Against the Separate Car Bill.

An editorial against the segregated rail car bill introduced in the Virginia state legislature.

It does not seem to us that the measure introduced in the House of Delegates by Mr. Radford, providing separate cars for whites and blacks, is justified by public reason or necessity, but, on the contrary, is calculated to promote ill-feeing and strife between two races whose interests should incline them to live together in peace and harmony. The test of a man's right to ride in any public conveyance should be his behavior and not the color of his skin, and there would be as much sense in compelling blacks and whites to walk on opposite sides of the street as to compel them to ride in different railway coaches. The plan puts railroad companies to an unnecessary expense, and has proved satisfactory to no one except few race bigots. The absurdity of such a law was signally illustrated in a southern state where it was in force a few years ago. On some public occasion in which the whites were interested, the coaches set apart for them proved insufficient for their accommodation and they overflowed into the coaches intended for the negroes. In this case necessity knew neither law nor prejudice, but the negroes knew their opportunity and promptly compelled the whites to return to their crowded quarters, properly insisting that as they had made the law they should live up to its requirements.
The time has passed, we hope forever, for the enactment of legislation that will promote irritation and discord between the races. It is undemocratic and it is unchristian; in fact, it is a crime against the peace and happiness of this southern part of the United States whose population is so largely composed of negroes, and that, too, through no fault of the negroes themselves. Mr. Radford can employ his time more patriotically and profitably to the state by aiding Mr. Withers and a few others in their efforts to reduce the administrative expenses of the state. Let the race question rest, and let the races have peace.

“Against the Separate Car Bill.,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed April 27, 2025, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1686.