0.3 Negro and white exclusion towns in indian territory and oklahoma  (Page 2/2)

The amount of talk circulating in the neighborhood after this “raising,” as they called it, let the light in on many other facts relative to the local race question. The neighboring town, where I happened to be, at once began casting side glances on the Negroes who thronged the streets on market days. Were it not for the fact that it lay in Indian Territory where Negro freedman have land rights and the numerical strength to hold their own, the outcome of public excitement might have been the same as at Stroud. Now the question is, in towns where both races still abide in tolerance how long will the balance be maintained? Feelings of antagonism through pride of character ought really to have little place in some of these villages, for the moral character of the majority of whites is not at all above comparison with that of the poorest Negroes. It is quite evident that the Negroes will not be the first to take aggressive steps, but when united measures are taken by the whites the Negroes will not be slow to respond, either by passive or aggressive opposition. The natural result, even where there is no violent outbreak, is one that nourishes the genius of trouble for the future.

No solution of the matter has as yet suggested itself and the only means so far adopted by those concerned, to better the present state of affairs, has been to ignore it or to treat it lightly. It is quite apparent, however, that things cannot remain very long at a standstill. The Negroes in the region mentioned are watching affairs in other sections and the whites are watching them. A lack of sympathy with the ideals of the nation itself is already manifesting itself among the Negroes, who have nothing to hope for in the way of improvement at the hands of the present local controlling powers. Indeed they see nothing of the well-intentioned efforts on foot for the fair settlement of race differences and they can hardly be blamed for showing apathy to civil institutions which in reality are strongly prejudiced against them. A case which illustrates this unloyal sentiment came up on the Fourth of July, when a brass band was playing martial and rousing airs during the review of some troops near an Indian Territory garrison. Some Negro bystanders remarked with sneers that the music did not make them “feel good.” They declared that they would never fight in favor of any cause represented by the flag. Yet it was only a few years ago when Indian Territory Negroes did fight bravely under that same flag.

Now the leaven of discontent and the smouldering spirit of race hostility have assumed real existence in the former territories. Statehood may alleviate matters outwardly for a time, but it is hardly reasonable to suppose that the old spirit of antagonism there, which has led the whites and Negroes to show their teeth, will be forgotten in a change of politics which has been effected by one party chiefly in its own interests. The Negroes, who naturally in this case cannot foresee much to their advantage in the present changes, may be expected to retire further and further into racial conservatism, and seclude themselves in increasing numbers in surroundings that are more to their taste, away from districts that are not socially congenial to them. In this respect there appears some similarity between them and their Indian neighbors. Of course the whites are in no way sorry to see the Negroes segregated in remote districts as long as they do not have to come into direct contact with them. This seclusion may prove very satisfactory for a while to both parties but with the separation of interests and with increasing numbers and conservatism the gap will tend to widen, and the race question in the Indian Territory and Oklahoma will be more difficult to settle, whenever that question has to be settled. It seems quite evident that some new methods and ideas will have to be introduced somewhere to create a better mutual understanding between the races. The article by Dr. Franz Boas of Columbia University in Van Norden's Magazine, on the anthropological status of the Negro race, ought to be of value in presenting some generally little-known but fundamentally important facts to a public which has concerned itself somewhat one-sidedly with the political and social sides of a race problem.