Message to the People. Marcus Garvey

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СКАЧАТЬ leader cannot well afford to mix himself up with anything that is not dignified or self-respecting. If you have to do something that you know you will be morally and socially ashamed of if someone else knows; never do it, but if you have to do it, see to it that you are careful that no one else knows.

      Don’t carry your weakness on your face or in your eyes; somebody will detect it and you will be ruined. If you have personal weaknesses, try to conquer them and hide them as long as you can until you have conquered them; otherwise you will be ruined.

      Every man can conquer his vices by bringing his subconscious will to play upon and against such vices. In everything you do, play the gentleman. Never be a hog, it doesn’t pay. You lose a friend every time you play the hog. Keep smiling with the world even though your mother is dead. Smile with the world and the world will smile back at you; be vexed with the world and the world will be vexed with you. Nobody is obligated to you to make you happy, so don’t carry your sorrow to the world and on your sleeves. Keep them to yourself and get out of them the best way you can. Leaders are not children, they must not, therefore, act as children.

      Leaders must be self-possessed, confident, feeling self-reliant. When your followers see that self confidence they will believe in you and follow you. Always speak out right from your head and from your heart. If your heart is not in it, it is a lie. If your head is not in it, it is pure sentiment. Your heart and your head must work together. People observing you can always tell when you are sincere; that is, when you speak from your heart and your head. They can always tell when you are fooling them, by looking into your eyes and you cannot stand their gaze. At that time, indeed, you are lying. When your heart and your head is in it, your whole body expresses the truth and you can hold any man’s stare.

      A leader must not be extravagant, he must not be flashy in the sense of being over sporty. People will not think you serious. Always make your followers believe you are serious. You can be serious without being sour. Always think before you speak or act. Don’t write or speak just to hear yourself. Speak or write only when you have something to say and never touch anything, by way of leadership, that you do not know about, because somebody who knows about it will have a joke at your expense. A leader must always have something to say, otherwise he forfeits his leadership and someone else who has something to say will supplant it.

      A leader should always make an effort to be known in his community. He must acquaint himself with everything that is happening. He must know the governor of the state or country, the secretary of his state or his colonial secretary. He must know the mayor of his city, and all the members of the legislature. He must know the bishops of his city, the administrative heads of all government departments, all the preachers and doctors and lawyers and prominent business men.

      Don’t be seen with Communists too often; if you know them. Never take part in their meetings unless you are to make a speech against their principles and always see that it is known by the public that that is your only reason for going among them. Never let them call you comrade for others to hear; because you will be branded a Communist and your leadership will be destroyed.

      You must seek to know all the people you want to be in your organization. Visit them in their homes, their work places, and anywhere you can meet them and always extend to them a glad hand. Always be diplomatic in your approach. If a Negro is in company with a white man, never talk to him about the U.N.I.A. If he is in company with someone you think is not in sympathy with the U.N.I.A., don’t talk to him about the U.N.I.A., wait until he is alone. Never say anything to one person who may be in sympathy with the U.N.I.A. in the presence of two or three people unless you know that the others are also sympathetic; because when you are gone the others may try to undo the good relationship.

      But when you meet Negro strangers, you may talk to all of them about the aims of the U.N.I.A. and try to win them over.

      Never divide or create confusion between the different colors in the Negro race. Always try to prove that the standard Negro is the African and that all Negroes should be proud of their black blood, without insulting any color within the race. This is very, very important.

      The idea of the U.N.I.A. is to unite into one race all the shades of color and build up a standard race. You should discourage intermarriage between white and Black and Blacks and other races. You should tell the people that it is an honor to be Black and that nothing is wrong with the black skin but bad conditions. Tell them that a well-kept Black woman or Black man is as good as a well-kept white man or woman. Never allow your followers to have their children play with white dolls because they will grow up to like white children and they will have them. Discourage the Negroes from having white pictures in their homes because those pictures will inspire them to become white in their ideas. Inspire them to have pictures of Negroes who have achieved greatness in their homes.

      Tell Negro parents that they must teach their children Negro history, Negro pride and self-respect in their homes to counteract the elementary and high school education they get that holds up the superiority of the white race. Let the people know that God is not white nor is he Black; but God is a spirit and universal intelligence, of which each and every one is a part. All of us are a part of that intelligence.

      No man can have the full intelligence of God; only partial intelligence. Therefore, no man can be God, neither the white man nor the Black man is God, they are particles of God. Let the people know that in them and in themselves only, is the power to rise. Let them know that God does not go out of his way to give people positions or jobs or to give them good conditions such as they desire. They must do that for themselves out of the fullness of nature that God has created for everybody. God does not build cities, towns, nations, homes, or factories. Men and women build them and all those who want them must work for themselves and pray to God to give them strength to do it.

       Special Notes on Intermarriage and Race Purity

      For a rich Negro to marry a poor white is an unpardonable crime and sin; because it simply means the transference of the wealth of the race to another, and the ultimate loss of that wealth to the race. It is logically evident that if the Negro is rich, he gained all or most of his wealth from his race. Therefore, to ignore the opposite sex of his race and intermarry with another race is to commit a crime or sin for which he should never be pardoned by his race.

      Teach the people to abhor such Negroes. Have nothing to do with them so long as they continue in that relationship. This must be done diplomatically, not to the hearing of the white race.

      For safety, let the advice take the [form] of a whisper campaign; don’t say it from the platform. Whisper it right through the neighborhood and never stop until the burden of your campaign is felt by the individuals; so as to teach them a good lesson that others may not do the same thing with impunity.

      For a Negro man to marry someone who does not look like his mother or is not a member of his race is to insult his mother, nature and God, who made his father. The best tribute a race can pay to nature and God is to preserve its species; when it does otherwise, it is in rebellion. Don’t be in rebellion against God, nature or your parents that you know of; they came before you and should have known better.

      Insist on a campaign of race purity; that is, doing everything moral and social within the race. Close ranks against all other races. It is natural that it is a disgrace to mix your race with other races. To split up the race is unwholesome and does not tend to morally dignify the race. It will be a beautiful thing when we have a standard Negro Race.

      In preaching race purity, be very careful because it is a delicate subject. Most of the people are ignorant of this idealism. You must never put color within the race against color. You must never insult any color within the race. Whatever has happened in the past was without our consent and truly because slavery and the wicked damnation of the white man imposed upon us moral behavior that we could not СКАЧАТЬ