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| Marcus - Eight Negroes vs. Marcus Garvey |
| I have to bring to your attention the greatest bit of treachery and wickedness that any group of Negroes could be capable of. This thing is so shocking, so vicious and murderous as to make it impossible for any self-respecting person to imagine that any one, other than a culprit of the meanest kind, could be responsible for its authorship. Honor Among Thieves. It is said that there is honor even among thieves, but it is apparent that there is no honor and self-respect among certain Negroes, in that they would resort to the meanest and lowest methods possible, not only to pilfer the pockets of their brothers but to rob one of his fair name. Stealing a man's money is, as Shakespeare says, trash, but to injure a man's reputation, to tarnish his character, is a crime of the lowest kind, which not even ordinary thieves would indulge in. To further imagine that a group of colored men could be responsible for writing to the Attorney General of the United States of America and to the white people at large in endeavoring to prejudice them against fellow Negroes whose only crime has been that of making an effort to improve the condition of the race is beyond the conception of the most fertile imagination; nevertheless, the thing has been done by a group of New York Negroes who have written their names down everlastingly as enemies of their own race by maliciously, wickedly and treacherously endeavoring to so misrepresent their race which represents the minority group in a majority civilization as to cause that majority to unwillingly, and not of its own accord, impose such punishment upon the race as to make it harder for us to survive in the country of our common adoption. Writing to U. S. Attorney General The following vicious and wicked letter was written by a group of men whose names are appended hereto and directed to the Honorable Attorney General of the United States of America. My comment will continue at the end of the communication. The letter to the Attorney General: 2305 Seventh Avenue, New York City, Jan 15, 1923. Hon. Harry M. Daugherty, United States Attorney-General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. Dear Sir: (1) As the chief law enforcement officer of the nation, we wish to call your attention to a heretofore unconsidered menace to harmonious race relationships. There are in our midst certain Negro criminals and potential murderers, both foreign and American born, who are moved and actuated by intense hatred against the white race. These undesirables continually proclaim that all white people are enemies to the Negro. They have become so fanatical that they have threatened and attempted the death of their opponents, actually assassinating in one instance. (2) The movement known as the Universal Negro Improvement Association has done much to stimulate the violent temper of this dangerous element. Its president and moving sprit is one Marcus Garvey, an unscrupulous demagogue, who ceaselessly and assiduously sought to spread among Negroes distrust and hatred of all white people. (3) The official organ of the U. N. I. A., The Negro World, of which Marcus Garvey is managing editor, sedulously and continually seeks to arouse ill feeling between the races. Evidence has also been presented of an apparent alliance of Garvey with the Ku Klux Klan. (4) An erroneous conception held by many is that Negroes try to cloak and hide criminals. The truth is that the great majority of Negroes are bitterly opposed to all criminals, and especially to those of their own race, because they know that such criminals will cause increased discrimination against themselves. (5) The U. N. I. A. is composed chiefly of the most primitive land ignorant element of West Indian and American Negroes. The so-called respectable element of the movement are largely ministers without churches, physicians without patients, lawyers without clients and publishers without readers, who are usually in search of "easy money." In short, this organization is composed in the main of Negro sharks and ignorant fanatics. (6) This organization and its fundamental laws encourage violence in its Constitution there is an article prohibiting office holding by a convicted criminal, EXCEPT SUCH CRIME IS COMMITTED IN THE INTEREST OF THE U. N. I. A. Marcus Garvey is intolerant of free speech when it is exercised in criticism of him and his movement, his followers seeking to prevent such by threats and violence. Striking proof of the truth of this assertion is found in the following cases: (7) In 1920 Garvey supporters rushed into a tent where a religious meeting was being conducted by Rev. A. Clayton Powell in New York City and sought to do bodily violence to Dr. Charles S. Morris, the speaker of the evening-who they had heard was to make an address against Garveyism-and were prevented only by action of the police. Shortly afterward members of the Baltimore branch of the U. N. I. A. attempted bodily injury to W. Asbhbie Hawkins, one of the most distinguished colored attorneys in America, when he criticized Garvey in a speech. During the same period an anti-Garvey meeting held by Cyril Briggs, then editor of a monthly magazine-The Crusader-in Rush Memorial Church, New York City, on a Sunday evening, was broken up by Garveyites turning out the lights. (8) Several weeks ago the Garvey division in Philadelphia cause such disturbance in the Salem Baptist Church, where Attorney J. Austin Norris, a graduate of Yale University, and the Rev. J. W. Eason were speaking against Garvey, that the police disbanded the meeting to prevent a riot of bloodshed Reports state the street in front of the church was blocked by Garveyites, who insulted and knocked down pedestrians who were on their way to the meeting. (9) In Los Angeles, Cal., Mr. Noah D. Thompson, a distinguished colored citizen of that city, employed in the editorial department of the Los Angeles Daily Express reporting adversely on the Garvey movement as a result of his visit to the annual convention, was attacked by members of Garvey's Los Angeles division, who, it is alleged, had been incited to incited to violence by Garvey himself, and only through the help of a large number of police officer, as Thompson saved from bodily harm. (10) A few months ago, when some persons in the Cleveland, Ohio. Division of the U. N. I. A. asked Dr. LeRoy Bundy, Garvey's chief assistant, for an accounting of funds a veritable riot took place, led, according to Pittsburgh America, by Bundy himself. (11). In Pittsburgh, Pa., on October 23 last, after seeking to disturb a meeting conducted by Chandler Owen, editor of the Messenger Magazine, Garveyites who had lurked around the corner in a body rushed on the street car after the meeting, seeking to assault him, but were prevented by the intervention of the police. (12) When William Pickens, who had co-operated in the expose of the Garvey frauds, was to deliver an address in Toronto, Garveyites met him on the steps of the church, with hands threateningly in their hip pockets, trying to intimidate he should further expose the movement. (13) In Chicago, after seeking to break up an anti-Garvey a Garvey supporter shot a policeman who sought to him from attacking the speaker as he left the building (14) In New York last August during a series of meetings by the Friends of Negro Freedom to expose Garvey's schemes and methods, the speakers were threatened with death of Garveyites came into the meetings with the avowed intention of breaking them up. This they were prevented from the stern determination on the part of the leaders, of the New York police and the great mass of West Indians and Americans, who clearly showed that they would, not permit any cowardly ruffians to break up their meetings. (15) In fact, Marcus Garvey has created an organization which in its fundamental law condemns and invites to crime this is evidenced by section 3 of Article V of the Constitution of the U. N. I. A., under the caption, "Court Reception at Home." It reads: "No one shall be received by the Potentate Consort who has been convicted of felony, EXCEPT SUCH CRIME OR FELONY WAS COMMITTED IN THE INTEREST OF THE UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION AND THE AFRICAN COMMUNITIES LEAGUE." (16) Further proof of this is found in the public utterances of William Sherrill one of the chief officials in the organization and Garvey's envoy to the League of Nations Assembly at Speaking Geneva. Speaking at the Goldfield Theatre in Baltimore, Md., on August 18, 1922, he is quoted as saying: "BLACK FOLK AS WELL AS WHITE WHO TAMPER WITH THE U. N. I. A. ARE GOING TO DIE."' (17) What appears to be an attempt to carry out this threat is seen in the assault and slashing with a razor of one S. T. Saxon by Garveyites in Cincinnati, Ohio, when he spoke against , the movement there last October. (18) On January 1, this year, just after having made an address in New Orleans, the Rev. J. W. Eason, former "American Leader" of the Garvey movement, who had fallen out with Garvey and was to be the chief witness against him in the Federal Government's case, was waylaid and assassinated, it is reported in the press, by the Garveyites. Rev. Eason identified two of the men as Frederick Dyer, 42, a longshoreman, and William Shakespeare, 29, a painter. Both of them are prominent members of the U. N. I. A. in New Orleans, one wearing a badge as chief of police and the other as chief of the Fire Department of the "African Republic." Dr. Eason's dying words, identifying the men whom he knew from long acquaintance in the movement, were: (19) "I had been speaking at Bethany and was on my way home when three men rushed out at me from an alley. I saw their faces and (pointing at Dyer and Shakespeare) I am positive that these two men here are two of the three." (20) The vicious inclination of these Garvey members is seen in their comments in an interview: (21) (The N. Y. Amsterdam News reports): "Both Dyer and Shakespeare have denied the attack, but declared they were glad of it, as they said Eason richly deserved what he got. 'Eason', said one of them, 'was a sorehead. The association made him what he was. When he was expelled because of misconduct he went up and down the country preaching against Marcus Garvey, who is doing great good for our race. Someone who evidently thought it was time to stop his lies took a crack at him. I don't blame the one that did it. Eason richly deserved what he got.'" (22) Eason says he knew the men who shot him were directed to do so. In so much, however, as the assassination of Mr. Eason removes a Federal witness, we suggest that the Federal Government probe into the facts and ascertain whether Eason was assassinated as the result of an interstate conspiracy emanating from New York. It is signficant that the U. N. I. A. has advertised in its organ, The Negro World, the raising of a defense fund for those indicted for the murder, seemingly in accordance with its constitution. (23) Not only has this movement created friction between Negroes and whites, but it has also increased the hostility between American and West Indian Negroes. (24) Further, Garvey has built up an organization which has victimized hords of ignorant and unsuspecting Negroes, the nature of which is clearly stated by Judge Jacob Panken of the New York Municipal Court, before whom Garvey's civil suit for fraud was tried: Judge Panken says: "It seems to me that you have been preying upon the guillibility of your own people, having kept no proper accounts of the money received for investments, being an organization of high finance in which the officers received outrageously high salaries and were permitted to have exorbitant expense accounts for pleasure jaunts the country. I advise those dupes who have contributed to these organizations to go into court and ask for the appointment of a receiver." (25) For the above reasons we advocate that the Attorney-General use his full influence completely to disband and extirpate this vicious movement, and that he vigorously and speedily push the government's case against Marcus Garvey for using the mails to defraud. This should he done in the interest of justice; even as a matter of practical expediency. (26) The government should note that the Garvey followers for are the most part voteless-being either largely unnaturalized or refraining from voting because Garvey teaches that they are citizens of an African republic. He has greatly exaggerated the actual membership of his organization, which is conservative estimated to be much less than 20,000 in all countries, include the United States and Africa, the West Indies, Central and South America. (The analysis of Garvey's membership has been made by W. A. Domingo, a highly intelligent West Indian from Jamaica, Garvey's home, in "The Crusader" magazine, New York City; also by Dr. W. E. DuBois, a well known social statistician, in "The Century Magazine," February, 1922, New York City). On the other hand, hosts of citizen voters, native born and naturalized, both white and colored, earnestly desire the vigorous prosecution of this case. (27) Again the notorious Ku Klux Klan, an organization of white racial and religious bigots, has aroused much adverse sentiment-many people demanding its dissolution as the Reconstruction Klan was dissolved. The Garvey organization, known as the U. N. I. A., is just as objectionable and even more dangerous, inasmuch as it naturally attracts an even lower type of cranks, crooks and racial bigots, among whom suggestibility to violent crime is much greater. (28) Moreover, since its basic law--the very constitution of the U. N. I. A. -the organization condones and encourages crime, its future meetings should be carefully watched by officers of the law and infractions promptly and severely punished. (29) We desire the Department of Justice to understand that those who draft this document, as well as the tens of thousands who will indorse it in all parts of the country, are by no means impressed by the widely circulated reports which allege certain colored politicans have been trying to use their influence to get the against Garvey quashed. The signers of this appeal represent no particular political, religious or nationalistic faction. They have no personal ends or partisan interests to serve. Nor are they moved by any personal bias against Marcus Garvey. They sound this tocsin only because they forsee the gathering storm of race prejudice and sense the imminent menace of this insidious movement, which cancerlike, is gnawing at the very vitals of peace and safety-of civic harmony and rater-racial concord. The signers of this letter are: HARRY H. PACE, 2289 Seventh avenue, New York City. ROBERT S. ABBOTT, 3435 Indiana avenue, Chicago, Ill. JOHN E. NAIL, 145 West 135th Street, New York City. DR. JULIA P. COLEMAN, 118 West 130th Street, New York City. WILLIAM PICKENS, 70 Fifth avenue, New York City. CHANDLER OWEN, 2305 Seventh avenue, New York City. ROBERT W. BAGNALL, 70 Fifth avenue, New York City. GEORGE W. HARRIS, 135 West 135th Street, New York City. Harry H. Pace is president of the Pace Phonograph Corporation. Robert S. Abbott is editor and publisher of the "Chicago Defender." John E. Nail is president of Nail and Parker, Inc., real estate. Julia P. Coleman is president of the Hair-Vim Chemical Co., Inc. William Pickens is field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Chandler Owen is co-editor of "The Messenger" and co-executive secretary of the Friends of Negro Freedom. Robert W. Bagnall is director of branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. George W. Harris is a member of the Board of Aldermen of New York City and editor of the "New York News." Address reply to Chandler Owen, secretary of committee, 2305 Seventh avenue, New York City. Considering The Letter Let us consider the above letter as written by these wicked Negroes and sent to the Attorney-General of the United States of America and to the white press of the nation. In the first paragraph of the above communication the writers, being Negroes, made use of the following statement, speaking to the Attorney-General. They say: "As chief law enforcement officer of the nation, we wish to call your attention to A HERETOFORE UNCONSIDERED MENACE TO HARMONIOUS RACE RELATIONSHIP. THERE ARE IN OUR MIDST CERTAIN NEGRO CRIMINALS AND POTENTIAL MURDERERS, BOTH FOREIGN AND AMERICAN BORN, WHO ARE MOVED AND ACTUATED BY INTENSE HATRED AGAINST THE WHITE RACE. THESE UNDESIRABLES CONTINUALLY PROCLAIM THAT ALL WHITE PEOPLE ARE ENEMIES TO THE NEGRO." Good Old Darkies To imagine that any group of Negroes could be so base as to attempt to impress upon not only the Attorney General of the United States of America but the white people at large that member of their own race, although this is untrue, are desirous of murdering members of the white race and of maintaining a hatred against them, knowing well the position of the Negro in America and his relationship to his white brother, is more than any one would expect at this time in the struggle for race uplift. Everyone knows that the statement is false and only manufactured by these wicked and malicious individuals for the purpose of directing the hatred of the Attorney General and the white people of America against the Universal Negro Improvement Association and Marcus Garvey; nevertheless, the statement reveals in these Negro men the lowest possible trait. Like the good old darkey, they believe they have some news to tell and they are telling it for all it is worth--the liars and fabricators that they are, for everyone who knows the Universal Negro Improvement Association and Marcus Garvey, white or black, knows well that there is absolutely no desire on their part to murder anybody, and that as far as criminals are concerned, more are to be found probably among those who signed the letter than could be found in the extensive membership of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. No Hatred for White People In paragraph 2 they stated that "the President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association is Marcus Garvey, an unscrupulous demagogue who has ceaselessly and assiduously to spread among Negroes distrust and hatred among people." About being unscrupulous and a demagogue, we need pay no attention because the very villians who wrote such a letter are better able to interpret unscrupulousness and demagogy than anyone else, in that they seem to know more about it, but when it comes to the point of "Marcus Garvey assiduously seeking to spread among Negroes distrust and hatred for all white people," it is time for the white and black races to realize the truth about the Universal Negro Improvement Association and its President. At no time has the President of the Universal Negro Improvement Association preached hatred of the white people. That in itself is a violation of the constitution of the organization, which teaches all its members to love and respect the rights of all races, believing that by so doing, others will in turn love and respect our rights. No Ill Feeling Between Races In paragraph 3 they try to make out that The Negro World, sedulously and continually, seeks to arouse ill-feeling between the races, yet in the same breath they further try to make out that there is an alliance between Garvey and the Ku Klux Klan. If these men were in the possession of their senses, and were actuated by truth rather than by a desire to do harm and injury, they would have realized that the Ku Klux Klan is a white organization and stands for white supremacy, so that Garvey would be illogical and foolish if on the one hand he preached ill feeling and hatred between the two races and then went back upon all this and allied himself with the Ku Klux Klan. Wicked Maligners These wicked maligners, above the protest of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association for over one hundred times, are still endeavoring to make it appear as ii there is some understanding between the President of this organization and the Ku Klux Klan. "Bunch" of Selfish Grafters In paragraph 4 these men state that: "An erroneous conception held by many is that Negroes try to cloak and hide their criminals; the truth is that the great majority of Negroes are bitterly opposed to all criminals and especially to those of their own race because they know that such criminals will cause increased discrimination against themselves." And here we have the high and lofty (?) purposes of these so-called race leaders and race reformers. Other races try to reform and improve their criminals whilst these splendid (?) Negro leaders of ours avow that they are bitterly opposed to them simply because they know that such criminals will cause increased discrimination against them. The selfish dogs that they are! It is not a question of improving the condition of the race; it is a question of how much they will benefit by being members of the race, and if there is a criminal in the Negro race it is preferable that he die rather than he should even exist to be improved, because in so doing he may cause a discrimination against these selfish individuals. We will prove that these men are just what they state themselves to be in these paragraphs--a "bunch" of selfish grafters who have been living off the blood of the race and who feel that the Universal Negro Improvement Association has come upon the scene to so change and improve conditions as to make it impossible for them to continue to suck the last drop of blood out of our people under the guise of race business men and race leaders. Primitive Negroes In paragraph 5 they further state that "the Universal Negro Improvement Association is composed chiefly of the most primitive land ignorant element of West Indian and American Negroes. Now we come to the crux of the matter. These fellows represent a small group of men led by DuBois, who believe that the race problem is to be solved by assimilation, and that the program for the Negro is to make himself the best imitation of the white man and approach him as near as possible with the hope of jumping over the fence into the white race and be completely lost in another one hundred years; therefore they everything Negro and they haven't sense enough to hide it. Now, what do they mean by "the most primitive and ignorant element of West Indian and American Negroes?" We will all remember that in the slave days the Negroes of America and the West Indies were taken from Africa, and that they then represented their tribal primitiveness. The emancipation, both in America and the West Indies, has brought us up to the present state, with the majority of our people still bearing resemblance of this tribal primitiveness, whilst a few endeavored to make themselves Caucasianized. These men regard it as a crime to be as nature made us, and for us to be as nature made us is to be ignorant; this shows how much love these would-be Negroes have for the motherhood of our The paragraph stating that "The respectable element with the movement are largely professional men without calling," and that "the organization is composed of Negro and ignorant Negro fanatics," again reveal to us the of these so-called business and professional scoundrels in that they endeavor to make it appear that only professional men are respectable, and that the organization has no white sharks or ignorant fanatics in it. Were it not for the ignorant element of Negroes, these very fellows would have starved long ago, because all of them earn their living either by selling out the race under the guise of leadership or by exploiting the race in business. We only hope that the so-called ignorant Negroes of America will get to know these fellows as they are and let them pay the price through their pocketbooks for insulting so large a number of people who are proud of their race and color. Forced Companionship Between Races These nonentities show us in paragraph 5 that they do not believe in or cannot tolerate any organization that is not made up of either respectable white people or white sharks and ignorant fanatics. These are the fellows who foment lynching by always endeavoring to encourage forced companionship between the two races. In paragraph 6 they depict Marcus Garvey as being intolerant of free speech, when, in fact, he has always advocated freedom of a universal kind. Again, in that paragraph they state that "The laws of the Universal Negro Improvement Association encourage violence." That is a lie. In many of the succeeding paragraphs they further endeavor to make out that the Garveyites or members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association have on several occasions disturbed the peace of public meetings and individuals organized to speak against Garvey and the movement. The persons cited in the paragraphs who were alleged to be disturbed at the respective meetings are, with one exception, all members of the gang who have produced the letter now under criticism. They were all organized for the purpose of injuring the Universal Negro Improvement Association and Marcus Garvey. Nevertheless, at no time has the association or Mr. Garvey ever made any effort to check or embarrass them. Their own unworthiness created in their meetings, no doubt, the displeasure of the people who attended them, and now they try to label the Association and Garvey for it. Colored Caste Prejudice It is strange that whenever anything is referred to derogatory to the race, the gentlemen use the term "Negro," but whenever they want to impress either the Attorney-General or the white people of the standing of any member of the race they refer to him as "colored," such as paragraph 7, where reference was made to W. Ashbie Hawkins as one of the most distinguished colored attorneys in America, and to Noah D. Thompson as a distinguished colored citizen of Los Angeles, being employed, as he is in the editorial department of the white Los Angeles Daily Express. This reveals again the hidden motive or intention of these plotters who are endeavoring to set up social caste as distinct from Negro, which they claim to be primitive and ignorant. Socialist Judge as Propagandist In paragraph 25 the writers state that Judge Jacob Panken of the New York Municipal Court made certain derogatory remarks against Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro. Improvement Association in a case brought before him. They hadn't the honesty to tell the public and the Attorney-General in their letter that Judge Jacob Panken is a Socialist and that at the time the case was being tried the Socialist group of Negroes in Harlem, New York, looked upon it as a splendid opportunity to get back at Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association, who had been against Socialism to have the Socialist judge take advantage of the situation while hearing a ease of Garvey by making use of such remarks as would be used by the Socialist group as propaganda inst Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Now they are making use of the Statement of Panken, as they had hoped he would use certain remarks for propaganda purpose, and they still believe that all Negroes are foolish enough to follow the advice of a Socialist judge against whom, as a Socialist, Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association stand out. Hundreds of other cases have been heard before other judges of New York, and no one ever used the remarks of Panken's, hence everyone knows they were made for propaganda purposes. Negro voters will take keen notice of it. U. N. I. A. Controls Thousands of Votes In paragraphs 27 they infer that "the Garvey followers are for the most part voteless." This is another lie, because the Universal Negro Improvement Association can marshal twenty times as many voters in the United States of America as all other Negro organizations put together, and that will be proved in a short while for the good of the race. About the "exaggerated membership" of the organization, any reader of the letter has but to take for granted that some of the things said about the organization in different parts of the country were true; but even if they were only partly true they would at least reveal a membership in three or four sections larger than they claim it to be all over the world. No one will ever know accurately the membership of the Universal Improvement Association, because every second Negro you meet, if not an actual member, is one in sprit. A Barber Shop Philosopher In reference to W. A. Domingo as an "intelligent" West Indian Negro of Jamaica, who made an analysis of the Garvey membership, all those acquainted with the Universal Negro Improvement Association know that Domingo was a dismissed employee of the association and that he represents no one but himself. He is what is commonly called a "barber shop rat", who talks the kind of philosophy indulged in by frequenters of the tonsorial artist. He also is a Socialist who has a desperate grudge against work and who has the dreamer's vision that one day all the rich people of the world will divide up their wealth with the loafer, thereby bringing into existence the ture reign of Socialism. Crusader Magazine Out of Business The magazine (Crusader) referred to also will be remember as the mouthpiece of Cyril Briggs, who collected donations from colored and white people to support the paper some years ago, and who up to nine months ago published that he had received $5,000 for the purpose of starting another weekly paper called the Liberator, and that colored people were to subscribe $5,000 more. It is for me to state that the Crusader has long been out of business and the Liberator has never appeared. What has become of the $5,000 acknowledge and the subscription taken for the publication of the Crusader no one knows. W. E. B. DuBois is a colored man who hates the drop of Negro blood in his veins, and he is as much against the Universal Negro Improvement Association from a prejudice viewpoint as the Devil is against Holy Water. The demolition of the Universal Negro Improvement Association is asked for by the writers of the letter. In paragraph 27 they state that the organization is as objectionable and even more dangerous than the Ku Klux Klan. Take it for granted that the Ku Klux Klan sought black supremacy. If there was any such program these Negroes would prefer the existence of the Ku Klux Klan to the Universal Negro Improvement Association is more dangerous. This shows they are illogical, foolish, wicked and malicious. They seek to destroy the Universal Negro Improvement Association as a Negro organization, not knowing that a precedent will be set for the destruction of all Negro organizations that seek in any way to improve the condition of the Negro race. These bigots believe the own the United States of America. They have no more right in America than other colored men, so that they will be very much disappointed if they believe that the Department of Justice and the Attorney-General would, for the purpose of pleasing eight Negroes, defeat the ends of the Constitution of e United States of America. But who are these Negroes? They themselves have told us what they are in their relationship to business. Group of Unknown Persons Take them as they are, one is a business exploiter who endeavors to appeal to the patriotism of the race by selling us commodities at a higher rate than are charged in the ordinary and open markets. Another is a race defamer of Chicago who publishes in his newspaper week after week the grossest scandals against the race, showing up the crimes and vices of our people. He was the man who published in his newspaper for over one year a full page advertisement showing the pictures of two women, a black woman and a very light woman, with the advice under the photograph of the black woman to "lighten your black skin." The other is a real estate shark who delights, under the guise of race patriotism, to raise the rent of poor colored people even beyond that of white landlords, who are generally more considerate, knowing the economic condition of the colored race. Another is a hair straightener and face bleacher whose loyalty to race is to get the race to be dissatisfied with itself. Still we have another as a turn coat and lackey who has not enough manhood to stand up and defend his own cause in his relationship to others, but who was so mean and low down as to have approached Marcus Garvey for a job about nine months ago, representing to him that he was unfairly dealt with because of his color, and after he was offered a berth he took that as an opportunity of going back to his old employers to get them to raise his salary, which he never would have gotten raised, but for the fact that he had secured new employment in a rival organization. Then we have the grafter Socialist who started so many enterprises among colored people, such as the Elevator Men's Union, and has not been able to account for the funds. We have still another who maintained a Blue Vein Society Church in Detroit, Mich., and who was subsequently relieved of his charge because of alleged immorality; and another unscrupulous politician whom everyone knows to be a man who has lost the respect of the ordinary members of the community. These are the angels and "respectable" citizens who have written this infamous letter to the Attorney-General of the United States of America against Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Sinners to Purge Their Souls It is hoped that these sinners will purge their souls of the crime they have committed against their race, for surely in the accusation of their own consciences they shall not see salvation. Let me implore all members, divisions and friends of the Universal Negro Improvement Association to now make every effort to push forth the cause of our great movement. Now is the time for every man and woman to-Stand loyally by this organization. Whatsoever might have been the difference of opinions in local divisions or your dissatisfaction, you must stand unitedly as millions of members throughout the world, for the enemy within our race is now knocking at the door. It is for us unitedly to stand together and meet the foe. The greatest weapon we can use at this time is stronger organization. Let all members come together more than ever everywhere and prove to the world that not by misrepresentation, but by fair play and justice shall the great problem of race be settled. It is hoped that the white people of America and of the world will take no cognizance of the vicious lies and misrepresentations of these wicked Negroes. Everyone will realize that the Universal Negro Improvement Association preaches the doctrine of human brotherhood and the love of all mankind. MARCUS GARVEY, President-General, Universal Negro Improvement Association. New York, Tuesday, February 6, 1923. P. S. The signers of the letter to the Attorney-General are nearly all Octoroons and Quadroons. Two are black Negroes, who have married Octoroons. One is a Mulatto and Socialist, a self-styled Negro leader, who had expressed his intention of marrying a white woman but was subsequently prevented from doing so by the criticism of the U. N. I. A. With this lone exception all of the others are married to Octoroons. -M. G. N.B. Since the signing of the letter to the Attorney General, George Harris has been twice defeated for election as Alderman. KEEPING THE NEGRO DOWN My enemies, and those opposed to the liberation of the Negro to nationhood are so incompetent and incapable of meeting argument with argument and tolerance with tolerance that they have cowardly sought the power of Government to combat and destroy me; and, even there they have failed, because Government has no power to destroy the spiritual urge of men, but can only succeed through persecution to expose its acts of injustice in seeking to serve the interest of one class of its citizenry against that of another. The cowards have forced their friends and associates who happen to be a part of Government to the use majesty of such a Government against me. That shows their weakness and inability to stand up under the onward march of African redemption and real Negro freedom. They are all afraid of the black man. They try to hold him down and yet claim his interiority. A large number will have to stay down him if the show goes on. The white man preserves himself by a foul, he cannot, or will not, play a straight game. |
| RastafarI |
| Haile Selassie I |
