Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1928-02-18

February 18th, 1928 oy the decisive
vote of 26 to 10. Every member Ia
reported to have been present and
the interest was intense. The Times
Dispatch reporter said:
cit was a decisive victory for OPP
ponents Of the bill and marked Its
doom for this session of the Legls
lature. It had previously passed the
House, and until dealt the death
blow Yesterday had wilhstood every
attempt at amendment.
Senators Henry 7. Wickham, OF
Hanover and T. Gray Haddon, of
Richmond, leaders of the opposition
group, characterized the bill as an
attempt to make outcasts OF the
remnants of the Indian tribes, which
ought to have our protection" Both
of them insisted mat the present
statutes were sufficient to guarantee
against an intermixare of the races.
Senator J. B. Watkins, of Chester
field, arose during the course of de
bate to assert that he would vote
against the bill because some. of he
Indians reside in his senatorial dis
,rict and he had been petitioned by
them and their teachers 10 oppose
it.
'The bill sough3 to define as col
ored any person having any ascer
tainable amount Of Negro blood
without regard to time or generation
removed, and attempted to classify
as an Ind AN every person noti \
colored person, but having one
fourth or more Indian blood.
He is quoted further:
Senator Marshall n. Booker, of
Halifax, tough: for its passage, in
curing repeatedly, What's wrong
with this bill?' and asserting that
the time has come for defining a
white person white and Negro a
Negro.
This bill, declared Senator
Booker, is not doing the Indian an
injustice. If an Indian has no Negro
blood in him and has as much as
one fourth Indian blood, this bill
recognizes him as an Indian. Why
give the Indian any greater PGYor
than a Caucasian? l believe The bill
is right"
The thing that was wrong with
the bill is plainly evident. 1t did
not define white person as white
and a Negro as a Negro. 1t defined
a white person as white and per
SON who was not Negro as a Negro
What it should have done was %
define a pure, unmixed Anglo Saxon
as While and pure and a pure, IN
mixed Negro as a Negro. This is
spec fically what was wrong with me
bill and this is why il met with
overwhelming defeat.
For more than fifty years, per-
son with not more than one eighth
Negro blood in the veins had been
legal zed as white person. Al
though legally, this person is white,
if he had one7fourth or more Of
Indian blood, he was barred from
being recognized as an Indian. Still
the Hon. Marshall N. Booker, of
Halifax county had The effrontery to
say that the bill sis not doing the
Indian an injustice" We would like
to know if he affiliates with any
church in his county and whether
or not he processes to be follower
of the good and lowly Jesus%
Then followed other comment:
Senator R. O. Norris Jr., of
Lancaster and Senator Lloyd e.
Warren, of Portsmouth, also pleaded
for passage of the bill The former
favored separate bill, if he neces
sity required it, specifically relating
to Indians, and sad he would give
it his support. 1--WE are simply
clarifying the law" he said, 80 as
10 prevent q future occurrence Of
unfortunate facts which have puH
skeletons in the closet Of some peo
pie. These skeletons will continue
until brough3 to light when the
closet door is opened.
We take it that this legislative
luminary has much knowledge but
little experience and less common
sense. He seemed to have overlooked
the fact that it Is much better 20
let the skeleton stay inside OF the
closet than to provide legislative .
tongs and prying officials to drag
out 10 public gaze some of the most
astounding scandals ever known in
the history of the Commonwealth.
Id is an old adage, "Let sleeping
dogs lie". 1t is equally impressive
30 'let the dead rest" and to never
attack others with stones, when you
yourself may be living in glass
house with many family secrets in
side of your own closets, the know
ledge of which may have never besn
handed down to you.
} The final touch to the demise Of
the bill came as follows:
When the racial integrity bill
was taken up on the calender Sen
a,or Wickham' arose and made The
first speech His argument agains,