The Washington bee., 1911-04-08


Lawyers.
he be? CoIored or white; shall he be
| learned or ignorant; shall be be a new
| lawyer with no experience or one with
experience? These are important
| questions to a defendant arraigned be
| fore the court, and a correct decision
| here will restore him to liberty If he
| be actually innocent.
so white people are our friends,
some are our enemies; some are in
| different to our rights as citizens.
some think that we ought not to have
| any citizenship rights, and they are
| often disagreeable about it; many
white people believe that we are a
race Of criminals; and with people of
| this sort the mere charge of crime
| against COlOred man IS often sufi-
| clent to their minds to fix a conviction
| of the guilt of the colored person ac-
cused. Most white people, not all. but
most of them have some inherent feel
ing that is prejudicial to your best in
tereSt along some certain line. AS a
general rule, most white lawyers have
some inherent tendency in their minds
that IS opposed to your innocence,
while most cOlored lawyers have an
inherent tendency IN their minds that
assumes your innocence, and con-
Cludes that you are the victim of the
police, who are always anxious 10
make a record for themselves. One
lawyer will approach the bar with
tendencies against you, perhaps smol-
dering race hatred only subdued by
the influence of a few; the other will
approach the bar with strong tenden-
Gle for you; it is the tie of sympathy
of race to race. The one will make a
half-hearted defense, the other will
make the strongest and best defense
he can for you; the one will be quick
to recognize in your mistakes and &C
cidents an evidence of intended viola
tion of law, and you will be hurried to
a cell. The ColOred-- lawyer will be
quick to minimize the effect of your
mistakes and accidents and will call
upon the government TO produce other
evidence of guilt; he will throw his
soul into your case by reason of his
sympathy for you; it is not only the
fee that he wants, it is your acquittal;
if he does not succeed in having you
acquitted you will rarely get the ex-
treme penalty. Some of you may per-
haps say that all this is theory. Take
look at the daily practice in the
courts.
"A large criminal class is found
among the cOlored people of the Dis
trict of Columbia, and this criminal
, class has learned by experience gained
from being constantly locked Up IN
| iron cells that it pays best to have col
! ored lawyers to defend them. Con-
| stant offenders here would not have
| anv but cOlored lawyers to defend
| them. New criminals generally get
| white lawyers at first, but the second
! or third trial, together with their OBJ
! servation of the work of cOlOred law
yers in the courtroom, is generally
| sufficient to teach them what to do IN
| the future To the colored criminal
| the ColoTed lawyer means shorter SEN
| tenceS, smaller fines and more aCquIt-
| tails. Experience has proven to the
| COlOTed criminals in the District OF
| Columbia that the colored lawyer IS a
necessity to their defense. Seventeen
years ago, when we began the prac-
| tiCe of law in the District Of Colum-
| bia, there were seven colored lawyers
| pTaCtICIng before the bar of the Dis
| trict of Columbia; today there are
about fifty, and IS per cent OF the bus
| iness of the police and criminal courts
is now IN the hands of colored law
| yers. If colored lawyers did colored
| criminals no good they would not
| have their cases every time they are
| carried before the court. And some
white criminals are beginning to pat
rOnize colOred lawyers; they, too, have
learned by experience that 1t pays to
| retain colored LAWYERS
"The best white lawyers at this bar
willingly associate themselves with col
| ored layers in cases; so when you have
entrusted your case with a cOlored
lawyer, remember that he knows best
whether he needs other assistance; II ne
/ does, he knows the best lawyers, and IT
! is wise to leave the selection OF an as
sociate to him. If justice be on your
side when you enter the courtroom
you are sure to win.
"The colored people of this city
would receive severer sentences ana
heavier fines but for the efforts OF the
colored lawyers. If a sentence be too
severe, the fine too heavy, or the case
be tried contrary TO the rules of law,
the colored lawyer has time and again
/ in such cases secured the release OF
his client in the court above; for there
is no humiliation more unbearable 70
a conscientious judge than reversal
of his decision.
1--WE have briefly set forth some of
the forces at work in the District of
Columbia that have made the colored
lawyer a necessity. In the preceding
pages we referred to the question how
liberty should be used and promisd
a word or two on the subject before
colsing.
I'VE know no single sentence capable
of embracing an adequate answer to
this question. The answer compre-
hends a field as broad, as varied, and
as great as humanity itself; each hu-
man being on the earth has an answer
10 this question. 1t is a field where
nhantoms of the brain grow wild in
the propagation Of queer ideas. It IS
IH--Asr,.ad IN V1na