Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1907-04-03

great provocatiJu for the dert. 1t is not hard TO
understand that citizens worked up to q high
pitch uf exct .mput when negro omen attack white
women with razOrs and iDflict fatal wounds uDOn
them. The brnt lty u the tl--.s with razor used
as weapon, il eEough 10 arob-r inc Indignation or
An entire community under such circumstances, says
Il the Birmingham News.
AT the same time that this news Il published,
press dspa cheS from CariersvIIle, Ga, tell Of
most brutal assault - negro white woman
4 because she refused to give MIN $5O which he had
demanded at her home THe woman fed to her hus-
1 bands snrc near bs, and when patty returned 10
i the house, they fnnd her young child with it's head
almost severed from ifs body Only 6end incar
bnate would murierously treat an innocent infant
While it is trne that this negro, il caught would be
legally executed ILUrby mob, it is not difioult
| to understand the frenzy Of whlts of c0mmU-
nifty under such circumstances.
| Lynching is to be condemned under all circum-
stances. The mob must not be allowed TO insult
the laws OF the land under any conditions. While
all mOhs and all ly nchers should be punished as we'll
as condemned, it is deplorabe faot that very large
proportion OF the negro race 10 this country inVara
/ bly, protect and shield the criminals OF their race
trom the law and help them every way to escape
Justice, wholly and solely because they are negroes
1t seems almost impossible To beat into their heads
that by this practice they do great deal toward en-
couraging lynching am, the mob. The negroes
themselves are largely responsible for the mob. II
they would cooperate With + te whites in bringing
negro criminals to justice, there would be much less
OF the mob spirit and fewer lynchings.
DR.. Thomas Nelson Page, southern man whose
father owned slaves, who himself was nursed by
negro mammy and who knows the southern negro
thoroughly, and entertane the kindest and most
sympathetic feelings toward tho respectable element
OF negroes, had interesting aud instructive article
IN the March number OF McCure's magazine on the
race question, which he insists is the greatest
question before the American people, whether they
recognize 1t such not. In this article DR. Page
anff he
Why themegro in the south OF iday giving great
deal OF trouble Ia encouraging lynching He says
that the southern negro msapprehends the attitude
OF the northern people who profess to be his friends
and sympathzers, and especially the attitude OF the
doctrinares towards him. While these people are
in large measure honest in their efforts to improve
the condition Of the negro, the negro himself mis-
takes these efforts largely for sympathy with him In
antag attitude towards the whites Of the
south.
DR.. Page calls attention to the fact that the me-
groes very largely shield their criminals from the
law and believe in this way they receive the sympa-
thy Of the northern people. ID other words, there
is very widespread feeling among the negroes or
the south that whatever they do a. race to antag
onize the whites Of the s0uth s largely approved By
the people Of the north, and this encourages them
to no little extent to commit many Offenseg and even
crimes with che idea that such conduct Il more Or
less applauded by northern dOcrinaires and others
who profess 20 be friends and sympathtzera with the
negro.
There il great deal Of truth ID this, and this
mistaken idea has done much harm among TIE ne-
grOes Of the south.
One thing may as we'll be understood, and that
is, it viii be we'll nigh impossible 10 abolish lynch.
ings Of negroes in the south until she negroes them
selves do something by way 81 suppressng Cue hor.
rible crimes committed BY members 81 their race
against the whites Of the south
The negroes can do more to abolish lynch.n .n9
than the whites themselves but unfortunately theV
have done very little to that end.