Following the color line : $b An account of Negro citizenship in the American democracy
History
Following the color line : $b An account of Negro citizenship in the American democracy
African Americans; United States -- Race relations
It is significant that not one of the Negroes killed and wounded in the
riot was of the criminal class. Every one was industrious, respectable
and law-abiding. A white committee, composed of W. G. Cooper, Secretary of
the Chamber of Commerce, and George Muse, a prominent merchant, backed by
the sober citizenship of the town, made an honest investigation and issued
a brave and truthful report. Here are a few of its conclusions:
1. Among the victims of the mob there was not a single vagrant.
2. They were earning wages in useful work up to the time of the riot.
3. They were supporting themselves and their families or dependent
relatives.
4. Most of the dead left small children and widows, mothers or
sisters with practically no means and very small earning capacity.
5. The wounded lost from one to eight weeks' time, at 50 cents to $4
a day each.
6. About seventy persons were wounded, and among these there was an
immense amount of suffering. In some cases it was prolonged and
excruciating pain.
7. Many of the wounded are disfigured, and several are permanently
disabled.
8. Most of them were in humble circumstances, but they were honest,
industrious and law-abiding citizens and useful members of society.
9. These statements are true of both white and coloured.
10. Of the wounded, ten are white and sixty are coloured. Of the
dead, two are white and ten are coloured; two female, and ten male.
This includes three killed at Brownsville.
11. Wild rumours of a larger number killed have no foundation that we
can discover. As the city was paying the funeral expenses of victims
and relief was given their families, they had every motive to make
known their loss. In one case relatives of a man killed in a broil
made fruitless efforts to secure relief.
12. Two persons reported as victims of the riot had no connection
with it. One, a Negro man, was killed in a broil over a crap game;
and another, a Negro woman, was killed by her paramour. Both
homicides occurred at some distance from the scene of the riot.
The men who made this brave report did not mince matters. They called
murder, murder; and robbery, robbery. Read this:
13. As twelve persons were killed and seventy were murderously
assaulted, and as, by all accounts, a number took part in each
assault, it is clear that several hundred murderers or would-be
murderers are at large in this community.
At first, after the riot, there was an inclination in some quarters to
say:
"Well, at any rate, the riot cleared the atmosphere. The Negroes have had
their lesson. There won't be any more trouble soon."
But read the sober conclusions in the Committee's report. The riot did not
prevent further crime.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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