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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmerica’s real racial terror: How lynch mobs & barbaric violence haunt us today
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/14/americas_real_racial_terror_how_lynch_mobs_barbaric_violence_haunt_us_today/Gadsden, Alabama., March 5, 1949. (Credit: AP)
Recently, Salon spoke over the phone with Stevenson to discuss the report, the importance of recognizing these lynchings as a form of terrorism and how the age of racial terror still influences the United States today. Our conversation is below and has been edited for clarity and length.
The use of the word terror to describe these crimes, was that done consciously? If so, why do you think its important for us to use that word and see these acts of violence through that lens?
I heard from older people of color in the South over the last 10 years who have complained to me that they get angry and upset when they hear TV commentators and news analysts talking about how, after the 9/11 attacks, America is dealing with terrorism for the first time in the its history. What these older people of color will say is, Mr. Stevenson, we grew up with terrorism. We were menaced and threatened and lynched and traumatized every day of our lives. And it is injurious to us to not have that recognized by these casual comments. So our use of the word terror was definitely intentional.
There is a narrative about Americas racial history that we have not acknowledged, that we have not confronted. We have been burdened by continuing problems with race relations and racial equality because we have not understood the narratives in the way that I think we should. It actually begins with slavery; I think even the way we talk about slavery has been superficial. I dont think the evil of slavery was involuntary servitude. To me the great evil of slavery was this narrative of racial difference, this ideology of white supremacy, that black people werent fully human, that they had deficits and deficiencies that meant that it was okay, that it was moral and just, to enslave them.
That narrative that was the true evil of slavery wasnt addressed by the Thirteenth Amendment; it wasnt addressed by the Emancipation Proclamation. As a result, slavery didnt end at the end of the Civil War; it just evolved. It set up an era where white people in the South felt that they had to enforce racial hierarchy in all things. So the lynchings of African-Americans during this period of time were not just simple punishments for individuals accused of crimes. It was a statement to the entire African-American community that they must remain compliant to Jim Crow segregation; no voting rights, economic exploitation and racial hierarchy.
Response to xchrom (Original post)
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etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)... in the US.
Black men are the "real racial terror, not these phantom "lynch mobs".
I feel very sorry for someone going through life with this level of ignorance ... pity actually for being this consumed by hatred and ignorance
Response to etherealtruth (Reply #2)
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etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)"And everybody knows it. They always were. That's why lynch mobs were created in the first place, dummy. The KKK were formed to protect white communities from all the black males who were looting, raping and killing.
Do you even know what "ignorant" means? The crime stats prove me right."
You are trying to be pithy by posting as a caricature of an ignorant racist ..... you have captured the tone and IGNORANCE perfectly
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)a screening of Birth of a Nation.
Glad he/she's gone; lest it be pointed out that, even granting his/her historically suspect/apologetic premise of the klan getting its start because "all (those) black males who were looting, raping and killing", did all those Black males invent looting, raping and killing?
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)annabanana
(52,791 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)break my heart that people are so cruel. I deal with it effectively, but I personally have had a look and experience as to how coldhearted people are these days, always have been for sure. Doesn't feel right....never has, never will. My grandparents dealt with this terror, my parents and me. And in more ways than physical, fiscal also. I will never understand the evil in our hearts and minds.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)they were on?