h part of
the Negro wealth is on exhibition here. You find him an inventor, a
painter, a sculptor, and no mean artist. He can make tools, invent
machinery, and knows how to use them. He understands the sciences, and
can apply them in the daily vocations of life. He has made an earnest
effort to prepare himself for the responsibilities of citizenship.
Having been on probation for thirty years and proved our worthiness,
we now feel that we ought to be permitted to enjoy to the fullest
extent all of the rights guaranteed American citizens. Since we assume
the attitude of petitioners, I am sure that I speak the sentiment of
the American Negro when I say that we do not ask to be made white, for
had it pleased God, we would have been white. We do, not ask the
liberty of any man's power; but we would ask the liberty to have and
to occupy our own in peace and safety. I am sure the Hon. Hoke Smith
voiced the sentiment of every intelligent colored man in America when
he said that the Negro had no desire to mix with the whites--that is,
to impose himself upon them. The Negro never wanted social rights in
the sense of the common interpretation, but has and will ever contend
for civil and religious rights. I am not sorry that the white people
have been clannish enough and have had race pride enough to protect
their own society. The Negro has formed his own society, and now there
is but one favor on this line that we would ask of our white brethren,
and that is that any white man who is so unworthy of his ancestry and
unconscious of race pride as to attempt to corrupt Negro society be
punished as Negroes are (save the lynching) by the just laws of our
country. This we believe to be another duty of the nation to the
Negro. As citizens, we would not ask any state or the Federal
government for a single legislative act for our special benefit, but
we do ask that no special acts be passed by either to impede our
progress. All that we ask as citizens is that the several states and
general government legislate for the common good of all citizens,
regardless of races, and we are willing to take our chances. What more
can we ask and what less can be given by an honest Christian nation?
And may God have mercy upon any nation or people that would not grant
this! The white people of this country proudly boast of their
superiority as a race, and I grant it when considered en masse. Their
opportunities have made them thus. Then why should the stron