Garvey Speaks: lack of co-operation of the negro race

by Marcus Garvey

It is so hard, so difficult to find men who will stick to a purpose, who will maintain a principle for the worth of that principle, for the good of that purpose, and if there is a race that needs such men in the world today, God Almighty knows it is the race of which I am a member. 

The race needs men of vision and ability. Men of character and above all, men of honesty, and that is so hard to find. The greatest stumbling block in the way of progress in the race has invariably come from within the race itself. The monkey wrench of destruction as thrown into the cog of Negro Progress, is not thrown so much by the outsider as by the very fellow who is in our fold, and who should be the first to grease the wheel of progress rather than seeking to impede it. 

But notwithstanding the lack of sympathetic co-operation, I have one consolation - That I cannot get away from the race, and so long as I am in the race and since I have sense and judgment enough to know what affects the race affects me, it is my duty to help the race to clear itself of those things that affect us in common. 




Excerpt taken from The Philosophies & Opinions of Marcus Garvey compiled by Amy Jacques Garvey. 
Issue #12 from www.negroworld.com