African Americans; United States -- Race relations
1. We understand the niggers and they like us. When they go North
they’re crazy till they get back to us. The North does not understand
the nigger, pets him and spoils him, and at last dislikes him more than
any Southerner.
2. We have occasionally race riots in the South, but they are generally
caused by Yankees who have come South. In any case the worst riots in
recent years have taken place in the North—at Washington, right under
the President’s nose, and at Chicago.
3. Few Northerners or Englishmen understand or can understand the Negro
problem. Those who understand, agree with us. Those who do not agree,
do not understand.
4. The nigger is all right as long as he is kept in his place. You must
make him keep his distance. If once you are familiar with him, you are
lost. He will give himself such airs that it will be impossible to get
on with him.
5. The nigger is an animal. The male of the species we generally call a
“buck nigger.” Like the animals, he is full of lust. Like the animals,
also, he does not feel pain. When he is burned it is not the same as a
white man burning. Like the animals, he has no soul either to lose or
to save, and Christianity and education are alike wasted on him. The
polished Negro is merely disgusting, like an ape in evening dress. You
clothe him and dress him and put him at table, but he’s an animal all
the same and is bound to behave like one. You can’t trust him.
6. Under the influence of alcohol the Negro becomes a wild beast. He
goes out of control. No fear of consequence can stop him. That is why
some of the Southern States have been so ardently prohibitionist.
7. If you had to live with them you’d understand how terrible it is.
8. The nigger is a liar. He will say anything to your face to please
you, or anything he thinks you want him to say. He’ll tell you stories
of lynchings that would make you think we lynched a nigger every week,
instead of it’s being the rarest occurrence.
9. When we lynch ‘em it’s for a very good reason—to protect our white
women. Ask any of your English or Northern friends, who pity the Negro,
whether they’d be willing to let their daughters marry a Negro. It’s a
horrible thought. But that is what the Negro is always after—the white
woman. His fancy runs to her, and if it were not for the terror of
being lynched we should never be able to leave our wives and daughters
in security. The R in the middle of the Negro’s name stands for his
favorite proclivity. We burn ‘em alive, yes, and do it slow, because
killing’s too good for them, and we get just so mad that everyone wants
to be there, and have his part in putting them to death. In the North
they do not lynch the Negro, but if one commits a crime they blame the
whole Negro race. In the South we find the guilty man and punish him.
10. When the white man goes to the Negro girl, it’s different. He ought
to be ashamed of himself, but there, it’s human nature, and you can’t
be too stern with him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account