The Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama recently released a report that uncovered the astonishing number of victims of "racial terror lynchings" from 1877 to 1950 in 12 Southern States. The number: 3,959.
It’s such an astounding number and seems even more appalling to me once I learned there are only a few markers acknowledging lynching sites in the U.S. We need to make more of an effort to acknowledge and attempt to make reparations for the horrors that took place in this country at that time. I think learning the actual number of victims will push us in the right direction.
It’s such an astounding number and seems even more appalling to me once I learned there are only a few markers acknowledging lynching sites in the U.S. We need to make more of an effort to acknowledge and attempt to make reparations for the horrors that took place in this country at that time. I think learning the actual number of victims will push us in the right direction.
The timing of the release is also interesting. The report being released in February (Black History Month) I’m guessing was no coincidence. Maybe this report was released at the time when most people would be in the right mindset to hear it, and perhaps take action to do something.
Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, says that the lynchings “were not about administering popular justice, but terrorizing a community." I believe what he is saying has a lot of truth to it, not just relating to the lynchings, but a larger theme: using fear (terror) to show who is in control in a society. Stevenson says these lynchings were really about “executing people for violating the racial hierarchy.” Speaking to someone the wrong way could mean life or death for African Americans at this time. It wasn't about whether they really committed a crime or not; it was about white supremacy.
This is so similar to Arthur Miller's The Crucible, with people being lynched if they were suspected of going against authority. In times of fear and change, a lot of people felt they needed power and this was their way of showing which race was in control.
I hope more actions are taken in an attempt to make people more aware of these tragic times. They can serve as a reminder of what we need to work on as a nation.
I agree that knowing the actual number of lynching makes it much more terrifying. Before, I just knew that many people were hanged, but actually knowing how many makes it much more tangible. The fact that the lynchings were done because of a ¨hierarchy¨is also sad because the the evidence for this can only be done through opinion. Like we´ve talked about, if a white person hated a black person, they could accuse them of violating the heirarchy, and they would be hung.
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