Page:The fastest bicycle rider in the world - 1928 - Taylor.djvu/55

 More to the same effect was echoed by many other fair-minded newspapers, for the case excited widespread comment. The Syracuse Journal goes after them in an editorial. It says, "If a colored man can ride a bicycle as well as a white man he should not be denied the privilege of displaying his ability." The Syracuse Journal further goes after the outlaws with a big editorial stick, under the caption: "The Negro should be made to know that He is a Man." The Journal prints the following strong editorial, founded in the decision of the American Racing Cyclists' Union, not to allow colored men in its competitive events:

"Ordinarily little interest is taken in the action of bicycle racing associations. They are usually formed and controlled by those who have not yet reached a period in life to treat things seriously. The young and frivolous are the moving spirits and the indulgent parents pay for the moving, but when a cycle association makes a rule denying a colored man the right to ride on the track it behooves the indulgent parents to be less indulgent.

"Such an act as performed by the American Racing Cyclists' Union is a dangerous thing. It would be, of course, better if the colored man spent his time on the school primer instead of on a bicycle track, but that is not the intent of the act. It is an evidence of antipathy, and the condition of the colored man in America is one of the greatest questions for us to handle. All intelligent people know that we do not benefit the condition of the colored man by denying him the privileges that we enjoy, he has been treated like a beast too long, and we must make him know that he is a man before we educate him.

"The colored man has always been denied the rights to share the fruit of civilization with the white man. The school doors have been closed against him for generations, and he has been allowed to propagate in ignorance. He has been forced to toil, and not to study, and that is the reason why the ordinary Negro lacks the mental power of a white man.

"Education is the remedy that the Negro needs, and the remedy cannot be obtained by him if he is deprived of the opportunities of receiving it that his white brothers enjoy. The practice has been pursued for years with the result that makes us wince so often at the shocking news from the South.

"Uncle Sam allows the Negroes to serve him, and if he can pass the civil service examinations he can handle our mails, and if he is qualified he should have the same position a white man can have, and if he can fulfill all the requirements, his color should have no weight against him. If he can ride a bicycle or a horse or play baseball as