Page 145 - The Evolution Impasse 2

Ota Benga 143

Unable to with stand the treat - least sym pa thy and kind ness from the
ment he was sub ject ed to, Ota Benga whites of this coun try, aft er all the bru -
com mit ted su i cide. 161 tal i ty it has suf fered here …
An ar ti cle pub lished in The New It is shame ful and dis gust ing that the
York Times at the time de scribed mis for tune, the phys i cal de fi cien cy, of
vis it ors' be hav ior: a hu man be ing, cre at ed by the same
40,000 vis it ors roamed the New York Force that puts us all here and en -
Zoological Park… the sud den surge of dowed with the same feel ings and the
in ter est… was en tire ly at trib u ta ble to same soul, should be locked in a cage
Ota Benga. The crowds were so enor - with mon keys and be made a pub lic
mous that a po lice of fi cer was as signed mock ery. 163
full-time to guard Ota (the zoo claimed The New York Times al so cov ered
this was to pro tect him) as he was "al - the way in which Ota Benga was put
ways in dan ger of be ing grab bed, yank - on dis play in the zoo in or der to
ed, poked, and pulled to pie ces by the
dem on strate ev o lu tion. The de fense
mob." 162
is sued by the Darwinist zoo di rect or
The 17 September 1906 edi tion of was lack ing in all con science:
The New York Times em pha sized
The ex hi bi tion of an African pyg my in
that al though this was all done in or - the same cage with an orang out ang at
der to prove ev o lu tion; it was ac tu al - the New York Zoological Park last
ly a great in jus tice and act of cru el ty: week stirred up con sid er a ble crit i cism.
Further, many of the min is ters op - Some per sons de clared it was an at -
posed the the o ry of ev o lu tion, con clud - tempt on the part of Director
ing that "the ex hi bi tion ev i dent ly aims Hornaday to dem on strate a close re la -
to be a dem on stra tion of the tion ship be tween Negroes and mon -
Darwinian the o ry of ev o lu tion." keys. Dr. Hornaday de nied this. "If the
lit tle fel low is in a cage," said Dr.
These men, with out thought and in tel -
Hornaday, "it is be cause he is most
li gence have been ex hib it ing in a cage
com fort a ble there, and be cause we are
of mon keys, a small hu man dwarf from
at a loss to know what else to do with
Africa. Their idea, prob a bly, was to in -
him. He is in no sense a pris on er, ex -
cul cate some pro found les son in ev o lu -
cept that no one would say it was wise
tion.
to al low him to wan der around the city
As a mat ter of fact, the on ly re sult with out some one hav ing an eye on
achieved has been to hold up to scorn him." 164
the African race, which de serves at

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