Color and Democracy: Colonies and Peace

Abstract

The present war has made it clear that we can no longer regard Western Europe and North America as the world for which civilization exists; nor can we look upon European culture as the norm for all peoples. Henceforth the majority of the inhabitants of earth, who happen for the most part to be colored, must be regarded as having the right and the capacity to share in human progress and to become copartners in that democracy which alone can ensure peace among men, by the abolition of poverty, the education of the masses, protection from disease, and the scientific treatment of crime. From these premises I have written this book, to ex• amine our current efforts to ensure peace through the united action of men of goodwill. I have sought to say that insofar as such efforts leave practically untouched the present imperial ownership of disfranchised colonies, and in this and other ways proceed as if the majority of men can be regarded mainly as sources of profit for Europe and North America, in just so far we are planning not peace but war, not democracy but the continued oligarchical control of civilization by the white race. I am aware that such a thesis needs to be backed by a far wider collection of facts, scientifically arranged, than are at present available. But I am convinced from long study and wide travel that the truth of what I say is fairly well attested, and at least the dangers which I seek to point out are sufficiently evident to call for action.