Why to Teach about Lynching and the Like
Gruesome, atrocious, heart-wrenching are just a few of the many adjectives that come to mind when seeing and hearing about the history of mass murders on the case of race in America. From the beginning, the United States has struggled and failed in their dealings with African Americans. Whether it be slavery, Jim Crow laws, or even police brutality today, equality has been an ideal far more than a reality. However, despite our despicable past, confronting the essence of these atrocities head on and talking about our troubled history is as important as ever as we move further and further away from when it did, unfortunately, occur. One of the vilest and wicked practices that screamed racism across communities all over the south was lynching. A practice that not only took the lives of innocent humans because of the color of their skin, but publicly shamed them as the entire community would march and mob and cheer and celebrate as these people were demeaned, and horrifically and shamef...