I would like to salute Mr. Bryan Stevenson.
In conjunction with the group he founded, The Equal Justice Initiative, Mr. Stevenson has diligently compiled the number of Black people – men and women both – lynched in the South from 1877 to 1950.
He comes to a total of 3,959 (and – this is me speaking – I have no doubt there are more which went unrecorded).
The reasons for these lynchings ranged from major crimes, to minor crimes, to misdemeanors, to perfectly legal activities that angered Whites disposed to “do something about it”, to nothing at all: “let\’s find a nigger and hang him”.
Not one of the victims – even those who committed major, violent crimes – deserved this kind of racist, vigilante “justice”. Simply put, the lynching of Black people is among the ugliest, and most indelible stains in our country\’s history.
Sadly, however, in today\’s world – where, I suspect, more people can tell you the names of the last two American Idol winners than their two U.S. senators – it is a very good bet that a large percentage of the population either has no idea that lynchings took place in the USA, or how many lynchings there were. It is therefore imperative that work like this be done.
The United States has much about it that we can all be proud of. But it serves no legitimate purpose to hide the things that shame us. Let\’s have it all – the good and the bad – out on that table for everyone to see.
So I again salute, and commend, and thank, Mr. Stevenson for his efforts.
Never forget. Never again.
