[363] Brawley, Short History of American Negro, p. 357.
CHAPTER XV
In the year immediately following the end of the great World War armed clashes between whites and Negroes in the United States occurred in the great cities of the North and West, Washington, Chicago and Omaha and also in the State of Arkansas. These race riots drew comment from whites and Negroes. Prior to these riots in the time of peace, there had been others during the World War at Chester and Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania and one in Illinois at East St. Louis. Both Dr. DuBois, the president of “The National Association for the Advancement of the Colored People,” and the colored minister Wright, whose article on Negro migration has been alluded to, gave advice. It is interesting to compare their utterances. The communication of the minister is first cited.
“To my dear Brethren and Friends:
Permit me to say this word to you in this time of most serious anxiety. You have read of the riots in St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Chester, Pennsylvania during the Great World War and in Washington and Chicago since the close. When the facts have been finally sifted, they have always shown that the colored people did not start these riots. They were started by whites in every instance. If there are to be riots in the future I want to say to my people let it be as it has been in the past, that you shall not be the instigators of them. It is to the everlasting disgrace of these Northern cities as it has been of certain Southern cities, that these riots have been started by whites, and that white policemen who should be the first to uphold the law have, in nearly every instance assisted the mobs. Now is the time for all of us to keep our wits: to do nothing wrong, which may be any excuse for riot. Let men and women go about their work quietly, attending to their business. Keep away from saloons and places where there is gambling. More trouble starts in these places than anywhere else. Avoid arguments. Make no boasts. Make no threats. Attack no man nor woman without due provocation, and under no circumstances hurt a child. Don’t tell anybody what the Negroes are going to do to the whites. For we do not want war; we want peace. Our safety is in peace. Don’t loaf in the streets; do not needlessly encounter gangs of white boys. A gang of boys from 15 to 20 years is generally irresponsible. A gang of white toughs will delight to ‘jump’ a lone Negro, especially if they number eight or a dozen and believe the Negro is unarmed; and it is foolish to give them the chance. In trading as nearly as possible get the right change before paying your bill; know what you want, where you can trade with your own people, where you are not liable to get into a dispute. Don’t go to white theatres, white ice cream places, white banks or white stores, where you can find colored to serve you just as well. In other words don’t spend your hard earned money where you are in danger of being beaten up. Don’t carry concealed weapons—its against the law. Now I am not urging cowardice. I am urging common sense. I am urging law and order. Protect your home, protect your wife and children, with your life, if necessary. If a man crosses your threshold after you or your family, the law allows you to protect your home even if you have to kill the intruder. Obey the law but do not go hunting for trouble. Avoid it. Do not be afraid or lose heart because of these riots. They are merely symptoms of the protest of your entrance into a higher sphere of American citizenship. They are the dark hours before morning which have always come just before the burst of a new civic light. Some people see this light and they provoke these riots endeavoring to stop it from coming. But God is working. Things will be better for the Negro. We want full citizenship ballot, equal school facilities and everything else. We fought for them. We will have them; we must not yield. The greater part of the best thinking white people, North and South know we are entitled to all we ask. They know we will get it. In their hearts they are for us though they may fear the lower elements who are trying to stir up trouble to keep us from getting our rights. But they will fail just as they failed to keep us from our freedom. God is with us. They cannot defeat God. So I say to you stand aside, stand prepared, provoke no riot; just let God do his work. He may permit a few riots just to force the Negroes closer together. He lets the hoodlums kill a few in order to teach the many that WE MUST GET TOGETHER. But he does not mean that we shall be defeated—if we trust him. Let us learn the lesson He is teaching us. Remember a riot may break out in any place. Let pastors caution peace, prayer and preparedness. Let us provoke no trouble. Let us urge our congregations to keep level heads and do nothing that is unlawful.
Yours in Christian bonds,
R. R. Wright, Jr.
Editor of the Christian Recorder.”[364]
The appeal of DuBois is more dramatic:
“Brothers we are on the Great Deep. We have cast off on the vast voyage which will lead to Freedom or Death. For three centuries we have suffered and cowered. No race ever gave Passive Resistance and Submission to Evil longer, more piteous trial. Today we raise the terrible weapon of Self Defense. When the murderer comes he shall no longer strike us in the back. When the armed lynchers gather, we too must gather armed. When the mob moves we propose to meet it with bricks and clubs and guns. But we must tread here with solemn caution. We must never let justifiable self defense against individuals become blind and lawless offense against all white folk. We must not seek reform by violence. We must not seek vengeance. Vengeance is Mine saith the Lord; or to put it otherwise—only infinite Justice and Knowledge can assign blame in this poor world and we ourselves are sinful men, struggling desperately with our own crime and ignorance. We must defend ourselves, our homes, our wives and children against the lawless without stint or hesitation; but we must carefully and scrupulously avoid on our own part bitter and unjustifiable aggression against anybody. The line is difficult to draw. In the South the Police and Public Opinion back the mob and the least resistance on the part of the innocent black victim is nearly always construed as a lawless attack on society and government. In the North the Police and the Public will dodge and falter, but in the end they will back the Right when the truth is made clear to them. But whether the line between just resistance and angry retaliation is hard or easy, we must draw it carefully, not in wild resentment, but in grim and sober consideration; and when back of the impregnable fortress of the Divine Right of Self Defense, which is sanctioned by every law of God and man, in every land, civilized or uncivilized, we must take our unfaltering stand. Honor, endless and undying Honor, to every man, black or white, who in Houston, East St. Louis, Washington and Chicago gave his life for Civilization and Order. If the United States is to be a Land of Law, we would live humbly and peaceably in it—working, singing, learning and dreaming to make it and ourselves nobler and better; if it is to be a Land of Mobs and Lynchers, we might as well die today as tomorrow.
‘And how can a man die better
Than facing fearful odds