Political Quotes

Archibald Henry Grimké: “The whites of both sections make themselves believe, as a sort of salve to their conscience, I suppose, that the Negro…”

On the record
The whites of both sections make themselves believe, as a sort of salve to their conscience, I suppose, that the Negro in their midst is an alien race, is a non-assimilable element in the body politic, whose ejectment or isolation the health of that body and the race purity of the whites render necessary.
Said by
Archibald Henry Grimké

Editor's note · Context

He critiques the perception of African Americans as an alien race, which serves to justify their marginalization.

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And yet if relief is ever to come to the Negro in the South, it must come to him by the way of an opposition party, which will put an end to the political solidity of that section by introducing into it bi-party in place of its one-party…

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There must be added to them this something else, this one thing needful to render them effective to save the blacks from the evil consequences of their race ignorance, and the whites from the evil consequences of their race prejudice.

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