The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-08-28

They have met in they
GRATED fiercely about lynch law anu
they have denounced men
and methods. but they have been
sEamefully silent in making their
voice heard In stern and persistent de-
nunclation of the crime that produces
Iynching. Many men and Individual
members Of the negro race VIII mag
nifty the lawlesSness Of lynchiag above
the crime that produces IL nas~ even
aided the confessed criminal @goast
the virtue OF our women by secreang
him from the officers Of the saw oy
providing change of clothes ana by
conniving in every way TO aid In MS
escape from the outraged agents Of
society. Upon this basis We arraign
the l@aders-the teachers, the preach-'
ers. the bishops and the editors of the
negro race as particeps criminis and
co-criminals with the rapist when
they fail Ia cooperate fully and free
ly with the white race In the swift
punishment of this awful crime
Until the negroes are taught from
the pulpit. from the cnair
and from the printed page 10 help the
white man TO hunt down the scoun-
drels and the criminlis q t1"r race,
they are themselves guilty in part OF
the crimes which We revenge They
dNt lIlS htsiotS llIiAAA AAaA ~'~4-
black CRIMINAL who IS lynched is a
martyr to the prejudice of race. They
inf1ame the minds of the inferior race
by their fierce diatribes and protests
against lynching. But neither their
pulpits' thunder nor their presses
soput preachments against criminal
and the crimes which make lynching
possible.
We are getting tired OF these one
sided Jeremiads. We have no patience
with such hypocrisy. The negro must
help the white man to intimidate the
negro criminal.
Here then We get down TO the core
of the matter. Let Us nave less or
these fierce derunciations of the mob
and let the preachers n the
editors and the negro teacher
get busy with the vigorous use Of their
lungs and their lead pencils against
the crime which if not suppressed,
will ultimately destroy their race.
For there is growing steadily in the
minds of the Caucasions OF the south
a stern determination to be freed at
any cost from this element Of terror
which sewers the women Of u people.
We have bought with our blood
and with our brains a con-
tinent which we have redeemed
from the Wilderness and made the
greatest nation under the sun. We
have built out of the ashes and desc
lation of war a country that in beauty
and development has come to be a
wonder and the admiration Of the
world. We are doing our part in all
Of the great movements that make
our country glorious n the age illus
trious in achievement. And We are
rapidly reaching the point where we
will not permit ourselves much longer
to endure in this southern country a
siege in which our women are the
prisoners and in which every south
erner is an anxious sentiment at the
outpost of his freside and the shrine
of his home.
If these negroes who are making
themselves so blatant in their public
speeches and conventions-if the lead
ers, from Booker Washington down to
the bishops and the preachers and the
smallest editor would lift up the BAN
ner Of a great united crusade against
the infamy of rape and would pledge
themselves to hunt with even fiercer
vigilence than the white man, the des-
poiler of our homes and the dadliest
enemy to the hopes of the negro, then
We might hope to witness a change in
these conditions and a suppression Of
tneSe crimes winch provoke ina merry
terror. which, however lawless and
however de%plorable is the only deter
ent Of the rapist and the chief defense
Of Oma
There is no excuse for apathy here.
Time and again the appeal has gone
forth for cooperation along these
lines. And in the m of these
unanswered appeals we sternly ar
raign the responsible members of the
negro race for the silence and mac
tive pathy which they have shown.
For the future we refuse to heed
their protests or to consider their
statements until they get themselves
busy along the only practical line on
which they can be of service to them
selves and to us.
II they DO not do this and If all 9TH
er eXpedients fail, as they are failing,
the time may come when the domi-
nant and triumphant civilization Of
the south will rid itself Of this awful
terror in a more radical n a more
revolutionary way.
Patience is growing frazzled in eau
casian hearts. And after patience
conac tho 1el11pe -Af1anto Caorpio1