New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-01-22
Ought Prejudice to be Respected {

Ought Prejudice 70 be Respected :
One of thu opponents Of Basler's- Civil
Rights Bill in the House Of Representatives
claims that the people Of She South hold
prejudice against the neGto 90 general and
strong that It ought to be respected. In the
matter Of equality before the law and equal
ity in the enjoyment of public rights, it 10
claimed that the white people Of tho South
are opposed to the recognition of the negroes
right to the full benefit Of citizenship, that
this sentiment of opposition is prejudice
that should be respected. While we &C.
knowledge that the prejudice exists As
alleged by the overseers who occupy seats
in the House of Representatives, and while
we believe that there are prejudices which
should be respected and protected by the
law of the land, we hold that this is pref
udice which 1t Is the duty of the Government
not only to disrespect, but to do all in it,
power to destroy or to count eract its influ-
ence. There are prejudices in favor Of forms
OF religion, prejudices in favor or against
free trade, ptejudices in favor or against
newspaper, book, an author, or an actor
or back pay, imitation, specie payments, the
bankruptcy act - prejudice against trained
tyrants-overseers in the palmy days of
slavery-holding membership in the House
OF Representatives; obstructing, as best they
can, the pathway of freedom. All these
prejudices may be respected without harm
or injury to any one. A prejudice ut seeks
to override the Constitution, to outrage mill
lions of people, to keep in the darkness of
ignorance a whole race, one-eighth Of the
population Of the nation, to wreak the ven
less and loyal people, to turn back the tide
of humane feeling that emancipated and en-
franchised the negro and perpetuate an
antipathy that finds no counterpart outside
Of the civilization of the United States, the
full effect of its success being the establish
ment of an aristocracy or privileged class
in this country; prejudice so ruinous in its
purposes ought not to, nor can it be, re-
spected by a Government like ours. Had
the prejudices of the South been respected
in regard to dissolution of the Union we
would have had no war and no United States !;
Liberty and Justice would find no home in
. this land were the prejudices Of people
respected who were born amidst the tyranny
and oppression of slavery, themselves be-
coming tyrants as instinctively as "birds of
feather flock together" As we'll respect
the prejudices of the savages who slay and
scalp the men, women and children::who ven.
ture upon the soil claimed by the Indian a.
his own-a claim that is unjust whenever
made in the interest Of barbarian and against
civilization-as no part Of our vast domain
can be set aside to the perpetuation of bar.
barism or to the retarding Of progress in this
day Of enlightenment; no, not even the
Southern States and the sooner the people
in that section realize the fact that their
worse than barbarism of race hatred is antag-
onistic to the intelligence Of the age, and
that their claim for a respect of prejudice
emanating not so much from aversion Of the
negro as from hatred Of him because Of his
loyalty to the Union is foolish ono and will
not be considered in measuring the rights of
! SP'6SOo Va ChO SpuueiN VAo SooACA Will ShO0O
people be able to enjoy the blessings Of free
dom themselves. How foolish it is to con-
tend that there is a natural aversion to the
negro in tho South when one-eighth or more
Of the colored people Of that section are the
sons, daughters, or grand sons and grand
daughters. uncles and aunts, brothers and
sisters of the white people Of the South
because Of the unlimited power to Cypress
and degrade the negro exerted by the white
slave-owners. In the District of Columbia
one-ffth of the colored population are de-
scendants and relatives of some of the very
white people who are loud in their opposition
to mixed schools. The prejudice, the aver
sion are against the freedom OF the negro,
against justice and humanity, and in favor
Of brutalizing people, in favor of licentious-
ness, against purity, and are no more enti-
tied to respect than is the prejudice of the
hghwayman or the outlaw against the rights
and property Of the people. Five hundred
and eishty-four thousand and forty nine mu.
lattoes in the South are living contradiction
of the assumption that the white people have
a natural aversion to the negro eight thou
sand and thirty-two quadroons, nulattoes,
and octoroons confront their white fathers,
| their white alfbrothers and half.sisters
right here in the District of Columbia, and
this is the evidence of natural aversion,
an ineradicable prejudice that must be re-
spected-a prejudice shared by the best
people of the South, a late Vice President
from that section being a notable example,
No prejudice in this country can be respected
that blocks the pathway of civilization; GER
tainly no prejudice that is only seeming, not
real, for we contend that it can be easily dem.
onstrated that the people of the South who
arrogate to themselves all nobility of char
actcr, and all right to control, are of the class
that have sustained the most intimate rela-
tons to the negro, and of a social character,
to such an extent that the evidence of it is
too palpable and overwhelming to be gain
sayed.
? The Back Pay Agony.
Though Congress has done what it law
| fully can to allay the agony with which the