The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-07-18
LESSON OF THE RACE RIOT IN
NEW YORK.

The story of the race riot in New
York was one that was read with hor-
ror by men and women North and
South. 1t is one of a series of race
riots where the negro has been shot
down in Chicago. Cleveland. Boston.
and other Northern cities. Occasion
ally negro of bad character is lynched
in the South, but nobody ever hears
of a negro of good character suffer-
ing injury at the hands of white peo-
ple in the South. 1t is rather often
the case in New York or Chicago,
when there is trouble between the
whites and blacks. the good negroes
Just because of dark skin, suffer along
with the bad. no discrimination being
made
With reference to the riot in New
York on Friday night, the New York
Tribune has thoughtful editorial. The
Tribune is the greatest Republican pa
per i'm the Republic. 1t led the fight
to emancipate the negroes. 1t is their
political leader and friend, and it
reaches the conclusion: Frankly. the
negro Is far better off i'm the South"
The editorial is as follows:
Race Riots in New York.
The race riot which set section of
the upper West Side in an uproar on
Friday night differed from other dis
turbances of the same character in that
it seems to have had no definite cause.
The worst race war we have recently
had was due to the murder of police
man by negro criminal. Other out
breaks have been provoked by specific
acts of outrage or violence, but no
sufficient motive has been discovered
for Fridays clash. According to one
story, the trouble started through an
attack by white street gamins on an
old clothes pedler, who was also white.
The race issue was only injected later.
when a negro boy was attacked for de-
Tending the pedler and a negro ruff
fan attempted to shoot a policeman
who was helping to protect the pedler's
black ally and restore peace in the
block. Without any real cause or
warrant the white and negro resi-
dents of the section thereupon began
to lombard each other with brickbats
and pistol volleys. The fusillade lasted
several hours. and two hundred and
fifty policemen had to be called out to
re-establish order.
In one sense SuCn all eAIlDltlOl VI
race antipathy approaches the ridicul-
Gus. but in another it is altogether
menacing and. deplorable. We are given
to criticising the lawlessness which
in Southern communities leads to race
vendettas and wholesale lynchings. but
in the South. such outbreaks usually
follow some fragrant crime and aim at
Furnishing known or suspected criml-
nails. In Fridays disturbance this ex-
frr 70 xrin
lacking On trivial grounds. or with
out any grounds at all, whites attacked
blacks and blacks attacked whites.
Both classes seem to have acted on
the merest impulse or race prejudice
and race rancor.
1t is our duty to condemn the spirit
thus shown even more pOintedly than
we have condemned the spirit which
underlies the South's summary treat
ment of its negro criminals. The negro
in New York is not free from blame
Undoubtedly by his own vicious ana
disorderly conduct he often invites the
hostility of his white neighbors. But
the negro is here as weak ana 10
some extent an oStracized element IN
our population. He is the under dog"
in our industrial as well as in our
social system. 1t is, therefore, all the
more important that We should give
him a square deal We should not
put respectable blacks and criminal
blacks on the same level. We should
set the example which we urge on the
South of encouraging the good negro
while discoura aging the bad one. Least
of all should we put in practice the
theory-involved in every race war
that a man is to be judged not by ms
individual conduct, but by the color or
his skin, be it white or black or yell
low.
Beyond doubt the condition of the
negro who settles in New York is any
thing but encouraging. The necessity
OF living in colonies and of thus being
brought as a mass in contact with
neighbors who are far from welcoming
such an association, and who are gen.
orally of the lower order of whites,
vicious and disorderly, invites race en-
mites. while the closing of so many
fields of labor makes industrial pro-
gress difficult. Frankly, the negro is
far better off in the South, where Ia
Dor conditions suit him and he is a
controlling factor in the labor market.
But il he comes here in spite, of these
Heterogeneous. his lot should not in
Justice be made harder by subjecting
him to the terrors of race prescription
and indiscriminate mob violence at the
hands of our white ''toughs.'