"Garvey's doctrine of RACE FIRST was severely tested by the presence within the race of large numbers of persons of mixed African and Caucasian origin. He took the position that 'there is more bitterness among us Negroes because of the CASTE OF COLOR than there is between ANY other peoples, NOT excluding the people of India'. He even asserted that PREJUDICE WITHIN the race probably exceeded that directed against the race by alien races. This position brought Garvey into serious ideological CONFLICT with middle-class leaders IN the United States AND the West Indies, many of whom were THEMSELVES of lighter hue. Such opposition was particularly hostile in the United States, where integrationist leaders such as W.E.B. DU BOIS argued that this problem either did NOT EXIST or was relatively MINOR in the United States and that Garvey, because of his West Indian background, was erroneously importing this feature of island society into Afro-American scene that he did not understand."
"Garvey had indeed come out of a West Indian society stultified by an exaggerated three-tiered system of white-brown-black social stratification, and he himself REGULARLY DISCUSSED the problem at least as early as 1913. His Jamaican daily, the Blackman editorialized in 1929: Some people are afraid, some annoyed and others disgusted that we, as they say,
"RAISE THE COLOUR QUESTION"
'The question has long ago been raised and put into vindictive operation. The colour question is the one and only reason that we cannot find a black girl or boy in store or office in this city when to our certain knowledge intelligent ones among them … have been refused at places filled with half illiterate brown and mulatto girls and boys affecting the attitude of superiors in behavior….'
"There is going to be fairplay in this country yet. 'The Blackman' is on the job and soon will blacken some of these stores and offices beyond recognition."
"As the editorial suggests, even in Jamaica, where the COLOR-CASTE distinctions WERE ACUTE, the tendency of the brown class was to DENY its existence, much as Du Bois and the Afro-American integrationists did. But Garvey was RELENTLESS in his attempts to bring the ISSUE TO THE SURFACE. 'This hypocritical cry of 'Peace, Peace,' when there is NO PEACE is ruinous to the peace AND harmony of society,' he declared.
'We DENY the existence of a CONDITION that is woven into the warp and woof of the fabric of our SOCIAL and PUBLIC life. We REFUSE TO ADMIT the presence of a feature in our national life, the INESCAPABLE RESULTS of whose INSIDIOUS WORKINGS cause delay, irritation AND annoyance. We rave against, we forbid, we threaten those [who] dare to refer to the EVIDENT, the patent FACTS and their glaring RESULTS. While the whole land is leavened and permeated with the EVILS OF COLOR DISTINCTION and we cry out for harmony and peace. We are, to use a vulgar phrase, a bunch of cheats. WE are dishonest, immoral, liars, hypocrites.'
"This type of ASSAULT on entrenched privilege brought Garvey a death threat from a self-styled 'Jamaican Secret Society of Colored Men,' which CONSIDERED him a 'black swine.'"
Tony Martin
"Race First: The Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association"
Page 27
"In Afro-America, TOO, Garvey observed a PREFERENCE among employers for LIGHT-SKINNED people as clerks, waitresses, etc., and newspapers full of advertisements for SKIN WHITENERS, often couched in the crudest possible language. Added to this, he discovered in NEW YORK, BOSTON, WASHINGTON and DETROIT the BLUE VEIN SOCIETY and the COLONIAL CLUB. 'The West Indian 'LIGHTS' formed the 'Colonial Club' and the American 'LIGHTS' the 'Blue Vein' Society.' These ATTITUDES EXTENDED INTO THE CHURCHES. It would appear then, that Garvey, as one of his supporters pointed out, DID NOT 'appeal' to intra-race color PREJUDICE in the United States but rather 'REVEALED' it."
"Despite the similarities, of course, the SITUATION in America, where the MAJORITY did not need the support of the buffer mulatto element to the same extent as the white minority in the islands, was not as SERIOUS as in the WEST INDIES. Garvey was FULLY AWARE OF THIS. The situation in America was SERIOUS ENOUGH to warrant EXPOSURE AND ATTACK, but in the West Indies it more nearly approximated a RIGID CASTE STRUCTURE. Garvey himself pinpointed this DIFFERENCE better than any of his critics:
'In the term 'NEGRO' we include all those persons whom the American white man includes in this appellation of his contempt and hate…. The contents of the TERM are much REDUCED IN JAMAICA AND THE WEST INDIES, but it carries NO LESS of reprobation against the persons….'
'The great CURSE of our Jamaica communal life is the FAILURE of the hybrid population to realize their natural and correct IDENTIFICATION….'
"So whereas the UNIA in the United States numbered among its ranks people of ALL colors, excluding whites, and business and professional people in addition to the great mass of workers and peasants, in Jamaica it was largely CONFINED to the 'humble sections' of humanity. This led Garvey to surmise that 'God seems to save from the bottom upwards."
Tony Martin
"Race First: The Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association"
Page 28
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