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The Pioneer Press |
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One Julius Rosenweld, proprietor of a big,
commercial house in Chicago, has offered $25,000 to every city in the
U.S., which will raise $75,000 for a Y.M.C.A. Building for Negroes, and
we appreciate his disposition toward the Negro but why not offer $25,000
to every city in the U.S. which will open its Y.M.C.A. door to their
brother in black? The proposition is a good one but would be much better
if it carried the Christlike spirit with it. We have no faith in any
Y.M.C.A. which will not admit a respectable, intelligent young man of
color, and we don’t believe that God, in his goodness, approves of such
devilish prejudice under the guise of a Christian fraternity. We know a
young colored man, who is an exemplary Christian citizen of a certain
community and is liked by all who know him, and yet, the door of the
Y.M.C.A is closed against him. It hasn’t been very long since we saw a
Y.M.C.A. manager who was trying to increase his membership and while
encouraging some white boys to join, (who refused), this same Negro boy
volunteered and planked down his ten dollars as an entrance fee, but was
rejected, solely on account of his color. We pled for the young man to
be allowed to enter, but our pleading was in vain, so we have decided
that instead of calling that a Young Men’s Christian Association, it had
better be called a Young Men’s Hellish Association. |