In 1900, the hugely disproportionate share of black violent crime was similar to what it is today

Paul K. writes:

I agree with your suggestion that I have not put forth a solution to black interracial violence, and that under the current rule of “non-discrimination uber alles” such violence will not even be acknowledged. I don’t believe that even racial segregation as it existed in the Old South would resolve it, though it would certainly help in controlled environments such as schools, theaters, and prisons. Black violence on buses would not be reduced if they were made to ride in the back, unless there were an armed guard on every bus to enforce the rule, and then it wouldn’t make much difference where they sat.

A century ago, Americans were not inclined to tolerate black misbehavior and punishment was swift and severe, yet it appears that comparative statistics between black and white crime rates are not much different than they are today. Here are some references I located through Google Books:

Public opinion (1898) Volume 24, p. 45: “But a much greater cause of homicide in the United States is the vast number of colored people in that country. The colored race furnishes to the statistics of this crime, proportionately, more than five times as many cases as the whites. It should not be forgotten, however, that the proportion of colored criminals, according to population, is apparently always greater because the average term of imprisonment is frequently longer than for the white criminal. Moreover, such is the prejudice against the Negro, especially in the southern states, that it is reflected even in the administration of justice, with the result that the colored offender against the law is judged and condemned with greater severity than the white offender.” [Interesting: liberal spin on the facts, even then.]

Race problems of the South (1900) pp. 29-33:“Professor Willcox states facts showing idleness to a degree that is startling, and he gives census figures to show that in the South the crimes of Negroes as compared with whites were, in 1890, in populations of say 10,000 each, as a little less than 5 to 1, and in the North considerably over 5 to 1, and that Negro criminals were increasing faster in the North than in the South.”

Racial integrity and other features of the Negro problem (1907) p. 137: “While conditions in Denver bear a strong resemblance to those in some of the Southern cities, there is a marked difference in the grade of crimes committed. From the first of May to the first of September, 1906, there were ten killings in Denver. Five of these, including the murder in cold blood of two police officers killed in the discharge of their duty, were the work of negroes. One negro was killed by a white man—-who was acquitted because he acted in self-defense—-so that we have four per cent of the population committing fifty per cent and involved in sixty per cent of all killings during this period. Ten negroes and eleven whites were involved.

“This record is not sustained through any long period, but the negro commits vastly more than four per cent of the murders done in Denver. Of other crimes, he is credited with vastly more than four per cent, but he seems to become relatively less conspicuous upon the police records as we pass from murder, burglary, assault, etc., to the milder crimes and misdemeanors.”

In the Manatee, Florida incident, the Marine was fortunate that someone brandished a firearm in his defense. Florida respects the right to keep and bear arms. In New York or New Jersey, the citizen who did that would be the most likely one to go to jail out of everyone involved in the incident.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 29, 2010 04:26 PM | Send