The broad ax., 1923-01-27
LYNCHING MUST GO

The annual report on lynching re-
leased by the Tuskegee Normal and
Industrial Institute has attracted the
same wide attention this year as usual.
The Literary Digest sums up the
comment by saying that, "Fifty-seven
persons were lynched in this country
in 1922. The fact that this figure is
slightly less than those reported for
1921 and 1920 appeals to most COM
mentators as less important than the
report that there were ffty-eight in
stances in which officers of the law
prevented lynching, and ten instances
in which convictions carrying peni-
tertiary sentences were secured
against lynchers." But these ten con
victions were secured in one county,
Oklahoma County, Oklahoma.
The same old point Of view con
corning the race problem is reflected
by the lynchings which have taken
place in the early part of this new
year. One paper says, How few
brutal and degenerate Negroes can
and do bring an entire race into dis
repute and in a measure justify the
supremacy of white rule is shown by
the recent events of Rosewood, Flor
ida. The acts of colored desperadoes
caused an uprising that resulted in a
sanguinary battle, the burning Of the
Negro quarters, expulsion from the
town, and the drawing Of dead line"
The Nation, however, gives a
slightly more accurate account of the
Rosewood affair. It's issue Of Janu-
airy 18th says, Zone Negro was MUIR
dered because he carried in his wagon
a Negro for whom the white mob
was hunting. The two white men
were shot from a Negro home to
which they were setting fire Next
day twelve more Negro homes were
burned while a crowd of more than a
hundred men-more than Rosewood's
entire male white population-looked
on, and one Negro, who had gone to
his employer for protection, was
turned over to a mob which took him
to the fresh graves Of his mother and
brother, killed in the previous fight
ing, and there shot him in cold blood
There has been no indication that the
authorities Of Levy County or Of the
State of Florida were even interested
in the fate of these Negroes"
The New York World also realizes
that the Rosewood affair was inexcus-
able and quotes the Atlanta Constitu-
ton editorial on the murder of a 20
year old Negro man by drunken
whites: IF an end is not put to this
sort Of thing, and if small element
Of barbarian groups can disgrace the
State by their cold blooded murders
and escape punishment, the State will
be fortunate if its loss is confined to
the blacks who are leaving it; for the
menace developed from these IN
WllppNQ NIlillIldlS has become SuCn as
to brighten whites as well as blacks. .
Confirmation of the Constitutions
opinion is to be. found in the Ku Klux
Khan affair in Louisiana where be-
cause of the kidnapping and murder
/ of two white men. supposedly by
members Of the Ku Klux Khan, the
National Guard was called out and a
searching inquiry is under way. The
fundamental Of the situation is
reached by the Bristol, Connecticut
Press when it says. THAT terrorism
and the rife are not to be depended
on to protect and maintain white
dominance grows palmer with passing
time for the Negroes themselves can
now secure arms and have no scruples
against using them. AS a solution of
the race question force has failed. The
equitable adjustment must come
through other channels"