Did you know it is a felony to lynch a black person? You can shoot, stab, run over, strangle or poison them, but if you hang them, that’s a felony. Well kinda. One person can’t be charged with lynching a black person. You can only be charged with felony lynching if there are two or more people involved. Right after the Civil War, Reconstruction began. We will talk about that a little bit later. It was at the end of Reconstruction that it started to go down. In 1892 if you had stock in a rope factory, you was destined to be a baller. They lynched more freed African American’s in 1892 than in any other year in American history. Although historians know that 1892 was the year of the most lynchings, I have not been able to come up with a number. It is known that between 1882 and 1968 close to 5000 people were “officially” lynched. Somewhere north of 3500 African Americans and 1300 whites. Yes sirree, they lynched white folks too. To a racist, the only thing worst than a horse thief was a “you know what lover.”
Now before we get to why were all these folks being lynched, let me take you back to a time before we were “officially” freed. “When “Massa Bo Weevel” got a hankering for a black @$$ to be made an example of, he’d go out “thar” and kill that no good ni@@er wid dat pissol on his hep. Sheriff Nutunbutta Rebel, would ride out cuz he heard Black Zeus had back sassed and Bo might put him down.” Those pre-Civil War racist had a bad habit of naming their slaves after some historical figure they admired. That’s some sick “#@$%” if you think about it. Anywho I am giving you an imaginary scenario to let you know there were laws against killing a slave just because you could. However, since they were property and did not have legal rights, it really didn’t matter. Even if the Massa was brought to court for murdering a slave, it would just be for lunch with the judge. Afterwards the judge and the jury would go over Massa’s house for ceegars and drinks.
Now as I mentioned the uptick in lynching came right after the end of Reconstruction. Reconstruction lasted 12 years, from 1865 to 1877. During this time the traitors who lived in the south, who had formed their own government and waged a futile war on our country, were given a pardon only after they were beaten and stomped into the ground, their cities burned down and they came crawling back naked and starving to Appomattox Court House to beg our forgiveness and plead with us to end the Civil War and take their worthless black hearted souls back into the Union. We said no at first and wanted to whoop mo a$$, but President Lincoln begged General Malcolm Obama to “let em be.” The famous song by the Beatles “Let Em Be,” is a tribute to the great African American general. Yes… “speaking words of wisdom… let em be, let em be…” As we all know, history is written by the victor. That’s the story as I remember it. Anywho, during those 12 years the freed African Americans made huge strides in education, business and politics.
Along with those strides came an increase in confidence. No more shucking and jiving. African Americans were standing tall, looking them straight in the eyes, some were even looking at white women straight in the eyes. A small percentage of those people were lynched during the Reconstruction. The traitors were beaten and stomped into the ground, but they wasn’t having that yet. As I said, we were making strides. After the end of the Civil War more than 160 African Americans served as U.S. Representatives, Delegates, or Senators. Vibrant African American communities were springing up all over the country. Communities like Greenwood in Oklahoma, Boley, and Eatonville to name a few. Things were looking good after centuries of bondage. Then the bottom fell out. Many of us know that historically after the Civil War African Americans voted overwhelmingly Republican. It was to reward Abraham Lincoln and his party for “freeing us.” Cough, Cough…
Back then the Alt-Right party was called the “Southern Democrats.” After 12 years of reconstruction the re-grouped and started to gain politically. Even though we represented a significant voter block on the local level, our numbers were could not compete at state and national levels. Slowly but surely the Southern Democrats took over state legislatures. They then enacted laws that rolled back the progress we had made after the Civil War. Sometimes they did it fair and square, but when they could not get their man in office by the ballot, they got them in office by the bullet or the rope. Lynching was one of their main mechanisms for controlling the black vote. Through fear and terror they succeeded in re enslaving the people through legal means.
Lynching got so bad in the early 1900’s, that they actually would put it in the news paper when someone was going to be lynched. True story. They was some bad a$$es. “We gonna lynch Black Caesar at 3:pm today.” Things started to change in 1932 when Franklin Roosevelt was elected President. During his term the US was in what historians called the Great Depression. The Great Depression was as real as it gets. The national suicide rate rose to an all time high during the event. The great Stock Market Crash Of 1929 preceded the depression. I brought this up because it was in this environment that African Americans changed their political allegiance. Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” hired not only poor whites, but put the food on the table for thousands of black families. Roosevelt was a Democrat.
Well, since then its been the Democrats that have brought a small measure of Civil Rights to us. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. All of these men have contributed to defining the black political direction. Aye, I’m getting off topic… anyway back to the subject…
Title 18, U.S.C., Section 241 (Lynching Law)
Title 18, U.S.C., Section 241, is the civil rights conspiracy statute, which makes it unlawful for two or more persons to conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person of any state, territory, or district in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him/her by the Constitution or the laws of the United States (or because of his/her having exercised the same) and further makes it unlawful for two or more persons to go in disguise on the highway or premises of another person with intent to prevent or hinder his or her free exercise or enjoyment of such rights. Depending upon the circumstances of the crime, and any resulting injury, the offense is punishable by a range of fines and/or imprisonment for any term of years up to life, or the death penalty.
Now it doesn’t mention anything about African Americans, ropes or tree’s, but this is the one that they supposed to use if we get lynched on the federal level. In was enacted in 1996. California had a similar law, that actually used the word lynching in the law, but in 2015, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation by Senator Holly Mitchell removing the word “lynching” from the state’s criminal code without comment after it received unanimous approval in a vote by state lawmakers. Mitchell stated, “It’s been said that strong words should be reserved for strong concepts, and ‘lynching’ has such a painful history for African Americans that the law should only use it for what it is – murder by mob.”
So that’s what they are calling it now, murder by mob. But as the old saying goes, “by any other name a rose is still a rose” and “a rope with a noose hanging from a tree with a dead black man in it, by any other name is still a lynching.“
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