Bishop Turner's Wail
Cleveland Gazette: July 18, 1896
New York.—Bishop Henry M. Turner, who has charge of the Sixth Episcopal district of the A. M. E. church, published the following letter, under date of July 7. The letter was inspired by the recent decision of the United States supreme court in the Louisiana separate car case:
“I have absolutely no interest in the issues of this bloody, lynching nation, with its brutal supreme court in Washington City issuing decisions against my race which were never dreamed of in hell. I care but little whether the republican or democratic party is successful. Neither of them care anything about the Negro, for the representatives of neither party in that miserable conclave known as the United States congress ever opened their mouths about the way my race is butchered, shot and burnt without law or civil rule.
“This rotten country has no business being a nation anyway. It is an organized mob from Maine to Texas. Those who do not participate in the lawless murders, Jim Crow car discriminations and every other devilment against my race, stand by and say ‘well done’ by their silence.
“The people of England are the only ones who can open their mouths about the ‘mob-ocracy’ of this sham nation. I would welcome no information unless it be concerning the reformation or extermination of this bloody-handed country—north and south alike—for one is as guilty as the other.
“H. M. Turner, Atlanta, Ga.”
New York.—Bishop Henry M. Turner, who has charge of the Sixth Episcopal district of the A. M. E. church, published the following letter, under date of July 7. The letter was inspired by the recent decision of the United States supreme court in the Louisiana separate car case:
“I have absolutely no interest in the issues of this bloody, lynching nation, with its brutal supreme court in Washington City issuing decisions against my race which were never dreamed of in hell. I care but little whether the republican or democratic party is successful. Neither of them care anything about the Negro, for the representatives of neither party in that miserable conclave known as the United States congress ever opened their mouths about the way my race is butchered, shot and burnt without law or civil rule.
“This rotten country has no business being a nation anyway. It is an organized mob from Maine to Texas. Those who do not participate in the lawless murders, Jim Crow car discriminations and every other devilment against my race, stand by and say ‘well done’ by their silence.
“The people of England are the only ones who can open their mouths about the ‘mob-ocracy’ of this sham nation. I would welcome no information unless it be concerning the reformation or extermination of this bloody-handed country—north and south alike—for one is as guilty as the other.
“H. M. Turner, Atlanta, Ga.”
