superstitions and poor. Is that any more than could have been naturally expected of a people who have been from under the yoke of bondage only thirty years, and who came into citizenship in one day more than four millions in number without a dollar and without an established credit for one dollar's worth, or is it possible that the world has so little of the sense of justice or charity for an oppressed people as to expect them en masse to become a perfect people in one-quarter of a century—a thing that no race has ever done? To expect this of the negro is simply to acknowledge that he possesses ability far superior to that of other races, which is not true.
It is amazingly strange to note the scrutiny that some of our friends bring into use at times to avoid giving the negro due credit for many of his good deeds, and at the same time to note their willingness to magnify and publish to the world his mistakes. Can our friends in America not afford to be just?
After all, it would seem that somehow, and certainly without good reason, the "negro is the American bone of contention." He is discussed and abused by a large part of the public press and upon the stump and public platform in almost every conceivable and unfair manner. Conventions are called in the North and in the South in which they discuss the what to do with him and what to do for him without ever asking him or his representatives to meet them and discuss the how to let him alone, other than to help him become a man like all other good men. Some Legislatures pass discriminating laws against him, some (and many) courts of justice pass upon him
