The Chicago whip. (Chicago, Ill.) 1919-19??, 1920-07-17
Miami Admits That 1T
is Unfair to Negroes

tl41 tit9 OAiIAItiAo tiiAi III hAiAhS hS'a'
papers and outlined their grievances
after the near riot which almost oc-
Cured few days ago when bomb
exploded in front of colored mans
home.
Tic aolorcd men did not use very
bitter or very direct language but
the white people remembered that
5ae colored people had gathered
quickly and were armed when the
bomb went off and were ready to
effect reprisals and have given this
brief Of the colored Board of Trade
due consideration. The Miami
Herald editorialzes as follows:
A TRUE BILL.
In an open letter to the mayor and
citizens of Miami, issued by the col
cred Board of Trade, printed else
where in these columns, there occurs
this very pregnant passage;
The rough element among Us IS
very impatient. And we confess
10 you, friends, that we are losing
orr grasp on the rowdy element Of
eolored town. They have listened
to US on numerous occasions and
the results have not come. They
arc possessed with the idea that a
better way is theirs and seem anX-
iou5 to pursue it. We have been
answered with such remarks as
tbs: "They sent US three thousand
miles away from home to make the
world safe for democracy and it's
IN TO us, now, to make Miami safe
for our families. Unless the Of
fieera Of the law will convince
these men that they are as duti-
ful in running down and bringing
II Justice all white criminals the
same as eoored criminals, the be-
gmirching of the good name and
record of Miami is inevitable. And,
as is always the case, the inno-
cent suffer losses while the guilty
parties escape II the authorities
vii cultivate a sense of justice
that knows no discrimination when
the law is broken and vigorously
prosecute the guilty parties, such
aepredations as have recently oc-
CURED will never be experienced.
THIS IS an Indictment of the atti-
ude of the white people and white
officials toward the enforcement Of
'aw where colored people are con-
earned. that is too close to the truth
10 be at all palatable to the thinking
white man.
Say what we will, the white peo-
plc Of this city have never dlscharg-
ID their full duty toward the col
orad section Of The city. 1t is a mat
- Of plain observation that while
.arn manv colored people are tax
payers and entitled to due proper
ton of the city's improvements, they
aaYc not received them, by any
means. Many of the improvements
made for the exclusive use of the
white people of the city, have been
partly paid for by money collected
from the negro part of the popula-
ton. They have been taxed without
representation and they have been
denied their part of the tax money
for public improvements for the part
# the city they inhabit. That is an
Injustice for which the white people
should seek remedy.
IN the matter of police protection,
olorad town has been regarded more
5 a place for police authority than
for protection. White officers are
saat IL enforce the law among col
cred residents and taxpayers, regard
less Of their desires on the subject.
The result Of the practice has been
- raise suspicion of all colored peo-
ole, Xhen as a matter of fact, there
IRE very few law breakers compar-
atiVelv. among the colored people
Who li1e in this city and who are
aadcavoring to build up their part
e the city and are trying as best
they can to make the colored race
aonored for what it has accomplished
in Miami,
Not so very long ago this city was
much interested in sending colored
5oys to the army camps. Something
vas done fer them and many speech
- we're made 10 them promising that
heir families should be looked after
and that on their return they would
oe honored as the country's defend
ers. They return TO find more or
less friction between themselves and
heir white neighbors, and they dis
over that their families are not safe
from outrages committed against
ghem by some miscreants unknown,
Who have not been detected or ar
rested.
No wonder that these young men
believe that they are being wronged
n the general attitude OF the white
3eople toward their wrongs and there
no wonder that they are beginning
to suspect that the white people are
ut, after al, the friends they pro-
nised to be while the country was
It var and needed their services.
The Colored Board of Trade, in
yery temperate language, stated the
.ase exactly when it said that unless
he officers of the law could be
brought to see that it was as much
heir duty to seek out and secure the
punishment of white offenders
against negroes as it is to apprehend
legro violators of the law, there is
LANCER that the good name of Miami
or peaceableness and quiet and of
rood feeling between the races will
De sadly besmirched.
The Herald is of the opinion that
here will always be more or less
.rouble until the colored people are
given their full rights as to public
improvements, and have ample police