The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1883-10-25
Civil Rights and the Colored Man.
Kansas CITY Times.


The agitation of the colored people
over the decision of the supreme court
declaring unconstitutional the civil
rights bill, will blow over. They are
unnecessarily alarmed. They have I'M
der the law all the rights that white
people have to visit theatres, ride in
public cOnveyanceS and become guests.
There is not line on any statute book
of any state, and not a line at common
law that recognizes any distinction be-
tween white people and black at such
places. On the other hand, the black
mans right to damages when equal ac-
cOmmodatiOnS with other men are not
offered him, are the same as the white
mans.
The legislation declared uncOnStitu-
tional by eight out of the nine judges
of the supreme court, was known to be
unconstitutional by the republican con-
greSS that enacted it, and was never de-
signed to benefit the "colOred man."
It's patent purpose was to deceive him
into the belief that the republican party
was his especial friend, and thus to in
fuence his vote. The decision will tend
to further open his eyes. and teach him
upon what tiimsy pretenses he has been
so long duped.
Bruce and Douglass who are reported
as greatly disturbed by the decision, will
modify their views upon further refec-
ton. Cook, the colored collector of tax
eS at Washington City takes the correct
view: ''He does not think public SEN
'timent any more antagoniStic to the
'cOlOred people than when the law was
passed. On the contrary, he thinks it
has made progress" He says that 1.-The
standing, morally and socially, Of col
'Ored men and women. is to be meas
'ured by their desire for education and
mental culture"
Cook has struck the key note for the
cOlored race. They must depend upon
their own conduct for their elevation.
All impedimentS of the law has been
taken out of their way. Their recent |
loss, if loss it be, was only piece of
class legislation and political buncOmbe. |
Its fate in no wise depriveS any cOlOred |
man of any right he had before.
If the cOlOred man is poor, he has his !
duplicates in white men as poor as he. |
If he is deprived Of social distinctions |
which he cOvetS, so are dozens of white |
men to one cOlOred man, If he is not |
given the choice seats at the theatres
or choice rooms at the hotels, his treat
ment is not unlike that Of thousands of
his pale faced friends. The prejudice
against his color is fast disappearing as
the years that found him a savage in
Africa and afterWard a slave in Ameri-
ca, recede. !: No race ever rose SO rapid
ly from such depths Of degradation.
No race was ever so favored by law, nor
received such untrammeled sympathy.
No race of men was ever before taken
from slavery and clothed with unre-
stricted citizenship. The blessings of
civilization toward which the white races
had struggled for a thousand years,
were bestowed as gifts upon the negro
race in America, without a single con-
ditiOn or restriction. 1t will come into
their full realization only as they quail
fy themselves to understand and appre-
ciate it. That party therefore, OF that
people, that never deceived the negro,
that offers him equality, not superb
GRITTY, before the law, that extends to
him the same protection and the same
help it gives to the other men, is the
cOlored mans best friend, and that par
ty that has thrust upon him diScrimi-
nations that he did not need and to
which he was not entitled, to deceive
him and capture his vote, has been his
worst enemy.