Note.—A much smaller period for study for Negro papers is necessary since practically all items appearing contain some reference to race.

CRIMES INVOLVING WHITE ASSAILANTS AND NEGRO VICTIMS

"Free White Woman Who Killed Attorney"

"Threatens Mother and Babes with Axe"

"Bowman Milk Driver Brutally Assaults Woman"

"Crime of Postmaster Starts Serious Trouble"

"Commits Suicide to Escape Mob"

"Baby Girl Assaulted by White Farm Hand"

"Maid Is Robbed by White 'Iceman'"

"Stepped on Man's Foot in Street Car; Shot"

"Wouldn't Say 'Mister'; Is Beaten to Death"

"Kills White Man for Girl's Honor"

"Convict White Man on Rape Charge"

"Protects Wife's Honor; Slain by Land-Owner"

"White Tenants Kick on Living in Same Building with Owner"

"White Woman Confesses Lies on Colored Men"

"Kills Negro Minister for Stepping on His Foot"

"White Confectioner Arrested for Refusing to Serve Trotter"

"To Pay $750 for Attack on Negro Woman"

"White Girl Robs Father's Bank; Elopes with Negro Taken in Rooming House; Half of Stolen Wealth Recovered"

"Two Boys Shot; Crowd Blames White Man"

You know those new "loop hounds." I know them because they go to the loop for the purpose of visiting—no object of buying anything. Well, tell them it's alright to go to the loop, but they don't have to attract everybody's attention for blocks around with their loud talk, using their ignorant, non-sensical expressions. And should they get hungry while down there and feel like having lunch, don't stand outside the door of a restaurant with a surprised look on their faces—just tell them to walk right in, in an orderly and sensible manner and order what they want. They don't have to slip in like thieves.

You know the restaurants where those household insects known as flies are very prevalent. I know you know them, because they are all along State Street, Thirty-first and Thirty-fifth. Well, if you don't mind, kindly tell some of those proprietors that there is a way of ridding their places of such nuisances.

You probably don't know that lady who resides in a prominent building in the vicinity of Thirty-first Street and Indiana Avenue, and who tried to enveigle a young girl on the street car to her flat by telling her that she could meet some high class doctors and lawyers there. Well, you may not know her now, but if you watch the columns of the Whip you will know her because she is gradually working her way to the penitentiary by the route of the seduction law. Everybody will know her then.

The gang that hangs around the "pillars of knowledge" in the county building every day at noon is becoming so obnoxious that they are attracting the attention of everybody who enters the building.

Politicians from every section of the city crowd there and shoot off their "hot air" in a loud tone of voice. They seem to think that the future of the country depends on what they say or do.

They have become so bold in their actions they have begun to stop some of our race women and engage them in conversation around that historic spot.

Now boys, cut out that "rough stuff" and take a walk around the block at noon and let the fresh air blow on your beautiful carcass; if you don't the sheriff will ask you to do so, or he may take some of you fellows to the North Side. Don't make yourself a nuisance around the city hall and county building. Hear me, boys.

Another thing that is very disgusting is the arrogance of the girl waitresses in some of these race restaurants. Instead of striving to please the patrons they act as though they were doing you a personal favor to serve you, and when you are through with your meal you must thank them for so doing and leave a piece of money at the cash stand for them. If you don't do that the very next time you go into that restaurant the waiter will not want to wait on you. The poor proprietor of the place, if he or she is one of the "brothers" or "sisters," is almost helpless in the matter because if he opens his mouth to one of these so-called waitresses about the mistreatment of their guests he is minus a waiter. Go down in the loop and see how the other folks attend to business and treat patrons. Awake, folks, from your slumber; you are fast asleep. Do you hear me?

The colored newspapers have recently gotten up to the point where most of us are proud to have them seen in the hands of our white friends and it is only through them that they can really get our viewpoint. We cannot hope to have the daily newspapers give our viewpoint and the aspirations and struggles that we are making, and some of the things that we are suffering. I am very much interested in having the editorial feeling of the newspaper get to the white people. Sometimes they may be termed as radical. I found in recent months that some of the weekly papers published in the South are saying things editorially that I would question about saying even here in Chicago, and, as we say in common parlance, getting away with it. I have in mind now one particular instance. In Houston, Texas, week before last, the entire circulation list of the Houston Informer was stolen out of its office. The theft was attributed to the new organization of the Ku Klux Klan. The daily papers of Houston came out condemning that move, and also condemning the idea of the Ku Klux Klan, and this young man has an editorial in last week's issue that is one of the strongest I have ever seen on the matter, backed probably by some of the strong things that have been said in the daily papers.

Now if we could have people of Chicago know just how the sentiment is changing in the South in favor of a square deal and mutual toleration, we could soon get to a point where there'd be no fear on either side of working out our salvation, you might say, along co-operative lines.

Another instance concerned the Plain Dealer in Birmingham, Ala. The Ku Klux Klan paraded the streets of that city about three weeks ago and in an editorial this paper came out and stated that if that was done to frighten the colored people, they had to do something different, because whenever they began to terrorize and came down into the neighborhood where colored people lived somebody there would be ready to meet them. That is a pretty strong statement for Birmingham, and they got away with it.

We use that as a bridge, as you might say, which we intend to blow up pretty soon. We are leading the people away from the word "Negro," especially in our papers. And in cases where white men are well known in the country we never even put "white" after their names. We never put "colored" after a colored man's name in this city.

Just between Ourselves

Character is what we are; reputation is what other people think we are. We get only the respect we demand; no more, no less. One of the greatest barriers to our progress is the individual who attempts to curry the favor of the whites by whom he is employed by openly humiliating and insulting others of his same flesh and blood. Because sections of this country reek with color prejudice, must we lend a helping hand to those who foster segregation, discrimination and "Jim Crowism" in general? And yet that is just what many are doing.

In the railroad service as waiters and porters we have a monopoly, and those whose runs require them to cross the Mason and Dixon line are often confronted with situations that require good common sense in handling. In many states the law requires the blacks and the whites to be separated on transportation lines, dining-rooms, places of amusement, etc. There is no question as to whether these laws are just or unjust. They are at least temporary laws and must be obeyed. But there is something mentally wrong with the porter or the waiter who lends himself to such measures, whether under orders from his superiors or not.

Admitting that to disobey such orders means the loss of a job, there are other jobs that pay a better wage where a man does not have to sacrifice his principles to hold. What other group of people in the world have those that could be induced at any price to place their heel on the neck of even the humblest member of their race? Are we less human, less interested in the welfare of our race than they? Are we still puppets, still chattels, still ignorant of the fact that as we respect ourselves, so others will respect us? This matter is put squarely up to you, Mr. Porter; to you, Mr. Waiter. Will you play the part of a man and refuse to humiliate your people? Will you cease playing the part of a spy? Will you singly and collectively tender your resignation to employers who require you to "Jim Crow" one of your own? If you will do these things there is only one thing that can happen—a speedy repeal of the offensive legislation.

Recently a young woman who was able to "pass" entered the Washington (D.C.) railroad station café and was given a seat at a table with several other ladies. Soon there entered two refined, well-dressed, unmistakably colored, young women who took seats at an unoccupied table. Immediately a colored waiter rushed over to them and after a few minutes of whispered conversation the embarrassed patrons followed the waiter to a far corner of the café, where semi-screened off they were permitted to dine. So enraged was the first young woman that she boldly went to the desk where stood the white higher-ups and several waiters, and gave them a curtain lecture they doubtless will not soon forget, not failing to tell them her own nationality. This incident happened in Washington, the seat of our government, where the doctrine of democracy is preached but not practiced.

Things worth having are worth fighting for. We must make sacrifices. If it is the policy of certain business places to discriminate let us not be a party to the discrimination. Let it be firmly fixed in the mind that we are a vital part of this nation's life, that we are a necessary "evil," that our places cannot and will not be filled with whites, no matter how drastic is our stand, providing we have right on our side, which we undoubtedly have in this instance. This heart to heart talk applies to those engaged in other lines of endeavor as well as it does to those who follow railroading. Many who run barber shops, for instance, display the sign, "For whites only." If we did not realize that these evils are the direct result of ignorance and lack of racial pride, it would indeed be discouraging. But, truly, we are still a child race. We must not be flattered by the tales of our marvelous advance during the last fifty years into dropping our oars and resting on our laurels, for we have barely started up the hill called success. When we have reached the first milestone on our journey—racial solidarity—the rest of the way will be comparatively easy. Success has come to the Jew and to the Japanese because they are clannish. Black isn't a bad shade; let's make it popular in complexions as well as in clothes.

Who's Afraid?

If the white races of the world are so sure of their inborn and inherent supremacy, if they are so sure that they are the salt of the earth and the born rulers of human kind, it appears to us as strange indeed that they should fear that their glory will be usurped, their power depreciated, and their world-wide domination seriously challenged.

As a general rule, the giant does not fear the pigmy, neither does man, the acme of civilization, fear that his civilization will be eclipsed by a new order of apes. Should the tribes and clans of the highest developed gorillas seek to overrun the accomplishments of humanity, no one would say, "Beware of monkey domination." Man, according to his own concepts, is only a little lower than the angels and the monkey just a little lower than himself. The white races claim that their darker brothers are lower in the graduated scale of their own making than themselves, yet they cry out, "Beware of the Yellow Peril and behold the Black Plague."

If the white races possess the keys to knowledge and the passwords to progress as well as the elixirs of strength, why should they fear danger of "Black domination" and "Yellow dictation"? The white man, even through the maze of his own conceit and out of the trance of his self-hypnotism, sees that "he and his heirs" shall not forever inherit the face of the earth.

The black and yellow races are breaking the white man's monopoly of organized brain and wealth. The white man sees this and in his own bigotry knows that these people are not his inferiors in latent abilities. He knows that the same fire of genius burns in the breasts of the black and yellow races as did in the dark and mediaeval ages. He knows that black and yellow men can unravel the mysteries of nature and the intricacies of science. He knows that creative and constructive ability has been beaten down by his might but yet it lives. The white races know that their present achievements are small in comparison with those which will be accomplished. It is feared that in the future, not in the mediate or immediate, but not far distant nevertheless, that the sleeping giant will awaken, shake off the listlessness of a thousand years and put into action again the powerful dynamo of his great reign and shake the world again.

We do not object to the cry of "Beware of the Yellow Peril and behold the Black Plague." It is the involuntary shriek of danger which is a part of man's reaction. White people know that they are not superior to the dark races. They know that the raillery about dark people being innately and inherently inferior is nothing more than the outcropping of race prejudice, color hatred and ignoble fear. They fear that should they lose the power of might and brute force, and equal opportunities are gained by the dark people, that they will be dethroned and surpassed. For this reason they warn of the unfitness and undesirability of their darker brothers. They ruthlessly declare that Japanese, East Indians and Negroes are not their equals and justify all of their tyranny upon this foolish subterfuge.

We are tired of subterfuge and evasiveness. If the white man wishes to maintain his power at the expense of the dark people of the world, let him cease his prattlings about charity, human kindness and benevolence. Let him admit that he is afraid of the rising tide of color and fear shakes his entire system. Let the world know that the cry of inferiority and unfitness is not conscientious and that apprehension clouds the brow of white humanity.

Cleaning Up the "Black Belt"

"Death Corner" has a local reputation which bespeaks an abominable state of affairs. Nice respectable persons dare not visit it unless heavily escorted. The "East Side" in New York provokes a shiver by the very sound of the name. The "Black Belt" carries the same dark background of hovering evil. One is expected to regard black belts as isolated plague-spots full of lurking pitfalls for unsuspecting innocents. It is spoken of as "that Black Belt down there." Little girls go there and go wrong and you never hear of them again. When trouble is threatened in the city the police force is dumped into it with clubs and pistols and rifles, patrol wagons, flivvers and ambulances. For you can never tell what is likely to break out in a place with so many mysterious corners and vicious characters. When the morals of the city come under scrutiny the crusaders send up a howl of helplessness for the rampant vices in that "Black Belt down there." The entire city believes it to be a bad place. The neglect of it is a standing disgrace to the city, and yet the only means of cleaning it up and bringing it up to the standard of the community as a whole discovered so far is by keeping the handful of white persons out of it. The protests against the mixed cafés, by far the loudest and most severe, seem to represent the sole spirit and motive of the effort. No attention is paid to the iron circle tightening around this section and making it practically impossible for Negroes to move out. No attention is paid to the rundown schools in the district. No one is interested in providing recreation facilities for the thousands of colored children growing up in the streets. No one of these reformers and critics has suggested that a branch of the public library be made convenient. The Juvenile Protective Association, an association whose purpose is to prevent criminality, walks around the district and speaks about it as disparagingly as the rest. The old Committee of Fifteen had no representative there to detect the out-cropping of vicious places. It had been thus for the eight years of its existence. And yet epithets are hurled at the district, and it is called bad names and the city turns up its nose and goes on.

It is an organization of affiliated newspapers. We serve eighty-nine newspapers throughout the country, the total circulation of these papers as given to us for advertising purposes running a little in excess of 400,000....

We handle items only that are of national importance because we are a national news service. We gather all out of town items that we are able to gather for the same reason, if they are of national importance. As a news service we would not take any purely local item in Chicago unless it would interest readers in every section of the country. We also get service from a clipping bureau.

It all relates to the interests of the colored people. If there is anything which affects the country at large, which also has either an indirect or a direct influence upon our group, we feature it, but as a rule most of the news which we gather is about things which particularly affect colored people.

I think a very conservative estimate of the number killed would be about 450 or 500. My first source of information, newspapers. My father also told me of the affair and he is a medical director of an insurance company and therefore was in a more or less good position to know.

There were at least 200 people killed in the race riot. Sources of information: a policeman who was stationed at Forty-seventh Street and Wentworth, my own direct observations, and conversations with people who live in the Black Belt.

About 200 were killed. Chief source of information a review of Carl Sandburg's pamphlet, and newspaper stories.

If I remember correctly, about forty black and white people were killed and several hundred wounded, and there was a loss of several thousand dollars worth of property by fire. The chief information that impressed me was personal experiences. I witnessed one mob of 2,000 whites take a Negro on the West Side and burn him to death. The newspaper gave me my information of atrocities on both sides.

I base my guess on reports of the newspapers, i.e., the dailies of the city and particularly one weekly paper which in my opinion is entirely unbiased in such matters, the Weekly Socialist. I personally saw four Negroes lynched and shot to death.

A man told a friend of mine, I can furnish the name of that man; a man told him that he saw fifty-six bodies taken out of Bubbly Creek. [A juror in the coroner's inquest.]

I heard the story that 100 men had been taken out of Bubbly Creek. They used a net and a seine to drag them out. [A. L. Williams, attorney, before the coroner's jury.]

There is a story that was repeated on the floor of Congress that numerous colored people were caught down there [at the Stock Yards] and thrown in Bubbly Creek, and their bodies never recovered. A congressman from our district down there, representing our Stock Yards district, told me that on the floor of Congress it was recently stated that a man with a dumb-bell in his hand stood there at the big rock entrance of Exchange Avenue and knocked a half-dozen of these colored men on the heads as they passed through that rock door there. [A juror in the coroner's inquest.]

I hear they dragged two or three bodies out of Bubbly Creek. [A witness before the coroner's jury.]

I came upon the mob as they were laughing and shouting. Why I could have torn every one of the white cusses in a thousand pieces. Just think, they stood there laughing and shouting over what they had done. Why every drop of blood in my body boiled and at that moment I swore to God in heaven that I'd kill some white man if I swung for it.

Mr. Tower: Other statements I heard were that people feared an epidemic of smallpox; that the County Hospital had been burdened for months with an average of thirty cases of smallpox.... The whole County became fearful. You could hear the same discussions away from East St. Louis. People were inflamed, and their feelings were directed against the big employers of East St. Louis feeling that they were responsible for the great influx of Negroes.

... A report was received at this office to the effect that an uprising of Negroes in Chicago has been planned for the night of October 31, 1919. This report came in a somewhat vague form, through children attending schools located in the colored districts. The Negroes were aroused over a report to the effect that the white residents of a certain South Side district were planning to drive out all colored inhabitants. The police were informed of the situation.