The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-28
The Negro question.

The Negro Question.
To the Editor Of The Journal.
I am a peace man. do not believe in
war under any circumstances whatever.
It is not in accordance with, the teach
ings Of our Lord Jesus Christ, himself the
prince OF peace
Nor can agree with the action taken
a few months ago by the citizens of
Waterloo, Iowa. It was anti-American,
most emphatically. IT was against the
teachings Of the Declaration Of indie
pendence, and above all it was against
the spirit of true Christianity
Are not the negroes human? T &C.
knowledge that they are human, and very
much human, too. I also admit that there
are many acts of violence and criminality
committed by the negroes, but no more
than are committed by the white man
under similar circumstances.
The outrages and assaults by the
negroes Of the north are in a measure due
to the white people themselves For here
tofore there has existed a certain sickly
lsentimentality toward the negro by the
white people OF the north, which has Gull
minated IN these crimes and assaults.
This has been brought about by a too
great familiarity of the: white people with
the negro, purely sentimental, and the
poor negro was not in the least of a hurry
to check this familiarity. So he began to
think himself equal if not superior to his
white friends-and in some instances he
was. -,s-c. f.ssc ri -
The outrages that have been committed
In the south are the, Legitimate sequence
of. 200 years of. slavery and degradation,
where all the moral and religious nature
has been smothered and: debased instead
Of cultivated and built up. -r. /.
l am a southern mani was born
SOUTH have seen slavery, in all its
hideousness. / have seen men, women
and children sold upon. the b1ock--Where
they were mounted upon a block Of wood
and auctioneered off. to the highest bid
der have seen the father mother and
! the children all sold TO different parties
! and carried off to different, cotton fields of
different states. [ have seen a -negress
stripped to the loins and examined all
over to see how healthy she was-with
a view to bearing children-I have seen
negro men with chains around their
bodies and the end locked around the
hind axle OF a Wagon--one instance I re-
! member where the end Of, the chain was
fastened around the neck of q horse, the
master on the horse trotting along, until
1.-THE negro could no longer keep up, being
| dashed with the cowhide, was dragged
along in the mud, and finally died. I
have seen a white man that whipped a
negress until she would yield to his bru-
tai lusts. This state of things was not
common, but occasional, in parts of the
south. Now, then, take a race that has
thus lived and thus been treated for two
hundred or more years, that lived for
! nothing (for they hadi no. hope) but the
qualification of their, annette and. pas
/ sions, having no helping hand stretched
out to lift them up, no. one to care fol
them except for work and labor that coulc
/ be gotten out of then-what more coulC
| be expected? But we should expect bet
! ter things from the SentimentaIly sicI
northern man, who has for seventy years
j sled fnr no ia
AS the papers giveeit to us, a colorei
baseball club was invited by the Waterloo
I club to a match game. The colored clui
was praised and feasted and favors were
showered upon them by certain misguided
+, sentimental young ladies' Some of tn,
more steady headed men. anticipating
what might be the result (this was abou
the time Of the excitement over two O.
three outrages by both colored and Whit
men in different parts of the country O
I, such conduct started a crusade agains
! the colored people Of Waterloo, Iowa
= able sequence. TaegsnegTAes, the Indian
: and all men, black, copper colored, or an,
= color, We're perenlpt orilX driven from tn
town under pains and penalties of death i
they did mot at once aget.'' What car
i we TO think'Sof such conduct? To:s.whaAh
region sof darkness has flown the deep
4 ted love- for the dear colored people
W AtS't iie1o bCSOlL1c ls1S tDOdSloQ.@
!, ciples of humanity and sympathy for tn
negro that obtained for.2seventy years i
the pure breasts of the <negro2loving he
roes of the northern states? The boot j
on the other leg; tbs the other (my) O.
that has been gored. ~ y ~ ~ 49,
This state of affairs is aH war, and
is unchristian. $50 $50 =, 4 :: III .,,
l am not advocating the cause of tn
. negro, only so far as$ttiss just. to hin
Neither am I I'd nnin 81 the; white mar
) only so far as lis just to;shir1r.s Think {
i this; fellow citizenss@sIs 1t our duty
maltreat the negro, to drive him from pos
to pillar, to kill him?
Let us calmly consider this subject an
j see where we stand, instlle sight Of Go
s and humanity. Do unto others as y
would they should do toyou
~ - RI y. Mendenhall