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Show MARY PHAGAN PASSES JUDGMENT 1 The following poem from Tho Now Republic is hy Mary White Ovington and is an indictment fiercer than any we have read on the lynching of Frank, who was convicted of tho poor girl's murder: mur-der: You care a lot about me, you men of Georgia, now that I am dead. You have spent thousands of dollars trying to learn who mutilated my ibody. You have filled tho columns of your newspapers with the story of my wrong. You have broken into a prison and murdered a m man that I might be avenged. But why did you not care for me when I was alive? I was but a child, but you shut me out of the idaylight. You held ime within four walls watching a ma- cnliie that crashed through tho air, Endlessly watching a knife as It cut a piece of wood. Noise fills the place noise, dust, and the smell of oil. I wish some of tho thousands of dollars that you spent on the trial might have kept me in school, A real school, the kind you build for the rich. I worked through ithe hot August days When you were bossing the girls, or shooting ibirds, Or lounging in doorways cursing the nigger; And you never paid me enough to buy a pretty I dress. You sometimes spoke coarsely to me when I went to and from my work; Yes, you did, and I had to pretend I liked it. Why did you despise me living and yet love me so now? I think I know. It Is like what the preacher told me about Christ: People hated Him when He was alive, But when He was dead they killed man after man for His sake". |
