“I know that some will argue that the crime of lynching Negroes is not confined to the South. This is true, and no one can excuse such a crime as the shooting of innocent black men in Illinois, who were guilty of no crime except that of seeking labor, but my words just now are to the South, where my home is and a part of which I am. Let other sections act as they will; I want to see our beautiful Southland free from this terrible evil of lynching. Lynching does not stop crime. In the immediate section of the South where a colored man recently committed the most terrible crime ever charged against a member of his race, but a few weeks previous to this, five colored men had been lynched for supposed incendiarism. If lynching was a cure for crime, surely the lynching of five would have prevented another Negro from committing a most heinous crime a few weeks later.
“We might as well face the facts bravely and wisely. Since the beginning of the world crime has been committed in all civilized and uncivilized countries, and a certain amount of crime will always be committed, both in the North and in the South, but I believe that the crime of rape can be stopped. In proportion to the numbers and intelligence of the population of the South, there exists little more crime than in several other sections of the country, but because of the lynching habit we are constantly advertising ourselves to the world as a lawless people. We cannot disregard the teachings of the civilized world for eighteen hundred years, that the only way to punish crime is by law. When we leave this dictum chaos begins.
“I am not pleading for the Negro alone. Lynching injures, hardens and blunts the moral sensibilities of the young and tender manhood of the South. Never shall I forget the remark by a little nine-year-old white boy, with blue eyes and flaxen hair. The little fellow said to his mother after he had returned from a lynching: ‘I have seen a man hanged; now I wish I could see one burned.’ Rather than hear such a remark from one of my little boys, I would prefer seeing him laid in his grave. This is not all; every community guilty of lynching, says in so many words to the governor, to the legislature, to the sheriff, to the jury, and to the judge, I have no faith in you and no respect for you. We have no respect for the law which we helped to make.
“In the South, at the present time, there is less excuse for not permitting the law to take its course, where a Negro is to be tried, than anywhere else in the world, for almost without exception the governors, the sheriffs, the judges, the juries and the lawyers are all white men, and they can be trusted, as a rule, to do their duty; otherwise it is needless to tax the people to support these officers. If our present laws are not sufficient to properly punish crime, let the laws be changed, but that the punishment may be by lawfully constituted authority is the plea I make. The history of the world proves that where law is most strictly enforced is the least crime; where people take the administration of the law into their own hands is the most crime.
“But there is another side. The white man in the South has not only a serious duty and responsibility, but the Negro has a duty and responsibility in this matter. In speaking of my own people I want to be equally frank, but I speak with the greatest kindness. There is too much crime among us. The figures for a given period show that in the United States 30 per cent. of the crime committed is by Negroes, while we constitute only about 12 per cent. of the entire population. This proportion holds good, not only in the South, but also in the Northern States and cities.
“No race that is so largely ignorant and so lately out of slavery could, perhaps, show a better record, but we must face these plain facts. He is most kind to the Negro who tells him of his faults as well as of his virtues. A large amount of the crime among us grows out of the idleness of our young men and women. It is for this reason that I have tried to insist upon some industry being taught in connection with their course of literary training. The time has come when every parent, every teacher and minister of the gospel, should teach with unusual emphasis morality and obedience to the law. At the fireside, in the school room, in the Sunday-school, from the pulpit and the Negro press, there should be such a sentiment created regarding the committing of crime against women, that no such crime shall be charged against any member of the race. Let it be understood for all time that no one guilty of rape can find sympathy or shelter with us, and that none will be more active in bringing to justice, through the proper authorities, those guilty of crime. Let the criminal and vicious element of the race have at all times our most severe condemnation. Let a strict line be drawn between the virtuous and the criminal. I condemn with all the indignation of my soul the beast in human form guilty of assaulting a woman. Let us all be alike in this particular.
“We should not as a race become discouraged. We are making progress. No race has ever gotten upon its feet without discouragements and struggles.
“I should be a great hypocrite and a coward if I did not add that which my daily experience teaches me is true, viz.: that the Negro has among many of the Southern whites as good friends as he has anywhere in the world. These friends have not forsaken us. They will not do so; neither will our friends in the North. If we make ourselves intelligent, industrious, economical and virtuous, of value to the community in which we live, we can and will work out our own salvation right here in the South. In every community, by means of organized effort, we should seek in a manly and honorable way the confidence, the co-operation, the sympathy of the best white people in the South and in our respective communities. With the best white people and the best black people standing together, in favor of law and order and justice, I believe that the safety and happiness of both races will be made secure.”
CHAPTER XIX.
THE WEST VIRGINIA AND OTHER RECEPTIONS AFTER EUROPEAN TRIP.
Early in August we sailed for America from Southampton, and had a very pleasant voyage on the magnificent ocean Steamer “St. Louis.” On the voyage I was called upon to speak again to the passengers, and made many friends for our cause.