Appalled by the violence aroused on Sunday night, when an American flag was burned and two men were killed by the Abyssinian zealots, colored leaders of the Middle West have begun a systematic campaign to eliminate white exploitation among the Negroes and to bring about better racial co-operation.
The Chicago police announced today that all the men wanted in the case, except two, are under arrest. They also promised that the career of Grover Cleveland Redding, self-styled "Prince of Abyssinia," and identified as a ringleader in the affair, will enter a new phase tomorrow when the frock-coated suspect is formally charged with murder, accessory to murder and rioting.
Oscar McGavick, one of the men sought, was arrested in Pittsburgh today. "Bill" Briggs and Frank Heans were taken into custody here. This leaves the police list with only two names, the Fernons, father and son. "Dr." R. D. Jonas, known on the South Side as a professional agitator, was released today, no evidence having been found of his direct connection with the shooting. Federal officials are investigating him.
According to the opinions of some of the leaders among Chicago Negroes the "Abyssinian movement," from which Sunday night's trouble indirectly resulted, is a legitimate and valid enterprise. It is but one of the manifestations of that bubbling activity which today characterizes the colored people of America in their struggle for race progression.
The trouble lies, they claim, in a group of exploiters and mountebanks, who, unauthorized by real leaders in the movement, have seized upon it as a medium for personal gain. In Chicago two of these were Jonas and Redding, it is claimed.
Pertinent on this point also is the stand taken by the Chicago Defender, among the most influential of the Negro publications, concerning the Abyssinians, which said editorially:
We warn all agitators, whether they be white or black, that this paper, standing as it does for law and order, for justice to all men, for that brotherhood without which no country can long prosper, and for the better element of our twelve millions, that we condemn their disloyalty and will do all in our power to aid the constituted authorities in crushing them.
The burning of the American flag by a group of self-styled Abyssinians at 35th St. and Indiana Avenue last Sunday evening, as a means of showing their contempt for the United States, and the resultant murders that followed in the wake of this demonstration, instead of accomplishing the end desired by these malcontents, acted as a boomerang. Every black face portrayed indignation. Every black arm was lifted to strike a blow at these law-breakers. This is our home, our country, our flag, for whose honor and protection we will give our last drop of blood. With all our shortcomings it can never truthfully be said that we are disloyal or unpatriotic.
The real problem indicated by the "Abyssinian" affair is how to prevent self-seekers from playing upon the superstitions and emotions of ignorant Negroes, to the harm of others and the disturbance of the peace.