National Republican., 1886-09-07
Crime Among tho oolored People.


Crime Among tho CoIored People.
The question has been asked, in a letter
to Gn evening paper, "What is the matter
with our colored populations" and the
comment Is made that "sevon shooting
afrrays and murders in one week hardly
seem to confirm the 'great moral advance"
Of the race as set forth by their best
specimen, Fred. Douglass The clrcum-
stance is also noticed that nearly all the
crimes OF violence perpetrated by colored
residents Of the District are committed by
those who have grown up since the war.
Freedom and education are credited with
the consequences.
We have no desire to offer an excuse for
crimes Of violence, whether they take place
among the white or colored people, but IL
there is any seriousness In the above quos-
ton it deserves deliberate reply. The
writer Of the letter seems to attach much
Importance TO the fact that nearly all Of the
crime has been committed by those who
have grown up since emancipation. In.
deed, the writer seems to bc amazed that
the stroke of Mr.. Lincoln's pen, which
freed the slave, did not also wash him
as white as snow, and ft him straight
away for front seat In the kingdom Of
heaven.
Liberty, in itself, has no such purifying
| effect. 1t gives the eufranchised slave the
opportunity OF going wrong as well as
| right, and we all know about the difficulty
Of the "narrow wayn as well as the ease
with which mortals of every color are In
duced TO tread the broad path to destruc-
tion. The influence OF education, also, is a
slow growth under most favorable condi.
tlons, and beneficial results depend upon
the quantity and quality OF the article sup.
| piled. In many respects the slaves upon a
cotton plantation, under control OF mod.
cratGly humane master, possessed advan-
tages which are practically withheld from
the first generation Of those colored folks
who have been suddenly thrown upon their
own resources. Instead Of wondering that
so much crime exists, the more Legitimate
surprise should be that so much self-control
has been exerted.
Let us view the subject from another
point of view. 1t is, we believe, an estab-
lished fact that before the war such phe-
| nomenon us an Insane cOlored person was
scarcely known. At the present time the
southern asylums are crowded with frenzied
mad people from the ranks OF the liberated
slaves. A superficial observer might well
say that Mr.. Lincoln's work had proved @
fatal mistake, but the more thoughtful,
who recognize the ruthless march OF
nature's laws, see in this madness aud
crime only that slap in the face which
society, like individuals, must receive IL
punishment for the sins Of ancestors.
Freedom and education are no magician's
wands. The depressed and illteratC
European. peasants, who land at Castle
Garden, throw up their hats and cry, "wC
are in free country, and can do as We
like now" How long, we should like tc
ask, does 1t take those people to learn thai
liberty is not such q very easy article to
carry upon shoulders unaccustoned to the
burden? How much education dpes 1t re-
quire to enable people to control and
repress themselves for the public, as wei
as for their own personal good? How long
does 1t take the untutored mind to learr
that individual freedom is only purchased
by undertaking obedience 10 lawP
The Anglo-Saxon race has had nearl.
= ssHss=ss--=-s--- -
the lesson is by no means fully learned vet
Advancing by "slow degrees, by more an
more" fighting every inch of the way, an
pausing, sometimes for century, to contem
plate and report progress, the great dom
mating race OF the world has only fairly be
gun to enter upon the possession of on
form of liberty. Can IT then be reasonabl
expected that race which has only bee
free to act for quarter of a century, an,
encumbered still with the dead weight O
. inherited instincts, can assume at once th
, characteristics and responsibilities of free
dom?
This present outbreak OF violent crime
will be met, as it deserves, by the stron!
arm Of the law. 1t is a passing phase o
brutality which occurs at intervals amonl
all nations, and is not confined to any tim
or place or to any section OF society
Neither color, nor freedom, nor education
are responsible for 1t. Crime has not beel
obviated by the christianity or education o
long-ciyilized nations, but in its more fero
cious aspects 1t has been gradually dmin
ished. The same causes will produce sim
liar results among the new races, but tim
and patience are required, and JUS
tice must preside as umpire in til,
struggle between new desires and th,
passionate instincts of heredity. 9Th,
great moral advance" phrase OF Fred
Douglass is no empty expression We chal.
lange the most inveterate ha ter of the col
ored man to produce single case from
history in which any race has made sucl
strides forward in so short time, and W.
look with confidence to a future, not re
mote, when true freedom and education
shall have produced their inevitably benefl