THE RACE RIOTS IN AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 299, 13 September 1919, Page 8

THE RACE RIOTS IN AMERICA

LESSONS OF THE OUTBREAK IN WASHINGTON

AN AFTERMATH OF THE WAR

Washington, July 23. Warfare between blacks and whites witli scores of casualties, political warfare between and foes of tie Peace Treaty and League of Nations, auarrels among the Republicans about leadership, complaints about Mexico's neglect of. the lives of American citizens, anf indisposed President and days of incessant rain liavo. had a depressing effect on the nations capital (writes tho Washington correspondent of the New Ycrk "Eveninfr.Jost"). . But,of all tho acuto problems which the war has left on the doorstep of the future the officials of the United: States.Government-President Wilson and members of Congress—now realise .that- race ■rioting is .the nearest approach to domestio disorder which menaces the country. Happenings in Washington are not ■ Reports ha 70 come in telling of clashes between blacks and whites in other parts of the country. Nor is it confined to the United States. England and 'Wales have just passed through a period of race rioting and their troubles are bv no means over. For many months officials of the Government have been hearing dire predictions of what jwonld occur after the negro troops had Tsturned from Europe. Warnings agaiiist the promiscuous sale of firearms and the carrying of concealed weapons were' iriven. ' Indeed in the district of Colum•Jria it was not until the race rioting brake out afresh that . severe sentences were imposed upon those caught carrying revolvers Federal legislation to prohibit the unauthorised carrying of any 'weapon* is now proposed,, but is as yet to be acted upon £y Congress. The Root Causes. Deeper than mere friction hehveen tho faces is the cause' of tho difficulty os • Analysed by army office)« who have studied the psychology of the negro soldiers abroad. In Europe, particularly m, ■Prance, there .have been no social barTiers. Blacks have mingled with whites even to the extent, of companionship by white women with negro troops. Many lof'the disturbances in - Cardiff have been ;fcaused, for instance, in a little colony '■where-negroes are living with wliite wotoen whom they have married. ■ The assaults upon white women m the Eubnrbs of Washington havo served tr enrage the residents generally. Out of the effort to catch offender has come a, general interference with many negroes doubtless innocent of wrong-doing. The blacks have beejj terrorised -and have armed in self-defence, having obtained Breams in second-hand stores. Fright-. , enetl lyomen have gathered together, and repeated wild taleg of impending attack.

- The Public State of Mind. ' It has teen a curio as Wnsliington, Troops of cavalry olatterlng through the streets at. night to their (posts in tho ?roost disturbed sections; the same horsemetL returning 'to camp m the early morning hours, wake tho niost profound sleeper.' In the midst of a riot night imaginations in Washington have soared, and even the trolleys seeiii to mako ominous sounds like pistol shots, and marauding youngsters snapping cudgels against the alley fences for the pleasure any 3i0i66 gives, awakes tho residents so that hero"'and' there in the back windows lights appear and for a moment sotio head looks out expecting 6igns of''the Tiet' mob.

Such 'is the state of mind. And it is not to be liehtly considered. Washington. is no ordinary city.' Something over 100,000 negroes live here. The white population is not much more. Waiting for trolleys, or . down at the Union Station, or "in' the ordinal-}' places where statistics ; are truly vital, the proportion of negroes to whites is often in favour of the darker race. Washington is not the Southj where the not/jroblem has been faced , for so long that established precedents of handling are well understood. ■Washington is a >conglomerato of people who bring in all the sectional views and customs-of tho country. This makes a situation such as that which has been overshadowing tho city highly difficult. There are men from the far South with their ways; the Middle West .and their general tolerance; representatives of New England ivith their ignorance of the fun-. , damental factors of such an outbreak; of ,the "far West, where nothing of tho kind occure. Then there are tho Wash-ington-coloured people, who have .experienced an economic environment since the ■waiv started different from that 'of their brothers of the far. South, or anywhere else for that nwtter.

.5" . ."Over tho Top!" 1 The recourse to arms here during the ! ■[week has.been appalling, Pistols, rifles, , and every kind of ordinary weapon for . warfare has been brought out for use. ffhe idea of "going over the top" has _ teen bristling in tho streets. Blood- . ■'thirsty yells like those of Hunt hunters ' lave sounded in the night. Men clutched at the excuse to act like mobs. Negroes spoke of the "war" in Washing- ' ton. The troops tho other night brought j in tanks which were to be used to dispol ' mobs that failed to Tespond to shooting methods.... Youngsters of sixteen and who had no opportunity tu j ,Wear a, uniform during the war were out-flU-night'in- the hunt, and reported "in tie morning with tho air of veterans. STho pent-up excitement which the war i engendered had had little outlet among j Borne classes. "Come on; they're going to begin ear- 1 liar to-night," said a youth. That was ■ it. The riot was an opportunity, and those who have professionally studied it 1 have come to the conclusion that not one in ten plunged into it with the true idea W seeking the wild men who have been fattacking white women in this vicinity. •To know the hidden nlley life and the ' congested negro quarters of Washington ;is enough to make_ a thoughtful per*' , 6on waste no time in the belief that by an such stampede methods could negro, criminals be brought to justice. The' seriousness of the disturbances here has not been overrated. No clash in the country of its kind, has been fraught with quite the same significance. For it has well served to indicate_ the extent such an affray might attain in a place liko this, where both sides are not (the simple country people who toll out the tar and featkers_ and clubs, w arn the populace to remain indoors and the negroes to .stay off the streets after_sundown, and finish the work in Southern style. ... The Riot Night. The negroes commandeered automobiles here, and, arming themselves, ranged in and around the streets, shooting from their self-constituted .tanks in abandon, with their conception of modern warfare in operation. But that was not all—the guards skirted the city in armed motor- . cyoles, and home-defence members raced 1 with the negro outlaws' in their cars. This kind of a motor riot, added to the surging mobs that swept up the stroets, constituted some of the seriousness of Washington's outbreak. The raging crowd . of-rioters swopt up Pennsylvania Avenue at one time, and, scuttling down the back alleys, ran the negroes to hide in tho brick recesses until danger had passed. • A enrious sound under one's window, of hectic scurrying in the alley and ribald shouts on tho avenue, the plurp of pistols around the corner, ana through it ell the oncoming clang of the ambulance. This has been 1 tho night. In the morning the rumours of what happened stopped at nothing—a man hung from a tree, a mob of blacks a thousand strong beginning a marcli upon the city, and so cn. Nearer the truth was a congregation of negroes, several hundred strong, which the writer saw considering tho situation one nighf I'or there can be no denying that tho coloured people were 1 hlgaly incensed at what they considered an attack without foundation; And tho ansver cf the other side was that os long as civilisation lasts meivwill protect women. .