The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1907-06-08
THE NEGRO QUESTION.
Continued from Second Page.

the former slaves and their descendants have
| made broad strides since their emancipation II
the acquisition of knowledge and property, and
that the great majority of these people are tract
able. law-abiding and useful citizens.
4 The members OF this great majority neither as
pire to social equality with their white neighbors
nor seek to transgress the customs and laws reg
ulating such matters in their respective com
munities. All they ask for is the protection Of
| their persons under the constitutions and laws
of the nation and the states, the recognition Of
their right to enjoy the fruits of honest labor to
educate their children. to worship God according
l to the dictates OF their conscience and to exer
I else in peace and non-interference with Others
| the privileges enjoyed in common by all the peo
pie of this land OF the free and home Of the
brave''-this refuge and haven of the prosecuted
and oppressed from all corners of the civilized
| earth.
While the colored people of some southern
communities, and of not a few northern ones as
\ well, have been subjected to undeserved indigni
i ties and persecution at the handsof mobs on &C
/ count OF the misdeeds of their criminal classes
there have been features and results of such out
breaks which offer encouragement to those who
| have faith in the final adjustment of our race
I troubles and problems on the enduring basis OF
exact justice to all concerned and faithful obsery
anee Of the eternal principles of right and truth
Wherever it has appeared in the light of return
| ing reason and calm reflection that innocent
colored men and women have been made the
victims of mob violence, the best white citizens
of the communities in which the outrages oc-
| CURED have come to the front to denounce the
| wrong and offer protection to their worthy
colored neighbors. A striking exemplifcation
of this was presented at Atlanta after the de-
plorable race riots in that city last September.
The grand jury and committee of leading white
citizens strongly condemned the murderous ex-
| cesses of the naobs and the exaggerated reports
of crimes attributed to colored Indicators which
were printed by sensational newspapers with an
apparently deliberate purpose of melting the
riots: and it was shown by these high authorities
that not single vagrant or even suspected GRIM
NAL had been punished by the mobs, but on the
contrary, that of the twelve persons killed and
seventy wounded tof whom five-sixths were
colored) all were wage-earners engaged in useful
occupations, supporting themselves and depend
ent relatives. known to be law-abiding and we'll
behaved and in no manner connected with any
OF the real or alleged crimes that provoked the
rioting. A mass meeting of prominent white
people was held and civic league of 2OO0 citizens
formed to back up the city authorities in sup
pressing. disorder, closing and controlling the
saloons, restoring confidence and tranquility
and pledging protection to all law-abiding
colored residents.
The experience Of Atlanta proved beyond cavil
that mob violence is cure for the evils it seeks
to extirpate or avenge inasmuch as the report
of the citizens committee included this state
ment: Although less than three months have
passed since the riot, events have already dem
onstrated that the slaughter Of .-Sie innocent
does not deter the criminal class from commit
ting more crimes. kapes and robbery have been
committed in the city during that time
The r6sort to the rule of the brutal and I'M
thinking mob-and mobs are almost invariably
brutal and unthinking-is invoking remedy
that is usually as bad as the disease aimed at
It degrades the community that permits it,
creates acontempt for legal authority. subverts
the underlying principle that every accused is
entitled to a trial and shall be considered inno-
cent until proven guilty, and constitutes an
avowal of the barbarous doctrine that it is better
that ninety-nine innocents should suffer punish
ment than that one guilty wretch should escape
No southern state or city wishes its colored
labor demoralized or driven away, and it is to
the interest OF whites and blacks in equal meas
ure that proyocations likely to produce such |
results shall be avoided. Race pride and race
preiudice are inherent in mans nature and as
old as human history, and it is too much to ex- |
pect that they can be wholly harmonized or i
fully controlled when the peoples of two such /
different races as the Caucasian and the negro L
are brought into the close relations and contact
that subsist between them In this country. But !
the friction can be reduced and the danger of /
violence and outrage minimized by the encour- 1
agement of right-living and the promotion of /
respect for law and virtue among the two peo-
pies By their leaders of thought and exempIars 1
Of industry and morality. The negroes OF the
south can do more for their own protection and
safety. more to secure their own immunity from
mob assault and lynching than the combined
efforts and influence Of their white friends and
governmental authority can do for them. The
most potent means to this end is the hunting
Town, the handing over to justice of the fiendish
Beasts OF their race who commit the intoleFable
shense of criminal assault upon white women:
he avoidance of any semblance of sympathy
With crime or Of concealment or protection of
criminals; the tabooing Of the crapshooter, the
lrunkard and the idler; ENCOURAGEMENT of
cho0ls, churches and all the forces that make
or the mental and moral upbuilding OF the race |
Teach your people that nothing in this life
an surpass the nobility and dignity of honest
abor: that the tillers of the soil, the husband
nen and artisans. the hewers Of wood and
rawers ofwater are the bulwark of the nations
prosperity and strength, the foundation upon
Thich the superstructure of society rests Burn
into the minds Of your rising generation that
be horny hands and homespun garments of the
-orkingman are vastly more honorable and
ttraetiye in the sight of God and good men
IAN the gaudy raiment of the gambler, the ii1er
r the courtesan: that
Honor and fame from no condition rise;
Act well your part, there AL the honor lies"
1t is natural, no doubt, that the men of your
ice shout feel Inundated and resentful because
le rights Of franchise which they erstwhile en-
yed have been restricted or taken from them,
I'd that this is done in many cases IN utter
srogation and disregard Of the specific pro
sions Of the state constitutions and laws fixing
e qualifications and privileges Of voters. IN
Is connection it may not be a1niss to quote a
. extracts from pamphlet published d ten
seks ago b. B. Z Desdnnes, one q the most &
yesrectahIs and ssholsrly eolorad ]