ce his emancipation. This in itself shows that he loves the
South, and if he is now migrating to the East, North and West
by the hundreds and thousands, there must be a cause for it.
We should do our best to find out these causes and at least
suggest the remedy.

The time has come for plain speaking on the part of all. It
will do us no good to try to hide the facts, because "truth
crushed to earth will rise again." In the first place,
the negro in this country is oppressed. This oppression is
greatest where the negro population is greatest. The negro
population happens to be greater in the South than in the
North, therefore, he is more oppressed in the South than in
the North.

Take the counties in our State. Some are known as white
counties and others as black counties. In the white counties
the negro is given better educational opportunities than in
the black counties. I have in mind one Black Belt county where
the white child is given $15 per year for his education and
the negro child only 30 cents a year. See the late Booker T.
Washington's article, "Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance?" Now
these facts are generally known throughout this State by both
white and black. And we all know that it is unjust. It is
oppression.

This oppression shows itself in many ways. Take for example
the railroads running through the rural sections of the South.
There are many flag stations where hundreds of our people get
off and on the train. The railroads have little stops at the
platform about six feet square; only one coach stops at this
point; the negro women, girls and boys are compelled to get
off and on the train sometimes in water and in the ditches
because there are no provisions made for them otherwise.

Again take the matter of the franchise. We all agree that
ignorant negroes should not be intrusted with this power, but
we all feel that where a negro has been smart and industrious
in getting an education and property and pays his taxes, he
should be represented. Taxation without representation is just
as unjust today as it was in 1776. It is just as unfair for
the negro as it is to the white man, and we all, both white
and black, know this. We may shut our eyes to this great
truth, as sometimes we do, but it is unjust just the same.

Take the matter of the co