◆ SpookStack

Hope Becoming Despair. S a result of the effects of race Prejudice a very serious M,) cohviction is gradually becoming settled in the minds _ of ~ colored Americans all over-ot country. They are coming to see that what they have been taught and have believed’ is not true—namely, that if colored people. can be patient and good and show themselves obedient and humble they will inevitably prove themselves worthy citizens and will .. therefore receive the rewards of full citizenship. They are beginning to believe, and this in very large numbers, that individual or even collective worth as human beings gains the i as they are Negroes. The hopefulness natural to their race is now é ; espair. Colored leaders are saying today that no amount of achi vement will gain anything for the colored people as a whole, and that, moreover, they no longer believe the people of the United States will fight for democracy. Americans May fight to live and do as they like, they say, but not for democracy. This conviction of some colored leaders and many more colored people is rapidly permeating the whole twelve mil- lions. When hope is taken away from a people moral degeneration follows swiftly after. Young colored menan women today are up hope for justice or security in their own country. When this hopelessness reaches down to certain strata in any society, outbreaks of crime are in- evitable. We must expect it in many places besides Harlem. It has already occurred in other Cities. The swiftness with which this long-gathering despair has come to a present head is due, perhaps, more than to any 14 Apr