h a sisterhood the compilers of
the Constitution gave the general government the right to summons such
states to protect her in the discharge of her duty. So that it is seen
that the government is exercising a power that was given it by the
sovereign people, acknowledging equal rights to all and special
privileges to none. Among these are life, liberty and the peaceful
pursuit of happiness. These are the rights which are guaranteed by the
Constitution.

Now, an agreement entered into by the people of any part of these
United States which does not conform to the stipulated rights
mentioned above, is not a contract and can not be considered binding
under the law. Therefore, a relationship based upon privileges of one
and the denied rights of the other, cannot be friendly and must,
sooner or later, be dissolved. I, for one, cannot concede that the
relationship between the races in the South is friendly. It is, for
the most part, peaceful, but that peace grows out of a fear of the law
in the hands of an unfriendly and prejudiced people who feel that the
Negro race has no rights which they are bound to respect. Accepting
this position, the Negro quietly moves on, trying to make for himself
and family a living, but he feels keenly the class legislation which
proscribes him to the "Jim Crow" cars, to the rear seats in street
cars, behind the doors in public restaurants, and a hundred other
indignities heaped upon him. He is also denied the right to vote,
which is the greatest evil done him and the only protection that the
Constitution gives him.

Now, I ask, "Can there be friendly relations with such environments,
and, if they are friendly, can they be sustained and maintained?" I
assert that the infringement of any right is an unfriendly act,
whether the one whose rights are infringed upon is conscious of the
unfriendly act or not. If he is unconscious of it, it is all the more
unfriendly. I assert further, that whenever existing conditions make
it necessary for one race to suppress another, the suppression affects
both races alike. The stronger race ceases to develop that strength
which is necessary for the growth of a nation, and to prepare it to
meet the great problems which are indispensable in the fostering of a
government such as ours. And the weaker race is deprived of the
opportunities which are necessary to cultivate those innate powers
which are intended by God to be developed in the rounding out of good
citizens