Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-08-11
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS.

In his address delivered before the
Georgia Agricultural Society on Wednes-
day. the Hon. Pope Brown, it's president,
asserted that the negro and the white
man are "at the parting of the ways"
8lr. Brown is right. Things cannot 90
in tho South as they are now going on.
They must get better or worse. How
they are going to get better unless the
colored people help us put down "tho
usual crime" we 90 not know.
What excites the anger Of the whites
and makes their blood boil is that the
negroes, as a rule, do little or nothing TO
repress or condemn the criminal tenden-
cies Of their youth.
1t IS true that from time to time we
are assured by organized bodies of ne
groes that they do not countenance these
crimes and have no sympathy with the
criminals; but such "fnc words butter no
parsnipss' As a race, they do nothing
TO put a stop TO these violations of law.
But II may be asked, What can they doY
We answer that they can do a great
deal. They can do what other peoples co
10 make crime detestable and dangerous.
They can preach and teach against it.
They can prescribe the villains in their
homes. They can make criminals as Cd
noxious as they used TO make the men
who were suspected Of voting with the
whites. Don't ask, What can they do?
Among no people on earth is the commu-
nal bond stronger than it is with the
blacks. If IL could but be exercised on
keaslf OF our helpless and trembling
cuuntrywOmen, who stand In constant
dread OF assault, the effect would be i'm
mediate and inspiring. Instead Of that
the usual thing is for the negroes to al
feet to believe in the innocence OF the ac-
cused. and often they go step farther
ana make insinuations against the char
acter of the poor victim of british lust
II IS the seeming indifference of the
colored people. as a people, which IN
flames our men and incites them to take
tho law into their own hands.
How and when is this lynching business
going TO be brought TO a stop? We 90
not know. Down in Georgia they do not
know. 1t Is a great question. 1t Is that
which makes Pope Brown say "the negro
and the white man are at the parting Of
the ways" But in our opinion this crime,
which is increasing, not decreasing, Will
not be cured till the best elements in the
negro population stand up against it. The
whites who are trying TO create public
sentiment against lynch law are not re-
ceiving from the blacks the help they
deserve.
We despair Of seeing 1.-THE usual crime
or. as some have called IL, the freed
mans crime"-dessted from so long as
the tw1>races dwell together in the same
communities, and whilst the engnery or
the negro communal bond is not visibly
exerted against the lustful offenders.
The people of Alexandria probably
would have waited for the law TO take its
course, but they were incensed by the ne
groeS sympathetic demonstrations on be-
half OF the wretch who had tried 20 en-
tice the little child. An uncomfortable
feeling OF anger took possession Of them,
and there was no reasoning with them
Nearly every white man clinched his
teeth and said 10 himself: "My God sup
pose II had been my little daughter!
With that thought burning within him all
seif-restraint was lost The lynching fol-
lowed as a matter Of course.
We repeat that II is true. as stated by
Pope Brown, the two races are at toe
parting OF the ways. Their relations cam
not continue As now. Think Of the lives
OF fear and dread led by women in lone
~ country honest In some communities
OF the South our women have learned 10
fear fate worse than that incident 10
the tomahawk and scalpng knife
We .reiterate. this condition cannot con-
tnns. Unless the respectable negro eie.