of the world to accept and acknowledge Negro representatives who shall be sent to the said government to represent the general welfare of the Negro peoples of the world."
44. "We deplore and protest against the practice of confining juvenile prisoners in prisons with adults, and we recommend that such youthful prisoners be taught gainful trades under humane supervision."
45. "Be it further resolved, that we as a race of people declare the League of Nations null and void as far as the Negro is concerned, in that it seeks to deprive Negroes of their liberty."
46. "We demand of all men to do unto us as we would do unto them, in the name of justice; and we cheerfully accord to all men all the rights we claim herein for ourselves."
47. "We declare that no Negro shall engage himself in battle for an alien race without first obtaining the consent of the leader of the Negro people of the world, except in a matter of national self-defense."
48. "We protest against the practice of drafting Negroes and sending them to war with alien forces without proper training,
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and demand in all cases that Negro soldiers be given the same training as the
aliens."
49. "We demand that instructions given Negro children in schools include the subject of `Negro History,' to their benefit."
50. "We demand a free and unfettered commercial intercourse with all the Negro people of the world."
51. "We declare for the absolute freedom of the seas for all peoples."
52. "We demand that our duly accredited representatives be given proper recognition in all leagues, conferences, conventions or courts of international arbitration wherever human rights are discussed."
53. "We proclaim the 31st day of August of each year to be an international holiday to be observed by all Negroes."
54. "We want all men to know we shall maintain and contend for the freedom and equality of every man, woman and child of our race, with our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."
These rights we believe to be justly ours and proper for the protection of the Negro race at large, and because of this belief we, on behalf of the four hundred million Negroes of the world, do pledge herein the sacred blood of the race in defense, and we hereby subscribe our names as a guarantee of the truthfulness and faithfulness hereof in the presence of Almighty God, on the 13th day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty.
Marcus Garvey, James D. Brooks, James W. H. Eason, Henrietta Vinton Davis, Lionel Winston Greenidge, Adrion Fitzroy Johnson, Rudolph Ethelbert Brissaac Smith, Charles Augustus Petioni, Thomas H. N. Simon, Richard Hilton Tobitt, George Alexander McGuire, Peter Edward Baston, Reynold R. Felix, Harry Walters Kirby, Sarah Branch, Marie Barrier Houston, George L. O'Brien, F. O. Ogilvie, Arden A. Bryan, Benjamin Dyett, Marie Duchaterlier, John Phillip Hodge, Theophilus H. Saunders, Wilford H. Smith, Gabriel E. Stewart, Arnold Josiah Ford, Lee Crawford, William McCartney, Adina Clem. James, William Musgrave La Motte, John Sydney de Bourg, Arnold S. Cunning, Vernal J. Williams, Frances Wilcome Ellegor, J. Frederick Selkridge, Innis Abel Horsford, Cyril A. Crichlow, Samuel McIntyre, John Thomas Wilkins, Mary Thurston, John G. Befue, William Ware, J. A. Lewis, O. C. Kelly, Venture R. Hamilton, R. H. Hodge, Edward Alfred Taylor, Ellen Wilson, G. W. Wilson, Richard Edward Riley,
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Nellie Grant Whiting, G. W. Washington, Maldena Miller, Gertrude Davis, James
D. Williams, Emily Christmas Kinch, D. D. Lewis, Nettie Clayton, Partheria Hills,
Janie Jenkins, John C. Simons, Alphonso A. Jones, Allen Hobbs, Reynold Fitzgerald
Austin, James Benjamin Yearwood, Frank O. Raines, Shedrick Williams, John Edward
Ivey, Frederick Augustus Toote, Philip Hemmings, F. F. Smith, E. J. Jones, Joseph
Josiah Cranston, Frederick Samuel Ricketts, Dugald Augustus Wade, E. E. Nelom,
Florida Jenkins, Napoleon J. Francis, Joseph D. Gibson, J. P. Jasper, J. W.
Montgomery, David Benjamin, J. Gordon, Harry E. Ford, Carrie M. Ashford, Andrew
N. Willis, Lucy Sands, Louise Woodson, George D. Creese, W. A. Wallace, Thomas
E. Bagley, James Young, Prince Alfred McConney, John E. Hudson, William Ines,
Harry R. Watkins, C. L. Halton, J. T. Bailey, Ira Joseph Touissant Wright, T.
H. Golden, Abraham Benjamin Thomas, Richard C. Noble, Walter Green, C. S. Bourne,
G. F. Bennett, B. D. Levy, Mary E. Johnson, Lionel Antonio Francis, Carl Roper,
E. R. Donawa, Philip Van Putten, I. Brathwaite, Jesse W. Luck, Oliver Kaye,
J. W. Hudspeth, C. B. Lovell, William C. Matthews, A. Williams, Ratford E. M.
Jack, H. Vinton Plummer, Randolph Phillips, A. I. Bailey, duly elected representatives
of the Negro people of the world.
Sworn before me this 15th day of August, 1920.
[Legal Seal]
JOHN G. BAYNE.
Notary Public, New York County.
New York County Clerk's No. 378; New York County Register's No. 12102. Commission expires March 30, 1922.
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Part II: United States of America vs. Marcus Garvey
Preamble
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. -- Matt. v. x.
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United States of America vs. Marcus Garvey
Was Justice Defeated?
Some details of the case of the United States of America against Marcus Garvey are herewith submitted in the hope that the reader may be able to form an opinion and reach a conclusion as to whether ERROR TRIUMPHED OVER JUSTICE.
The following excerpt from "The Law's Introspection" written by Attorney H. H. Emmons of Canton, Ohio, defines the Law in its entirety:
"I AM THE LAW. By and through me only is Civilization itself preserved and Anarchy, my arch-enemy, kept in chains. When I am misused or my prerogatives ignored by the courts or my interpreters swayed by Passion, Prejudice or Political Influence -- those green-eyed monsters that feed on ignorance and credulity -- many and divers crimes are committed in my name and from which the victims, at times, have no appeal.
As I owe my own right to exist to the General Public it must be kept informed as to my principles, actions and inactions -- the mistakes I make and the frailties of my being -- so that Error cannot triumph over Justice. Discretion, therefore, requires me to invite Publicity to my citadels as the trusted guard against Suspicion, and, as it were, transact my business behind glass doors. Secret Diplomacy must have no admittance to my realm. Honest Criticism, that great genius for Progress, and the twin brother of Publicity, must be well-treated within my Province. Education and Science, those loyal, tried and true friends of Society, shall have every consideration within my power to bestow."
The following facts in connection with the case are worthy of consideration:
1. Marcus Garvey was first indicted alone for using the mails to defraud in the promotion of the Black Star Line and the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
2. Immediately after this indictment all the books, records and documents of the Black Star Line and the Universal Negro Improvement Association were seized by the government and taken from the office of the corporation and association respectively; which books, records and documents were admitted in evidence over the objection and exception of Marcus Garvey, in violation of his constitutional right under Article IV. of the
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United States Constitution, in that, by the admission of such books, records
and documents Marcus Garvey was, in effect, required to give evidence against
himself.
3. After the seizure of the books, the prosecution sent questionnaires to all the stockholders of the Black Star Line, questioning them about Marcus Garvey -- a very unusual method.
4. There were about 35,000 stockholders of the Black Star Line, who were also members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, of which Marcus Garvey was President-General. These stockholders were supremely interested in the development of Africa for the Negro race, which program was advocated by the Universal Negro Improvement Association and for which cause they invested their money.
5. The first indictment, being faulty, in that the Black Star Line was a corporation and not a private enterprise, was withdrawn, and two new indictments returned against Marcus Garvey as President, Orlando Thompson, as Vice-President, Eli Garcia, as Secretary, and George Tobias, as Treasurer, of the Black Star Line, based upon the solicited replies to the questionnaires.
6. These two indictments were referred to at the trial as the first and second indictments. They contained thirteen counts.
7. At the close of the trial the jury, after being out for eleven hours, was called in by the learned judge and given a second series of instructions, without their request, the gist of which is evident when he stated:
"Some men feel that having given their view in the beginning, it is an indication of their firmness of character, their sound judgment, if they stick inalterably to it. . . . Now the effect of a disagreement, whether it be as to one count, two or three or four of them, as to any particular count, means that as to such count or as to such defendant, or both, as to which you may disagree, the government is put to the expense, the public is put to the loss of time, and the Court and the jury, and the witnesses and the defendants are put to the expense of having to go through the whole thing again."
8. The jury again retired after the second charge and in less than thirty minutes returned with a verdict of guilty against Marcus Garvey alone, under the third count of the second indictment.
9. Marcus Garvey was given the maximum punishment under the law -- five years in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, One
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thousand dollars fine, and ordered to pay the entire cost of the suit.
10. He was denied bail by the Court, and remained in the Tombs Prison, New York City, while his attorneys made several applications for his bail. At the expiration of three months he was granted bail pending his appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals.
11. The witnesses who testified against Marcus Garvey were for the most part dishonest, dismissed and disgruntled ex-employees of his, who admitted hatred toward him in Court.
12. The contradictory testimony of the mailing clerk, part of which is quoted elsewhere, is worthy of consideration.
13. The attitude of the Assistant United States Prosecutor during the entire conduct of the case toward Marcus Garvey is exemplified in the closing remarks of his impassioned address to the jury, when he said:
"GENTLEMEN, WILL YOU LET THE TIGER LOOSE?"
Bear in mind, Dear Reader, that there were FOUR defendants, not ONE.
14. That the Bill of Exceptions filed in Marcus Garvey's behalf after trial contained ninety-four errors alleged to have been committed, and this despite the fact that Garvey, a layman, tried his own case.
The following among other Errors cited by Counsel for Marcus Garvey, should be noted:
(a) The Court erred in not declaring a mistrial after publication in the New
York newspapers of articles to the effect that threatening letters were sent
to the Judge, Prosecutor and Jury that harm will be done them, if a verdict
adverse to the Paintiff-in-Error were returned, said publication having been
duly brought to the attention of the Court.
(b) The Court erred in refusing to comply with the request of the Plaintiff-in-Error to restrain persons attached to the Court from giving out to the press, news prejudicial to the Plaintiff-in-Error.
(c) The Court erred in not declaring a mistrial after the Prosecutor referred to the Plaintiff-in-Error as a "liar" in the presence of the Jury, upon the Prosecutor requesting the Plaintiff-in-Error to turn over to him certain papers, which papers the Plaintiff-in-Error stated had previously been turned over to the Prosecutor.
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15. That the decision of the Honorable Circuit Court of Appeals was given within
two weeks after arguments were heard, nothwithstanding the fact that the trial
lasted five weeks and the record in connection therewith was voluminous.
16. That the Mandate was handed down within thirty-four hours after the decision was rendered.
17. That Marcus Garvey was in Detroit, Michigan, at the time the Mandate was handed down. His attorneys notified him by telegram to return immediately, and so informed the Assistant United States Prosecutor, who agreed to have him surrender on his arrival. Despite this agreement and the fact that Marcus Garvey came into New York City on the first train leaving Detroit, after receipt of the telegram, he was brutally seized by heavily armed men and dragged from a Pullman car inside 125th Street Station, New York City, to the Tombs Prison.
18. Although the United States Prosecutor had agreed with Garvey's counsel to permit Garvey to remain in the Tombs Prison, New York City, after his surrender for a reasonable time to enable counsel to file a petition for a writ of certiorari, when the application was made in court before Hon. Judge Augustus N. Hand this same Assistant United States Prosecutor vigorously opposed the application.
19. Marcus Garvey was taken to Atlanta Penitentiary the following day without being given an opportunity to arrange the affairs of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, an organization with a membership of six million Negroes all over the world; or to protect their interests in investments made by them in the said organization and its auxiliaries.
20. Marcus Garvey is now serving the prison term in Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, but the fine and costs he has been unable to pay, being without funds. The costs of the trial and appeal on his behalf have been paid by voluntary contributions of stockholders of the Black Star Line and members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, both of which he was head.
21. The New York Evening Bulletin, a newspaper controlled by white people, under date of February 7, 1925, published a very illuminating editorial on some of the reasons that led up to Marcus Garvey's conviction. The editorial in part states:
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"Garvey is a Negro, but even a Negro is entitled to have the truth told about him.
Garvey has been ridiculed, laughed at and buffooned by New York newspapers ever since he came to this city. He did many strange things, it is true, but he performed many fine acts, too. The Bulletin gains nothing by taking up Garvey's cause but truth demands that it be admitted that he offered his race an ideal. He proposed a free republic of Negroes in the land which should be owned and governed by Negroes -- Africa.
Some day his ideal will be accepted and it will materialize. Some day Negro Africa will be free Africa, and it will not be divided between France and Great Britain.
Garvey's troubles began when he stepped on the toes of these nations. They saw in him a dangerous agitator who would cause trouble and lead the people of his own color in Africa to think for themselves. And so hireling journalists, acting at the bidding of their foreign masters, painted Garvey as a joke and trickster. Had the man been given half a fair deal, his financial schemes might have been successful and he might have been able to avoid the unfortunate disasters which led him into the courts and brought punishment upon him."
22. The Buffalo Evening Times, another white newspaper, under date of February 24, 1925, points out another phase of public opinion bearing on the case when it states:
"It is a very grave question whether justice has been done in the case
of Marcus Garvey, self-styled President of the African Republic and promoter
of a plan to facilitate the emigration of colored people as colonists for the
foundation of a republic, populated by them and under their control, in the
land of their forefathers. . . .
He had become the idol of the colored race. Other leaders were in the discard. White hostility was aroused lest he inspire his own people over intensively with race consciousness. Without going too deeply into the merits or demerits of the case, many elements extraneous to his business enterprises seem to have played an atmospheric part in his trial and conviction. He was permitted to plead his own case, a circumstance that put him at tremendous disadvantage as against a trained prosecutor in a Federal Court. . . .
If, for the sake of argument, every contention of the authorities be granted, there is still something that is not
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pleasant about this whole business. Intent is the essence of a crime. This man's
entire proceedings have a certain consistency with the possible assumption of
great dreams and visions for his race. It is conceivable, on the supposition
of his entire sincerity, that everybody else might regard his plans as chimerical,
and it is likewise natural to expect that such a man, with even the best of
motives, might make mistakes -- innocently at that -- such as would bring him
within the network of watchful prosecution. What we regretfully point out, in
the consideration of comparative justice, is the fact that this colored man
is given a sentence of five years when so many greater offenders are sentenced
to but two years, and still others are enjoying complete immunity from any punishment
whatsoever."
23. Mr. Armin Kohn of the law firm of Kohn and Nagler, attorneys for Marcus Garvey, in a statement to the Associated Press, says:
"In my twenty-three years of practice at the New York Bar, I have never
handled a case in which the defendant has been treated with such manifest unfairness
and with such a palpable attempt at persecution at this one."
BRIEF FOR PLAINTIFF-IN-ERROR.
United States Circuit Court of Appeals For the Second Circuit MARCUS GARVEY,
Plaintiff-in-Error (Defendant below), against UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant-in-Error
(Plaintiff below)
Marcus Garvey, Ely Garcia, George Tobias and Orlando M. Thompson were indicted
on two indictments, each of which contained counts charging various substantive
offenses, of using the mails to defraud, and each of which contained a count
charging conspiracy to commit the substantive offense.
All of the defendants were acquitted of the charge of conspiracy, and only one defendant, Marcus Garvey, was found guilty of the substantive offense, and this, under only one count of the indictment. Upon this single count, Garvey was sentenced to serve five years in the penitentiary at Atlanta and to
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pay a fine of $1,000 and the costs of the suit. A trial was had before Judge
Julian W. Mack and a jury in the United States District Court for the Southern
District of New York and judgment of conviction was rendered on the verdict
of the jury on June 22, 1923. The plaintiff-in-error, Marcus Garvey, comes here
by writ of error on a bill of exceptions,
The Count of the Indictment Upon Which Garvey Was Convicted
The indictment charged a single scheme to defraud. The various counts which charged the substantive offense of the use of the mails in execution of the scheme to defraud are based upon the separate mailing of letters to different addresses. The conspiracy counts charge a conspiracy to execute this scheme to defraud through the intended use of the mails.
Garvey was acquitted of all the charges in both the indictments, except the charge contained in the third count of the second indictment, that on or about December 13, 1920, "for the purpose of executing said scheme and artifice," Garvey placed in a post office in the Southern District of New York "a certain letter or circular enclosed in a postpaid envelope addressed to `Benny Dancy, 34 W. 131 St., N. Y. C.'" (p. 11).
There is not a scintilla of evidence that Garvey placed or caused to be placed in the mails the circular or letter described or referred to in this count of the indictment. This is so far beyond any question, that we propose to shorten the labors of the Court in consideration of the lengthy record of the testimony by addressing ourselves at the outset to this proposition. And no other demonstration is required than to refer the Court to the testimony of Dancy and to the exhibits in the record, introduced in evidence to support this count of the indictment.
POINT I
There is not a scintilla of evidence, competent or otherwise, to establish the mailing of the indictment letter, upon which the third count of the second indictment was based. It was upon this count and only this count that Garvey was convicted.
A. The only exhibit offered in support of the mailing of the indictment letter under the Dancy count is the front and back of an envelope, Exhibit 112 (p. 2626).
B. The testimony of Dancy in full is as follows (p. 860):
"Q. What is your business? A. What do you mean, my work?
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Q. Yes. A. Pennsylvania station cleaner.
Q. Pennsylvania station? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was that your business in 1919 and 1920? A. It was, yes, sir.
Q. Did you buy any stock in the Black Star Line? A. Yes, sir.
Q. How much? A. 53 shares.
Q. Was that all your savings or what?
Mr. Johnson: Objected to, absolutely immaterial, if the Court please.
The Court: Sustained.
Q. Did you get any letters? A. Yes, I got a letter.
Q. Did you get a letter from the Post Office Department about it? A. No, sir, I did not.
Q. Let me show you -- did you give any papers to anybody in the Government service, to a post office man, to an agent? A. Not that I know of.
Q. Where did the Government get your papers, if you know?
Mr. Johnson: Is this for the purpose of impeaching his witness?
Mr. Mattuck: Not impeaching him at all.
Mr. Garvey: I object to these leading questions.
The Court: That isn't leading.
Q. How did the Government get your mail, do you know?
A. They came around to my house, where I live in Brooklyn, and they received my mail over there and I give it to them.
Q. I am going to show you an envelope, Benny, and ask you whether you recognize it? A. Yes, sir.
Q. You do? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you remember what came in that envelope? A. No, sir, I do not.
Q. What was it about?
Mr. Johnson: I object.
Q. Let me finish my question, if you please, Mr. Johnson; do you know what the contents of that envelope was, what was it about? A. Some of the envelopes are about --
The Court: This envelope.
Q. I am going to show you the back of it; see if that helps you.
Mr. Garvey: I beg to record my objection and exception to the method of examination and his Honor's ruling in the matter.
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The Court: Proceed.
A. I cannot remember what was in the letter.
Q. Did you get a number of letters, Dancy? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you remember whether or not any of them were from the Black Star Line? A. Yes, sir, some was from the Black Star Line and from the Universal Negro Improvement Association, and some were from the Negro Factories Corporation.
Q. Now, the letters which you got from the Black Star Line, were about what? A. I got so many letters from them I didn't see them all.
Mr. Johnson: I object. The objection is you cannot go into the contents of letters.
Mr. Mattuck: I offer the envelope in evidence, on the ground it bears on the back of it the stamp "Black Star Line" and it is a reasonable assumption that envelope contained matter from the Black Star Line.
Mr. Johnson: Objected to as immaterial and irrelevant.
The Court: It may go in.
Mr. Garvey: Same objection for Mr. Garvey with an exception.
The Court: Yes.
Received and marked Government's Exhibit 112.
Q. Now, Benny, do you know what these letters which came to you from the Black Star Line were about? A. I cannot remember all of them because I never read all the letters I got and some of them were about one thing and another and a lot of them that I got I just threw it back.
Q. Tell us what these letters were about, Mr. Dancy? A. I couldn't tell you about all of them because I never read them all.
Q. Those that you read? A. Well, some of the letters said invest more money in the Black Star Line for the case of purchasing bigger ships and so forth.
Q. What else that you can think of? A. There is so much I just can't remember it all anyhow.
Q. Give us as much as you can remember; one of the things you said was to buy more ships, bigger ships. Did they say anything about the dividends.
Mr. Johnson: I object.
The Court: No -- exhaust his memory first.
Q. Tell us, Dancy, all you can think of?
The Court: I did rule on it; I sustain the objection.
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Q. Cannot you think what you were spending your money for, what they said? A.
Yes, they said in some of the letters about investing this money to help me
and the rest and make bigger progress. I cannot remember the letters unless
I see some of them.
Q. Did you read the `Negro World'? A. Sometimes I read some of it?
Q. Did you hear any of Mr. Garvey's speeches? A. Yes, sir.
Cross examination by Mr. Garvey.
Q. Mr. Dancy, you cannot remember really what you read about the Black Star Line?
Mr. Johnson: He said that.
Mr. Garvey: Please leave me alone.
The Court: He has a perfect right to object.
Q. Can you remember what you read about the Black Star Line? A. Well, a few things, not all.
Q. You wouldn't swear to what you said about the Black Star Line positively? A. What I said about it?
Q. Yes, things you said awhile ago, you wouldn't swear those were the things you saw or read, you wouldn't swear positively, you cannot remember and therefore you cannot swear positively that the things you said awhile ago are what you read? A. Sure, what I said, that is what I read.
Q. You wouldn't swear positively that they were true -- yes or no -- it is so long a time you could not remember -- yes or no -- you would not swear positively -- just say yes or no, Mr. Dancy, yes or no? A. What do you mean?
Q. That is to say, the things you said, the answers you gave to Mr. Mattuck? A. What answers?
Q. The answers you gave awhile ago? A. Tell me what answer it was.
Q. That you read in a circular about ships and everything and so forth. A. Yes, it was in the circular.
Q. But you wouldn't swear positively those things were in the circular? A. They were in some letters.
Q. Would you swear what letters they were in? A. I don't remember what letters they were in, they were in some Black Star Line, but what letters they were I don't know.
Q. You don't know whether they reached you through the mail or not, you just saw things about the Black Star Line? A. I saw things about it?
Q. Yes. A. I didn't saw things. I saw it in the letter.
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Q. Can you remember what you saw in the letter positively? A. I just told you
I couldn't remember all -- do you understand it?
Q. I am not vexed with you. A. I am not vexed with you; you raised your voice to me; I raised mine to you.
Q. I am not vexed, I just want to hear what you say. A Take your time.
Q. Would you really swear -- A. I just told you I couldn't remember all the letter, bring the letter up here.
Q. None of the letters that were shown you were the letters? A. What?
Q. The letters that the District Attorney showed you they weren't the letters? A. They weren't the letters?
Q. Yes. A. Yes, they were the letters.
Q. And you don't remember what was in them? A. I can't remember all of them; I got so many letters I couldn't remember all the letters.
1.
Dancy is not charged in either of the indictments to have been one of the persons whom it was intended to defraud (fols. 8. 60). He could not have been included in the description "divers other persons whose names are to the Grand Jurors unknown," for the evident reason that he was known to the Grand Jury, and this appears upon the face of the indictment.
2.
Dancy bought fifty-three shares of stock, but it does not appear when he bought his stock. In order to determine whether any circular or letter addressed to Dancy was in execution of the scheme to defraud, it is essential to know when Dancy became a stockholder.
3.
Dancy did not testify that he received the envelope (Exhibit 112). It does not appear that this envelope was taken from Dancy's possession by the Government's agents. Dancy merely testifies that he recognizes the envelope (fol. 2582).
4.
The envelope was offered in evidence without further testimony than the testimony of Dancy that he recognized it. It was offered by the prosecuting attorney as follows:
"Mr. Mattuck: I offer the envelope in evidence, on the ground it bears on the back a stamp `Black Star Line' and it is a reasonable assumption that envelope contained matter from the Black Star Line" (fol. 2585).
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No letters or circulars received by Dancy were identified in any manner. No letter or circular that is in evidence was shown to Dancy. It is not possible to say, and it was not possible for the jury to determine, whether a single one of the circulars or letters introduced in evidence were ever seen by Dancy.
Dancy says that he cannot remember what was in the letter (fols. 2582, 2584). Here he obviously refers to the letter which may have been enclosed in the envelope. He got a number of letters, not alone from the Black Star Line, but from the Universal Negro Improvement Association and some from the Negro Factories Corporation (fol. 2584).
The jurisdiction of the United States to punish this offense is dependent upon the use of the mails, and the gist of the offense set forth in the count upon which Garvey was convicted, was the specific instance of the mailing of a letter or circular on December 13, 1920. It is true that Dancy testified that some of the letters said "invest more money in the Black Star Line for the case of purchasing bigger ships and so forth" (fol. 2587), and that some of the letters spoke about "investing this money to help me and the rest and make bigger progress" (fol. 2588). But the letters or circulars to which Dancy referred were not identified in any respect. It is a "reasonable assumption" that Dancy was not able to identity any of the letters or circulars which are in evidence as being similar to the letters or circulars that he received, for if this were the fact, it is obvious that the District Attorney would have exhibited the letters or circulars to Dancy for the purpose of identification.
But the fundamental objection to such proof is that it does not support the charge that the mailing of any of these letters or circulars took place in the Southern District of New York. It has always been held necessary to prove the mailing of the indictment letter. But if this could under any circumstances be dispensed with, so as to permit the proof of mailing of other letters, certainly the proof must be confined to letters mailed within the jurisdiction, and the essential fact of jurisdiction must be established beyond a reasonable doubt.
Dancy testifies, without any qualification, that he does not know what was in the envelope which was introduced in support of the charge on which Garvey was convicted. He is even unable to say whether it contained any letter or circular that came from the Black Star Line. But it is essential to prove the mailing of the indictment letter. How else can the jury determine whether the mailing which is alleged in the indictment was in execution of the scheme to defraud? The statute never
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has read, and never has been construed to read, that a person engaged in a scheme
to defraud may not use the United States mails. The mails must be used, whether
successfully or not, in aid and furtherance of the scheme to defraud, and to
effectuate the scheme. When the indictment charges the mailing of a particular
letter, then it is the fact of mailing that letter that completes the substantive
offense, and gives jurisdiction both to the United States, and to the Court
in which the indictment is found.
The general allegations that the defendants planned and devised a scheme to defraud which contemplated the use of the mails is not sufficient to charge the substantive offense. It may be adequate to charge a conspiracy to commit the substantive offense. But the substantive offense has its being and comes into existence only at the moment that the letter is placed in the post-office for the purpose of delivery, and such letter is in execution of the scheme to defraud. The charge is a nullity until it reaches the point where there is alleged the fact of mailing. The mailing of the letter is not an incident; it is of the very essence of the offense. It is therefore proof of the very thing which is the life of the indictment and cannot be dispensed with, and proof of some other facts, however cogent they may be to establish the offense in another indictment when properly charged cannot be accepted as a substitute.
The indictment letter charged in an indictment for the substantive offense cannot be correlated to the charge of an overt act in the conspiracy indictment. Not alone is the allegation of an overt act required merely by force of the statute, but it is not the essential fact upon which the power of the United States to declare a crime is based. Apart from any overt act, a conspiracy to commit an offense against any law of the United States may be made a crime. And although the overt act may give jurisdiction to the Court of a particular district to try the offense, it has nevertheless been repeatedly held that the overt act is not a part of the offense of conspiracy.
The cases that hold that the proof of the mailing of the indictment letter is essential are many but we refer only to a few authorities.
In Hart v. United States, 240 Fed., 911, the opinion by Hough, J., reads:
"An indictment that did not charge mailing or receiving and in the proper district would be demurrable. The point is jurisdictional, and cannot be slurred over in proof. It is
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not necessary to descend into particulars, but as to some of these counts there
was no proof at all of any mailing of the `indictment letter.' The defendants
requested specifically an instruction that, in order to convict, the jury must
believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the particular letter mentioned and described
in each count was mailed or received by mail, as the case might be, which request
was refused.
Such refusal might be immaterial if the matter had been covered in the general charge, but we find nothing in the charge pointing out in words or substance the absolute necessity of somehow proving, not the mailing or receipt of letters generally, but such action in respect of the particular letter named in each count of the indictment and vital to the jurisdiction of the court."
In Farmer v. United States, 223 Fed., at page 909, the opinion by Lacombe, J., says:
"Devising a scheme to defraud generally anyone whom they might catch in their net would not by itself constitute an offense under Section 215. The actual use of the mails in furtherance of the scheme was a fact essential to be charged and proved. The second indictment charged the mailing of the Preston letter; conviction under that count could not be secured unless the mailing of that letter in furtherance of the scheme were shown. The mailing merely of other letters to other persons would not sustain conviction under this count."
In Olsen v. United States, 287 Fed. at page 89, the opinion by Manton, J., says:
"The mailing of a letter in the execution or attempted execution of a fraudulent scheme is the gist of the offense announced by the statute. It is that act, and that alone, which confers jurisdiction upon the courts of the United States to punish authors of fraudulent schemes."
POINT II
The conviction in this case was based not on facts in evidence, but upon an "assumption" which had absolutely no support in the evidence.
Nosowitz v. United States, 282 Fed. at page 578, opinion by Manton, J.:
"Unless there is substantial evidence of facts which exclude every other hypothesis but that of guilt, it is the duty of the trial judge to instruct the jury to return a verdict for
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the accused, and where all the substantial evidence is as consistent with innocence
as with guilt, it is the duty of this court to reverse a judgment against the
plaintiff's in error."
People v. Razezicz, 206 N. Y., 249, at p. 273:
"In a criminal case circumstantial evidence to justify the inference of guilt must exclude to a moral certainty every other reasonable hypothesis. Circumstantial evidence in a criminal case is of no value if the circumstances are consistent with either the hypothesis of innocence, or the hypothesis of guilt; nor is it enough that the hypothesis of guilt will account for all the facts proven."
United States v. Ross, 92 U. S., pp. 283, 284:
"These seem to us to be nothing more than conjectures. They are not legitimate inferences, even to establish a fact; much less are they presumptions of law. They are inferences from inferences; presumptions resting on the basis of another presumption. Such a mode of arriving at a conclusion of fact is generally, if not universally, inadmissible. No inference of fact or of law is reliable drawn from premises which are uncertain. Whenever circumstantial evidence is relied upon to prove a fact, the circumstances must be proved, and not themselves presumed. Starkie on Evid., p. 80, lays down the rule thus: `In the first place, as the very foundation of indirect evidence is the establishment of one or more facts from which the inference is sought to be made, the law requires that the latter should be established by direct evidence, as if they were the very facts in issue." It is upon this principle that courts are daily called upon to exclude evidence as too remote for the consideration of the jury. The law requires an open, visible connection between the principal and evidentiary facts and the deductions from them, and does not permit a decision to be made on remote inferences. Best on Evid., 95. A presumption which the jury is to make is not a circumstance in proof; and it is not, therefore, a legitimate foundation for a presumption. There is no open and visible connection between the fact out of which the first presumption arises and the fact sought to be established by the dependent presumption. Douglas v. Mitchell, 35 Penn. St., 440."
Roukous v. United States, 195 Fed., 353 at p. 361:
"* * * while it is not necessary that any particular circumstance should of itself be sufficient to prove a criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt, yet it is necessary that each circumstance
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offered as a part of the combination of proofs should itself be maintained beyond
a reasonable doubt, and should have some efficiency, so far as it has efficiency
to a greater or less range, beyond a reasonable doubt, and at least be free
from the condition of being as consistent with innocence as with guilt * * *."
Vernon v. United States, 146 Fed., 121 at p. 123:
"Circumstantial evidence warrants a conviction in a criminal case, provided it is such as to exclude every reasonable hypothesis but that of guilt of the offense imputed to the defendant; or, in other words, the facts proved must all be consistent with and point to his guilt only and inconsistent with his innocence. The hypothesis of guilt should flow naturally from the facts proved and be consistent with them all. If the evidence can be reconciled either with the theory of innocence or of guilt the law requires that the defendant be given the benefit of the doubt and that the theory of innocence be adopted."
The indictment charges that certain named defendants devised a scheme to defraud. In the substantive count the defendants are specifically named, and do not include "divers other persons unnamed." It is alleged that said defendants "for the purpose of executing said scheme and artifice" did place in the Post Office of the United States "a certain letter or circular enclosed in a postpaid envelope addressed to `Benny Dancy, 34 W. 131st St., N. Y. C.'" (fol. 32). The only other reference to the use of the mails in the charge of the substantive offense is that the defendants intended as part of the scheme to defraud that certain pretenses and promises should be made "in literature circulated by mail and direct by representatives of said corporation" (fol. 10). The mere intent to use the mails is neither a requisite of the offense under the present statute, nor does it constitute an element of the substantive offense. It is the actual use of the mails that forms the gist of the offense and gives the Court jurisdiction. It must be remembered that all the defendants were acquitted of the conspiracy.
The conviction on the third count of the second indictment does violence to every rule of law applicable to the trial of criminal cases. The proof offered in support of that count of the indictment would not be tolerated in a civil case involving a trivial amount of money. Courts require proof, not "assumptions"; evidence that will support inferences, not vague suggestions that form the basis for mere speculation and conjecture.
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However commonplace and elementary these propositions may seem, they have been
completely disregarded in this case.
No better confirmation of the foregoing can be found than the statement of the prosecuting attorney:
"I offer the envelope in evidence, on the ground it bears on the back of it the stamp `Black Star Line' and it is a reasonable assumption that envelope contained matter from the Black Star Line."
With reference to this proposition, and the ground on which the envelope was offered and received, we state the following incontestible propositions:
1. It is assumed that the words appearing on the back of the envelope "Black Star Line" was constituted a stamp or mark, that identified the envelope as coming from the office of the Black Star Line. This basic assumption is without the least support in the evidence. No one anywhere testifies that the stamp or mark, appearing on the back of the envelope, Exhibit 112, was the stamp or mark of the Black Star Line. There was no proof of this fact. The very basis of the "reasonable assumption" was itself an assumption.
2. It is assumed that the envelope contained a circular or letter. It may require very slight evidence to furnish the basis for an inference that an envelope received through the mail contained written or printed matter. But at least some slight evidence there must be. There cannot be a total lack and absence of evidence upon this point. It is not a presumption of law that an envelope necessarily contains matter. It can be only an inference based upon facts. And this inference must be based upon some evidence. Dancy testified as follows:
"Q. Do you remember what came in that envelope? A. No, sir, I do not" (fol. 2582).
3. It is assumed that the contents of the envelope related to the Black Star Line. This assumption is based upon the previous assumption that the envelope contained either a letter or a circular, and upon the further assumption that the stamp on the back necessarily indicated the source of the mailing.
Why was it necessary to produce a witness? Why was it not sufficient for the prosecution to offer a mass of envelopes in evidence, and rely upon these "reasonable assumptions?"
4. It is assumed that the contents of the envelope necessarily were transmitted for the purpose of executing the scheme to defraud. Is the mere use of the mails by one engaged in a scheme to defraud an offense indictable under the statute? Are the words
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in the statute "for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice"
of no force whatsoever? If it is possible that the jury could have found that
the enclosure in the envelope did not relate to the alleged scheme to defraud,
had no connection with the purpose or execution of the scheme, then there must
be some evidence as to the contents of the assumed enclosure. Where there is
an entire absence of evidence as to the contents, and the jury must find that
the contents were in execution of the scheme, they can so find only if there
is an irrebuttable, conclusive presumption of that fact. The statute specifies,
as an element of the offense, that the matter deposited in the mail must be
for the purpose of executing the scheme. Is it sufficient to say that a person
engaged in a scheme to defraud has deposited, or caused to be deposited, an
envelope, and by this, to cast upon that person the burden of proving that the
contents of the envelope did not relate to the scheme, or was not in execution
of the scheme? The presumption that the defendant charged with an offense is
innocent protects the defendants not alone as to the ultimate finding, but as
to every element of the offense, and as to every material fact, and where there
is no basis for an inference, the Court must as a matter of law presume innocence;
the jury cannot be permitted as matter of fact to infer guilt.
5. It is assumed that the envelope was mailed or caused to be mailed by Garvey. There is no evidence whatsoever of the identity, or even possible identity, of the person who mailed this envelope. The indictment does not charge that Garvey, the other named defendants who were acquitted and "divers other persons," devised the scheme to defraud (fol. 8). The persons who are described as defendants are specifically named and limited by the indictment to the defendants on trial. The indictment charges that "Marcus Garvey, Ely Garcia, George Tobias and Orlando M. Thompson, named as defendants herein and hereinafter referred to as the defendants, had theretofore devised a scheme, an artifice to defraud" (fol. 8). While the conspiracy count charges that these defendants conspired with "divers other persons," the substantive count is limited to the named defendants. And the third count of the indictment charges that the named defendants deposited the circular or letter addressed to Dancy in the mail.
While it is true that the act of any person who was acting under the directions, express or implied, of Garvey, might be charged to Garvey as his personal act, there must be some proof that the person who mailed the envelope was such a person. We
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challenge the prosecution to attempt to specify in the remotest way who it was
that deposited this envelope. Was it Garvey himself? Was it Thompson, Garcia,
or the other defendants who were acquitted? Is there any evidence as to the
person who deposited the envelope? Is there any evidence that he was an employee
of the Black Star Line?
Dancy testified that he had purchased fifty-three shares of the stock of the Black Star Line. There is no evidence of the date of this purchase. Dancy testified that he "never read all the letters" (fol. 2586). He also heard some of Mr. Garvey's speeches. There is abundant evidence in the record that at the various meetings held by the different associations in which Mr. Garvey was interested, circulars were passed to the audience. The witness Scott testified that at the meetings he attended in Stamford circulars similar to those that he identified were given out, and he was therefore unable to state what circulars he received through the mail and what circulars were handed directly to him (fol. 2704).
It appears that Dancy delivered certain papers to the Post Office Inspector. If any of these papers, whether letters or circulars, were contained in the envelope, it should have been easily possible for the District Attorney to establish this fact. It is not alone a "reasonable assumption" -- it is a necessary and inevitable inference that the District Attorney was unable to establish through the witness that any letter or circular which was produced by the witness was contained, or might have been contained, in the envelope offered in evidence. The District Attorney, recognizing his inability to establish the fact or any possible basis for inference as to the fact, rested upon a "reasonable assumption."
POINT III
The verdict of the jury was induced either by passion or prejudice. It was in entire disregard of the evidence.
It is impossible for anyone to assert that the verdict of the jury can be supported by logic. How is it possible to explain the action of the jury, when it acquitted all the defendants of the charge of conspiracy, and acquitted Garvey of all the substantive counts, except on the single charge contained in the Dancy count. This finding was a vagary. It was clearly based upon an ignorance of the facts shown by the record. It necessarily implies that the jury either misunderstood the charge of the Court or paid not the least attention to it. It necessarily
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implies that the jury was engaged in administering a lawless justice, uncontrolled
by the facts in the record, or the law as charged by the Court.
In a civil case, where the result reached by the jury demonstrates that it indulged in speculation, or in an apparent effort to compromise, the Courts hasten to correct the injustice. It is recognized that the jury has not performed its duty. It is presumed that the jury has been influenced by passion or prejudice, or has yielded to mere conjecture. The reasons for insisting in a criminal case that a jury must render a verdict that is consistent with the record and the law as directed by the Court are far more potent. The sanctity of the jury system, and the maintenance of respect for the jury system are vitally dependent upon the proper performance by the jury of its functions in strict accordance with law. There can be no compromise with this principle, if it is intended to maintain intact the due and effective operation of our jury system as a part of the administration of criminal law. We repeat that the verdict of the jury in this case has not the least possible support in logic, and cannot be defended as in conformity with the facts and the law of the case. It was a leap in the dark.
This case called for the finest discrimination on the part of the jury, and the most scrupulous consideration of the facts. It required the jury to be constantly awake to the danger that it might be influenced by considerations outside of the record. It was a matter in which every juryman had an intimate personal interest. While it is important that the Government should protect a class from the alleged schemes of their accepted leader, it is even more important that the people whose just aspirations Mr. Garvey represents should be left with the feeling that their leader has received a fair trial. It was peculiarly a case where the rights of the defendant should have received the utmost protection.
It is true that we can make no appeal to this Court, based upon the fact that the verdict is contrary to the evidence. It is true, that however slight the amount, and however unconvincing may be the force of the testimony, we are in this respect concluded by the verdict. But when that verdict on its face indicates that it was necessarily arrived at by the jury through a disregard of the facts and of the law, and when the result reached compels the conclusion that the jury speculated upon its verdict, and arrived at a compromise, then it is proper further to test the sincerity of this verdict, its consistency, its honesty, by an understanding
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of the facts; and if the verdict is so tested, we believe that the Court will
not hesitate to conclude that the jury was in fact animated by prejudice and
passion, that it acted in ignorance of the record and of the facts, and that
it was led by a lawless purpose to produce a result that seemed proper to them,
without regard to the issues in the case before them.
In the claim that the jury was actuated not alone by prejudice, but by passion, we do not mean to imply that it was actuated by a purpose to commit an injustice against the individual Garvey. But we do mean to assert that the testimony was such as was calculated to make a most potent appeal to the feelings, the passions, and the prejudices of the jury, and to put them in the position, not of administering justice in the case of an individual, but of dealing with a general situation, represented to them as one fraught with great danger and many evils. It is as if Gandhi were to be tried by a jury of Englishmen for his leadership of the people of India. It is as if De Valera were to be tried by a jury of Ulsterites for his leadership of the Irish people. It is as if a Zionist were to be tried by a jury of Moslems for his plans and activities in the establishment of a homestead for the Jews in Palestine. It may be that the system of laws prevailing in the jurisdiction where such a case might be tried would permit only such a trial. But it does undoubtedly present a situation where the courts must be most careful to scrutinize the result so as to determine whether the jury was guided by law, or was carrying out what it conceived to be a social or political remedy, determined by its own selfish interests.
In all of these movements, money is necessary. In all these movements, great promises are held forth. No one who does not put himself in the place of the stricken and afflicted people to whom the appeal is made can understand or sympathize with the enthusiasm of the leader, and the trust and confidence of the masses. To treat such a situation as this indictment does, as a matter of dollars and cents and monetary fraud, and to judge it as one would judge a criminal transaction, or a speculative mining enterprise, is to warp the facts, and to commit a travesty upon the truth. No movement for the redemption of a people has succeeded in making money. The American Revolution was conducted at a financial loss. During the years that the Revolution was fought, and before the Constitution was adopted, and the finances of the country placed upon a stable basis, any jury would have been justified in convicting the abettors of the Revolution and the Fathers of the country for a
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money fraud, when they induced peoples to invest in the loans, upon the promise
of repayment. It will not do to say that these matters were disposed of by the
verdict of the jury. For that verdict is so inconsistent with the acquittal
of all the defendants on all the other charges, that it cannot be defended as
a verdict in accord with the facts and the law. The only explanation that can
be made is that the jury proposed somehow to see that Garvey was stopped. The
jury did not believe in Garvey and his movement.
This Court has well said that in a case where defendants charged with a conspiracy are acquitted of that charge, and all or several of them are found guilty of a substantive offense, a heavy burden is laid on the prosecution to uphold the conviction for the substantive offense.
"The verdict of not guilty of conspiracy left for the jury's inevitable consideration a mass of testimony immaterial to the issues passed upon adversely to these plaintiffs-in-error, and their co-defendants, yet extremely prejudicial to them."
Hart v. United States, 240 Fed., 911; quoted in
Harris v. United States, 273 Fed. at p. 791.
While this was said in connection with the importance to be attached to errors, as affecting the verdict, in this case the principle is equally true, although it has a different application. For it must be remembered that Garvey alone was convicted. There were no fellow-conspirators. There were no others who aided and abetted him in the scheme to defraud. The persons, who, during the many months of Garvey's absence, transacted the business of the Black Star Line, and issued and mailed circulars and letters, were found innocent of any crime. The verdict acquitting the associates must necessarily therefore include a finding that what Garvey did through his associates was innocent and free from wrong. To illustrate our point by an analogy, it is as if, in a suit for negligence, the chauffeur who drove the car was held free from blame, yet damages were assessed against the absent owner, based upon the negligence of the chauffeur.
The theory of the indictment and of the trial was that everything that was done by or in the name of the Black Star Line was chargeable to the defendants; that it was only necessary to show that the matter originated in or emanated from the Black Star Line, in order to receive it in evidence and charge the defendants with responsibility therefor. But the verdict of
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the jury in acquitting the other defendants necessarily implies that the acts
of the other defendants were free from guilt, and were no part, either of the
substantive scheme to defraud, or of the conspiracy.
It is alleged in the indictment that the scheme to defraud was made up of three elements.
1. False representations, pretenses and promises;
2. The sale of stock of the Black Star Line;
3. The conversion of part of the proceeds from the sale of the stock to the use of the defendants.
The third element -- conversion of part of the proceeds to the use of the defendants -- has no support in the record. At the time of the organization of the Black Star Line Garvey received no compensation whatsoever (fol. 6656). He worked for the corporation until September, 1919, when at a directors' meeting, he was voted a salary of $50 a week. He drew this salary until some time in 1920, when it was increased to $100 a week (fol. 6657). Since the latter part of 1920 he received no salary from the Black Star Line. In September or November, 1920, he was voted a salary of $10,000 a year by the Universal Negro Improvement Association (fol. 6659).
The sale of the stock of the Black Star Line was doubtless induced by the representations and promises made by Garvey and his associates. Upon the record, and in view of the verdict of the jury, it is not open to the plaintiff-in-error to contend that the representations and promises made as to the success of the operation of the ships by the Black Star Line did not to some extent form part of the inducing cause. But no one, reading the record, can fail to realize that the ship project was but a small part, an incident, of the large scheme that roused the enthusiasm of Garvey and appealed to the hopes and aspirations of the thousands of his followers. No one can fail to be strongly impressed by the undoubted fact that the persons who contributed were more intent on the ultimate uplifting and salvation that was promised to the Negro race of America, than upon the paltry profits that might be realized from the stock investment.
We do not pretend that a Negro charged with crime is entitled to any special rights or favor. But we do contend that when the crime charged is one that involves the relations between the Negro and white races, the utmost care should be observed to safeguard the actual rights of the defendant. In this connection we present the following considerations:
1. Application was made by Garvey to the trial Judge asking
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that the trial Judge declare himself disqualified to try the indictments.
The substantial ground of the application was that the Judge was a member of or a contributor to the Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and it appeared that persons active in that association were opposed to the Universal Negro Improvement Association, of which Garvey was the head. It also appeared that one of the members of the National Association had sought to initiate a criminal prosecution against Garvey. The Judge admitted his connection with the National Association, but denied the fact of bias. The motion was denied on the ground that the affidavit did not comply with the statute.
2. Testimony was received of acts of Garvey entirely unrelated to the charge in the indictment.
It is true that in many instances this testimony was elicited by cross-examination conducted by Garvey himself. But it is also true that in many instances a plain suggestion of the fact came from the questions of the Assistant District Attorney, and Garvey was provoked to further questioning along these lines. This is particularly true of the matters relating to Garvey's association with certain women.
3. The Court was unduly severe in its repeated admonition of Garvey.
Time and again the Court appears to have sustained objections that were never made. Time and again the Court suggested to the Assistant District Attorney that an objection would be sustained. Where an examination is being conducted by a defendant on his own behalf, the impression that the Court is taking the part of the prosecution, and assisting the prosecution in the conduct of the case, is bound to be disturbing and hurtful. The cumulative effect of the Court's continued admonitions to the defendant was to give the jury the impression that Garvey was responsible for the undue length of the trial. This may have been the fact, and necessarily so. But it should have been the aim of the Court at all times to divert from the defendant any feeling on the part of the jury by reason of that fact. However annoying the situation was, the defendant was within his rights, and the annoyance should have no possible relation to the question of guilt or innocence.
4. The attitude of the Assistant District Attorney toward Garvey during the trial was improper.
The Assistant District Attorney had no just right to interrupt Garvey in his examination, except by proper objection to the Court, or to address remarks directly to Garvey.
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We do not contend that legally any one of the foregoing matters constitutes in itself legal error. We do contend, however, that the whole situation was one that tended unduly to prejudice the defendant in the conduct of his case, and to suggest an atmosphere of antagonism on the part of the Court and the Assistant District Attorney, that necessarily was reflected in the attitude of the jury. This situation helped to bring about the absurd result, whereby the jury acquitted all the defendants of the charges, except that Garvey through some strange vagary was held on a charge in the indictment that had absolutely no evidence upon which to base that particular charge.
And when we seek to understand how it was that the jury, by some inexplicable, absurd process found that Garvey was guilty of mailing a circular or letter to Dancy, when there was not in the evidence any such circular or letter, and when there was not in the evidence any means by which the circular or letter could be identified, and when the sole exhibit consisted of an envelope, that did not even appear to have been addressed by Garvey, or through his procurement, then we feel fully justified in stating that the verdict was unjust, that it was the result of speculation, if not of passion or prejudice.
POINT IV
The judgment of conviction should be reversed and the indictment dismissed.
Dated, New York, October 18, 1924.
Respectfully submitted,
KOHN & NAGLER,
Attorneys for Defendant Marcus Garvey.
George Gordon Battle,
Isaac H. Levy,
of Counsel.
The Peculiar testimony of Mailing Clerk
Government Witness, Schuyler Cargill
Cross Examination by Mr. Garvey
Q. What is your name? A. Cargill.
Q. What Cargill? A. Schuyler.
Q. Where were you born?
Mr. Mattuck: I will object to it as being immaterial.
The Court: Sustained.
Mr. Garvey: Exception.
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Q. Where do you live? A. Roselle, New Jersey.
Q. You always lived there? A. No.
Q. How long since you have been living in New Jersey?
A. About three or four years; between three and four years.
Q. When were you working for the Black Star Line?.
A. About 1919.
Q. To when? A. From 1919 until 1921.
Q. Speak louder, please. A. From 1919 until 1921.
Q. From 1919 to 1921? A. Yes.
Q. Who employed you? A. Mr. Prentice.
Q. Who paid you? A. Mr. Tobias, the treasurer.
Q. And he paid you from 1919 to 1921? A. Yes, sir.
Q. In whose office did you work? A. Mr. Prentice.
Q. Worked in Mr. Prentice's office? A. The mailing division.
Q. What did you do in Mr. Prentice's office. A. I was office boy, mailing.
Q. What did you do? A. Keep the files together, file letters and run errands and go to the post office.
Q. That is all you did? A. Yes, sir.
Q. You didn't do anything more? A. No.
Q. Now, tell the Court and gentlemen of the jury all you did in Mr. Prentice's office, everything you ever did, going for water, buying stamps, and everything. Tell us what you remember.
A. I mailed the letters, filed all the letters that came in, and once in a while I went to the post office and got stamps.
Q. Yes, anything else? A. That is all.
Q. I show you Government's Exhibit No. 24. Do you remember seeing that a while ago (handing paper to witness)? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you mail that for the Black Star Line? A. I did.
Q. How do you know this circular was in the letter of the Black Star Line? A. We kept those in our office.
Q. What? A. We kept those circulars in our office.
Q. Because you kept those circulars in your office makes you know it was in the letters? A. They were sent out separate.
Q. Sent out separate. How do you know that that circular, that particular circular or a circular like that was in the envelopes or letters you took to the post office? A. I had it all to do.
Q. What do you mean, all to do? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What do you mean, all to do? A. That was part of my work.
Q. What do you mean by all to do?
Mr. Mattuck: He has answered the question and I object to it. He says that was part of his work.
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Q. Do what? A. Mail those circulars.
Q. I know you said you mailed them, but I want to know how you know that particular circular or circulars of that sort was in the letter or letters you mailed, how do you know? A. We had those to mail them and we mailed them.
Q. That is all the information you had?
The Court: Did you or didn't you say you put the letters inside the envelopes?
The Witness: Yes, sir.
The Court: You did.
Q. What did you say?
The Court: You mean you did, did you say that?
The Witness: Yes, sir, I say that.
Q. Who put them in? A. I did that.
Q. You put them in? A. Yes.
Q. Now, John, or Schuyler, whatever your name is, you know you are not telling the truth, don't you?
Mr. Mattuck: I will object to the question.
The Court: It is cross-examination. He may answer.
Q. Don't you know that Mr. Prentice never came to the Black Star Line during 1920? A. No, sir, I did not; he was there when I was there.
Q. What did you say? A. He was there when I was there; I do not know when he came.
Q. But you testified you worked for Mr. Prentice in 1919. I want to bring out you are not telling the truth, that Mr. Prentice was not there in 1919 and you did not work in the Black Star Line in 1919, or at no time.
Mr. Mattuck: You want to prove he didn't work for the Black Star Line at any time?
Q. Now, don't you know Mr. Prentice was not with the Black Star Line in 1919? A. What is that question again?
Q. You heard me, didn't you? Don't you know Mr. Prentice was not with the Black Star Line in 1919, that is my question. A. He was there when I was there. I do not know when he was there.
Q. You were told to mention certain dates before you came to this court? Isn't it a fact somebody told you to mention certain dates like 1919 and 1920 before you came to this court, isn't it a fact?
The Court: Did anybody tell you to mention certain dates, 1919 or 1920 when you would be on the witness stand, and if so who told you that? Can't you answer the question?
The Witness: Yes, sir.
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The Court: Did somebody tell you to mention those dates when you got on the witness stand?
Q. Go on, say yes or no, somebody told you?
The Court: Why don't you answer the question?
The Witness: All right -- yes.
The Court: Somebody did tell you to mention those dates?
The Witness: Well, I realize and I know --
The Court: Did somebody tell you to mention those dates, that is the question that is put to you?
The Witness: Yes, sir.
The Court: If so, who told you to mention those dates? Talk up so we can all hear you.
The Witness: Mr. Mattuck.
Q. Mr. Mattuck? A. Yes.
Mr. Mattuck: Mr. Mattuck told you to tell certain dates?
Q. Now, Schuyler, what time you left the Black Star Line? Come on, you must remember it? A. What time?
Q. Yes, what year, what month and what year?
A. I can't remember what month it was.
Q. What year then? A. 1921.
Q. In whose office did you work in 1921? A. Mr. Prentice.
Q. Can you remember some more people who were working in Mr. Prentice's office and in the general office of the Black Star Line in 1921?
A. In Mr. Prentice's office you mean?
Q. Both in Mr. Prentice's office and in the general office of the Black Star that is in Mr. Garcia's office, that is in Mr. Garvey's office, Mr. Tobias' office and the other offices, you remember some other people who worked there? A. Yes, sir.
Q. In 1921? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Who was the timekeeper during your time, in 1921? A. I can't remember that.
Q. You can't remember the man to whom you went with your card every morning and who punched your card there for you and who took your time in the afternoon? You can't remember that man's name? A. No, sir.
Under Re-Direct Examination
Q. You said you mailed these circulars at what station? A. College Station.
Q. Where is that? A. 149th street around there and 8th avenue.
Q. Don't you know that College station is not at 149th street and 8th avenue? Did anybody speak to you and tell you as to
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where you should -- as to the particular post office you should testify you
mailed those circulars? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Who told you that, go ahead, speak up, let us hear. You are here to tell the truth, now we want to know. Who told you that? A. I remember mailing those letters up there.
Q. Answer my question. You have said already, you have just answered somebody told you where you should say you mailed those circulars. I am asking you to tell me that -- go on now, you have answered pretty well, I want you to continue? Go on, the jury wants to get at the truth of this thing you know? A. Inspector Shea.
Q. Mr. Shea? A. Yes.
Decision of Circuit Court of Appeals
United States Circuit Court of Appeals For the Second Circuit
Before:
HON. HENRY WADE ROGERS
HON. CHARLES M. HOUGH
HON. LEARNED HAND,
Circuit Judges.
Marcus Garvey
Plaintiff-in-error
vs.
United States of America
Defendant-in-error
Writ of error to judgment of conviction entered in the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Garvey and others were indicted under Crim. Code 215, for having devised a scheme to defraud and for the purpose of executing the same, or attempting so to do, causing to be placed in and delivered by the Post Office establishment of the United States, certain letters or circulars enclosed in postpaid envelopes.
The nature of the scheme as set forth in the indictment was an endeavor to persuade, especially colored men and women, to purchase stock in the Black Star Line, Inc., a corporation existing under the laws of Delaware and having for its purpose the acquisition and management of steamships, which vessels were ultimately intended to transport to Africa many colored men
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and much material, there to build up a greater country for the Negro race.
The substance of indictment is that, while there center around Garvey other associations or corporations having for their object the uplift and advancement of the Negro race, the entire scheme of uplift was used to persuade Negroes for the most part to buy shares of stock in the Black Star Line at $5 per share, when the defendants well knew notwithstanding florid representations to the contrary, that said shares were not and in all human probability never could be worth $5 each or any other sum of money.
The voluminous testimony shows at length great efforts on the part of Garvey to constitute himself a "leader of the colored race of the world," and he called himself at times the "provisional President of Africa," his purpose being to promote solidarity among Negroes by and through several organizations of his begetting quite different from the Black Star Line.
The matter may be summarized in the language of Garvey's counsel at this bar, thus:
"Upon the record it is not open to the plaintiff in error to contend that the representations and promises made as to the success of the operation of the ships by the Black Star Line did not to some extent form part of the inducing cause"
of the sale of stock thereof.
But, adds the brief of counsel,
"no one reading the record can fail to realize that the ship project was but a small part of the large scheme that roused the enthusiasm of Garvey and appealed to the hopes and aspirations of the thousands of his followers. No one can fail to be strongly impressed by the fact that the persons who contributed were more intent on the ultimate uplifting and salvation that was promised to the Negro race of America than to the paltry profits that might be realized from the stock `investment.' "
The persons indicted with Garvey were acquitted and Garvey himself convicted on one count. The effect of the conviction is that Garvey is declared to have been guilty of the scheme or artifice to defraud set forth in the indictment, and of having for the purpose of executing the same caused to be sent through the United States Post Office "a certain letter or circular enclosed in a postpaid envelope addressed to Benny Dancy, 31
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West 131st street, New York City." Thereupon Garvey took this writ of error.
George Gordon Battle and Isaac H. Levy for Plaintiff-in-error. Maxwell L. Mattuck, Assistant U. S. Attorney, opposed. HOUGH, C. J.
Justice to the community and rules of law combine to prevent Courts or juries from looking upon the testimony in this case in the spirit sought to be aroused by the brief for plaintiff-in-error.
It may be true that Garvey fancied himself a Moses, if not a Messiah; that he deemed himself a man with a message to deliver, and believed that he needed ships for the deliverance of his people; but with this assumed, it remains true that if his gospel consisted in part of exhortations to buy worthless stock, accompanied by deceiving false statements as to the worth thereof, he was guilty of a scheme or artifice to defraud, if the jury found the necessary intent about his stock scheme, no matter how uplifting, philanthropic or altruistic his larger outlook may have been. And if such scheme to defraud was accompanied by the use of the mails defined by the statute he was guilty of an offense under Crim. Code 215.
We need not delay to examine in detail the fraud scheme exhibited by practically uncontradicted evidence. Stripped of its appeal to the ambitions, emotions, or race consciousness of men of color, it was a simple and familiar device of which the object (as of so many others) was to ascertain how "it could best unload upon the public its capital stock at the largest possible price." (Horn vs. United States 182 Fed., 721 at 731). At this bar there is no attempt to justify the selling scheme practiced and proven, it was wholly without morality or legality.
This writ rests solely on an asserted failure to prove the "indictment letter" in the single count on which Garvey was convicted.
We pointed out in Hart vs. United States 240 Fed., 911 at 917, that Congress by Sec. 215, has made any fraudulent scheme a crime, if for the purpose of executing the same any letter, etc., be sent or received by post. The corrollary is that in this case it was necessary for the prosecution to prove not only that there was a scheme to defraud, but to show that there was a communication sent through the mail to Dancy within the jurisdiction of the Court for the purpose of executing or attempting to execute the same.
As was said in Lefkowitz vs. United States (273 Fed. 664 Cert. denied 257 U. S., 637), in such a prosecution as this it is competent
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to show every part of the method of conducting the scheme, that is calculated
to shed light on the intent and purpose of its deviser. Some schemes have a
relation to the use of the mails so plain that any court or juryman can take
notice thereof; and so the general use of the mails may be established by showing
that the success of the scheme depended on a wholesale utilization of the post.
This is fully set forth in Kellogg vs. United States 126 Fed. 323. And in this
case there was proven a widespread and wholesale use of the mails for the purpose
of soliciting subscriptions to the worthless stock offered by Garvey to the
public. The connection between his scheme and the use of postal facilities was
manifest, and this circumstance was proper for the consideration of the jury.
Starting with this, there was abundant proof of the style of "literature" used in falsely puffing the Black Star Line stock. It was directly proven that Dancy received through the mail an envelope addressed as in the indictment averred, that such envelope was like many similarly proven to have been mailed by Garvey's mailing agent, and bearing upon them the legend "Black Star Line, New York City."
It was also directly proven that Dancy received many communications not only from the Black Star Line, but from other organizations with which Garvey was concerned, and that some of the letters thus received advised him to invest "more money in the Black Star Line," and he did purchase some fifty shares. But there was no direct evidence as to what particular circular, letter, or the like came in the envelope identified by Dancy as having been sent to and received by him through the post, and mentioned in the indictment. It was further directly proven that Dancy had received through the post communications distinctly calculated to aid in executing the scheme to defraud; so that the point raised by this writ is that this evidence is insufficient to justify a conviction upon the single count before us, because there was no direct proof of what the envelope had contained.
To this we cannot agree; the circumstantial evidence is sufficient. The rule is elementary that any fact which becomes material in a criminal prosecution may as a rule be established by circumstantial as well as by direct evidence. (16 C. J. 762.) So also is the rule fundamental that in arriving at their verdict, a jury is not confined to considering the palpable facts in evidence, but it may draw reasonable inference and make reasonable deductions therefrom (16 C. J. 760).
Consequently a conviction may well be had upon circumstantial
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evidence, although to warrant such conviction the proven facts must clearly
and satisfactorily exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save that of guilt.
(United States vs. Greene 146 Fed., 863 Aff'd 154 Fed., 401; Cert. denied 307
U. S., 596).
The only matter here not proven by direct evidence is that some particular circular or letter was enclosed in the envelope produced by Dancy -- a man evidently both emotional and ignorant, whose caliber may be judged by the following excerpts from a cross-examination conducted by Garvey pro se:
"Q. You don't know whether they (letters or circulars) reached you through the mail or not, you just saw things about Black Star Line? A. I saw things about it.
Q. Yes? I didn't saw things, I saw it in the letters.
Q. Can you remember what you saw in the letters positively? A. I just told you I couldn't remember all; do you understand it? . . .
Q. The letters that the District Attorney showed you, they weren't the letters? A. They weren't the letters.
Q. Yes? A. Yes, they were the letters.
Q. And you don't remember what was in them? A. I can't remember all of them, I got so many letters I couldn't remember all the letters."
It is a reasonable inference that men regularly sending out circulars in envelopes do not send out empty envelopes; also that one who received an empty envelope would remember the emptiness, and further and finally that when Dancy identified the envelope and testified to letters and circulars so numerous that he could not remember all of them, the inference was justifiable that some or one of those documents came in the envelope.
Which one was of no importance; the nature of the matter sent by mail is immaterial, it is the purpose inspiring the sending that brings the scheme-deviser under national law, not the language of his communication.
Thus the circumstantial evidence justified the jury in finding that the envelope did not come empty to Dancy. We note that it is the language of the count that required the envelope to have contained a letter or the like; so far as the statute goes it would be quite possible so to use an empty envelope or a postal card blank except for address, as to satisfy the statute.
Judgment affirmed.
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Stripping the Effect of its Cause to Show Crime
Cessante causâ, cessat effectus.
In the decision of the learned Court of Appeals in my case, the distinguished and honorable Judges were so eager, ready and positive, in face of the apparently unread record of four thousand pages (which, on careful examination, reveal the most glaring contradictions of prosecution testimony, not only by the defense witnesses, but by the prosecution's witnesses themselves on cross-examination, as admitted by the Prosecutor in his rebuttal summation when he admitted to the jury that his witnesses were liars) that they have introduced a new departure in American Jurisprudence by the following statements on record of their opinion; "We need not delay to examine in detail the fraud scheme exhibited by practically uncontradicted evidence." "Stripped of its appeal to the ambitions, emotions or race consciousness of men of color, it was a simple and familiar device of which the object (as of so many others) was to ascertain how it could best unload upon the public its capital stock at the largest possible price."
The stock of the Black Star Line was never offered to the public. It was offered only to Negroes and only those of the Universal Negro Improvement Association who were interested in, and themselves fostering, the idea of an African Nationalism to which the Black Star Line was contributory. No white person could buy stock in the Black Star Line, and none was offered to them anywhere. But in this case of Conviction, the Cause had to be "stripped" of its appeal to the ambition, emotions, or race consciousness to leave it bare as a crime. Let us "strip" Government of its moral community, social appeals and we have despotism, violence and crime; let us strip War of its economic and political appeals, and we have murder and highway robbery; let us strip the great George Washington and his noble compatriots of the appeal, emotions and race consciousness that lead to liberty, and we have treason, murder and crime; let us strip the whites of race consciousness in their idea and practice of white supremacy, and we have wholesale crime against humanity; let us strip the paid elected or appointed official or employee of Government or institutions of the moral, racial, ethical or emotional usefulness of his office and power of enforcement and we have malfeasance -- an imposter, vagrant and vagabond who lives off the bounty, earnings and tributes of the hard working people; let us strip the Christian
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religion of its moral, ethical appeals and emotions and we have robbery, pocket-picking
and virtual hold-ups in the name of Christ in our churches every Sunday by way
of appeals for financial support, and so we find analogies ad infinitum. This
twist of the law is dangerous to the fundamentals of American liberty and justice.
How Socialism, Sovietism, Bolshevism, Anarchism and other Isms are Formed
Encouragement of unworthy and unprincipled public officials in office does incalculable
harm to good Government, and supplies the cause for unrest among the dissatisfied
citizenry that sometimes result in agitations and movements that could have
been avoided among large groups, harmful to the good of society and reflective
on the character of those who are responsible for Government.
Government being so sacred, should be in the hands of only those who are morally or ethically clean and upright.
Most of the isms that plague the world are the direct result of the crude and unprincipled acts of selfish and unworthy representatives of Government inflicted upon innocent people, who, being conscious of their innocence, and cognizant of the injustice done them, resort to measures of their own for justification that generally result in the formation and promotion of new policies, ideas or means for the proper administration of justice to other mortals, and those who suffer like themselves, never fail to appreciate the benefits to be derived and join in to give strength and character to the new adventure.
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Last Speech before Incarceration in the Tombs Prison, New York City, U. S.
A., Delivered at Liberty Hall, New York City, June 17, 1923
Among the many names by which I have been called, I was dubbed by another name
a couple days ago. The District Attorney, with whom I have been contesting the
case for my liberty and for the existence of the Universal Negro Improvement
Association, in his fervid appeal, in his passionate appeal, to the gentlemen
of the jury last Friday cried out: "Gentlemen, will you let the tiger loose?"
The tiger is already loose, and he has been at large for so long that it is no longer one tiger, but there are many tigers. The spirit of the Universal Negro Improvement Association has, fortunately for us, made a circuit of the world, to the extent that harm or injury done to any one, will in no way affect the great membership of this association or retard its great program. The world is ignorant of the purpose of this association. The world is ignorant of the scope of this great movement, when it thinks that by laying low any one individual it can permanently silence this great spiritual wave, that has taken hold of the souls and the hearts and minds of 400,000,000 Negroes throughout the world. We have only started; we are just on our way; we have just made the first lap in the great race for existence, and for a place in the political and economic sun of men.
Those of you who have been observing events for the last four or five weeks with keen eyes and keen perceptions will come to no other conclusion than this -- that through the effort to strangle the Universal Negro Improvement Association -- through the effort to silence Marcus Garvey -- there is a mad desire, there is a great plan to permanently lay the Negro low in this civilization and in future civilizations. But the world is sadly mistaken. No longer can the Negro be laid low; in laying the Negro low you but bring down the pillars of creation, because 400,000,000 Negroes are determined to a man, to take a place in the world and to hold that place. The world is sadly mistaken and rudely shocked at the same time. They thought that the new Negro would bend; they thought that the new Negro was only bluffing and would exhibit the characteristic of the old Negro when pushed to the corner or pushed to the wall. If you want to see the new Negro fight, force him to the wall, and the nearer he
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approaches the wall the more he fights, and when he gets to the wall he is even
more desperate.
What does the world think -- that we are going back to sixty years ago in America -- going back to eighty-five years ago in the West Indies -- going back to 300 years ago in Africa? The world is crazy if they indulge that thought. We are not going back; we are going forward -- forward to the emancipation of 400,000,000 oppressed souls; forward to the redemption of a great country and the re-establishment of a greater government.
Garvey has just started to fight; Garvey has not given his first exhibition of his fighting prowess yet. Men, we want you to understand that this is the age of men, not of pigmies, not of serfs and peons and dogs, but men, and we who make up the membership of the Universal Negro Improvement Association reflect the new manhood of the Negro. No fear, no intimidation, nothing can daunt the courage of the Negro who affiliates himself with the Universal Negro Improvement Association. The Universal Negro Improvement Association is light, and we have entered into light and shall not go back into darkness. We have entered into the light of a new day; we have seen the light of a new creation; we have seen the light of a new civilization, and we shall follow where that light leads.
I was amused when my friend, the district attorney, said that he was more interested in Negroes than Marcus Garvey. They are so accustomed to the old camouflage that they believe they can plead it everywhere to the satisfaction of every Negro, and to everyone who comes in contact with them. That is the old camouflage that made them our missionaries sixty years ago; it is the same camouflage that made them our leaders since emancipation; but it is the camouflage that will not stand today. It is impossible for a Negro to be more interested in a Jew than a Jew is interested in himself. It is impossible for an Englishman to be more interested in an Irishman than that Irishman is in himself. It is a lie for any Jew to say he is more interested in Negroes than Negroes are in themselves. It is an unnatural lie to talk about one race being more interested in another race than that race is interested in itself. But that only shows how desperate they are. Sometimes we have to beware of Greeks bearing gifts. Unfortunately, I did not have the last word and therefore I was silenced after I placed my defense in; but, nevertheless, the world will know tomorrow the outcome of this case wherein Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association is involved. One way or the other, the world will not be disappointed. There is no verdict that would disappoint
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me. I tell you this, that there is to be no disappointment; if they were to
give any other verdict than guilty, Marcus Garvey will be very much disappointed;
Marcus Garvey knows them so well that Marcus Garvey will expect anything from
them; so, whether they give a verdict of guilty or not guilty, it is immaterial
to Marcus Garvey; the fight will just then be starting.
Not Fighting the Government
Now, understand this is a fight to the finish. We are not fighting this great government, because all Negroes in America -- all Negroes all over the world -- know that the greatest democracy in the world is the American democracy, the greatest government in the world is the American republic. We are not fighting America; we are fighting hypocrisy and lies, and that we are going to fight to the bitter end. Now, understand me well, Marcus Garvey has entered the fight for the emancipation of a race; Marcus Garvey has entered the fight for the redemption of a country. From the graves of millions of my forebears at this hour I hear the cry, and I am going to answer it even though hell is cut loose before Marcus Garvey. From the silent graves of millions who went down to make me what I am, I shall make for their memory, this fight that shall leave a glaring page in the history of man.
They do not know what they are doing. They brought millions of black men from Africa who never disturbed the peace of the world, and they shall put up a constitutional fight, that shall write a page upon the history of human affairs that shall never be effaced until the day of judgment. I did not bring myself here; they brought me from my silent repose in Africa 300 years ago, and this is only the first Marcus Garvey. They have thought that they could for 300 years brutalize a race. They have thought that they could for 300 years steep the soul of a race in blood and darkness and let it go at that. They make a terrible mistake. Marcus Garvey shall revenge the blood of his sires. So don't be afraid of Marcus Garvey. When Marcus Garvey goes to jail the world of Negroes will know. They have come at the wrong time.
I appreciate the splendid way in which you have behaved and conducted yourselves during the trial. We shall observe to the letter the laws of this great country, but Africa shall tell the tale. Marcus Garvey has no fear about going to jail. Like MacSwiney or like Carson, like Roger Casement, like those who have led the fight for Irish freedom, so Marcus Garvey shall lead the fight for African freedom.
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I repeat that if they think they can stamp out the souls of 400,000,000 black men, they make a tremendous and terrible mistake. We are no longer dogs; we are no longer peons; we are no longer serfs -- we are men. The spirit that actuated George Washington in founding this great republic -- the spirit that actuated the fathers of this great republic, is the spirit that actuates 6,000,000 black men who are at the present time members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association; it is the spirit that will actuate 400,000,000 Negroes in the redemption of their motherland, Africa. Tell us about fear; we were not born with fear. Intimidation does not drive fear into the soul of Marcus Garvey. There is no fear, but the fear of God. Man cannot drive fear into the heart of man, because man is but the equal of man. The world is crazy and foolish if they think that they can destroy the principles, the ideals of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
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Mr. Garvey's Address to Jury at Close of Trial
May it please Your Honor and Gentlemen of the Jury:
I stand before you indicted by the United States Government for conspiring with others to defraud certain persons of their moneys through the use of the United States mails. You have heard the testimony both on the part of the prosecution and the defense.
I feel sure that you have absolutely no doubt in your minds about the innocence of the defendant who now appears before you. We are charged jointly or separately of conspiring and scheming together to defraud the people mentioned in the indictments. We have Louis Schench of Washington, G. Simon Scott of Stamford, Conn.; Mr. Smith of Indianapolis, Ind.; Annie Still of Philadelphia, Pa., and Dancy to testify. Others did not appear.
The prosecution claims that we connived a scheme and conspired to do certain things. What were the things they said we did? That we bought the Shadyside with the intention of wrecking her. That we bought the Yarmouth for the purpose of laying her in drydock and having her sold for $1,600, as they allege; that we absolutely connived never to have bought the Orion, but to have taken the stockholders' money and given it to someone, whether it be Silvertsone, the Jew, or anyone else. These are the things that they allege that we have done, and years ago, when the Black Star Line was incorporated, that we had in our minds the doing of these things. For what purpose? For the purpose of getting commissions and so on. Gentlemen, no one has testified here on the part of the government that one individual officer of the Black Star Line who started this corporation along with the rest of people who are interested ever collected one nickel for commission or for profit. They talk about salary; every man is worthy of his hire. If a treasurer gives his time to the service of the corporation from eight to twelve hours per day, don't you expect that he must be paid? If the president gives his time, all his time, in that they say I speak all over the country, I travel all over the country, giving all my time day and night, don't you believe that such a servant is worthy of his hire? If the secretary gives his time, do you not believe his service is also worthy to be rewarded in some kind of a way? The very prosecutor of this case, Mr. Mattuck himself, draws a salary from the government for the service he renders to the government, and if he did not get that money he
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would probably sue the government or give up his job. If he is worthy of his
pay, so also is the treasurer of the Black Star Line, and the secretary, and
the president worthy of whatsoever salary they get. And how much did they get?
Mr. Merriles, an expert accountant, taking his figures to be correct, said that
Marcus Garvey got $5,000 as president of the Black Star Line for the time that
the Black Star Line was in existence, from its incorporation, from the 27th
of June, 1919, to the present time; and all he got by testimony of their experts
was $5,000. And how much did we take in? Nearly $1,000,000. Now, gentlemen,
let us reason if anyone wanted to defraud, to take the people's money, and to
conspire, as charged by the government, would they have taken only $5,000 salary
during that period of time, when they said that about $800,000 or nearly $1,000,000
was taken in? How much the treasurer got has been produced in testimony. Tobias
got $50 per week for being treasurer of a big steamship company, and they said
we took in nearly one million dollars. Gentlemen, you are business men. I feel
confident that you have judged this case; you have watched this case carefully,
and that you will allow no prejudice, no sentiment, no machinations on the part
of anyone who desires a conviction, to carry out any feeling of his, to swerve
you from the course of justice.
Law and Justice
Justice, gentlemen, as I have said before, is greater and above the law; if justice was not included in the law, then the law would be of no use to us as human beings. The law is supposed to be the expression of justice, and caring not how technical the charge may be, if there is no justice, the law counts for naught.
It is true that I am not a lawyer, but I feel sure that His Honor and the district attorney meant no offense when they said that Marcus Garvey was not a lawyer. It does not mean that every man who is brought before the bar of American justice must appear by a lawyer, otherwise we would be living under peculiar circumstances. The Constitution allows every man the privilege to defend himself, to so prove his innocence before an American court of justice, and I decided to do so, irrespective of being a lawyer, because, gentlemen, it is not the law that I am concerned so much about, it is the truth.
If I have committed any offense in truth, and it is a violation of the law, I say your duty is to find me guilty and let me have the fullest extent of the law. I ask no mercy. I ask no sympathy.
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I ask but for justice based upon the testimony given in this court.
The Law on Fraud
They brought several persons here to testify on these complaints of fraud. I will read you what the highest judgment in law of this country says about fraud as His Honor will direct at the proper time.
The Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Southern Development Co. vs. Silva, lays down the following rules for the detection of fraud:
1. That the defendant must make a representation in regard to a material fact.
2. That such representation must be false.
3. That such representation must be actually believed by the complainant on reasonable grounds to be true.
4. That it must be made with intent that it should be acted on.
5. That it must be acted on by complainant to his damage, and
6. That in so acting on it, the complainant must be ignorant of its falsity and reasonably believe it to be true.
That is laid down as His Honor will direct, as the interpretation of fraud by the highest tribunal in law in this great country in America.
Gentlemen, did any of the officers of the Black Star Line who were part of the organization of this company make any statement, any material fact that they did not believe to be true? What evidence, if any, have they brought here to prove that Marcus Garvey made any statement that he at any time did not believe was true? The only matter of doubt was the matter of the purchase of the S. S. Orion to be named the Phyllis Wheatley. You have heard the testimony, whose fault was it that the Phyllis Wheatley was not obtained? Everybody believed that there was going to be a Phyllis Wheatley, every officer in the office believed it. Garcia believed that there was going to be a Phyllis Wheatley, all the directors believed it, and all the members of the executive council of the Universal Negro Improvement Association believed that there was going to be a Phyllis Wheatley, according to what they were told by Thompson, as I will bring to you gentlemen.
You have heard the statements of the respective persons. You have watched them, and I feel sure you will have absolutely no difficulty in centering your minds once more on the individual and individuals in the chair. Before I go into details, however, I desire to assure you that in the beginning of the case I had
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absolutely no desire or intention to delay the activities of this court; my
one desire was to secure justice, and to so have my case laid before you gentlemen,
who are to be my judges, that there would be absolutely no mistake, in that
a man's liberty is at stake. Liberty is man's dearest possession, and I feel
sure that you appreciate your liberty and would do everything in your power
to secure it. You will, therefore, place yourselves in my position.
I will leave no stone unturned to protect my liberty, and life, and see that justice is done.
I have to apologize to His Honor and the Court if, in their opinion, I have committed any breach. It was not my intention, and whatsoever happened otherwise in this court, you will realize that it was done by a man who desired to give himself the fullest opportunity to prove his innocence, and one who was compelled to take the floor, if I might so term it, on his own account. I felt that no one could interpret to you, gentlemen of the jury, the circumstances surrounding the activities of the Black Star Line and its auxiliaries as I could do it, in that it would have taken two or three years to explain to anyone the circumstances surrounding the activities of these organizations.
First of all, the person would have had to enter into the spirit of the movement. It was not purely a professional job for someone to do some work; it was a position that I was placed in where I had to interpret my soul to someone who probably could not appreciate the interpretation of that soul. Hence my appearance on my own behalf as my attorney. So, gentlemen, if anything should be said by the prosecutor touching on my conduct of my own defense, you will understand and appreciate my position in the matter.
The Dignity of the Race
Now, you have heard the indignities hurled at my race by the district attorney when questions were asked of certain witnesses as to whether they were dukes or ladies, which was offensive to me, because the Negro has as much right as any other race to dignify the person or individuals whom they believe worthy of honor, and, therefore, gentlemen, you will not believe that I meant any insult to any race or any one when I made certain retorts.
The Type of Witnesses
Now, whom did the government bring to testify? The government brought in Edgar Gray, and, gentlemen, that was where Garvey and his attorney came to the parting of the ways. Garvey
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did not know whom the government relied on to support its charges against him,
and when Garvey came into the court and saw the scoundrel, Edgar Gray, he wanted
the opportunity to produce sufficient evidence of the character of Edgar Gray.
Garvey asked his attorney to keep Edgar Gray over until he was able to search
for the records. His attorneys rushed three witnesses off the stand in one day,
which were Edgar Gray, Richard Warner and Kilroe, the principal offensive characters
of this charge, whom Garvey never knew would be here, and whom he desired to
place under cross-examination to bring out the truth for the good of this court
and for the cause of justice. And when Garvey found that his liberty was at
stake, he had to ask the attorney to retire to protect his own liberty.
An Analysis of Gray
Who is Edgar Gray? You saw him on the stand -- a reckless, irresponsible man, full of talk, representing nothing, a great politician who has no office, a great know-all who has nothing in all his years, who is still a messenger at probably a meagre $18.00 per week. That is the man with a superabundance of intelligence; that is the man who up to now has not told us his real birthplace, who says he was born in Sierre Leone, West Africa, when he was born in Antigua, as testified to by witness for the defense. Edgar Gray everybody knows came from the West Indies. He was born in Antigua. Can you believe the testimony of such a man as Edgar Gray, who left the Black Star Line, who left the Universal Negro Improvement Association when he was called upon to account for the funds of these organizations, which funds he handled during the absence of Garvey, Davis, Tobias and Ashwood in Virginia? Gray, who disappeared from the office with the funds of the organization, and for whom a warrant was to be sworn out in the Heights Court by Garvey and his attorney, James Watson, which was postponed by the discretion of the judge, no doubt for the convenience of Kilroe, and a few hours after Garvey met Gray and Warner at the office of the District Attorney Kilroe. Gentlemen, can you see the situation?
Warner Described
Who is Warner? A man who testified that he would say anything that the District Attorney told him to say. If the District Attorney said so, it was so. Would you call Warner a man? If Warner is a man, then God save the world of men. The rubber-stamp man without any character, who will be willing to
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say anything anybody else says, can you vouch for the testimony of such a man?
Can you convict another man on the testimony of such a man? Remember, gentlemen,
you are to be judged one day; you will therefore appreciate what it is to judge,
to take away one's life, one's liberty. There is but one Great Judge, and that
Judge will judge all mankind at the right time, the opportune time, and you
at this hour are placed in the position of this Great High Judge to dispense
justice to another as you would expect Him to dispense justice to you. Would
you condemn a man, take away the liberty of a man, of four men, on the testimony
of Gray, on the testimony of Warner? Would the great God condemn a Christian
soul on the testimony of the devil? Gentlemen, I appeal to your sense of reason,
and I appeal to your higher sense of justice. Warner, who said that the Black
Star Line funds were used for the restaurant of the Universal Negro Improvement
Association and the African Communities League while he was secretary; Warner,
not remembering that he signed a statement showing what he did with some of
the funds that he could not account for, not showing that which he could not
account for which he received from the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
I will show you Warner's statement, which disclosed that he received certain
amounts of money and disbursed same for the Universal Negro Improvement Association,
and not the Black Star Line's money, as he testified to.
Hon. Marcus Garvey,
56-58 West 135th Street,
New York City.
Dear Sir:
Below is an itemized account as to how the $275 credited to House, Grossman and Vorhaus, lawyers for the Black Star Line, Inc., which money, when borrowed from the Universal Negro Improvement Association, was finally disbursed for the Universal.
June 30, salaries to the office employes by checks as follows: W. A. Domingo, $20; Edgar M. Gray, $18; A. G. Coombs, $15; Mrs. Leadett, $11; Mrs. Whittingham, $9; R. E. Warner, $20.
Salaries to restaurant employes by check as follows: Two waiters, $12 each, $24; one cook, $12. June 30, check to printer for paper issued to Mr. Gray, $150. Total, $279. It is believed your check book will verify said amounts, all of which you are well acquainted with. Signed, R. E. Warner.
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Thus you will see, gentlemen, that it was the funds of the Universal Negro Improvement Association that were being used, and not the funds of the Black Star Line, as this gentleman Warner tried to make you understand. This Warner, who was such a business man, he had such great business ability he could advise Garvey, and what is he now? As a business man, where is his business? What benefit has he derived out of his great business ability? But for the Government he no doubt would have been a tramp, as we know him in Harlem District.
And Now for Kilroe
Watch the testimony of Kilroe. I am sorry to speak of an officer of the State government in this manner. I regret it because I may be misinterpreted in this respect, because I have the highest respect for all American institutions.
I revere this great country and its great flag. I look to this country as the greatest democracy in the world, as the greatest government in the world. No other country in the world affords the opportunity for human liberty as this great American government, as this great American republic, but, gentlemen, nothing is at fault with the government. A government cannot commit any wrong, because governments do not administer themselves. It is the individuals who administer government that sometimes bring ignominy upon the honor and integrity of the government.
Kilroe Characterized
Kilroe, the man who harbored Warner and Gray after he was told of their characters -- had them sitting up in his office as if they were presidents of nations or governors of states, treating them with the greatest courtesy and respect, after he was told of the crimes they had committed against an American corporation. But not only one, but two American corporations. And he evinced no more interest in finding out if it were true, as far as the crime went, than to prosecute Garvey because he had some animus against Garvey, because Garvey could not politically, at that time, assist him, and these men were politicians who no doubt held out great promises as to what they could do for him at the next election. Kilroe, who tormented Garvey; who tormented the Universal Negro Improvement Association on over nine occasions, having nothing to say, nothing to do; up to now Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association would have remained in his grip as an officer of the machinery of the government. Garvey would have been prosecuted
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to the fullest extent. Garvey probably would have rotted in jail if Kilroe had
a case against him; but for nine times, after calling Garvey and having nothing
to say, he expected Garvey to be docile! Gentlemen, as business men, busy in
attending to your own affairs, how would you feel if someone unfortunately attached
to the District Attorney's office, sent for you at your busiest hours, having
nothing to say, using your time, humiliating you? How would you feel about it?
Would you smile about it? And would you expect that Marcus Garvey, a human being,
would smile at the attacks of Kilroe? Kilroe testified that he advised Garvey
to do this and to do that. He knew he was not speaking the truth, but Garvey
had not the opportunity to question Kilroe. And who is Kilroe? You, gentlemen,
must have observed what happened in court -- something about Mr. Kilroe that
was not very pleasant. I will not go into it because it was not brought to your
knowledge, but I will only ask you, gentlemen, to remember what happened for
the few minutes when Mr. Johnson got on the floor and interrogated Kilroe about
certain things. Imagine what these certain things were, who Kilroe was, and
then you will have the character of the man.
Mr. Healey
And now we come to our friend Mr. Leo Healey. I am sorry to have to say anything about Mr. Healey, because I respect him. I had regarded him as a friend. The very morning when he came to testify here I met him on the outside. I shook his hand, and we were good friends then, as we were before. I never knew Healey was to be here as a witness testifying against me, and I was surprised to hear the things Mr. Healey said, but we will not take Mr. Healey seriously. He was only talking, I suppose, in the same character, in the same way Mr. Kilroe made a joke of Garvey being indicted. They come in contact with crime so often, and sending people to jail so often, for short and long terms, that they can smile about it. It is nothing surprising if a man goes to jail for twenty years. They smile over the matter. But, gentlemen, you are the judges. You will not smile over such a matter. Once he said that Garvey was a good gentleman, impressed him as being honest and upright; then later on he said Garvey was a bad man. He called Garvey a bad man because he did not pay him the bills for the Black Star Line. Now Garvey is not the Black Star Line. We were not asking him his opinion of the Black Star Line; we were asking his opinion about Garvey, and because Garvey did not pay him what the Black Star Line owed Harris McGill or the
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North American Steamship Company, of which he was attorney, then Mr. Garvey
became a bad man, and he had a different opinion about Mr. Garvey, and he talked
to Mr. Mattuck about it.
He said they talked it over, and he told Mr. Mattuck that Garvey was a bad man. But let us see if Mr. Healey was really serious. Mr. Healey, a member of the bar, and I asked him if he was a member of the Bar Association, and he said yes, and he was qualified as an assistant district attorney in the County of Brooklyn, and Mr. Healey knew about certain laws that went into effect in this country at a certain time, especially the prohibition law, and he testified that he wanted some whisky off the Yarmouth, and he was willing to buy it or get it anyhow, after prohibition had gone into effect. A member of the bar, remember; a district attorney of the County of Brooklyn, wanted to buy or get whisky after the prohibition law went into effect. But not only in that did Mr. Healey joke with us, but Mr. Healey said he wanted this money from the Black Star Line, and if he got the money he would keep it. He was only attorney for the North American Steamship Company. He was not even the treasurer of the North American Steamship Company, but if he received the money, that balance of $35,000, he would keep it. He did not know where the directors were, he did not care to know where Harris, the president, was; and I asked him what he would do with it, and he said he would frame it. Now Mr. Healey was jolly and was not serious; because Mr. Healey, as attorney, an intelligent man, knows that if he was treasurer or attorney of a corporation, and received $35,000 for that corporation, his duty would be to report it to the office of the corporation, especially the president of the corporation, and give a proper account of it, that it would have to pass through the books of that corporation. Did Mr. Healey mean to suggest that he would commit a fraud, and even while he was assistant district attorney in the County of Brooklyn? Surely we could not believe that. We know Mr. Healey was only playing with the court and the gentlemen of the jury, and smiling away the liberty of Marcus Garvey. He told us all about the contracts between Harris McGill, Mr. Harris and the Black Star Line, and Marcus Garvey; did he tell us the truth about them? I feel sure you gentlemen of the jury know that he was not telling the truth, but only joking; he was only trying to carry out his promise to the district attorney.
He told us that contracts were signed. He acted as the attorney for the North American Steamship Company. Mr. Healey knew that there was an oral understanding between the Black
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Star Line and Mr. W. Harris of the North American Steamship Company, that whether
a bill of sale was actually passed in document or through legal process, that
the Black Star Line was to be the owners of the Steamship Yarmouth. Mr. Healey
knew that Mr. Harris was retiring from business, and going to Europe; he said
he had no further use for the ship, and that he was willing then to sell his
ship to the Black Star Line at that time, under any contract. And Mr. Healey
drew these contracts, and kept that away from the court. Gentlemen, if you read
the contracts, the many contracts, that were subsequently signed, you will find
that there must have been some understanding why there were so many contracts,
because good business men know that an original contract which involves the
forfeit of money must be lived up to by the party of the second part, that they
were not going to amend so many contracts for the convenience of the person
who failed, they would have seized the ship on the first contract, and let the
forfeit go. Did they do that? At no time did they compel the Black Star Line
to forfeit the contract. Why, because there was a common understanding. So everybody
knows Mr. Healey did not tell the truth. True and keen business men like Mr.
Harris, do not do things that way. They wanted to sell us a Canadian boat, they
wanted to sell an American corporation a Canadian boat, and they could not immediately
give a bill of sale, that is why Healey was sent to Ottawa to see if they could
do it, and they made these supplementary contracts, and then advised that we
incorporate in Canada, the Black Star Line Steamship of Canada so as to take
over the bill of sale in the legal way under these circumstances. They were
the geniuses of the whole affar, Healey and Harris were the men who engineered
the way how we could get the ship, because we knew nothing, we were innocent
men trying to do the best for our people, and did not know all about the intricacies
of business, and the ways we could get in and out. Healey knew it, and Harris
himself, knew it, and they showed us the way, that is how we have a Canadian
Black Star Line. We never dreamt of it. But they told us about the Canadian
Black Star Line as the easiest way of getting the legal title, and that there
was an oral title passed between us when we signed the first contract.
Healey himself told us that he got insurance for the ship Yarmouth on the first voyage. Admitting that that be true, why should he get insurance on the Yarmouth if they were not interested in the sale of the Yarmouth? Why didn't they make the Black Star Line live up to its contract after they signed the contract?
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You will find that there is something beneath the whole affair that Healey did
not tell in that chair.
Healey said that he is a church brother of mine, that is true. That he is a friend of mine, that is true. But when it comes to justice, you cannot play with people's liberty that way.
He became offended when I asked him if his brother was a colored man, he knew I meant no offence, I was trying out his logic in a previous statement he made, when he said that Mr. Garvey was there with certain gentlemen of his race when he said certain things, and when I asked him again he said his brother only was there. I asked him if his brother was a colored man, in that sense, and he became offended, but I did not mean any offense to Mr. Healey, because when it comes to a matter of race, I have absolutely no feeling about the matter. I think every race should stand on its own bottom, whether it be white race, black race, yellow race, or the brown race, each race should paddle its own canoe. I believe that the white man should look out for the white man, the black man should look out for the black man, and the yellow man should also look out for the yellow man. Mr. Healey said that he was of the belief that I was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. He knows that there is no black man in the Klan. How could I be a member of the Ku Klux Klan? For what reason? He wanted to be nasty to me, I suppose. If I were of his denomination, how could I be a member of the Ku Klux Klan?
So you know, gentlemen, that Mr. Healey is not to be taken seriously in whatever he said on the witness stand.
We next had the real estate man Pilkington, who said that he sold Amy Ashwood some property, in October, 1919. Under cross-examination and under direct examination we asked him if he ever sold Marcus Garvey any property, he said no; we asked him if he ever knew Marcus Garvey, he said no. Why he was brought here I cannot tell. Why Pilkington was brought here to testify I cannot tell. I never saw the man before, never knew the man, never bought any property from the man, it was only a waste of the court's time.
They also brought one Whitfield, who said that he purchased property from one Amy Ashwood, whom I subsequently married as Amy Ashwood Garvey, and divorced six weeks later because of her crookedness. She was supposed to have sold property to this Whitfield. I knew nothing about it. The first time I saw Whitfield was on that witness stand. I could not tell what the man was going to testify about, until I heard the question of property and Amy Ashwood; then I realized that there was
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something they were trying to connect me with Amy Ashwood before she became
Amy Ashwood Garvey. That, gentlemen, I will touch again, but whatsoever explanation
I gave I feel sure will stand, and if you believe that I got a penny out of
that $500 that Amy Ashwood got, that I would look upon the struggles of a people
to rob them of a penny, I should die, and not only before man, but to be sent
to the farthest depths of hell by my God.
Captain Cockburn.
We have the testimony of the man Cockburn -- Cockburn the swindler -- Cockburn, who admitted to the hearing of the president of the Black Star Line in this court for the first time, and before this honorable court and these gentlemen of the jury, that he got $1,600 as his part for selling the Yarmouth to the Black Star Line, and that five others got a like amount of money. The crook Cockburn, taking $1,600 out of the coffers of the Black Star Line, out of the dimes and nickles of the poor people at that time when we were struggling to get a boat, who pretended that he was a member of the race and wanted to help. The very first boat we could not even pay enough money at the first time for, which was only $16,500, and these crooks got $8,000 out of it, and had the nerve to go and sit in the chair as witnesses for the prosecution. That is the character of the witnesses we had from the government, crooks and sharks and men who know how to change up figures and amounts. All of them were not here, because some got scared and kept away. Where was Smith-Green? When I asked Cockburn the District Attorney said: "I can get him for you if you want." Why didn't he produce Smith-Green here? Why didn't he indict Smith-Green on the investigation of the books of the Black Star Line for nearly two years? Did he not know the name of Smith-Green? In the second indictment they produced two letters signed by Edward Smith-Green, and yet they did not produce the author of the letters, although they knew his name and his address and his whereabouts. It did not suit them at that time to bring Smith-Green, but we are going to find Smith-Green. If the District Atorney won't get Smith-Green, after you, gentlemen of the jury, have disposed of this case we will get Smith-Green and we will present him before the bar of American justice.
Cockburn told you how the Yarmouth was no good, after he had told us to buy the Yarmouth as a splendid boat. It is all in the records, gentlemen, what this man Cockburn said, and what he subsequently said under cross-examination. Cockburn
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the drunkard, when asked about his sober condition, stood before you and said:
"It is my business." Because, no doubt, he knew he was a drunkard,
a drunkard on the high seas, sailing the ships of the Black Star Line. And didn't
you hear the testimony, gentlemen, that on the first trip from New York to Cuba
the ship Yarmouth struck a reef? Didn't you hear the man Hercules testify for
the defence (he was very talkative)? And another engineer testified that the
ship would have been a total wreck under the command of Cockburn the drunkard.
If he got $1,600 out of that first payment for himself, God knows how much he
got out of the balance of $125,000 that was subsequently paid into the coffers
of Harris, McGill & Co., from whom we bought the boat under the instructions
of Cockburn.
Did Cockburn return after that first trip when he got the $1,600 for commission? -- He returned to make the second trip, and when he came he found it was a cargo of whiskey, and he said, "Now is the time for me to get what is coming to me," and he said the ship could not go to sea, but when he found out he was getting $2,000 to split between himself and Smith-Green, the ship went to sea at quick speed. Nothing was wrong with the ship then. And, gentlemen, was it only $2,000 that was split between himself and Smith-Green, which Mr. Healey knew about, and he did not want to tell the facts. After the ship sailed and they got $2,000, it went only a short way out, a cable was sent, "We are drunk, we are sinking," and immediately 500 cases of Green River Whiskey and champagne were thrown overboard, and tugboats were around. What were these tugboats doing there? Who got the money for the cargo? Didn't Hercules tell you on the witness stand that he was ordered by the captain to put so many cases of whiskey in a lighter? Who got the money for that whiskey?
Cockburn said that he bought property in his wife's name after he came back from his trip to make it appear that it was one bit of property; we were not allowed the privilege to search and bring the testimony here; the search has been made, but the testimony could not be produced.
He tells us now that he is a real estate broker. Do you wonder that Cockburn is a real estate broker after that historic trip of the Yarmouth with that cargo of whiskey? Gentlemen. it is for you to think matters over and see the characters of the men who were placed here to testify against the defence -- men who got $25 for a few weeks, men who got $50 a week for about one and a half years, men who got $100 a week for
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just a year, while Cockburn got at one time what the president got for all the
time he was president of the corporation. And Cockburn was getting how much?
$400 per month, the same amount of money that the president was supposed to
get as salary. At times the President was only getting $50 per week; Cockburn
was not only getting $100 per week, but $10 a day allowance, according to his
own statement that a captain gets daily allowances outside of his salary. How
much did Cockburn get? He got all the money of the Black Star Line and the rest.
It is no wonder that he became so haughty and demonstrated so much viciousness
on the witness stand.
These are the characters of the witnesses who were brought here by the District Attorney to represent this great government, and convict a man. Gentlemen, do you think that is the spirit of this great government, the spirit of justice, of honesty and truth? When that great father of our country, George Washington, brought into existence this great Republic, did he contemplate that the name of America would have been besmirched by such rascals as demonstrated here by these witnesses, who were brought by the District Attorney to convict four men, and take away their liberty.
Gentlemen, as American citizens, I feel sure you will save the name of America from a scandal and from shame that is becoming worldwide, because the case of the Black Star Line is not a local matter, it is a case which 400,000,000 Negroes of the world are watching with an eagle eye to test America's justice, and you gentlemen have in your hands at this hour, the name of America, where black men are concerned, and I feel sure you will not pollute the fair name of this nation, to please anyone, who has vengeance in his heart against someone he desires to get even with, as Kilroe desires to get even with Garvey, Kilroe, who sent Tyler to shoot Garvey, and when Tyler shot four times and Garvey was only wounded and did not die, Tyler was taken to the jail and the next morning was said to commit suicide, was found dead on the first floor, supposed to have dropped from the sixth floor of the jail house.
Gentlemen, I feel sure you understand the situation as presented to you. I have no desire to hide anything. Did I hide anything about the character of Marcus Garvey? Didn't I ask them to tell what they knew of Marcus Garvey, and did not they tell the limit of what they knew, and afterwards when they knew no more, didn't they lie, and say, yes, there is more? the liars that they are.
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We will pass from Cockburn, because it pains me to linger so long with a crook and a scoundrel. We come to Adrian Richardson, the master of 1919 and 1920 without a master's license, who so lied on the witness stand that he had a master's ticket when he came to the Black Star Line, and met me in 1919 in Boston. Captain Swift, the man for whom he worked in the latter part of 1920, testified that he it was who tried to get a ticket for the man Richardson as a master. We subpoenaed the records of the Shipping authorities of New York, the records were brought that showed the same thing that Captain Swift testified to, but the defence was not permitted to question on the record, and I excused the shipping master.
Captain Richardson
The shipping master came with certain papers, and I was not allowed to question him in that the matter of Richardson, was then closed, and it was not within the legal procedure. This man Richardson, another crooked captain, said he was not anxious to get into the service of the Black Star Line.
Who would believe a Negro like Richardson sitting there, saying that he was not anxious to get into the service of the Black Star Line? Gentlemen, he said he met me in Boston. Now, I must be some great magician to know that the man is a captain just by way of looking at him. He says he saw me in a public meeting. Now, is it reasonable to expect a man whom you never met before that you could just pick out as a captain and start to talk to him? Does it not suggest that the person would speak to the man he knew was head of a steamship company, and say that he was a captain and tell him something about himself? It is reasonable that Richardson would beg for a job in the Black Star Line, would come to the Black Star Line with the idea of seeing if he could get what Cockburn got
It is no wonder he advised us not to buy the Kanawha, even though the Kanawha was bought before he came, because he probably wanted to buy another boat to get his $1,600 out of the split of the brokers. Do you wonder, gentlemen, why Captain Richardson and Captain Mulzac were grieved? They were grieved because they did not get the chance like Cockburn had to make theirs, and become real estate brokers afterwards; but Mulzac afterward became president of a steamship company, so he was in search for his, anyhow, but did not get it in buying the Yarmouth, so thought he would be president himself of some other steamship company. Richardson, the man who is supposed to have spent his thousands for the Black Star Line, when
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you could have seen that that Negro did not have a thousand cents. Thousands
of dollars that he paid for crews' wages. Well, we were trying to get the book
in evidence, but it was denied, and we could not put it in, so you could see
how this Richardson manipulated figures; how he put down his receipts and disbursements,
how he made one thousand dollars look like two, and charged the balance up to
himself.
As to Silverstone, the Jew, I did not know the man Silverstone any more than I saw him once or twice, and I do not want to see him again unless when he returns the $25,000, we will see that the Black Star Line gets it back to pay its liabilities, also the last $11,000.
This Richardson who was dismissed in Jamaica, this Richardson, the man whom Thompson sent out with that beautiful ship, the Kanawha, because, gentlemen, indeed that ship was beautiful. It was the yacht of that great millionaire Rogers. The Kanawha was the name of some interest he had; it was a palace, but the government took it over one time and used it as an auxilliary cruiser, and when we refitted her she was nearly as perfect as when Rogers had it.
The boat was a twin screw boat, its machinery was intricate and instead of placing a competent crew to manage such a boat, we had a captain without a license, a captain who got a license afterwards either by his fraternal signs or his political pull, a captain who was drunk with his engineers, a captain who gambled on the deck, a captain who had not enough discipline to see that his engineers were in the engine room while the ship was at sea. Think of it, a ship at sea with nobody in the engine room, no engineer. Do you wonder the cylinder covers blew off and piston rods were broken? Do you wonder the Kanawha became a wreck so many times?
I did not tell you about Cockburn and the bills he made, the repair bills for which they got commission. Do you know why the ship balked so many times, because commissions were paid for her repairs. Bills for $11,000 probably meant a commission of 15 or 20 per cent to the master, and no wonder our ships foundered so many times. Because we had made a statement that we were going to show that Negroes could run ships and because we were the responsible officers of the corporation, they took the opportunity of blackmailing us, because they knew that we had to keep our word. We made a mistake in a way, but, gentlemen, who do not make mistakes? Didn't the Pilgrims make mistakes when they found this great country? Did we indict the Pilgrims for makng an American Republic through mistakes? Indict us for trying to show the world that black men are capable, but you will not destroy
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the sentiment of the Negro for business and progress. Send Marcus Garvey to
prison for what Silverstone has done. I am satisfied to go to jail even though
I say so, for fraud, for money that some white man received. Am satisfied, but
I feel sure that the sense of American justice will secure fair play to me.
Now for the circular advertising the sailing of the Phyllis Wheatley. Somebody might have suggested to the District Attorney what the questions and the answers shall be to excuse Garcia and Thompson so the two may get Garvey under indictment. And that was why Hunt the printer was so eager to say Garcia and Thompson gave me this and Garcia gave me that. Gentlemen, you yourselves, heard Hunt admit that any printing one printer does can be duplicated by another printer and that they can slip in words that were not in the original. You can slip in a libelous word and a fraudulent word, and produce it as original, but Garvey denies that he wrote circulars identical to those submitted. Garvey never writes any circulars in his own handwriting. Why didn't they produce the handwriting of Garvey instead of the printed circular? You can take it to the printing shop and get the whole Bible printed for that matter. So, gentlemen, you will not convict a man on a printed slip that can be duplicated by any printer?
This Hunt was getting $250 a week and sometimes $400 a week in printing, but when the Universal Negro Improvement Association suddenly acquired a printing plant, he became sore and was willing to do anything to damage Garvey for the loss of business.
The Negro World
I would like to draw to your attention the Negro World of March 13, 1921, placed in evidence. These Negro Worlds, government exhibits, are too long for me to go through all of them, but they are in evidence and you will see them. Garvey admits writing some of the articles in the Negro World. Garvey denies some of those articles in the Negro World. At times Garvey would be away and his articles would not get to New York in time and someone could write articles and stick Garvey's name to them. I knew the phraseology was not mine, but the district attorney seized upon it as a valuable bit of evidence against Garvey. Garvey does not hold himself responsible. If you gentlemen desire to convict Garvey, Garvey is satisfied. When Garvey's conscience and soul are clear before man and God, he does not care what man does with his body. Man may condemn the body but not the soul and conscience of the man.
In one of these Negro Worlds appears a ship that was supposed to be re-named the Phyllis Wheatley. You will see that when
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you go to the jury room. Garvey knows about that ship; he knew the time the
photograph was got out. He read the words under that ship. The District Attorney
did not read all of them. He read only that part which he believed would incriminate
me. Why didn't the District Attorney read the entire sentence and all the words
beneath the photograph? I would not believe the honorable District Attorney
desired to deceive the court and the gentlemen of the jury. Surely, the government
would not deceive itself? The government is too honorable for deceit. So, I
will not impute any motive to the honorable District Attorney for not reading
entirely and completely all the words appearing on that page. What did it say?
"If you will subscribe enough money, we will have the ship." You will
find that whenever you see anything about any ship. It was always "If you
give enough money you will have this," because I knew the people would
not be crazy enough to expect us to give them something without money, and they
knew that the officers had no money. We were not buying ships for ourselves
but for the race. For what? For the industrial and commercial development of
the race. That race was paying a price. Garvey, as a member of that race, contributes
his part, and with the exception of a few who thought more of salary than of
service, those of us who were officers of the Black Star Line, did not remember
anything about salary. When there was no salary, Garvey did not squeal; Tobias
did not squeal, but Thompson squealed, when there was no salary. He disappeared
when he couldn't get that $50 per week, and we never found Thompson until a
month ago. Yes, gentlemen, we assumed responsibility, at least, Marcus Garvey
assumes the responsibility for the photograph which Thompson gave him and which
Thompson advised to be put in the Negro World, because Thompson was negotiating
on behalf of the Black Star Line for the purchase of the Tennyson which was
to become the Phyllis Wheatley. He brought the photograph and gave it to Garvey
and we all decided what to do.
Mr. Mattuck: I object as there was no testimony that Thompson gave him the photograph.
Judge: I do not remember hearing him testify to --
Mr. Garvey: But it was in evidence.
Judge: But not as Thompson gave it to you.
Mr. Garvey: All right, I withdraw it.
Mr. Garvey continues his address:
The photograph that the District Attorney held up to the Court and the gentlemen of the jury with the words underneath, but he didn't read you the entire truth. We were, I testified,
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negotiating for the Tennyson, in continuation of which Marcus Garvey went to
the West Indies, South and Central America to raise money. $30,000 had to be
raised in order to get the ship within twenty (20) days after Garvey left as
per arrangements explained here in testimony. The others were to raise so much
and Garvey was to raise so much. In six (6) weeks Garvey raised $17,000 for
the Black Star Line and as Jacques' books proved, Amy Jacques, for the Universal
Negro Improvement Association, raised $13,000 or $14,000 in six weeks. We had
over $30,000 from Garvey's side alone. Then they had raised over 20,000 odd
dollars in America. If Thompson had not sent Richardson down with the dirty
crew and Garvey did not have to spend the Black Star Line and Universal Negro
Improvement Association's money on the Kanawha repairs all of the $30,000 would
have been cabled to New York instead of only a part, and they would have had
in New York enough to make the payment on the ship. And, gentlemen, as business
men, you know that if you don't use good judgment in business whether the Standard
Oil Company, even with its millions of capital, it will go out of business.
If you take $30,000 here and so many thousands dollars there, even the Standard
Oil Company will go to pieces, and J. D. Rockefeller and Carnegie would look
as tramps, as frauds and no good. What could Garvey do with such a crew bent
on mischief in the West Indies.
We will go over these exhibits. Now we have the testimony of William Boody, the man from Rogowski's, the printer. The man who knew nothing; who could say nothing, only what he heard. Gentlemen, will you condemn a man on hearsay? He was brought in to testify about the mailing of the Negro World. Did he tell where the Negro World went to? Did he say he posted the Negro World to Washington, to Connecticut, to Indiana? He said he got copies from the foreman. Where did the foreman get them, I believe from the Negro World, was his answer. How do you know? I saw some one from the Negro World handling copies. Did some one from the Negro World hand copies to the foreman? Yes. Can you remember who he was? No.
Gentlemen, can you convict anyone on such a testimony? He never received a mailing list from the Negro World. Yet, he came in to testify. Why didn't the District Attorney bring in the foreman from Rogowski's to tell from whom he received the copies?
Gentlemen, surely, you shall discount the testimony of William Boody.
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Cargil, The Little Boy.
Now we come to Cargil, a little boy who spilt the beans on the District Attorney. Cargil, the little fellow of about 20 years, who was placed there and said such beautiful things as the District Attorney arranged with him to say. When we asked him the question, "Who told you to say those things; to identify those circulars." He answered: the District Attorney, and for the first time in the case we had the District Attorney hanging his head down. We had got him then. When we asked where he was born we could not get it out of him, because if we did we would have proved something. Who can tell if there was a Cargil in the employ of the Black Star Line? Let us see the pay roll book of the Black Star Line. The boy testified that he was working with the Black Star Line from 1919 to 1921. We will see how much he got for all that period of time in the cash book.
Gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the little boy, Cargil, if that was his name, testify that he was employed with the Black Star Line from 1919 to 1921. In the books you will not find any record. When you come to look on the treasurer's book (he said he got his pay from George Tobias) you will find there was one Cargil working only from July 2, 1920, to November 5, 1920, so when he testified he posted circulars in 1919 to 1921, Cargil was not telling the truth. Where did that Cargil come from? We have not found out his first name yet. Such a Cargil never worked with the Black Star Line from 1919 to 1921, and the treasurer's book of the Black Star Line will tell the tale.
We have Mr. B. O'Shannon, the mail foreman in the post office, bringing here a mass of figures about the Negro World's being sent out. (From where to where?) If these people were supposed to buy stock at certain points, why didn't they testify to what points the mail went, so as to establish the truth in their case and why didn't they show the signature of some representative from the Negro World to prove that such a delivery was made to the postoffice? Oh, we can make up anything we want to suit our convenience when we wish. Gentlemen, will you take away some one's liberty on such things, just a mass of figures, dates, etc., to where? -- to anywhere, some probably went to Limbo and Saturn for that matter because aeroplanes carry the mails nowadays.
Other Witnesses
We come to Mrs. Lawson, another one who spilled