| Show A SOUTHERN WOMAN ON LYNCHINGS A southern woman writes to the New York Evenins Post to protest against the lynchings that disgrace the south She takes a broad and liberal view of the cuestion She first refers to the lynching of I the 11 Italians in New Orleans some years ago saying she was not only I shocked by the absolute savagery and want of realization by the mob of leading citizens cf the enormity of their offense but amazed and disgusted by the apparent approval of the community I munity at large and the lukewarm criticism crit-icism or ooenly expressed commendation commenda-tion in pulpit and press all over the country She says she could not comprehend com-prehend how any reasoning being could fail to foresee the consequences of allowing al-lowing such lawbreakers to go unpunished unpun-ished She Jays now that lynching has become a most popular form of entertainment enter-tainment in the south and bids fair to rain some foothold inthe north none need be surprised She then enters en-ters this protest against lynching As we have seen and lately realized again in Georgia any cause will do to rouse the outraged manhood of this latest type of gentlemanly sport but I when they go forth to burn and kill in the name of the honor of their womankind woman-kind it is time that we should repudiate repu-diate such champions Too long have the women of the south kept silence and allowed their men freedom for the full play of their passionsand the I brutal dangerous negro Is one of the j I results But when the sacred names of home and honor are made a shield for lust of murder it is time to strike it down and call the world to witness we will approve no cowardly lawbreakers in guise of chivalrous protectors If there were more such protests from women against lynching there would I not be so many of them As this southern woman says lynching l has become a most popular form of entertainment enter-tainment in the south And the entertainment enter-tainment is indulged in on the slightest pretext It is very true that the great majority of them are the result of assaults as-saults upon white women by negroes But the laws of the state where these lynchings occur visit usually the same I punishment upon the perpetrators of these crimes that the Ivnchers do Then they do not have any deterrent effect if they did there would be some little excuse but no justification for the lynchings On the contrary it is more than probable that these lynchings incite in-cite to the very crimes they are intended in-tended Co suppress They arouse just as much race hatred in the breast of the black man as the crimes od the black man arouse in the breast of the white man Every black man in the south feels that if suspicion falls upon him he is doomed He sees nothing but a state of lawlessness This must make him lawless in turn The whole business busi-ness is as bad as bad can be This southern woman enters a timely and proper protest against the justifications justi-fications put forth in behalf of lynch lags and if more of her sisters would do the same it would have a tendency to diminish lynchings Protection to wife home and fireside is the cry of those who indulge in lynchings but all the time these sacred names are made a shield for lust of murder This southern woman has begun to tear the maek off It is to be hoped others will follow her example |
