The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-10-13

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does not tel, how serious the stumbling
must Be to be deadly not what degree Of
| incompetence will bring about this serl-i
Gus condition. q
In much Of his interesting article he
(, mentions the. race conflicts that have oc-
Cured sorAare now in existence. Few OF
! these, however, seem to be very serious,
while fewer still are deadly Yet IN
| nearly every case mentioned the rival
races are we'll nigh equal and consequent
| " in the closest possible competition. Of
| course, Mr.. Dabney does not mention the
| equally numerous cases where different
| races occupy the same territory in peace
! If not in mutual esteem. He speaks OF
| the Anti-Semitic prosecutions, but forSets
| that many Jews in America and elsewhere
| hold positions of high trust and reepon-5
| sibility. He forgets, too, to mention that
men of the same race have frequently
| been found in conflicts no less bitter and
| lasting than any that ever arrayed one
! race against another. Yet the school BOY
! knows that religious wars, for instance
| even when between men of the same
| blood have at least euualled in feroolty
any purely racial conflicts.
Mr. Dabney ma gnifies and eXaggecates
race prejudice. That such prejudice eE-
| lists to some, extent no one will deny. but,
| it is not SO strong as the present-day Doi.-
| tician would have us believe. 1t is not
|
| family and even of religion, and it is not
SO strong that men of opposite races may
not live together in peace and make nti-
| tual progress. The writer lived in a South
| ern city while it passed through one OF
! the most deadly and far-reaching race
| conflicts of recent years. When that coz
| nict was at it's height and armed rner.
stood on every corner and dead men lay
| in the gutter. the white women and theli
| colored servants together waited on front
porches to hear the news from every
| passer-by Negro families living in the.
| white sections crowded their front doors
| and windows to see and hear Negro
| men went about to gather the black
| corpses into the temporary morsue, anu
| while the dead wagon emptfsd It's Srit,-
| some load a negro cobbler toiled busily
! at his bench in plain view through the
| low window and open door OF the shoE
! which adjofned the dead house Even
that memorable affair was far from being
| q race conflict and l am convinced that
| a race riot is impossible at the present
| time in any Southern State. Thousands
/ of negroes in that city were as safe from
| white molestation as the mayor hims@!f
and many of the victims of the Wute
| mems violence were men OF the pu;est
! white blood.
Mr.. Dabney would have us believe that
| as the negro rises in the world the white
| mans hatred of him increases. Yet
| there are hundreds of successful negro
| tradesmen and merchants who have the
| Twill and to some extent the patron
| age of their white neighbors. nave
| never heard of a black man who was
| hated because of his prosperity. l new
| er heard of a successful black man whom
! his white neighbors did not respect, and
| in all the conflicts, race and otherwise.
| that haze disturbed this people l never
| heard of one directed against the success
| full black man as such. And it is certain
| that none of this class are injured by.
| or. indeed, arc nearly concerned In any
| clash with the whites. John Jasper
| was a man of great influence and &C
| CURED some property, and he was re-
| spected when living and honored when
| dead by the white men of Richmond.
| Booker Washington has been wonderful
| ~ successful in his chosen work, ana
| white men honor him for 1t and wish
| him we'll. 1t cannot be true that such
| men are but accentuatng the race pre-
| iudice and wronginS both white and
| black while they teach their fellows to
| learn to think and to work with their
| hands.
! l therefore confidently affirm that neitfl-
f! er past history nor present conditions nor
| even Mr.. Dabneys argument Justifles the
conclusion that the two races may not
| live together in Virginia for many years
|
| cational privileges, without amalSamating
| and without such racial conflicts as VIII
| impede the progress of either.
| l will further affirm that the welfare
| and highest progress of the white people
| of Virginia demands that the blacks VINO
| live among us shall be brought to the
| highest possible plane Of character and
| intelligence and that they be prosperous.
safe in their rights of property and salts
| fed with their political surroundings
| We are doubtless agreed that the negro
| IS here to stay for some time at least
| and that a century from now the rela-
| tive numbers of the two races will not
have materially changed. Mr. Dabney
| holds. if I understand him Alright. that
if the white people of that day shall oc-
| cupy the highest possible position of pros
| perity and intelligence. the black man
| must occupy the lowest possible position
| of ignorance and want.
Strange delusion. If the time ever was
when one race could be prosperous, moral
! and happy while living with and among
the very degraded that time has passed.
The world is now too old and the spirit
of liberty and progress too strong in the
very air we breathe for it now to be pos
sible If the Constitutional Convention
shall take one step in any such direction
it will be a step away from the future
we'll being of the write race. More than
that | convinced that II the conVen-
ton does one single act to degrade or
impede the negro in his struggle toward
intelligence or elevation of character or
ir his requirement of property or in his
political liberty its acts will return upon
the white race of the future.
Curses come home to roost, and the mi
ulIities of the fathers are visited upon
the children.
Thus. C. DIGGs.
Richmond Va Oct O. 1901