Response to the Race Riot
by Lauren Dunn
The Marrow of Tradition, by Charles Chesnutt, an African American author, is based off the historical account of the Wilmington, North Carolina, race riot of 1898. White Democrats were frightened by the number and the power that the black Republicans were quickly gaining on them. The Democrats were not willing to give up any part of their political power and were willing to go to any means to ensure that power. Unfortunately their determination to maintain their power over blacks, led to great violence, resulting in undeserved mass casualties.
Through the portrayal of this riot in The Marrow of Tradition, readers experience a great loss in this community. The primary loss from the riot was the loss of lives, but more specifically the loss of rights the black community faced in this time of freedom. Not only did this riot take away from the blacks, but also resulted in the loss of moral standards for the white community as well.
During this time, the black community should have been experiencing the freedoms and opportunities as the white people did. Instead of experiencing the freedom that they had won, they soon were back to facing the segregation and violence that was forced upon them. During this riot, the black community faced the loss of good, moral men, women, and children. Not only were lives lost, but the property and money of the blacks were destroyed in the fires that were set purposely by the white men. Many homes were burned to the ground with all their belongings being destroyed.
If the loss of lives and property were not enough, the black people also faced losing their rights. The amount of fear that was put into the black community was so great that they did not feel the freedom to even be able to come out of their homes and walk freely among the streets. Along with their rights stripped away from them, the black community also lost their “voice” as a whole. Nothing that the black people did or said could stop the whites from this massacre. The destruction of the black press did account for a big loss of the black community’s voice. An extraordinary fact that Chesnutt mentioned in this book was the ratio of blacks to whites, which were three black people to one white person. Even though the blacks could have easily outnumbered the whites, the whites were so angered that numbers could not stop them. The whites had an abundant supply of ammo, while it was nearly impossible for the blacks to obtain any weapons.
Even though the black community seemed to have basically lost everything, the white community faced loss as well. The whites, first and foremost, lost control of themselves when living among the black community. They let their emotions and pride get out of control, thinking that blacks were beneath them and had no place among them.
The whites had a few casualties, but more than anything, the whites lost their moral possibility. The white men did not even consider disguising themselves when murdering the blacks. They acted like they had never known them, much less lived among them. For instance, Dr. Miller was searched by the store clerk that he always bought his supplies from. The clerk acted like he had no recognition of Dr. Miller. Whites had no rhyme or reason for the murders other than the darker skin color. In today's society, such actions would be unacceptable, and the white people had many other alternatives to avoid violence, but in this race riot, that was the only action the white people wanted to accept.
The loss of lives were for the blacks were great, but the obscured, outrageous way of the whites and their loss of moral possibility, I believe were even greater to lose. The blacks died as innocent, good, moral people when the whites are remembered as morally corrupt murderers. I would rather lose my life as an innocent man, than to live my life as a guilty one.