Newspaper Page Text
Page 20
THE MAROON TIGER
THE COSTIGAN-WAGNER BILL AGAIN
S. W. Williams
This article is simply the expression of the voice of
many college students all over the country who want to
know why the bill failed to come up for a vote. Why
would the honorable gentlemen up at Washington fili
buster for a whole week and then, to prevent a vote,
move to adjourn Congress for a few hours. All of that
seems strange not only to college students hut to other
people who think. 1 dare say that it ever seems strange
also to the gentlemen at Washington.
I should like to pay a “compliment ' to the “dis
tinguished” gentleman who fought so hard against the
hill. We are glad that they know enough about rules
and technicalities to stop any “bad” legislation. We
are pleased to note again that these gentlemen keep in
so close touch with those whom they represent that they
know when “Public Opinion” is ready for such a bill
as the Costigan-Wagner bill.
About four years ago, in the month of March, out in
the beautiful hills of New Jersey, a dastardly crime was
committed—a crime which moved the nation, yea, the
whole world. The life of a human being was stolen. It
Was a baby, taken from its bed never to be returned.
The act was called kidnaping. Congress was in session.
Before it adjourned these same gentlemen found that
public opinion was strong enough to warrant (he passing
of an anti-kidnaping bill. It took only a few days for
the hill to pass both houses and to secure the signature
of the president.
For more than seventy years the lives of human be
ings have been stolen, yes, even taken boldly from their
homes and parents never to be returned. These crimes
have been as dastardly as any possibly could be. In
the kidnaping case, these gentlemen said that the kid
naper crossed state lines, therefore enabling the Federal
Government to act. Mobs have crossed state lines. They
have been more cruel than any kidnaper ever dared to
be. Mobs have cut off the limbs of their victims while
the victim was still alive. They have made them eat
their own flesh. They have burned them alive and, in
fact, mobs have done everything not imaginable for
“civilized” people. One would not expect savages to
act any worse than mobs act here in our “highly civi
lized” America and in our “hospitable” South. But in
spite of all this, the gentlemen at Washington fail to act
on a bill which proposes to do away with such an evil.
I do not want anyone to misunderstand me. Kid
naping is had. Congress was right to pass laws against
it, for it certainly is a menace to society, and so is
lynching. But, after all, it all seems strange. I can’t
see to save my life why a kidnaping hill could be passed
so easily and a bill against a crime which has been
practiced for more than seventy years cannot be passed.
Kidnaping is not to he compared from point of crueity
with lynching.
We might as well face the facts as they really are.
The defeat of the hill simply bespeaks the feeling
and thought of the South. The South is not ready to do
anything which will cause it to treat the Negro as a
citizen. It is so blinded by the wall of prejudice that
lit cannot i^ee that it is keeping itself down by trying
to keep the Negro down. There is little I know about
wrestling, hut I do know that a man cannot keep an
other one down unless he is down with him.
Perhaps we had best stop boasting about our Southern
culture, intelligence and what not for fear someone from
MY IMPRESSIONS OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO
Balamu J. Mukasa
Having been asked by the editor of the Maroon Tiger
to make a statement concerning my impressions of the
American Negro. I am taking this opportunity to do so.
When I was in Africa, I knew very little of American
Negroes. However, names like Booker T. Washington,
Roland Hayes, Robert Moton, DuBois, John Hope and a
few others were familiar to me. I remember the first
American Negro I saw was a student in England. I
met him at a party in Hampstead, a beautiful section
of London. A few minutes talk with him convinced me
that he was an intelligent person.
After six years’ residence in America, I am happy to
say that my first impression of the American Negro has
not undergone very much change. In this country where
“all men are created equal,” there are three distinct and
unequal classes of Negroes with whom I have come in
contact and concerning whom I would like to make a few
observations.
In the first place, the uneducated Negro is a simple
person whose horizon is handicapped by short-sighted
ness. He strikes me as being a happy person. His con
ceits and hypocrises are far fewer than those of his more
enlightened brother. He lives in constant fear of super
stition, hut is open and tends to be kindly to his fellow-
beings.
In the second place, you have what we might call the
middle-class Negro. He enjoys the opportunities that
come as a result of education. He is a progressive per
son, eager to learn, ambitious of doing great things.
However, sometimes he tends to be over-zealous; he
views the success of other people as a stumbling block
of his own progress. He often spends much more time
looking after things that do not concern him rather than
spending that time looking after his own affairs. Since the
future of the Negro race in America rests largely in the
hands of the middle-class Negroes, it seems to me that
more constructive thinking and less destructive criticisms
should come out of this class of people.
In the third place, you have high-class Negroes. These
people have achieved their ranks and positions by years
of experience and hard work. They deserve every com
mendation for their integrity. It has been my pleasure
to know a few of these people rather closely. They
strike me as being a quiet and unassuming people. They
are the targets of the low and middle-class Negroes”
criticisms. However, this should not cause any surprise:
Shakespeare said in The Twelfth Night: “What great
ones do the less will prattle off.” It is these high-class
Negroes that have guided the wheels of Negro progress
in America in the past, and it is my considered opinion
that they will still do so in the future.
May I say here in closing how much I have enjoyed
my stay in America. 1 am grateful to all those people
that directly or indirectly extended to me courtesies and
hospitality during my sojourn in this great land of
yours. When I sail for my distant home, sometime
soon, I shall carry with me pleasant memories of More
house College, and shall ever cherish the desire and hope
of hearing of the success the school is making. To all
those Morehouse students that might find themselves one
day traveling in Africa. I extend an invitation to visit
Uganda. You are assured of a warm welcome there.
a “civilized" nation might visit us and laugh at our
inconsistencies.