The race's
enemies would have used it with great effect. They did not fail, but
did their duty nobly--a thousand hurrahs for the colored troopers of
the Spanish-American war!!
In considering their successful achievements, however, it is well to
remember that there were some things the Negro had to forget while
facing Spanish bullets. The Negro soldier in bracing himself for that
conflict must needs forget the cruelties that daily go on against his
brethren under that same flag he faces death to defend; he must forget
that when he returns to his own land he will be met not as a citizen,
but as a serf in that part of it, at least, where the majority of
his people live; he must forget that if he wishes to visit his aged
parents who may perhaps live in some of the Southern States, he must
go in a "Jim Crow" car; and if he wants a meal on the way, he could
only get it in the kitchen, as to insist on having it in the dining
room with other travelers, would subject him to mob violence; he must
forget that the flag he fought to defend in Cuba does not protect him
nor his family at home; he must forget the murder of Frazier B. Baker,
who was shot down in cold blood, together with his infant babe in its
mother's arms, and the mother and another child wounded, at Lake City,
S.C., for no other offense than attempting to perform the duties of
Postmaster at that place--a position given him by President McKinley;
he must forget also the shooting of Loftin, the colored Postmaster at
Hagansville, Ga.
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