Again, I do not believe it, and deny it, because the charge is not so
much against the crime itself, as against the colour of the people
alleged to be guilty of it. Slavery itself, you will remember, was a
system of unmitigated, legalised outrage upon black women of the South,
and no white man was ever shot, burned or hanged for availing himself
of all the power that slavery gave him at this point.
To sum up my argument on this lynching business, it remains to be
said that I have shown that the Negro’s accusers in this case have
violated their oaths, and have cheated the Negro out of his vote;
that they have robbed and defrauded the Negro systematically and
persistently, and have boasted of it. I have shown that when the Negro
had every opportunity to commit the crime now charged against him, he
was never accused of it by his bitterest enemies. I have shown that
during all the years of reconstruction, when he was being murdered
at Hamburg, Yazoo, New Orleans, Copiah and elsewhere, he was never
accused at that time of the crime now charged against him. I have
shown that in the nature of things no such change in the character
and composition of a whole people, as this implies, could have taken
place within the limited period allowed for it. I have shown that those
who accuse him dare not confront him in a court of law and have their
witnesses subjected to proper legal inquiry. I have shown from the very
constitution of a mob, the slight causes by which it may be created,
and the sentiment by which it is impelled, it cannot be depended upon
for either truth or justice. I have shown that its sole aim is to
execute, not to find a true verdict. And showing all this and more, I
have shown that they who charge the Negro with this foul crime, in
such circumstances, may be justly doubted and deemed unworthy of belief.