The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-03-02
AN INSULT TO NEGROES.

In the Boston Transcript OF a recent
date is signed communication, in.
which the writer undertakes to give
a description Of a service ut Mt. Zion.
Baptist Church. Richmond, Of which
the Rev. John Jasper is pastor. The
story is al! right until the story-teller'
begins TO quote from Jasper's sermon.
He is referred to rs ..Brudder'' Jas
per. and he is represented to have
said: Some folks in dis yere congre-
CATION am so bad dat dey'll sin as'in,
de debbil hisself an eff dey sin ag'in
de debbil, who does want EN-. tell mo,
who does want 'en, when de debbil
casts 'ein ont:'
The people of New England profess
to be often offended at the way that
the Southern People refer to the negro.
We tell them that the decent whites
OF the South, especially men and wo-s
men who owned slaves, and the de-
scendants of such men and women.
are offended and Disguised and some
times indignant at the way the NORTH
ern people refer TO the negro ana car
feature him.
The Rev John Jasper is man OF
some education and he never salu
Some folks in dis yere congregation
am so bad dat dc:.'ll sin agin de deb
bill hisself." Indeed, no other negro
ever used such language and the
Northern writer shows his utter igno-
rance Of the negro whenever he at
tcmpts 10 write negro dialect. john
Jasper is IN earnest preacher, who has
spent the greater portion of his life
studying the Bible. He knows the
Bible from one end 10 the other, and
can quote Scripture by the yard. he
believes in the Bible with all his
heart and soul. He takes it literally
and when there appears to be con-
flict between the Bible and science, he
stands by thc Bible. He uses fairly
good English. He impresses every
body who hears him with his entire
sincerity and carnestncss, and he is
Tot a man 10 be ridiculed and Carl
catured by this ''cultured' lady from
Boston. who seems to have gone to his
church for amusement and TO get
material for Il funny story.
But we are not so much alter thls
Boston writer rs we arc after the
class of Northern writers and carl
cat,mists generally who prey upon the
negro for revenue and deal with him
as they do with the s.peoplc of the
Jungle They represent the negro III
all their so-called funny pictures as
swell rowdy or as q chicken thief. AS
a swell. he is painted in gaudy colors,
with striped clothes, with lips as thick
as those of n rhinoceros, and invarl-
ably with Il razor somewhere about his
person If he is not 4 swell dude OF
this description. he is a chicken thief,
either in the act Of robbing hen
roost or on his way thcrefrom, with
the spoils of his raid in evidence.
This sort Of thing may be funny to
The Northern people and we suppose
that there is demand for these
stupid and disgusting cartoons, else
the Northern newspapers would not
use the pictures so freely. But they
are not funny to Southern whites, who
have n very kind regard for respect
able colored people. The cartoon has
its place, and the right cartoon in the
right place is to be encouraged, but
these wrct chcd caricaturcS TO which
we refer. are an insult and Z; gross in
ought TO be abolished. There arc
some negro rowdies who carry razors,
and there are some negro thieves who
steal chickens. But the Northern wits
would make it appear that such ne
Groes are representatives Of the race
and that is a base libel.