Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1883-02-03
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
For the MESSENGER.

A rather novel decision involving
the color line has just been rendered
in the Supreme Court of the United
States is the case of Toncy Pace
against the State of Alabama, in
which it appears that the plaintiff
in error violated the State law by
living in sexual relations with q
white woman. The court holds
that the law of Alabama prohibiting
miscegcnation, is not in confic,
with the Fourteenth Amendment.
or with the Civil Rights Legislation
founded on it, for the reason that il
applies the Same punishment to both
Offenders, the white and the black
without discrimination. This decis-
ion has called into play many an IN
crcdulous smile, as its intent and
meaning arc clear TO every fair
minded man. Any attempt, howev
err, to controvert the action of tn,
highest tribunal of the America
government would be fi'uitless and
Improbable, yet. nevertheless,
there can be no doubt as to the
voice of the six million of blacks on
the absolute fairness of this dccs-
ion. There arc other cases before
the Supreme court of incalcuablc
moment, appertaining to the rights
and privileges of the American Ne
gro, the outcome of which is ex-
tremely doubtful. 1t is high time
for our people to come to a decisive
stand upon this question. The
times demand it, society demands it,
the great law of human justice de-
mands it. There is a growing ten
dency on the part of our young men
towards independents of thought and
action and it behooves every father
of negro youth to instill in them
principles of manliness, carncstncss
and frugality to crush out tho
prevalent spirit of fawning and
sycophancy to educate them up to
a full sense of their being, their OBJ
legations, their significance as fac
tor of the body polite.
1t is a deplorable fact that the
old men who fought with the most
unselfish devotion in that dark
struggle for liberty, are today mos t
tardy to secure any effert looking to
the triumph of the great principles
which prompted our civil strife,
and look on with fear and tremb-
ling while the intelligence and man
hood of their younger brethren arc
crying out for justice, for right, and
unquestioned citizenship. Oh, say
they, you arc too fast, too previous,
too aggressive. The courts will de-
eide against you, they say. Perse-
vcrancc, firmness, fortitude, consist
ency and courage arc the necessary
concomitants Of any cause. Why
decry the effort to secure equal and
exact justice, equality and law,
when so near the consummation of
centuries of sacrifice and cndeavors.
The persistent efforts of Beccaria
were necessary to remove the cru
city of the old penal systems ofSoto
10 prohibit the sale in Africans, of
lOConnell to emancipate the Catho-
lies, of William, the Silent, to wrest
the Netherlands from Spanish tyr
any and fanaticism of Washings
ton to shake off the shackles of Eng
lish exaction and injustice. All his.
tory confirms and inspires persever-
ance. We may encounter derision,
jeers, insult, opposition, but what
great measure has been free from
them. We cannot stand still, we
must not go back but on, both our
lrolitical, moral and social being i'm