pp.283-284, RACE ADJUSTMENT: essays on
the Negro in America, “Theodore Roosevelt,” by Kelly Miller (The
Neale Publishing Co., New York, Washington, D. C: 1909)
“Gratitude is not characteristic of a
self-centered nature. When one is overburdened with a sense of his
own ordained primacy, he naturally looks upon lesser men as being put
in the world as auxiliaries of his higher mission. While the whole
world was extolling the prowess of the Negro soldier, it was reserved
for the chief beneficiary of that prowess to sound the sole
discordant note. In a notable magazine article, where our present day
warriors are wont to fight their battles with an ingenuity and
courage rarely equalled on the tented field, Colonel Roosevelt either
discredited their valor or damned them with such faint praise as to
dim the luster of their fame. This ungenerous criticism dumbfounded
the Negro race. Disparagement of the Negro soldier, as subsequent
developments have clearly shown, touches the pride and arouses the
resentment of this race as nothing else can do. The Negro's loyalty
and patriotism, as exemplified in all the nation's wars, is perhaps
the chief tie of endearment that binds him to the heart of the
American people. If this tie becomes tenuous his hold upon the
nation's affection would be precarious indeed. For a time there was
no more unpopular man in America throughout African-Americandom. But
election time was approaching. Political exigencies made him the
available candidate for the governorship of the Empire State of New
York. The chief factor in this availability was the military glamour
that gathered about him because of San Juan Hill, where the colored
troops fought so nobly. The results of this election depended upon
the colored vote, whose resentment he had aroused. Candidate
Roosevelt so mollified and qualified the strictures of Colonel
Roosevelt as to take away much of the keenness of the sting. By the
use of such blandishments as politicians know well how to apply to
salve the sores of an aggrieved class during the unrest of a heated
campaign, the injury was forgiven, or at least held in abeyance.
Under the rallying cry of the Grand Old Party the Negro vote came to
the rescue and supported him almost to a man. The slender margin of
his victory showed that his victory showed that his success was due
to that support....It was thus the Negro who saved his political life
at the ballot-box as he had saved his physical life on the
battlefield.”
