It
was not then a question of crime, but rather one of color,
that settled a man's conviction on almost any charge. Thus
Negroes came to look upon courts as instruments of in-
justice and oppression, and upon those convicted in them
as martyrs and victims.
When, now, the real Negro criminal appeared, and instead of
petty stealing and vagrancy we began to have highway rob-
bery, burglary, murder, and rape, there was a curious effect
on both sides the color-line: the Negroes refused to believe
the evidence of white witnesses or the fairness of white
juries, so that the greatest deterrent to crime, the public
opinion of one's own social caste, was lost, and the criminal
was looked upon as crucified rather than hanged. On the
other hand, the whites, used to being careless as to the guilt
or innocence of accused Negroes, were swept in moments of
passion beyond law, reason, and decency. Such a situation is
bound to increase crime, and has increased it. To natural
viciousness and vagrancy are being daily added motives of
revolt and revenge which stir up all the latent savagery of
both races and make peaceful attention to economic de-
velopment often impossible.
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