The age-herald., 1899-06-22
BOOKER I. WASHINGTON WRITES
 IF RACE PROBLEM IN THE SOUTH

9B0 persons have been lynched in our SOutn- ern states. This is but a few hundred short of the total number of soldiers who lost their lives in Cuba during the Spanish American war. If we could realize still more fully how far this unfortunate habit is leading us, note the classes of crime during a few months which the local papers and the Associated Press say that lynch ing has been inflicted for. They include murder" "rioting" 'incendarism," rob bery,, larceny" "self-defensea "insult- ing women," alleged stock poisoning ,' malpractice" alleged barn burning" :" Suspected robbery" race prejudice,' - 'attempted murder" and horse stealing ' "mstaken identity" etc. The practice has grown until we are now at the point where not only blacks are lynched in the south, but white men as well. Not only this, but within the last six years at least half dozen colored women have been lynched And there are a few cases where negroes have lynched members of their own race. What is to be the end of this? Besides this, every lynching drives hundreds of negroes from the farming districts or the south where they make the best living, and where their services are of the great est value to the country, into the already oYer-crowded cities.
 His Words for the South
 ''I know that some will argue that the crime of lynching negroes is not confined lO the SOuIn. 1HlS Is true, anu lIO oHS Seih excuse such a crime as the shooting or innocent black men in Illinois, who were guilty of no crime except that of seeking labor, but my words just now are to the south, where my home is and part of which l am Let other sections act as they will want to see our beautiful southland free from this terrible evil of lynching. Lynching does not stop crime. In the inn mediate section of the south where col cred man recently committed the most terrible crime ever charged against a mem- Der of my race, but a few weeks previous to this five colored men had been lynched for supposed incendarism. If lynching was cure for crime, surely the lynching of five would have prevented another negro from committing a most heinous crime a few weeks later. We might as well face the facts bravely and wisely. Since the beginning of the world crime has been committed in all civilized and uncivilized countries and certain amount of crime will always be committed both in the north and In the south, but I believe that the crime of rape can be stopped. In propor- tion to the numbers and intelligence of the population of the south there exists little more crime than in several other sections of the country, but because of the lynch ing habit we are constantly advertising our selves to the world as a lawless people. We cannot disregard the teachings of the civilized world for eighteen hundred years, lAot IliS oiiiy way lO puulSu CliIiie lS Dg law. When we leave this dictum chaos begins
 Injures the Whites as Well
 1T am not pleading for the negro alone. Lynching injures, flinders and blunts the moral sensibilities of the young and ten der manhood of the south. Never shall I forget the remark made by little 9-year- old white boy with blue eyes and flaxen hair The little fellow said to his mother after he had returned from a lynching:
 "l have seen a man hanged; now 1 wish l could see one burned"
 Rather than hear such remark from one of my little boys l would rather see him laid In his grave. This is not all. Every community guilty of lynchings says in so many words, to the governor to the legis- lature. to the sheriff( to the jury and to the judge: I have no faith in you and no respect for you. We have no respect for the law which we helped to make In the south at the present time there is less excuse for not permitting the law to take it's course where negro is to be tried than anywhere else in he world, for, almost without excep- tion, the governors, the sheriffs, the judges the juries and the lawyers are all white men and they can be trusted as a rule to do their duty; otherwise it Is needless to tax the people to support these officers. If our present laws are not sufficient to prop erly punish crime, let the law be changed but let the punishment be by lawfully con stituted authorities, is the plea l beg to make. The history of the world proves that where the law is most strictly en- forced there is the least crime; where peo- pie take the administration of the law into their own hands there is the most crime.
 There Is Too Much Crime
 But there is still another side: The white man in the south has not only serious duty and responsibility, but the negro has q duty and responsibility in this matter. In speaking to my own people want to be equally frank, but l speak with the greatest kindness. There is too much crime among us. The figures for a given period show that in the United States 30 per cent. of the crime committed is by negroes, while we constitute only about F per cent. of the entire population. This proportion holds good not only in the south, but also in the northern states and cities. No race that is so largely ignorant and so recently out of slavery could perhaps show a better rec ord; but we must face these plain facts. He is most kind to the negro who tells hlm of his faults as well as of his virtues. A large amount of the crime among us grows out of the idleness of our young men and women. It is for this reason that l have tried to insist upon some industry being taught our young people, in connection with their course of literary training.
 The time has come when every parent, every teacher and minister of the gospel should te9cn WlIn uIluSutl tulpDdSiS illOleti- ity and obedience to the law At the fire side in the school. room, in the Sunday school. from the pulpit, and the negro press there should be such a sentiment created regarding the committing of crime against women that no such crime shall be charged against any member of the race Let it be understood for all time that no one guilty of rape can find sympathy or shelter with us and that no one shall be more active in bringing to justice through the proper au- thorities those guilty of crime. Let the criminal and vicious element of the race have at all times our most severe condem- nation. Let strict line be drawn between | the virtuous and the criminal l condemn with all the indignation of my soul any l beast in human form guilty of assaulting | woman Let us all be alike in this partic- 1 ular.
 We should not, as a race. become discour- | aged. We are making progress. No race 1 has ever gotten upon it's feet without dis | couragements and struggles.
 | I should be great hypocrite and a cow 1 ard if did not add that which my daily experiences teach me is true, viz that the