The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-02-04


apparently many dilettante college students who
get into print the subject of the negro his
progress, his condition and chiefly his supposed
wrongs. contributors to the current Issue OF
the Surrey, sociological publication of au-
] thority. The Surrey La of the best edited
magazines Of its kind and Its publishers and
contributors usually say the last word In regard
to social conditions. but nevertheless 1t lis not
free from that ignorance Of the negro to which
practically all people out of touch with the
home In this county of the race would plead
guilty were they honest with themselves and
were their ignorance less profound Most of
them are so ignorant OF the subject that they
have not yet reached the point whre they know
that they do not know
Miss Sophonisba Breckenridge, OF the Univer.
sty of Chicago, woman whose last name sug.
gests Kentucky, and some knowledge of the
negro problem, lays the blame for lynching In
the South TO that noble band of men who or
ganized the Ku Klux Klan-she does not even
know it's name, calling 1t the "Txlu Klux Khan"
and speaks OF them as armed bodies OF
masked men. who. during the period between
1865 and 1875. killed negroes who tried to ex
ercise the political right conferred upon them
by the United States" Ignorance of the name
organization and object OF the Ku Klux are
shown by this writer and the false suggestion
that out of their operation grew the prevalence
of lynching characterize her article up to this
point She further exhibits ignorance by the
following paragraph preceded by a table of
lynchings from 1885 to 1912:
| With the South in control of its political ma
! chinerv the new excuse was made that Iynch-
| ings were necessary to protect the honor of
white womanhood. Although black men had
| taken such good of the white women of
/ the South during the four years their masters
were fighting to keep them in slavery, this
calumny was published broadcast The world
believed 1t was necessary for white in
| hundreds to lynch defenseless negro, who
had been accused of assaultng a white
woman
This short paragraph is 30 honeyeombed with
statements founded in lack of knowledge and
lack of thought that 1t is difficult to take them
apart for the purpose of analysis. 1t may be
pointed out, however, that whether lynchings
were or were not necessary to protect white
women from assaults at the hands or negroes
a statement to that effect is no calumny. The
white women were assaulted In large numbers
The very figures which Miss Breckenridge gives
show how numerous were these assaults, espe-
cially when 1t cannot be contended that all as
sauits were followed by lynchings. Few are
willing to uphold lawlessness in the form of
mob rule, but to say that the fact that so many
negroes were lynched for assault proves that
there were no assaults and to accuse the negro
Is calumny is puerile,
One statement In the paragraph is correct,
had
at this departure from her rule and makes haste
to give 1t wrong Interpretation, an interpre-
tation that is a confession of the weakness of
her position. The black men did take good care
of the white women of the South during the
War Between the States and for 1t have received
the thanks and praise OF the white people of
| the South. In other words, before the negro
was given an inflated idea of his Importance,
before social equality was taught him by the
unspeakable hordes of political thieves and mis-
guided fanatics from the North, assaults upon
white women were unknown. Afterwards they
became numerous according to the figures given
by the Surrey writer Where then is the calumny
on the negro? Rather Is it a hideous indictment
of the psopia responsfbIa for the change In tie
negroes character. Miss Addams also makes
this same mistake. and she also fails to explain
the cause OF the change In the negro She also
fails to tell why the negro Of lSS5-1912 was a
menace when his father had been protection.
Both also fail to explain why 1t is that II lynch
ing was an outgrowth of the night riding of
the Ku Klux, period OF about ten years elapsed
between the time of the death of the khan or
ganization and the real beginning of lynching
In the South. Had they known that lynching
was a result of the change in the negros char
acter and in the attitude between the races and
that this change took place in the interval be
tween 1870 and 1885 they would not have made
this mistake. They might even have attributed
it to what Miss Addams IL broad enough to call
the shameful carpet Dagger and corrupt poll
teal practices after the war;
Lynching is evil with which the South has
to contend and which Injuries the white people of
the South as much Ms the black people The
race problem IL one which must be solved and
solved by the people Of the South. 1t is not that
we do not wish help but that we have learned
by long and bitter experience, to which the
Surrey adds, that those Northerners who do