NATIVES AND NEW IDEAS
Sul,—Mr. McDougall's letter in your issue of September 22nd demon- strates some of the difficulties which will confront our Statesmen in the near future. He writes as a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, who loves Southern Rhodesia, but apparently he loves it in the spirit in which Hitler loves Germany, and I would venture to suggest that this love of his, if allowed to come to its logical conclusion, would have the same effect upon the British Commonwealth as Hitler's love has had upon the world of our day. It should be perfectly clear to all thinking people that neither the World nor the British Commonwealth will ever tolerate the Herrenvolk theory again.
Mr. McDougall falls into the ready error of believing that because his country has done a good piece of work in the- British war effort, therefore their claims must be considered regardless of the effect such consideration will have upon others, who believe equally strongly that they too have done a good day's work for the Mother Country. Africans and persons of African descent have served in every theatre of war and have done magnificently. They have been praised for their deeds both by General Eisenhower and our own Prime Minister. We therefore feel that we too deserve some consideration.
The paragraph in which the writer refers to his " 6,000 natives " as if they were a brood of cattle is to one of African descent most revolting. His father and himself have " been the friend of the natives for 25 years," and yet to him they are still "the `downtrodden' savage." Obviously he ,has not seen the incongruity of this statement. Russia in 25 years demon- strated her friendship for an equally " downtrodden " and undeveloped people by making them educationally and economically independent, much to the benefit of the whole Russian nation and not merely to the benefit of a few privileged folk. I ant also intrigued by his glib use of the word " savage " in relationship to the people from whom I am proud to claim descent. My dictionary (I happen to possess one and know how to use it, although Hitler would perhaps feel that this should not be) tells me that the word means "wild,
untamed, ferocious." Obviously none of these would apply to his 6,000 who came voluntarily (my word) " from far distant districts " to his father's graveside. Then my dictionary goes on, " enraged, cruel, furious." Neither do these adjectives apply to them. When I reflect upon this letter to which I am now replying, I am strongly inclined to think that these adjectives would not be out of place when attached to the writer thereof. Does it not savour of rage when he says: "the treatment here of the services—especially as to pay—incites only our bitterness for all the energy expounded on helping the ' poor blacks' in other countries would be far better spent—with its money—on clearing up the really depressing poorer areas of this, the cultured, civilised, Mother Country." Is there not something cruel about this also? My point is that the only savage I know of in Africa to-day is the white man who persistently denies to the black man the privileges of education, economic, social and political development. We blacks want to help the whites to emerge from their savagery, hence we have prepared a Charter for Coloured Peoples, a copy of which I beg to enclose herewith.
I too love the Mother Country, and I do not want to deny to Southern Rhodesia any of the laurels she rightly claims for herself, neither do I want her to deny my people any of our laurels, nor to make use of us as if we were dumb cattle and be surprised when we claim our rights. This attitude will only break up the Commonwealth, which I want to see built up and maintained on the basis of freedom and equality for all.—
Yours, &c., HAROLD A. MOODY, M.D., B.S. (Lund.),
The•League of Coloured Peoples, Founder and President. 164 Queen's Road, Peckham, London, S.E.
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