Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1892-09-21
The Southern Lynchings.

ArcnQeacOn OF maryland, WRITES w oiA0
New York Herald commenting upon !
letters published in the same journal
from Frederick Douglass and j. Thorn
as Fortune. Archdeacon Moran says:
Nothing can justify lynch law, but
we see such law in practice and used
for white men again and again IN many
parts of the country, and is not this use
of hurried justice" caused in nearly all
cases by the doubt felt by many that
the actual punishment will in great
number of cases not be melted out to the
guilty parties through the wide latitude
that is given in the way of appeal from
court to court till months and even
wears elapse before the criminal is con-
yicted (only look at the several con-
victed murderers now awaiting or rath
er staying off execution OF their sen.
fences in the prisons OF the state OF
New York; that the remembrance OF
the crime is forgotten. sentimental APP
peals for mercy are raised or polltlcai
| 'spulln is used and the criminal is re-
leased? This state of things certainly
has much to do with the spread OF
lynch law"
It is with more pain than l can eX
press | read in Mr.. Fortunes letter
where he says to secure white suprem-
acy pretext that would appeal to the
nation and paddock the mouth OF pro-
test and Indignation was necessary and
the crime of rape was hit upon" l am
sorry to say that this suggestion is in
exact accord with the one used by the
Hon. Frederick Douglass in a recent
number of the North American Review.
Is it possible that these gentlemen
would suggest, or wish the citizens OF
this great republic to suppose, that
men of educatlon-men OF social ana
political position-would trump up"
over all these Southern States such
horrible charges and expose the names
of the unhappy victims OF evil lost TO
the world, and thus sully the names of
their wives and daughters with 80 black
blot upon their fair fame? Surely,
sir, such suggestions as these will only
help to widen more deeply than ever
the chasm between the two races. How
very different are the thoughts express
ed by another Afro-AmePican leader,
Mr.. j. 7. Shafter, of Orlando, Fla,
when he cries out in strong words OF
warming to the leaders of his people to
beware how they listen to those who
falsely endeavor to keep up racial
hatred, and who have been the means
of setting back ''the national prosper
ity and progressiveness of his race fifty
wears, and the baneful influence which
it still eXerts over him has placed him
in an attitude which has well nigh caus-
ed his own disfranchisement,a and to-
day he stands before the American peo-
pie pitable spectacle of its deception
and duplicity. 1t has led the negro in
all his ignorance and stupidity against
the wealth and intelligence of the
| South, thereby keeping up an irrepres-
| Ill ict 10 II
mately terminate in the practical dis
| franchisement of the negro by his own
act"
| These are not my words, but the
words of an Afro American. Let Messrs.
| Douglass and Fortune face facts. Here
is an alien race with only thirty years
| of civilization at their back placed in
constant contrast with a race with at
| least 1,700 years civilization at their
| back, with habits and racial tendency
| brought from the homes of their ances-
tors (existing there in full and fearful
force to-day,) which takes years to
eradicate, added to that the cruel and
depressing effect remaining from the
two centuries of slavery.
Itdoes seem to me that men who have
| the good fortune to be raised to a high
er plane by education and position
should be the last to endeavor to in
flame such dormant passions, but in
stead try their utmost to point out the
terrible evil of the natural disposition,
which has certainly shown itself in
many cases lustful appetite in the
whites, and the Importance of constant
training of the young and old in habits
of morality and watchfulness of the
passions, and not leave the ignorant
people to say and feel, as they do in
many cases, that they're not made like
white folks, and it no good for the
Archdeacon to preach to the boys and
girls as he does, as they will continue
to do as they have done"
This is the actual remark made by
good old woman to a friend of mine af
ter | had preached sermon on the
above subject, and size was a mother of
ten children. Let me say here | know
many Afro American families and
young people as pure and generally ed
ucated as any white family in the land.
| would entreat all who are working
to solve this strange race problem-the
hardest any nation ever had to solve
| not to get section against section, North
against South or South against North,
or Afro-Americans against either, but
to try by careful training Of the young,
above all teaching the trades and
handicrafts of all kinds; by showing
them the great future there is before
the Afro-American people to proclaim
| that racial misunderstanding should be
forgotten, and that though there new
er can be, never ought to be a mingling
of the races. yet each, side by side, can
do much to help the other to build up
this great land, of which both races are
equally citizens.