The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1897-09-04
. SENSIBLE NEGRO.

A. meeting of the National Race
Council, composed of negroes heid al
Nashville. a day or two ago, w. II. Coun-
ell. OF Alabama. was elected temporary
chairman, and in his address said:
o,rbe frequency of violence TO women Is
alarming. we cannot now stop 10 argue
the nice points as TO the cause OF the
coming Of these incarnate hendS hi'o
race which hitherto had absolute lmihum-
~ from them, nor have we time 10 pledu
that they are not the trusted servants Vi
our SouShern homes; nor can. we stop 10
anneai afrom Judge Lynch to the majesty
of the civil law; but we must stamp OUT
the crirAe Sufficient for us 10 know that
these csmes are committed by negroes 10
make us hang our heads In shame ana go
in sackcloth and ashes. Let us restore
that sense of security which white women
felt fifty years ago in the presence or our
fathers. under any circumstances, amid
the most forbidding environments. We
mus. make the humbest white women IN
the remotest and widest part Of our coun-
try feel as safe in the presence Of
negro as angelic Eva did alone with her
Uncle Tom. Let US make the white
women of this land and Of all lands feel
that our black arms are ever ready. back
ed by hearts as pure as truth. as guilt
less as babes to defend their honor; that
we are willing 10 throw our black bodies
between them and their assailants and
shed our blood to the last drop in pro-
tecting them and hunting down and exc
cutting these brutes in human form"
This language, we are told. aroused the
ire Of many OF the delegates, and after
a long discussion resolution was adopt
ed declaring that the accusations were
Injurious and requesting the chairman to
qualify his remarks. But he refused TO
do 50. declaring that he had spoken the
sentiments of his heart and that II more
intellectually were poured into the judge
ment Of his hearers. they would admit
that he had spoken the truth.
This is a most interesting episode. That
the, chairman did speak the truth and
spoke it most forciful and that he fully
Understood the situation md gave his
b&oaegs admirable advice cannot be de-
Alec
IHi4 that sort of talk that best tends to
stol Rynching, and If that sort Of senti-
moaS could be aroused among the great
mssees Of colored people. the one brutal
crihG which provokes lynching would soon
bcot;otted out
Dbing the war a white woman was as
sa 81 under the protection Of negro man
as@5te was under the protection Of her
owA father Brutal outrages were never
knCwn, and even when the men OF the
Solah went away to the war, they felt no
hesCancy in leaving their mothers and
wives and daughters in the care Of the
old family servants. There was certain
chivalry about the old time Southern
negro that made II a part of his nature TO
reverence and protect a woman. 1t is only
within the past twenty years or so that
that sort of chivalry has passed away
and 1t is an alarming fact that this brutal
crime has been constantly on the increase.
We say that If the advice Of this sensi-
BILE man from Alabama were followed and
a sentiment such as he would awaken
thoroughly aroused in the colored mass
es. the lynching OF negroes would soon
become a thing Of the past But IL is sig
nifcant. and we call special attention 10
the fact. that the sentiments expressed
by this man were not approved by his
hearers. who would. II they could.
have forced him to recant We
repeat that the great mistake
which some Of the colored men have
made in dealing with this question is that
they have apparently shown more SYM
pity with the brutes who have been
lynched than with their innocent vic
tins.