Aside from the violation of white women by Negroes, which is the
outcropping of a bestial perversion of instinct, the chief cause of
trouble between the races in the South is the Negro's lack of manners.
In the state of slavery he learned politeness from association with
white people, who took pains to teach him. Since the emancipation came
and the tie of mutual interest and regard between master and servant was
broken, the Negro has drifted away into a state which is neither freedom
nor bondage. Lacking the proper inspiration of the one and the
restraining force of the other he has taken up the idea that boorish
insolence is independence, and the exercise of a decent degree of
breeding toward white people is identical with servile submission. In
consequence of the prevalence of this notion there are many Negroes who
use every opportunity to make themselves offensive, particularly when
they think it can be done with impunity.

We have had too many instances right here in Memphis to doubt this, and
our experience is not exceptional. _The white people won't stand this
sort of thing, and whether they be insulted as individuals are as a
race, the response will be prompt and effectual._ The bloody riot of
1866, in which so many Negroes perished, was brought on principally by
the outrageous conduct of the blacks toward the whites on the streets.
It is also a remarkable and discouraging fact that the majority of such
scoundrels are Negroes who have received educational advantages at the
hands of the white taxpayers. They have got just enough of learning to
make them realize how hopelessly their race is behind the other in
everything that makes a great people, and they attempt to "get even" by
insolence, which is ever the resentment of inferiors. There are
well-bred Negroes among us, and it is truly unfortunate that they should
have to pay, even in part, the penalty of the offenses committed by the
baser sort, but this is the way of the world. The innocent must suffer