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 shamefully murdered. Yet, for some reason, never in my schooling had I truly discussed and confronted the atrocity of lynching, while I had heard about the practice, it was nearly always dismissed and not adequately discussed. However, when seeing the pictures 60 Minutes displayed of the actual victims of the brutal practice, it became real. Moreover, seeing the pictures demonstrated that this was far from a solemn, silent, and private event. On the contrary, the whole community would venture out in a celebratory manner all embodied in the picture of one man lifting his friend so that he would have a better view of the lynching.

Yet, despite the awfulness depicted in the many pictures, it is incredibly important for every student before they complete their schooling to confront and see these pictures. Yes, they make the viewer feel uncomfortable and queasy, but a failure to view the pictures creates the potential that actions as such could become forgotten, denied, or worst case scenario, repeated. Thus, it is incredibly important that we do not hide and lock away these pictures for no one to see, but ensure that they are familiar and uncomfortable to both students in the classroom and viewers on television. Just this past week, as Jewish people across the world remembered the 6,000,000 that were lost during the Holocaust, a study was published showing that nearly 2/3 of millennials were unfamiliar with Auschwitz, and nearly a third were unsure about what the Holocaust even was. One of the worst genocides, if not the worst, in human history and millions of Americans, citizens of the supposed leader of the free world, are unfamiliar with it. Truly shocking, painful, and scary, it demonstrates the failure to both teach history and confront the atrocities that have befallen human beings across the world. It is incumbent on us to accurately portray and teach today’s generation and the following generations the history of the world. Anything short, could leave Americans unfamiliar with our own history of slavery and racism. While America has been a successful and independent country over the past 200 plus years, we have not been without our flaws, and a failure to teach will likely lead to repetition.

Furthermore, with regards to monuments commemorating the murders, such as the one shown in the CNN video, it conveys the feeling and properly demonstrates the magnitude of the horrible lynching done across the south. With hundreds upon hundreds of hanging structures meant to represent those innocently killed, the memorial stands as a powerful, inspiring, and important reminder of the past atrocities committed on blacks in the southern United States. Standing as a medium to constantly remind, it helps ensure that we will not repeat our past actions of violence on minorities. Additionally, while some may argue that this seemingly is the same debate as the confederate monument debate, I would beg to differ as these monuments commemorate the victims and recognize their innocence and the unjust of their killings, while the confederate monuments sought to honor warriors for slavery, fighters for actions of racism such as lynching. Ultimately, it is essential that we forever seek to remember the atrocities that befell innocent citizens of our country, no matter how gruesome or terrible. The queasiness we might feel when looking at a picture of a lynching is nothing compared to the pain and suffering of the victims and the entire African American community up until this day.