The Marrow of Tradition

by Charles W. Chesnutt

  IX

  A WHITE MAN'S "NIGGER"

  Carteret fished from the depths of the waste-basket and handed to thegeneral an eighteen by twenty-four sheet, poorly printed on cheap paper,with a "patent" inside, a number of advertisements of proprietarymedicines, quack doctors, and fortune-tellers, and two or three columnsof editorial and local news. Candor compels the admission that it wasnot an impressive sheet in any respect, except when regarded as thefirst local effort of a struggling people to make public expression oftheir life and aspirations. From this point of view it did not speak atall badly for a class to whom, a generation before, newspapers, books,and learning had been forbidden fruit.

  "It's an elegant specimen of journalism, isn't it?" laughed the general,airily. "Listen to this 'ad':--

  "'Kinky, curly hair made straight by one application of our specific.Our face bleach will turn the skin of a black or brown person four orfive shades lighter, and of a mulatto perfectly white. When you get thecolor you wish, stop using the preparation.'

  "Just look at those heads!--'Before using' and 'After using.' We'dbetter hurry, or there'll be no negroes to disfranchise! If they don'tstop till they get the color they desire, and the stuff works accordingto contract, they'll all be white. Ah! what have we here? This looks asthough it might be serious." Opening the sheet the general read aloudan editorial article, to which Carteret listened intently, hisindignation increasing in strength from the first word to the last,while McBane's face grew darkly purple with anger.

  The article was a frank and somewhat bold discussion of lynching and itscauses. It denied that most lynchings were for the offense mostgenerally charged as their justification, and declared that, even ofthose seemingly traced to this cause, many were not for crimes at all,but for voluntary acts which might naturally be expected to follow fromthe miscegenation laws by which it was sought, in all the SouthernStates, to destroy liberty of contract, and, for the purpose ofmaintaining a fanciful purity of race, to make crimes of marriages towhich neither nature nor religion nor the laws of other statesinterposed any insurmountable barrier. Such an article in a Northernnewspaper would have attracted no special attention, and might merelyhave furnished food to an occasional reader for serious thought upon asubject not exactly agreeable; but coming from a colored man, in aSouthern city, it was an indictment of the laws and social system of theSouth that could not fail of creating a profound sensation.

  "Infamous--infamous!" exclaimed Carteret, his voice trembling withemotion. "The paper should be suppressed immediately."

  "The impudent nigger ought to be horsewhipped and run out of town,"growled McBane.

  "Gentlemen," said the general soothingly, after the first burst ofindignation had subsided, "I believe we can find a more effective usefor this article, which, by the way, will not bear too closeanalysis,--there's some truth in it, at least there's an argument.""That is not the point," interrupted Carteret.

  "No," interjected McBane with an oath, "that ain't at all the point.Truth or not, no damn nigger has any right to say it."

  "This article," said Carteret, "violates an unwritten law of the South.If we are to tolerate this race of weaklings among us, until they areeliminated by the stress of competition, it must be upon terms which welay down. One of our conditions is violated by this article, in whichour wisdom is assailed, and our women made the subject of offensivecomment. We must make known our disapproval."

  "I say lynch the nigger, break up the press, and burn down the newspaperoffice," McBane responded promptly.

  "Gentlemen," interposed the general, "would you mind suspending thediscussion for a moment, while I mind Jerry across the street? I think Ican then suggest a better plan."

  Carteret rang the bell for Jerry, who answered promptly. He had beenexpecting such a call ever since the gentlemen had gone in.

  "Jerry," said the general, "step across to Brown's and tell him to sendme three Calhoun cocktails. Wait for them,--here's the money."

  "Yas, suh," replied Jerry, taking the proffered coin.

  "And make has'e, charcoal," added McBane, "for we're gettin' damn dry."

  A momentary cloud of annoyance darkened Carteret's brow. McBane hadalways grated upon his aristocratic susceptibilities. The captain was anupstart, a product of the democratic idea operating upon the poor whiteman, the descendant of the indentured bondservant and the sociallyunfit. He had wealth and energy, however, and it was necessary to makeuse of him; but the example of such men was a strong incentive toCarteret in his campaign against the negro. It was distasteful enough torub elbows with an illiterate and vulgar white man of no ancestry,--therisk of similar contact with negroes was to be avoided at any cost. Hecould hardly expect McBane to be a gentleman, but when among men of thatclass he might at least try to imitate their manners. A gentleman didnot order his own servants around offensively, to say nothing ofanother's.

  The general had observed Carteret's annoyance, and remarked pleasantlywhile they waited for the servant's return:--

  "Jerry, now, is a very good negro. He's not one of your new negroes,who think themselves as good as white men, and want to run thegovernment. Jerry knows his place,--he is respectful, humble, obedient,and content with the face and place assigned to him by nature."

  "Yes, he's one of the best of 'em," sneered McBane. "He'll call any man'master' for a quarter, or 'God' for half a dollar; for a dollar he'llgrovel at your feet, and for a cast-off coat you can buy an option onhis immortal soul,--if he has one! I've handled niggers for ten years,and I know 'em from the ground up. They're all alike,--they're a scrubrace, an affliction to the country, and the quicker we're rid of 'emall the better."

  Carteret had nothing to say by way of dissent. McBane's sentiments, intheir last analysis, were much the same as his, though he would haveexpressed them less brutally. "The negro," observed the general,daintily flicking the ash from his cigar, "is all right in his place andvery useful to the community. We lived on his labor for quite a longtime, and lived very well. Nevertheless we are better off withoutslavery, for we can get more out of the free negro, and with lessresponsibility. I really do not see how we could get along without thenegroes. If they were all like Jerry, we'd have no trouble with them."

  Having procured the drinks, Jerry, the momentary subject of the racediscussion which goes on eternally in the South, was making his way backacross the street, somewhat disturbed in mind.

  "O Lawd!" he groaned, "I never troubles trouble till trouble troublesme; but w'en I got dem drinks befo', Gin'l Belmont gimme half a dollaran' tol' me ter keep de change. Dis time he didn' say nothin' 'bout dechange. I s'pose he jes' fergot erbout it, but w'at is a po' niggergwine ter do w'en he has ter conten' wid w'ite folks's fergitfulniss? Idon' see no way but ter do some fergittin' myse'f. I'll jes' stan'outside de do' here till dey gits so wrop' up in deir talk dat dey won''member nothin' e'se, an' den at de right minute I'll ban' de glasses'roun, an' moa' lackly de gin'l 'll fergit all 'bout de change."

  While Jerry stood outside, the conversation within was plainly audible,and some inkling of its purport filtered through his mind.

  "Now, gentlemen," the general was saying, "here's my plan. Thateditorial in the negro newspaper is good campaign matter, but we shouldreserve it until it will be most effective. Suppose we just stick it ina pigeon-hole, and let the editor,--what's his name?"

  "The nigger's name is Barber," replied McBane. "I'd like to have himunder me for a month or two; he'd write no more editorials."

  "Let Barber have all the rope he wants," resumed the general, "andhe'll be sure to hang himself. In the mean time we will continue to workup public opinion,--we can use this letter privately for thatpurpose,--and when the state campaign opens we'll print the editorial,with suitable comment, scatter it broadcast throughout the state, firethe Southern heart, organize the white people on the color line, have alittle demonstration with red shirts and shotguns, scare the negroesinto fits, win the state for white supremacy, and teach our coloredfellow citizens that we are tir
ed of negro domination and have put anend to it forever. The Afro-American Banner will doubtless die about thesame time."

  "And so will the editor!" exclaimed McBane ferociously; "I'll see tothat. But I wonder where that nigger is with them cocktails? I'm sothirsty I could swallow blue blazes."

  "Here's yo' drinks, gin'l," announced Jerry, entering with the glasseson a tray.

  The gentlemen exchanged compliments and imbibed--McBane at a gulp,Carteret with more deliberation, leaving about half the contents of hisglass.

  The general drank slowly, with every sign of appreciation. "If theillustrious statesman," he observed, "whose name this mixture bears, haddone nothing more than invent it, his fame would still deserve to gothundering down the endless ages."

  "It ain't bad liquor," assented McBane, smacking his lips.

  Jerry received the empty glasses on the tray and left the room. He hadscarcely gained the hall when the general called him back.

  "O Lawd!" groaned Jerry, "he's gwine ter ax me fer de change. Yas, suh,yas, suh; comin', gin'l, comin', suh!"

  "You may keep the change, Jerry," said the general.

  Jerry's face grew radiant at this announcement. "Yas, suh, gin'l; thanky', suh; much obleedzed, suh. I wuz jus' gwine ter fetch it in, suh,w'en I had put de tray down. Thank y', suh, truly, suh!"

  Jerry backed and bowed himself out into the hall.

  "Dat wuz a close shave," he muttered, as he swallowed the remainingcontents of Major Carteret's glass. "I 'lowed dem twenty cents wuz gonedat time,--an' whar I wuz gwine ter git de money ter take my gal ter dechu'ch festibal ter-night, de Lawd only knows!--'less'n I borried itoffn Mr. Ellis, an' I owes him sixty cents a'ready. But I wonduh w'atdem w'ite folks in dere is up ter? Dere's one thing sho',--dey'regwine ter git after de niggers some way er 'nuther, an' w'en dey does,whar is Jerry gwine ter be? Dat's de mos' impo'tantes' question. I'mgwine ter look at dat newspaper dey be'n talkin' 'bout, an' 'less'n mymin' changes might'ly, I'm gwine ter keep my mouf shet an' stan' in widde Angry-Saxon race,--ez dey calls deyse'ves nowadays,--an' keep on deright side er my bread an' meat. Wat nigger ever give me twenty cents inall my bawn days?"

  "By the way, major," said the general, who lingered behind McBane asthey were leaving, "is Miss Clara's marriage definitely settled upon?"

  "Well, general, not exactly; but it's the understanding that they willmarry when they are old enough."

  "I was merely thinking," the general went on, "that if I were you I'dspeak to Tom about cards and liquor. He gives more time to both than ayoung man can afford. I'm speaking in his interest and in MissClara's,--we of the old families ought to stand together."

  "Thank you, general, for the hint. I'll act upon it."

  This political conference was fruitful in results. Acting upon the plansthere laid out, McBane traveled extensively through the state, workingup sentiment in favor of the new movement. He possessed a certainforceful eloquence; and white supremacy was so obviously the divineintention that he had merely to affirm the doctrine in order to secureadherents.

  General Belmont, whose business required him to spend much of the winterin Washington and New York, lost no opportunity to get the ear oflawmakers, editors, and other leaders of national opinion, and toimpress upon them, with persuasive eloquence, the impossibility ofmaintaining existing conditions, and the tremendous blunder which hadbeen made in conferring the franchise upon the emancipated race.

  Carteret conducted the press campaign, and held out to the Republicansof the North the glittering hope that, with the elimination of the negrovote, and a proper deference to Southern feeling, a strong whiteRepublican party might be built up in the New South. How well the baittook is a matter of history,--but the promised result is still in thefuture. The disfranchisement of the negro has merely changed the form ofthe same old problem. The negro had no vote before the rebellion, andfew other rights, and yet the negro question was, for a century, thepivot of American politics. It plunged the nation into a bloody war,and it will trouble the American government and the American conscienceuntil a sustained attempt is made to settle it upon principles ofjustice and equity.

  The personal ambitions entertained by the leaders of this movement arebut slightly involved in this story. McBane's aims have been touchedupon elsewhere. The general would have accepted the nomination forgovernor of the state, with a vision of a senatorship in the future.Carteret hoped to vindicate the supremacy of his race, and make thestate fit for his son to live in, and, incidentally, he would not refuseany office, worthy of his dignity, which a grateful people might thrustupon him.

  So powerful a combination of bigot, self-seeking demagogue, and astutepolitician was fraught with grave menace to the peace of the state andthe liberties of the people,--by which is meant the whole people, andnot any one class, sought to be built up at the expense of another.