Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1919-11-01

Colorcd' men and women arc ac-
cordingly cXaspcratcd when they hear
of such cases and would mcto the
death penalty upon guilty parties,
but this white. lady from Valdosta,
Georgia does not want an invcStiga-
ton Of the charges. She does not
want to ascertain beforehand whcth-
cr the colorcd man charged with the
olicnse is guilty or innocent.
She wants the first colorcd man
caught, whether he he guilty or limo,
cent burned at stake, while the gull
ty man may be living and may pro-
coed to commit the same crime for
which an innocent man has persisted.
She says her husband is gone much
of the time and her house is locked up
and she is in possession of a rcyolv-
CT Of 3S calibrc, then why should she
fear? Cowardly black men will re,
spcct the revolver, if hey will not
respect her. We would like to sec the
type of nort%rn beauty that resides
i'll Valdosta, Georgia that makes the
average black man so crazy that he
will. risk burning at the stake in or
der to violate her person.
Colorcd people arc teaching charac-
ter and decency. SO true is this that
they regard with intense bitter feel
ing any colorcd man guilty Of the
hcinous crime that this white lady
abhors. These columns have tccmed
with our condemnation of both the
crime and the criminal, but we in
sist that the law and the legal au-
thol tiles shall mete the punishment
and not the irl csponsiblc mobs, who
at times are urged on to their out
landish work sometimes by the Grim
inals themselves.
This white lady cites the cases OF
three colorcd men out Of a popula-
ton of more than twelve million and
she has not the sense of justice TO
see that these other members Of the
race are no more guilty or rcspon.
siblc for this act Of lawlcssncss than
are tho more than sixty million of
white people, who note with indifrcr-
cncc the many crimes perpetratcd up
on black women throughout the South
by white brutcs who arc readily ac-
quilted in Il court OF law. Right here
in this ncighborhood an aged color
cd woman was raped by a young
white man..
He was not even convicted although
his crime was admitted. The law pro
vided death for the crime but he
went scot free. Would it have been
fair to have blamed the white men in
this community for this attack and
to advocated the Iynching of the white
ute guilty Of the crime? We are
surprised that this lady has the au-
dacity to refer to the good and low
ly Jesus. Find any part of the Scrip
lures where lynchings, burnings ut
the stake and the failure to forgive
your enemies are advocated.
We teach our people that outragcs
must stop, but what are we to do,
when white men set tho example and
are at the present time committing
crimes upon black and white women
that are not cquallcd by those COM
mittcd by few black brutcs upon
white women? We abhor crime wheth
er committed by white or by black
men and we stand ready to join in
the punishment of both by the regu-
larly constituted machinery Of the
law. Just why this lady should con-
tinue to live in the Southland VIC
cannot understand. Let her return
to the Ncrthland, where every crime
in the decalogue OF outlawry is daily
taking place and there she can rest
i'll contentment, imagining herself
safe from the nightmare OF assault
ut the hands OF the blacl; men, who
have never thought OF doing her
harm.
female, who advocates lynching
as Il punishment for any crime is
hystcrical and unreasonable for it
is not the severity of punishment
that checks crimes, but the certain
ty of it. Colored men and women rc
gard black criminals as the enemies
OF the race and the real drawbacks
and handicaps to our material and
Industrial progress. IL order to bet
ter conditions the law must DO re-
garded as paramount and the cxecu-
ton of criminals must be trusted to
that branch or arm Of the govern
J>ot1