Faith and the Negro ‘Question’

Posted on February 25, 2011 by lmharnisch

  Feb. 25, 1911, Hats  

  Feb. 25, 1911, Faith and the Negro 'Question'  

Feb. 25, 1911: Religion columnist William T. Ellis has a few things on his mind about the Negro “question,” but none of them involve defining what the “question” might be. Presumably it was so familiar to readers that he felt no need to explain it.

 
Ellis considers African Americans “brothers,” but they are, as far as he is concerned, younger brothers who need guidance from their wiser,  older white siblings: "A weaker brother, a deficient brother and perhaps an erring brother he may be, but the black man is still a brother," Ellis says.

Patronizing, condescending white superiority masquerading as Christian compassion and acceptance. Ugh.

 

  Feb. 25, 1911, Faith and the Negro 'Question'  

About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times
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1 Response to Faith and the Negro ‘Question’

  1. Native Angeleno says:
    February 25, 2011 at 10:29 pm

    Reminds me of the Lincoln-Douglas debate in a southern Illinois town when Lincoln tried to convince the white men of his free state audience not to be pro-slavery by speaking as insultingly of the enslaved as this preacher does, to show he was on their, white, side through and through and ought not be seen as any kind of n_____-lover (Lincoln used the N-word throughout the debate), but a reasonable man who was out to improve the state of white America by showing how slavery, and ill will toward blacks, was bad for them as well.
    100 years later, during the civil rights battles of the ’60s, Lincoln’s esteem took a hit within the black community it has yet to recover from.

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