ation for our rights,
not only for our sakes, but also for the sake of the nation at large. It
would not only be against our own interest not to do so, but it would be
unpatriotic for us quietly to acquiesce in the present condition of
things, for it is a wrong condition of things. If justice sleeps in this
land, let it not be because we have helped to lull it to sleep by our
silence, our indifference; let it not be from lack of effort on our part
to arouse it from its slumbers. Elijah said to the prophets of Baal,
while they were crying to their god, "Peradventure he sleepeth." And it
may be that he was asleep; but it was not their fault that he continued
asleep, for they kept up a continual uproar about his altar. And so
here, sleeping Justice in this land may go on slumbering, but let us see
to it that it is due to no fault of ours. Even Baalam's ass cried out in
protest when smitten by his brutal master, and God gave him the power to
cry out, endowed him miraculously with speech in which to voice his
protest.

It is not necessary for God to work a miracle to enable us to protest
against our wrong; He has already given us the power. Let us see to it
that we use it. If we are wise we will be able to take care of
ourselves. If we are not wise, however, if we adopt the policy of
silence, and if we continue to feel that it is our duty to follow
blindly, slavishly, any one political party, we will receive only such
treatment as is accorded to slaves, and will go on pleading for our
rights in vain. The only wise course for us to pursue is to keep on
agitating, and to cast our votes where they will tell most for the race.
As to what party we affiliate with is a matter of no importance
whatever; the important thing is our rights. And until we recognize that
fact, and act upon it, we will be the football of all political parties.
John Boyle O'Reilly, in speaking on the race question years ago, said:
"If I were a colored man I should use parties as I would a club--to
break down prejudice against my people. I shouldn't talk about being
true to any party, except so far as that party was true to me. Parties
care nothing for you, only to use you. You should use parties; the
highest party you have in this country is your own manhood. That is the
thing in danger from all parties; that is the thing that every colored
man is bound in duty to himself and his children to defend and protect."
And that is good advice. It embodies the high