The Red Cloud chief., 1884-03-21
The Cause OF Southern Riots.

thSolY "a q
school of political philosophers that
Southern riots are mainly attributable
to the feeling on the part of the white
men of the old slave States that they
are necessarily superior to the negroes,
and that the negroes are therefore
bound to treat them with systematic
Difference and submission. The ne
groes, BEING free. and invested with
ample political rights and privileges,
very naturally do not feel disposed to
take this view of the question. whence
it comes that the whites in haste and
evaporation fall upon them and scourge
and kill them. 1t will be better, we
are assured, as time passes and this
rooted sentiment of superiority is modi-
fied'by the progress of events, but it is
unreasonable to expect the former
masters to yield their inbred habits of
thought in an easy and prompt manner.
We must be satisfied to wait, the phil
OsOphers keep telling us, until the dom
ineering and wallOwing instincts of these
people can have a fair chance to expend
their force and be replaced by some
thing more civilized and considerable.
Let us see. how long has it been since
slavery was abolished? Some twenty
years, if you will think about it.: and
still the whites are apparently ready at
a moments notice, as demonstrated in
Virginia and Mississippi, to load their
guns and go to shooting the negroes on
the slightest prOvOcatiOn, particularly
about election time. Ii, after twenty
years, scenes like those of Danville and
in the Copiah locality are possible and
logical, and not to be wondered at, about
how long will it take to reduce things
to a condition of safety and decency
where slavery once existed? Must we
indulge the chivalric and sensitive ex-
slave n in outrage and massacre
to a limit which shall depend only upon
their pleasure9 There is a feeling in
the minds of people who look at such
matters practically that twenty years is
a reasonable period for such processes
to be prolonged, and that it is time the
former masters were sufficiently famil-
iarized with the fact of emancipation to
be content with some milder fashion OF
indicating their superiority. This may
not be a philosophical view. but it is
manifestly a common-sense one, and en-
titled to respectful attention.
The Democratic witnesses in the Dan
vile case all sOlemnly declare that the
''insOlence' of the negroes was the
cause of the riot. This '.insolence''
consisted, as far as vet shown. in ''call-
ing the conservative party hard Names"
and in exercising the prerogative of
standing in the public streets when the
whites desired them to move on. 1.-THE
negroes would not 60 away" one wit
ness says, land soon shooting began"
Ii, after twenty years, the superior race
of the South is not so far recOnciled to
the idea of negro freedom and citizen
ship that it can consent to let the col
ored people utter an opinion of a polit-
zeal party, or tolerate the presence of
election is imminent, it will require at
least a century, We should say, to bring
about the serene and harmonious state
Of affairs which the philosophers say we
must wait fer patiently. There is a
feeling abroad. We repeat. that enough
time has been given the ex-slave-hOlders
to adapt themselves TO the fact that the
negroes are human beings. citizens and
voters, like themselves, and that the
shotgun ought to be eliminated from
Southern politics without any further
DELAY.
But is it quite true, after all. that
Southern riots are principally chargea-
bic to this white hatred of the negro be-
cause the negro was once a slave? It
has not always happened, we believe,
that the victims of Bourbon violence in
these cases were colored men. In fire.
guent instances white men have been
butchered to make a Democratic holt
day. There is a case now under inves-
tigation in which n man Of unquestion-
able Caucasian lineage was shot down
at the polls just as he was casting his
vOte-an assassination of the most de-
liberate and atrocious character. We
refer, of course, to the case of Matthews.
in Mississippi; and that is only one
among many such. 1t can not be
claimed. surely, that such murders as
these were instigated by the "insolence"
of persons who were formerly subject to
the Overseer's lash. 1t is certainly MOI
necessary to kill white men on account
of bitterness felt toward the negroes.
There must be a deeper reason, there
fore. for much of the blOodshed which
is connected with the efforts of the
Southern BOurbOns to accommodate them,
selves to the results of the war for the
preservation of the Union.
There is now and then a paper that
strikes a keynote upon this question.
and unconsciOusly discloses the method
of the madness that seems so hard to
control and overcome. Here is the
Meridian (Miss.) Mercury. for instance,
a paper of recognized soundness as q
Democratic organ, which declares with
out concealment or evasion: ''The hon.
est truth is. there is no great love Of
the United States Government among
the more respectable and intelligent
classes of Southern people. The ruling
classes have discussed it, and only liars
or fools will admit that it is satisfactory
or lOvable, or that they do love it." We
suspect that this is really the moving
aus of q great deal of the rioting.
There is no genuine loyalty in those
quick bOsoms that so throb and heave
over the alleged ''insolence" Of
the colOred population. The thing
they a no.. make up their minds
to accept is the CALLING fact that they
are obliged to live under q Gov
eminent which they fought so hard and
viciOusly to destroy. Their attitude is
one of inveterate hostility to the laws
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