SELF DEFENCE BY THE NEGRO

The cases cited show that the Negro cannot expect protection from violence by the civil or military authorities. Practically their only protection is by using arms in self-defence, which means miniature civil war. Yet in spite of the Second Amendment guaranteeing the right to keep arms and many similar State guarantees, he is not permitted to defend himself. “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” does not apply to the Negro. The local police power in most Negro sections is so exercised that Negroes cannot keep arms for defense against attack. Pawn-shop regulations and laws against carrying concealed weapons are used to disarm them. Nor are Negroes allowed to organize military companies even in sections where the race predominates. The Southern states keep Negroes out of the state militia. Georgia in 1905 permanently disbanded all colored soldiers in the State militia.³⁸ In Connecticut, West Virginia, and New Jersey, Negro troops are kept separate from white. There is no objection to Negro soldiers in the Federal Army, and in the drafts of 1917–1918 a larger percentage of the Negro Race than of the White Race was accepted for service.

THE NEGRO'S RIGHT TO LAW

Not only does the Negro fail to get the protection of the law, but he is continuously the victim of police persecution. He is arrested on what amount to general warrants—“round-ups for the Chief”—in which vagrancy, disturbing the peace, and other general offences are invoked to harass him. Negroes are frequently given the “third degree,” beaten, and deported by being “given hours.” For example:

In Atlanta, on October 15, thirty-seven laborers were arrested at night in their lodging-house as “vagrants.” In Texas, five laborers were arrested as vagrants, and proved their steady, hard jobs. The Galveston “Tribune” says: “But the State chose to prosecute under a different portion of the law, alleging loitering around a house of

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