Come It Must!
An Address Delivered by
WILLIAM L SHERRILL
April 16th, 1922
at the Music Hall, upon the 2d visit of
The Hon. MARCUS GARVEY
•• '(
to Cii\cinnati, Ohio
' * I
Your Excellency, Provisional President of Africa, President
of the Cincinnati Division, Officers, Black Cross Nurses,
Legions, Members and Friends of the Universal Negro
Improvement Association:
We have come to your city tonight in your interest; we
have come for the purpose of your betterment; the establish¬
ment of your cause and for the assurance of your future des¬
tinies. We have come in interest of an organization which
is sweeping the world like a mighty forest fire and catching
a grip on 400 million Negroes that will not be loosened until
Negroes the world over are respected and given justice in
whatever country they desire to work and live. We come
in interest of a work which weighs heavily upon our heart,
a cause which fires our very being with an unconquerable
determination not to rest this human frame until it has giv¬
en up all there is in it, intellectually, spiritually and physi¬
cally for Negro freedom and redemption.
The conditions and circumstances my people have been
forced to face for over three hundred years, have caused us
much concern ever since we have been old enough to search
the pages of history and read between the lines. And hav¬
ing read and understood we have but one ambition and that
is to help remove the chains which bind black men every¬
where, socially, industrially and economically. We are
wrapped up soul and body in this fight for our race. We
see other races and nations achieving and accomplishing
and we want black men given unrestricted opportunities to
achieve and a:complish. We are selfish enough to want the
black man to share every heritage shared by any other race
or nationality. We are narrow enough to think first of the
Negro's cause and second of the other fellow's. We are bi¬
ased enough to see the Negro's point of view from every an¬
gle. Nevertheless we are not to be too critically cemmred
for these characteristics, for they are not simply individual¬
istic, but very much human when one is born and raised un¬
der conditions many of us were born and raised under in this
country.
We speak to you tonight as one who has seen, experi¬
enced and been a victim of the terrible treatment accorded
Negroes in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
We are born and raised in a country where money, greed
and intense race prejudice holds sway; in a country where
every conceivable method or practice is resorted to that
Negroes might feel their inferiority; in a country where Ne¬
gro women are unprotected from the approach of the scoun¬
drels of the dominant race unless they are protected by the
very blood of their own; in a country where regardless of
Negro loyalty and devotion, to both flag and country they
are segregated, disfranchised and lynched for mere trifles;
in a country where regardless of a Negro's culture and re¬
finement, regardless of his ability, intelligence, or financial
standing, he is denied the accommodation of the best ho¬
tels, theatres, and public conveyances, prohibited from liv¬
ing in certain districts, and refused a fair chance in indus¬
trial and commercial competition; in a country where white
men will die and go to hell seven times before they will per¬
mit a Negro to exercise the rights of manhood and American
citizenship.
We are not compelled to ask anybody about conditions!
here; we are not speaking what we have read; we are not
talking what we suppose, we see these hell-holes, we ride
in these filthy jimcrow cars, we see the bais prohibiting our
admittance to hotels, theatres and other public places, we
have watched the breaking of pledge after pledge, and prom¬
ise after promise of political parties and factions, who rode
into office on our shoulders. We hear them in certain sec¬
tions daring us to scratch a ballot; we see our brethren robbed
of their earnings; we smell the burning flesh of our com¬
rades and hear the groans of innocent men dying at the
hands of angry mobs. We see conditions in this country
which will not let us be contented. We have experienced
and come in contact with circumstances which move us to
action, and it is these conditions, this state of affairs, and
the black man's status universally which makes us ready and
willing to give not only cur time and talent, but our very
life's blood that the chains of prejudice, and greed, and ex¬
ploitation which bind too tightly the ambitions, possibilities
and aspirations of 400 million human souls, shall be brok¬
en, giving them an opportunity to enter every phase of hu¬
man endeavor and make their humble contribution to hu¬
manity and Almighty God.
The ways.and means of removing these hindrances and
handicaps has occupied 95 per cent of the Negro's thought,
time and energy here in America ever since Lincoln struck
the visible shackles which bound him. He has tried to coop¬
erate with his dominant brother in every petty scheme for
justice and fair play this brother has inaugurated.
He has struggled to educate his children and Christian¬
ize his people; remained true and loyal to his country, even
while the temptation to betray lurked in his breast, due to
the horrible thoughts which saturated his mind. His slave
masters have picked for him leaders, whom he has followed,
until these leaders failed to satisfy that appetite which had
been developed by much injection of white ambitions and
desires and imbibing of white psychology. The education,
culture and refinement which the Negro acquired, only
serves to make his burdens heavier. Because, before he had
no appetite for the things his master possessed; but today
he has the appetite and is denied the privilege of satisfy¬
ing it.
Notwithstanding these conditions, and others I have
not even touched upon, the Negro, who by Nature is a be¬
ing of patience, forgiveness and hopefulness, has endured,
tolerated and borne from year to year, from political cam¬
paign to political campaign, hoping that the next year, or
the next campaign would bring forth a change of in
his status. Years have come and years have gone; elec¬
tions have come and elections have gone with no material
change in the betterment of his status. Although dis¬
couragement and despondency, in the face of these facts,
should have been his logical mood, he still retains a spark of
hope which was fanned into flame when this last war was
fought.
We heard a cry this time we had never heard before.
We heard the mighty nations of the world crying, Democ¬
racy, Democracy, Democracy. All men must be free. Little
nations must be protected, the world must be made a safer
place in which to live. And the fact that caused our hopes
to leap in mighty flames about us was that America led the
cry. Her voice was heard above them all. We saw the
white man, as he has always done, turn to the black man.
France turned to her colonial possessions in Africa; England
turned to British East Africa, South Africa, West Indies
and Canada; Belgium turned to the Valley of the Congo;
America turned to the Negro of the United States, the Ne¬
gro of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas and Lou¬
isiana, and we heard them cry in their most sympathetic
tones, "Enlist in this fight for humanity. Help us make the
world a decent place in which to live; Come, Black Man,
come," they cried, "for there has arisen a Kaiser, who is a
despiser of justice and the duty he owes mankind. He is
a slave to the idea of conquering the world. He has kept
faith with neither himself, the people over whom he ruled
with an iron hand, nor the nations of the world. He, the
incarnation of the devil himself, hates justice, democracy
and fair play."
Oh God! how our hearts did leap for joy as we rushed to
the Tri-colors of France, the Union Jack of England, and
the Stars and Stripes of America. Why should they not leap?
Had they not all but bled for these same principles. Had we
not prayed and looked forward to the day when all men
would be free and weaker peoples would be protected?
With these things in mind, we were ready and willing
to forget all that the past had done against us. We were
willing to forget that it was this same bleeding Belgium for
whom we were going to die, which brutalized and maimed
our brethren in the Congo Valley. We were willing to for¬
get that it was this same distressed England which had
never raised her iron heel from the necks of West Indians;
we were willing to forget that it was this same sympathetic
America who had lynched and burned more than three
thousand of our brethren without giving them a trial; for ir¬
respective of what the past held, the day had at last come
when black men would have the hoped for privilege of dy¬
ing for the freedom of all mankind, and the placing of Jus¬
tice and Reason on the throne.
With faith in his former slave masters and confidence
in God, black men everywhere kissed wife, mother and
children "goodbye," embarked upon the transports' and
sailed out upon the ocean, behind whose every wave nestled
a giant submarine, seeking whom it might destroy. After
many days of peril and anxiety, they landed somewhere in
France, uttered a prayer to God for the protection of those
they had left behind, while they fought for Democracy
abroad. They faced the cannons with the courage of Spar¬
tans, smelt the poisonuus gas and laughed as they rushed on
in the wake of liquid fire and bursting shrapnel. And
while they fought in "No man's land" those they had left
behind worked untiringly in the shipyards, mills and fac¬
tories and over-subscribed for liberty bonds and war saving
stamps. Their women begged for admission to the Red
Cross, but were at first turned down by that grim monster,
prejudice. Finally, after segregating them, they were giv¬
en a chance to make their contribution. America! Great
Britain! France! Belgium! you may call us " Shines,"
"Coons," "Darkies," and "Niggers," but thank God you
dare not call us traitors, nor anarchists, for the record of
the black man's loyalty is written upon European soil which
was watered by his blood.
Finally, the skies began to clear, war drums ceased to
throb, battle flags were furled,^ cannons belched no
longer, barking musketry and cracking machine guns were
silenced.
Victory was on the side of the redeemers of humanity.
The cause of democracy had been vindicated. Black men
once more embarked upon the transports, black men bound
for the Congo * black men bound for South Africa; black
men bound for the West Indies; black men bound for Ameri¬
ca, going back home, back to loved ones, back to the coun¬
try for which they had faced death, going back to enjoy a
world they had made decent; back to enjoy democracy they
had purchased; back to receive opportunities their blood had
dripped for. "But oh! subtle trick of canning white men!"
We had only been doped that we might the more easily die.
All these things for which we fought were never meant for
us, nor any of the weaker peoples of the world, even before
we landed the awful monster began to show his head. Some
of our companies were stripped of their flags and humiliat¬
ed upon the transport. They landed in the midst of the
same old order. They were crammed in the same jimcrow
car, barred out of the same places. Refused the opportuni¬
ties of American citizens, while the lynchers' rope contin¬
ued to play its game of strangling. America gave one hur¬
rah for their return and then began what she believes to be
her Divine Right, that of keeping the Negro "in his place."
White men have made tnis place for him. Race riots wel¬
comed him in Chicago, Omaha, Springfield and Tulsa, and
to assure the Negro that these celebrations were in accord
with American civilization, our Nation's Capitol, the City of
Washington, stopped long enough in its busy rush to stage
a monster riot. It was the occurrence of these things
which awakened us as never before to the fact that we were
failing to receive that for which we died. We realized that
we were doomed to the same oppression, exploitation and
injustice we were subjected to in the past. But the quest¬
ion which complicates matters, is how can we bear with
the same patience these same injustices, since we have
donned the uniforms- of England. France, Belgium and
America, trod the bosom of a turbulent soil, saw the flash
of liquid fire, listened to the hum of areoplanes, heard the
roar of bursting shrapnel, smelt the fumes of poisonous
gas, looked into the face of the fearless Hun, and wrested
from him the rules of might that all men might be free?
How can the Negro bear with the same patience and hope
discrimination and segregation since the experiences of the
recent war have created in him new visions, new ambitions
and new desires? How can the Negro hear of lynching,
burning and burying alive Nof brothers, and the disfranchis-
ment of his race with the same indifference as he did in the
past, when he did not know the depth of his power and the
strength of his might; when he had not discovered his ablity
to grapple with and overthrow; when up to the war of 1914
he had not died in a conflict waged for the specific purpose
of making all men free and protecting weaker people of the
world. How can the Negro continue to be patient, forgiv¬
ing and long bearing? How can he continue to beg, plead
and reason when he has learned so much in war that he can¬
not forget in peace? He was taught not only to fight, but
how to fight; not only to follow leaders without asking why,
but to follow black leaders without asking the reason why.
He was taught that when pleading, begging, sending notes
and signing treaties fail, organized force is the best way to
obtain the desired results. He was taught to take from his
enemies what he cannot obtain by arguments or reason.
He has heard the roar of cannons; he has felt the pangs
of hunger; he has endured the pain and suffering of war, and
with these things having formed a part of his life, he has
returned to the valley of the Congo, to the French Colonial
possessions, to South Africa, West Indies and America true
and tried and not afraid to die. He is not the same Negro,
he can not be dealt with the same way. He cannot be hand¬
ed the same line of chatter. His eyes are opened now and
he sees and beholds. His ears are unstopped and he hears
andj understands. He has seen the mighty nations of the
world with-standing armies, guns and battleships. He sees
all other nations working, sacrificing, suffering and dying
to establish governments of their own; he sees by all in¬
ward and outward demonstrations that this a material age,
a selfish age, an age of greed, an age of conquest, an age of
force, an age of might; not an age of sentiment, not an age
of pleading and begging, but an age of demanding what you
want and dying for it. People today are thinking only of
themselves. Races and people are beginning to draw sharp
lines of demarcation between themselves which will ulti¬
mately result in a clash between the races instead of the
nations or countries, which means that the race which
stands idly by will in the future suffer.
China is thinking only in terms of Chinese, laying plans
for a great Chinese government, preparing to protect Chi¬
nese the world over. They are educating Chinese youths
to love, honor and adore everything Chinese. The Japa¬
nese are watching the interests of the Japanese, drawing
up treaties for the protection of Japanese; moulding big
guns to convince when reason fails, training her youth to
love Japan and to be prepared to die for her if necessary.
Jews who have been persecuted long .and much, are busy
singing, "Back to Palestine", raising funds and laying plans
for its redemption. Irishmen have raised millions of dollars
in this country for Irish freedom. McSwineys have died
and young McSwinevs are preparing to shed more blood
that Irish people may be completely free. In India they
have declared that they shall be free; and forces are mar¬
shalling to die for that freedom. Egyptians, Poles, and
Phillipinos are preparing themselves for either freedom or
death. Great Britian, America. France, Germany, Italy,
Belgium, together with all white races of the world, are
busy perfecting their fortifications, regardless of the fact
that they are pretending to disarm, strengthening their
fighting arms, injecting new life into their people, holding
up before them racial ideals and racial achievements, inter¬
preting all things in terms of racial achievements and ra¬
cial supremacy, establishing institutions to teach their pos¬
terity to think, act and work in terms of their own race and
nationality, teaching them to love and view with pride the
accomplishments and achievements of their own people.
Every race and people is busy working, giving and dy¬
ing that they shall establish the independence of their peo¬
ple, where they can work out their own destinies to the dic¬
tates of their own conscience.
The Negro, not o.ne whit Idss human than these, has al¬
so caught the spirit of the age and cries out 400 million
strong, Liberty, Freedom, Independence must be out por¬
tion, or black men like all other men, will choose to dye their
garments red in somebody's blood. Call this statement rad¬
ical, call it anarchistic, call it bolshevistic, call it a threat, call
it whatever you will or may, you enemies of justice and fair-
play, but I am only telling you how1 a people feel when they
have begged and begged, pleaded and pleaded, sacrificed
and given, taken and endured, borne and tolerated, until they
have ' become sick, sick, sick and tired of bearing the bur¬
dens, and bearing the brunt of a dominant race's greed and
oppression. Black men are tired of being the underdogs;
subjects of prey. Frenchmen are exploiting them in the
French colonial possessions; Englishmen'are oppressing them
in Trinidad, Barbadoes, Jamaica, and all of. her British pos¬
sessions in Africa and America. The Belgian robs, cheats
and brutalizes them; the United States lynches, exploits and
disfranchises them, while they bear it all without making any
physical demonstration, not because they are cowards, for the
world knows their fighting record, but because of that distinct
racial characteristic which renders them patient, forgiving
and hopeful under the most adverse circumstances. But
hear me, "It is a long lane that has no end," and a "deep
well that has no bottom" and woe be unto those who have
hemmed their prey up in that lane, when that prey has
reached the end, when the prey that outnumbers them can
go no further and must come out, when, the prey does turn
great will be the retribution. When an oppressed people
are forced to strike their blow for freedom, and begin re¬
membering the many things done to and against them, m?y
God Almighty have mercy upon those who did the oppress¬
ing, for they need not expect any from an outraged people
and an avenging race.
When the Negro embraced the recent world war, he had
only a hope of getting a squarer chance under the respec¬
tive governments in which he lived. Africans had no thought
of a government of their own, but hopes of getting fair play
under British, French and Belgian rule. American Negroes
had no thought of a government of their own, but a hope of
getting a squarer deal here in America. But they failed to
get this and the shock of that failure and disappointment
opened their eyes to the fact that God Almighty, who is di-
recting the destinies of my people, had given them some¬
thing infinitely bigger than sharing in somebody's else gov¬
ernment. He gjve the Negro, a new and awakened Negro,
and a vision of a mighty African Republic, "God moves in
a mysterious way, his wonders to perform, he plants his
footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm." Before the
war we had hopes of getting the crumbs from somebody's
else table, today we have a vision of a table of our own.
We had only a hope of partnership; today wTe have a vision
of ownership. We had only a hope of apeing somebody's
else civilization, today we we have a vision of a civilization
built by black men. Africa being our home, the continent
of our forefathers, the land from which we were snatched,
we have vowed to go back. As regards its redemption, we
know no other way or means different from those used bv
other races and nations who boast of their civilizations and
superiorities today. We examine their path of progress
and we see that it is paved with money, hedged about with
suffering and sacrifice while every milestone is smeared
with the blood of those who attempted to hinder. Don't
let anybody tell you that the time has come, or is near at
hand, when one can inhale the sweet flowTer of freedom by
traveling any other path than this our oppressors traveled-
There will be a path of intelligence and reason when man¬
kind becomes civilised; but the brute in him is too domi¬
nant for intelligence and reason now. Freedom was never
given to any man, and it will not be given to you. Other
races and nations died for theirs, and your blood is no bet¬
ter, your life no dearer than theirs.
Today finds the black races of the world crowding their
way toward that wonderful continent of their fathers, that
land which abounds with Wealth inestimable and glory un¬
told. Its regions beckon for an explorer; its people wail for
an organizer, a leader, and a teacher. As the world looks
today, it sees the progressive spirit of one hundred million
Negroes standing tiptoe on the shores of North ard South
and Central America, Canada and the West Indies, gazing
with hopeful hearts towards those sparkling sands of Africa,
which seem like the glorified portals of some new and won¬
derful world. Never before in the history of the Negro has
there been such longing of hearts for a great, black Repub
lie; never before has the ambition of black men so collect¬
ively yearned for a government of their own. This seems
to be the opportune time. Races and Nations everywhere
are in aims against each other. There is universal bank¬
ruptcy. The wThite races and nations in their rush for
wealth and power, have torn and are tearing down what it
took them hundreds of years to build. Egjpt, Ireland, Po¬
land, China, Japan, Hayti, Philipines, Mexico, India, and
all of the smaller nations whom they have oppressed and
whom combined form nearly three-fourths of this world's to¬
tal population, are ail hostile to white oppression and ex¬
ploitation and are preparing to free themselves from white
domination. Liberty, Freedom, Independence, is in the air.
Darker races everywhere are begging for it. Darker races
everywhere are working for it. Darker races everywhere
are preparing to die for it.
The Negro is becoming conscious of the powers and
possibilities which lie quiescent in him and is becoming
restless under the yoke of economic, social and political
slavery. Independence is instilling itself into the hearts and
minds of 400 million Negroes who are demanding an exodus
out of the Egypt of the old order of things into the Canaan
of a new order of things, which new order of things calls
for a mighty Republic of their own. We have no thought
of attempting to rob anybody of their Government, we have
no thought of turning against America, whom we love, re¬
gardless of her faults. She will ever hold a dear place in
black men's hearts regardless of her cruelties and injusti¬
ces. But regardless of our love, we cannot continue to sub¬
mit to her wishes, seeing as we do, the mighty possibilities
ahead.
A great African Republic is a necessity; the ambitions
of black men require it. The propagation of the race needs
it. Our industrial and commercial growth depends upon it.
The development of Negro science, art and letters calls for
it. The awakening of new thought and genius demands it.
The development of racial instincts and the perpetuation of
racial traditions insists upon it. The advancing sweep and
sway of'this new Negro consciousness necessitates a mighty
and powerful African Republic. The absolute salvation of
the Negro race can only be worked out by Negroes them¬
selves.
For more than three hundred years, God Almighty has
been pushing the sons of Ham toward that eventful day
when Ethiopia would make her first feeble effort toward
stretching forth her*" hand. Of it poets have sung and
prophets have dreamed, but its realization is to become the
pride and boast of Ethiopia's noblest Patriot,! Marcus Gar-
vey.
Marcus Garvey is one of history's providential geniuses,
possessing a lofty purpose which is actuated by a holy am¬
bition to benefit his race and mankind. He comes to his peo¬
ple endowed with as extraordinary a genius for everything
pertaining to organization and leadership as Shakespeare
had for Poetry, Mozart for Music, Angelo for Art. His un¬
shakable faith in the possibility of his people, his courage
to plead their cause at all times and under all circumstances,
his power to organize and lead, his ability to not allow high
position and vain glory remove him from the midst of his
people, his knowledge of international affairs, and of the
condition of black men everywhere, fits him for leadership
of the U. N. I. A., the success of which will bring an eter¬
nal blessing to his race and immortal fame to his name. He
stands with one faith, while an unbelieving race laughs.
He stands with one idea, while a race ignorant of its depth
and gravity, criticises. He stands with one purpose bold
while the cowards of a race shudder and tremble.
Notwithstanding all opposition in the path of Negro
progress, God Almighty is at work in the affairs of the
black man, bringing the race, epoch by epoch, and sun by
sun, up to a perfect union and an ideal civilization.