ABSTRACT
Let me take you in thought to British East Africa, where I have lived day by day with Indians in Indian homes. On every side out there the Indian is marked by the badge of inferiority, although he was the pioneer settler in the country. Things have come to such a pass that contact with Indians is regarded by many English men and women as contaminating. The Indian is not allowed to sit in a public rickshaw in which a European has sat. The Indian is not allowed to travel in a railway carriage in which a European may travel. The Indian is kept out of railway station refreshment rooms as far as possible, where any Europeans may be taking their meals. The Indian is discriminated against in the railway station bungalows and not allowed to occupy rooms in which Europeans may wish to sleep. The Indian is now at last by law, and statute, and ordinance, to be segregated strictly in every part of his residential life, so that even if he possesses property in certain European quarters, he will not be allowed to live there. Such a policy of the Ghetto is to be strictly carried out, not merely by the order of the ruling White Race in East Africa, but by the direct order and pronouncement of the Colonial Secretary of State in London, at the Colonial Office, Whitehall, Lord Milner. For Lord Milner himself has just formulated his ultimate decision, that strict segregation must be carried out, not only in residential quarters in East Africa but as far as possible in commercial quarters also. Remember, please remember, that this decision will not remain an East African decision only. It will be taken up in every British Colony which has not practised segregation already. It will be a precedent for every Colonial Governor. It will affect Uganda as much as East Africa. It will pass on to the Tanganyika territory and to Nyasaland and to Zambesi, reaching even to Rhodesia, where, on the whole, up to the present Indians are comparatively well treated. The popular cry of the White Race will be raised, racial hatred will be fanned into a flame, and no Governor in Africa will be strong enough to resist the claim, that will now be made by settlers, who will say, quite truly, that Lord Milner himself has given his ultimate decision from the very centre of the British Empire at Whitehall that Indians must be segregated.
