The Gazette

Being Promoted by Southerners
Against the Loyal and Manly of
The Race.

Would Ruin Our Newspapers and Stop Those
Fighting for the Race's Rights and
Privileges.

The federal administration through its
Department of Justice (?) has been attempting to connect colored
people with "Redism" in this country.
It has succeeded in making some people
believe that colored people are attempting to help overthrow this government.
No one in the Department
of Justice really believes this, but here
is an insidious attempt to lay hands on
the colored men who are fighting, not
against the government and this country,
but against a rotten southern machine
that is again attempting to enslave
colored people. Because colored
men everywhere are fighting
against "southern diabolism" the present
administration is seeking to divert
public attention from the lawlessness
of the south and fix it upon
colored people whom they are branding
as "reds." The sedition bill aims
at crushing every colored man of manhood
who fights the southern regime,
so as to continue the reign of terror
among ignorant and helpless colored
people of the south and frighten them
into submission to the will of southern
outlaws. By this particular piece of
legislation every colored newspaper
that Burleson thinks is hurting the
reign of terror in the south will be
put out of business. Every outspoken
colored man will be watched and
hounded by the southern crackers, in
this Department of Injustice, and upon
the least provocation he will be
thrown into prison and made to suffer
as a warning to others. In spite of
all bills that may be passed and in
spite of all of the "worse than reds"
in that Department of Justice, colored
men possessing manhood are going
to speak their minds about this government
which they fought to uphold
and to which they are most loyal. No
decent colored man is loyal to the
present administration which is "jim-
crowing" colored people at every hand.
No self-respecting colored man will
lend his support to a southern regime
which happens now to have hold
of the federal government. This
wicked and incompetent horde of Negro-haters
will scruple at nothing to
humiliate decent colored people. The
fact that they are lynching, whenever
they please, any colored man
they desire and nothing is being done
about it, is prima facie evidence that
the south is carrying out the wishes
of those of the Department of Justice
that want to crush manhood in
colored people for political gains.
The Department of Justice can seek
out every red that may speak red,
or send a bomb to some federal officer
or make a speech that is unpatriotic,
yet it sits by and allows "the
fiends of the south" not to send bombs
but death to as many colored citizens
as they choose, and for their dastardly
meanness this bill gives them not
only immunity but encouragement.
The Department of Justice knows all
about the lynching of colored men but
they are powerless because of states'
rights to act, but it can go into any
state without regard to state rights
and pounce upon any one that opposes
their injustice. There will be no let
up until this incubus and travesty on
decent government is thrown out and
real Americans take their places. We
are loyal to the United States and
will give our ALL to protect it but
we feel that the best service we can
render now is to drive into private
life the misrepresentatives of American
government that are now in power.
We know our rights and will exercise
them. Thinking colored people
everywhere should inquire into the
Graham and other sedition bills. Mr.
Gompers has done the nation a service
by exposing the attempt in this
bill to prevent organizing colored people
by the labor unions. The south
has stolen the proceeds of Negro labor
so long till it is ready to die before
it will give it up. It must die
then because the strangle-hold it has
upon Negro labor will be loosened.
Before this bill becomes a law it
should be understood that it will not
interfere with any rights of any American
citizens and neither shall it be
used as a blind to strengthen the
hands of a party that protects lynching
in order to hold its sway. The
hypocritical claims that only law-
breakers are sought by this bill will
not stand the test of investigation.
If Negroes had laid down in the Washington
and Chicago race riots, they
would not have been mentioned. We
shall never lie down.

(Rev.) Wm. A. Byrd.