LYNCH LAW AND ANARCHY by Booker T. Washington

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 27, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 48.

LYNCH LAW AND ANARCHY.

By Booker T. Washington

BY BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.

[From a copyrighted article in the Sunday School Times.]

THE average citizen may not appreciate the fact that a lynching has taken place within the last twenty years within every one of our States except five, and this unfortunate disposition to disregard the law, and inflict violent and summary punishment, has grown to an extent that is difficult to check. In order that the whole country may get back upon sure and safe ground, it will require the wisest and bravest efforts of our Christian men and women. The habit of lynching was begun in some of our States a few years ago as a punishment for one crime; but so true is it that lawlessness breeds lawlessness that it has now grown until statistics show that more people have been lynched for other crimes, such as murder, stealing, etc., than for the single crime of assault. It is proper that I state in the beginning that I have no kind of sympathy with any race or with any individual who is guilty of committing any kind of an assault, and the united effort of our best people in every community should be in the direction of getting rid of worthless and idle people from whose ranks most of the criminals come. But crime of some nature has been committed since the foundation of the world, even in the most highly civilized communities; and the fact shows that, wherever the law is most fully observed in the punishment of crime, there crime is less likely to be committed. In my judgment, there is but one way for us in this country to get rid of the habit of lynching, and that is for all to unite in a strong and earnest effort to see that the law is complied with.

During the exciting days following the shooting of the late President McKinley, it was my privilege to mingle a good deal with the people in one of our Western States, and almost every other man who referred to the crime expressed himself as being in favor of burning or the execution without trial of Czolgosz. As I listened to these expressions day after day, it convinced me, as never before, that a spirit of lawlessness had gotten a hold upon the whole country that few of us realize.

I fear we have not yet realized that every open and flagrant defiance of law is anarchy. It is easy enough to decry the avowed anarchist who belongs to organizations that are anarchistic in their character, but it is not easy to put in the same class the people who set at defiance law by an illegal hanging or burning.

Perhaps the most demoralizing and hurtful result of mob violence is the hardening effect which it has upon our youth. I think it is safe to say that on an average fifty persons witnessed the execution by lynching of every man or woman that has taken place in this country. According to this, it is safe to say that, within the last sixteen years, one hundred and twenty-five thousand persons have been present when lynchings took place. In each case a large proportion of those who had been drawn to witness the unlawful execution have been children, or those of tender age. One of the saddest remarks that I ever heard come from the lips of a child was when he said, in my presence, that he wished he could see a man burned. I do not think the impression made upon a youth by reason of the fact that he has witnessed the unlawful execution of an individual ever wholly disappears. In some instances, the executions by mobs have not only been witnessed by boys of tender age, but by women.

[Mr. Washington points out the need of impressing the majesty of the law by its enforcement, supported by the teacher and minister. And back of all of this, one must go to truly enforce a proper reverence of law, namely, the teaching, on the part of Christians, of the majesty of God's law, and its practise, too. If men ignore that, they will never, only as compelled, rightly regard human law.]