Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-09-15
DISABILITIES OF THE coLoRED PEOPLE

The Cincinnati Herald of Freedom complains,
not without cause, that among all the desirable
changes in Legislation, which politicians are pro.
posing and promising, the non-onslaved colorod
man in our own State has not been thought Of
And yet he is disfranchisod and outraged by law
as no other class of persons are among us. Tho
Herald says;
We have here proposals for removing the bur.
dcns which afflict capital, but mono for tho more
grevious by far Of which our colorod citizens COM
plain.
The colored people are n constituent part of the
population of our State, numbering tens of thou
sands, their names appearing MS tax payers, on the
treasurers books in nearly every county Of the
State. They are not as n class obnoxious to the
charge of disloyalty to the government under
which they live. Their rights are us sacred and
should be as joalously guarded, as those of any
other class of citizens. Yet how do we find the
facts Of the case? At the polls may DO found on
election day every class of men But the colored.
Other mon may have the privilege of debating
through the ballot box, tho mode Of disposition OF
the money they pay into the State treasury, or the
policy they deem it wisdom for the nation to adopt
Yet these colored tax payers will in their proper
tion feel the burdens of onerous taxation caused
by the Observation-Disclosures Of the public funds; and
they, and their PROSPERITY will suffer for errors in
policy which men OF tho day adopt, and which
they have no voice in preventing.
All classes of men in the State, except tho color
ed, consider the trial by n jury of their peers
when their liberty is in jeopardy, as an Invalua
Bile and unalienable right, and a safeguard agains
unjust imprisonment.
From the colored man this protection is torn
When charged with crime he is tried by n jury Of
men who are his superiors in political grade, anC
who guided by the influence OF caste, 30 oil pow
eriul in American Society, as frequently give an
} adverse decision, as much because the prisoner II
n colored man, as from the law and evidence
Any lawyer Of modern practice knows, that 1t Il
easier to convict a colored man, than any othe
class of men brought before our criminal courts.
An attachee of the Ohio penitentiary some year
ago assured the Rev. James F.. Clark, that a larg'
proportion of the colored eonvicts confined there
would have been freed had they been white, any
thing said he. will convict q colorcd man.
The man Freeman, who several years ago, 81
horribly murdered a family near Auburn n. Y
had become insane from a blow he received willis
in the penitentiary on charge of a crime OF which
he was innocent,
If any class in the State need the protection 0
the jury trial by their peers, it is the colored men
The jury was established in England for the pro
lection Of men similarly situated, men who wer'
liable to imprisonment at the dictates of men VIII
were higher in the political scale than they.
Our city at one time presented a pitiable sigh
when the dozen or 80 superanDuated colored pau
pers were thrown into the street in compliance
AhiA tAO aH"r Wv Np'sp0 " ANoA
dence to individuals who had settled in Cincinnati
whilst the present generation were in their cradles
Ts true they are now at times, the recipients o
Q out door aid; but this is but a small favor, and on
only desired by those who are ready to perish.
: Cincinnati contains the bulk Of our pauper pop
ulation, not fifty can be found we think, outsid,
y her limits in all the states besides. Yet in all o
: our coun ties colored tax payers are required b
I pay their assessments for the support Of paupers
And the aged colored man who in his declin
meets with misfortunes such as may befall any o
us, is denied admittance to the Poor House he il
his aAluence had aided to build. Such cases hay,
occurred.
The school tax in our State is also levied on al
. alike, but in the cities and villages Of Ohio, willis
5 the white youth are gathered into imposing, "uniol
= school houses" and led in the faith of knowledg
by the best men, that ample salaries can tempt
lcolored youths are almost everywhere, thrust int
Z mean dilapidated school rooms, where the fatigu,
q and discomfort of the body efectually preclude
/. all mental improvement.
Bank stocks and merchants ledgers, are erea
things, but human beings are greater.
May our legislators remember this at their com
Q ing session.