Racial Experience 



slon, he never tried to impress this upon them 

 as something new and strange. He led them to 

 see that the new thought or vision was really 

 Included In what they already knew, or a nat- 

 ural outgrowth from the old. If the hearer was 

 honest, the new truth was heartily welcomed, be- 

 came an Integral part of his thought, and modi- 

 fied all his modes of seeing and thinking. The 

 man whose life and work Is based upon these 

 convictions which have crystallized out of ra- 

 cial experience can afford to be tolerant. Intol- 

 erance characterizes the opinionated man, not 

 the man of strong convictions. Indeed, the two 

 are totally unlike. Our strong man sees that at 

 the bottom of every great social or political 

 movement there always has been and always 

 must be some grand truth, with however much 

 error It may be mixed. He knows that the sup- 

 porters of the new doctrine must hold the same 

 fundamental convictions with himself. He sus- 

 pects that the new party has arisen because his 

 own has forgotten or neglected some Important 

 truth or aspect of truth. He may be a staunch 

 Republican, and yet refuse to believe that all 

 Democrats and Socialists are knaves or liars. 

 He may be and ought to be very intolerant of 



151 



