Checking Migration

Chicago Defender

Citation Information:

“Checking Migration,” Chicago Defender, v.14, n. 32, August 9, 1919.

THE ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE is responsible for the statement that they have seen no public contradiction of the story that has gained so much currency that the federal railroad administration has issued orders which are intended to have the result of hampering the buying of transportation by members of our group to the end of discouraging the emigration of our people to the North and saving the South’s labor supply. We are loathe to believe that any such order would emanate from Director General Hines, no matter where his personal sympathies lie.

THE WORLD KNOWS the efforts put forth by the South to retain our labor. We were made the victims of unjust home-made laws, picked up by the police for no reason at all except that some contractor had sent in a call for more convict labor, and the grafting public officials proceeded to supply the demand. In this respect the South is an enigma. It wants us and it doesn’t want us. The truth is it wants us as serfs and vassals, but not as men and citizens. The conditions upon which it wants us never will be complied with.

THE FACT is becoming apparent more and more every day that an enlightened and educated people of whatever race or nationality cannot be held as serfs and vassals. The South is destined to become a barren waste and a deserted wilderness if it persists in its indefensible methods to brutalize, humiliate and subjugate the members of our group residing there. As we advance in education and wealth we become more and more equipped to protect and defend ourself and family against injustice and wrong. The white South may as well realize now as later that the day is past when it can with impunity and with safety murder Colored men and brutalize our women. Migration will therefore continue to be one of the means employed to bring about the desired change.