AFRICANS IN INDIA
am a little disappointed that Captain Eric Broadbent should have marred what was otherwise an excellent letter by his statement that " the African in his own country accepts the line drawn between b!ack and white without any sense of injustice or frustration." In my capacity as President of the League of Coloured Peoples I am frequently called upon to deal with issues which arise from this very sense of frustration which the African experiences when he observes the white man claiming and receiving privileges which he feels should be his by rights. This is especially true of West Africa, the area to which he refers, and where the African does not know the " bars P which are so familiar in the South.
Does Captain Broadbent think that the African whom, as he observes in India, has seen " innumerable men of colour who have attained positions of trust and responsibility " and also "hundreds of Indian commissioned officers who live on terms of equality with their British colleagues " will, in future, be satisfied with any black and white line? I gather from his letter that he does not. But I also diagnose, on reading his letter, that symptom which is so often present even in the most liberal of Englishmen. Vi hereas they do want to see greater development of the African and Africa, they do not envisage the complete integration of the African into the British Commonwealth of Nations, as in every way an equal member of the family.• May I say that this is our goal, and, in my opinion, nothing less will stabilise and make possible the continuance of this great and unique company of peop'es, known as the British Empire, and at the same time bring peace and harmony to this troubled world.—
Founder and President, The League of Coloured Peoples. 164 Queen's Road, S.E. 15.
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