The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1919-08-23
THE LATE RACE RIOTS
White Woman Writes Her Personal
Experiences in Recent Race
Troubles in Washington
(From The Nation, New York;


To the Editor of The Nation:
Sir: On Tuesday night, when so
many in Ledroit Park feared a moh
and general massacre, and when
most white men believed that a white
woman who ventured into that section
would be literally devoured, took it
into my head to go there, and 20 I
did. l went for several reasons. One
was to prove that white woman
could do it; another, because I knew
what had been done by the authorities
and thought that little reinsurance
from a lone and harmless woman
might go good way, for guessed the
probable psychological state in that
section. Besides, wanted to know at
first hand what the colored people
were doing and thinking. l found out.
II talked to one colored man, I talked
to hundred and fifty. Occasionally
would stop to speak to one I knew:
oftener I would accost a group of un-
known men and ask them for their
views. Always and everywhere I met
with courtesy and attention. AS we
talked, men would appear from the
shadoWs-seemingly from the night
itself-until there were perhaps TWEEN
ty of us. Only once did 1 see a police
man, who glanced at us curiously, but
said nothing and passed slowly on
AND when we had finished our talk,
the group would melt into nothingness
and would proceed on my quest.
l saw no women at all. And the
men-Why, those men were not out to
start something" They were armed.
; most OF them, and were quite frank
about it, but they did not want a
hight. They said they were out to see
II mob were coming, and, if there
were, they were. going home to barri-
cade themselves; then, if the mob
tried to get in, there was trouble ahead.
AS one put it: "A man would be less
than a man if he didn't fight for his
family and his home" Their state of
mind was not primarily fight. 1t was
tear, a perfect hysteria of dread lest,
as more than one expressed it, "a new
East st. Louis" was at hand. And. as
with all hysteria, small occurrence
would have set them off in frenzy.
Dynamite! They were TINT. Again
and again l was asked els a mob
gathering on Pennsylvania Avenue?
viii they come up and burn US out I?
is the Park cordoned?" For they did
not dare go downtown far enough to
see II the troops were really there.
over and over I heard the pathetic
question:: do the white folks care?
Does anyone care? Are they really
| doing anything." I told them that the
| best of the whites did care, but that
we were helpless. l told them also
| that measures had really been taken
that afternoon and what they we're
that there really was military, as we'll
| as police, protection. One queer old
man remarked: well, reckon some
buddy do care, or white lady
wouldn't come out to tell us about it."
A One-handed soldier said: 81 en-
listed; l gave the country my hand,
and l was ready to give more When
was in France Il was a man and a
soldier, but when get back here, I'm
not a citizen: I'm not man, even
just big, black BRUTE 1t was not
| said bitterly; it went deeper than bit
terness. He spoke like a man with a
broken heart. Another said: "They
say this is to protect the white women.
My father was in charge of a whole
plantation and a family of white
women during the Civil War; They
weren't afraid to leave the white
women with us then, and colored men
are no different now"
Many Of them expressed a liking for.
and confidence in, the captain of the
precinct, and, when a man of one race
speaks we'll of man of another, dur
ing a race riot, that means something.
But they. spoke of the lack of colored
police, and Of the fact that colored
men were being dropped from the force
and that none had been appointed
since 1910. "You know" they said,
that we could talk better to colored
police. They would reason with the
people and not just knock them round.
They know who the people are and
what is going on, and they could stop
lot of trouble without arrests. But
they don't want to give us a chance"
I saw but one noisy Negro, half
witted and dishevelled-looking fellow.
talking loudly and belligerently. Him
two colored men seized and thorough
ly shook, telling him that if he did not
shut up and get home" he would GER
tainly find things happening to him.
Once an excited colored boy came fly
ing on bicycle with the news that
white mob had formed inside the cor
don and was on it's way. Lets 20
meet them,' said one young hothead.
This was at once negatived. "Well
watch and see if they are coming, and
if they are, we will go home and lock
the doors. That's what Captain Doyle
said, and he knows what's what" So,
for a few tense moments, we stood
peering into the drizzly gloom, not
knowing what might after all be about
to come. But all was quiet, and we
silently drifted on our ways.
And thus it went for two hours. I
met them-not savages, not red-hand-
ed murderers, but citizens, hunted
and terrified, looking more or. less
hopelessly to their Government for
aid; human beings craving the hand
of brotherhood, and cut to the very
heart. l thought /of Belgium 1 re-
membered that my country stands
abroad for liberty, justice, and the
rights of men, though she has them not
at home. How blind we are, we An
glo-Saxons, who talk of Freedom and
have not vet freed our souls Rut