Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/381

 an injustice to the white people equally as great as that done to the Negroes. John B. Knox,[2] President of the Alabama Constitutional Convention of 1901, said at that time: "If we would have white supremacy, we must establish it by law—not by force or fraud. If you teach your boy that it is right to buy a vote, it is an easy step for him to learn to use money to bribe or corrupt officials or trustees of any class. If you teach your boy that it is right to steal a vote, it is an easy step for him to believe that it is right to steal whatever he may need or greatly desire." Speaking from the standpoint of the Negro, Dr. Booker T. Washington[3] said: "As a rule, I believe in universal, free suffrage, but I believe that in the South we are confronted with peculiar conditions that justify the protection of the ballot in many of the States, for a while at least, either by an educational test, a property test, or by both combined; but whatever tests are required, they should be made to apply with equal and exact justice to both races." All people, white and black, should unite, not to secure the repeal of the suffrage laws, but to secure their enforcement with absolute impartiality.

The welfare of both races—and this conclusion applies equally to the other non-Caucasian races—requires the recognition of race distinctions and the obliteration of race discriminations. The races should be separated wherever race friction might result from their enforced association. The white race cannot attain its highest development when continually venting its spite upon the less fortunate race. Nor, indeed, can the Negro race reach its highest development when continually subjected to the oppressions of the more fortunate race.