The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-07-29
AFRO-AMERICAN ADDRESS.
Protest Against the Action of Organ
lied Labor.

A committee appointed by the Indiana
Afro-American convention, held in this city.
to prepare an address to the public, SUBJ
mitted the result Of it's work yesterday.
The address Is directed to 1.-The People of
America" and the Introductory paragraph
is as follows: I'VE, the colored citizens Of
Indiana, in convention assembled for the
purpose Of considering the many forms of
injustice to which we are subjected, on ac-
count of our color, and believing the great
heart Of the American people still beats in
sympathy with the spirit Of liberty and JUS
tice for all men, and believing. further, that
the apparently sleeping conscience of the
major portion of the people is largely due
to a lack of information concerning our real
condition and the wrongs that are heaped
upon us as a race, in all sections Of our
coIntry-we deem 1t wise to issue this ad-
dress. setting forth the facts which we wish
considered, appealing to the sense of JUS
tice Of the American people"
The greatest injustice the negroes suffer,
the address says, is the taking Of human
life without trial by jury, at the hands of
mobs, which is violation of the most sa-
cred right known to civilization. The at
tention Of the world Is called to the fact
that more than thirteen hundred human
%hn he ast seven years he apoo
gists for these horrible outrages claim de-
Tense of pure womanhood as the prime
cause of these outbursts of savagery but
we call attention to the fact that, accord
| ing to the press dispatches from the daily
| papers published in the sections of country
| one-third of the 1900 lynched were even &C.
cused of assault. or Of rape. During last
| year QS9S), according to President Dreher
of Roanoke College Virginia, out of 127 ne
groes lynched, twenty-five were accused Of
| assault or attempted assault"
In regard to the Acknowledgement of ne
groes it is said: I'VE point with sadness to
the gross violation of the United States
| election laws, by statutory enactments. in
| the States of North and South Carolina,
| Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana, where
| by three-fourths Of the negro voters Of
| those States are disfranchised. under the
| guiSe of an educational qualification. We do
| not protest because of an educational quail
| fication, but We do protest against the law.
! We call upon all citizens who believe in a
| fair ballot to join us in this protest. Laws
| should be general in their application, and
| apply alike to all citizens
| protest is registered against organized
| labor refusing to admit coloed men to its
| ranks. In this line ii is said: How can the
| trades unions continue to demand, and ex-
pect to receive without question or chal-
| lenge, sympathetic approval and indorse-
ment of public opinion when the very
| things IL is demanding for itself-justice
fair treatment and living chance to Sc
cure through honest toll bread and protec-
| ton for their loved ones-they refuse to ex-
tend to some millions Of other laboring men,
whose only crime is that of their unfortu-
nate environments, and that Jehovah. in
| His wisdom. lowered them with dark
| skim