That Bare-Faced Robbery
November 7, 1896
Summary
A commentary on voter fraud and disenfranchisement during the 1896 presidential election.
Transcription
It is only a question of a very short time when the people of Jackson Ward will refuse to submit to the outrageous robbery which is visited upon them at every election.
No one who gazed upon those long lines of citizens of color waiting in vain to exercise the rights guaranteed under the constitution of Virginia and the constitution of the United States can fail to admire their fidelity to principle and their devotion to the cause which they love so well.
Democratic challengers resorted to all sorts of expedients, and tested the patience of the voters solely.
We make no secret when we say that we shall not hesitate or scruple to advise the colored men to stand for their rights and take the consequences.
If the time has come that we must be placed in jail for demanding our rights and insisting upon the exercise of constitutional privileges, the sooner we get there the better. One thing we believe, and that is that the filling of the prisons with colored men of respectability and character would be an object lesson to our better class of white citizens and in clarion tones plead successfully our cause in a manner that no other course could do.
The robber will always continue to rob as long as he can do so with impunity, and with a certainty of financial reward. Some of the Democratic judges in Jackson Ward are perjurers and should be in the Virginia penitentiary, instead of being longer permitted to maltreat and oppress an inoffensive and God fearing people.
No one who gazed upon those long lines of citizens of color waiting in vain to exercise the rights guaranteed under the constitution of Virginia and the constitution of the United States can fail to admire their fidelity to principle and their devotion to the cause which they love so well.
Democratic challengers resorted to all sorts of expedients, and tested the patience of the voters solely.
We make no secret when we say that we shall not hesitate or scruple to advise the colored men to stand for their rights and take the consequences.
If the time has come that we must be placed in jail for demanding our rights and insisting upon the exercise of constitutional privileges, the sooner we get there the better. One thing we believe, and that is that the filling of the prisons with colored men of respectability and character would be an object lesson to our better class of white citizens and in clarion tones plead successfully our cause in a manner that no other course could do.
The robber will always continue to rob as long as he can do so with impunity, and with a certainty of financial reward. Some of the Democratic judges in Jackson Ward are perjurers and should be in the Virginia penitentiary, instead of being longer permitted to maltreat and oppress an inoffensive and God fearing people.
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Upper Left Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Liam Eynan
Citation
“That Bare-Faced Robbery,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed May 17, 2025, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1549.