https://www.wacotrib.com/news/special/waco-horror-at-why-jesse-washington-s-lynching-still-matters/article_1e2e0e86-dc1f-5442-bc35-9c2debad14c7.html?block_id=1367094

He should have been properly executed, not lynched.

Oprah is still the most powerful person in the media.

Illinois Bear2 said:

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Doc Holliday said:

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He should have been properly executed, not lynched.

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Are you serious? He never had a fair trial. Pretty horrible history. It should be discussed and not avoided.

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I mean we're talking 100 years ago. He murdered his employer, they would have given him the death penalty if he was found guilty.

So yeah trial and then death penalty, unless he didn't murder his employer.

Probably guilty as jury found that and sentenced death

Robinson gang, democrats probably as they don't value life and their descendants were slave owners, drug him from courtroom to dismay of jury foreman. I went to school with his granddaughter apparently

Terrible scene from there on, I just researched

I've been Wacoan since '55 and never heard of it til now

Turns my tummy I never was told this

Jack and DP said:

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That's most every southern county most likely as there were 2843 recorded in article I just read written about time of the above one

Florda_mike said:

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Probably guilty as jury found that and sentenced death

Robinson gang, democrats probably as they don't value life and their descendants were slave owners, drug him from courtroom to dismay of jury foreman. I went to school with his granddaughter apparently

Terrible scene from there on, I just researched

I've been Wacoan since '55 and never heard of it til now

Turns my tummy I never was told this

---

It's possible he was guilty but also that a death sentence would have been ruled out today because there is a lot of evidence that this guy was mentally impaired -- not even understanding what was going on.

What makes this case especially heinous wasn't just the unusual savagery of the killing but that 15,000 Wacoans turned out to watch this man be burned. And then they cut off pieces of his body for souvenirs.

I was born in Waco, my father grew up there, and I never heard this story either until after I got out of Baylor.

But I found out that black people in Waco knew about it. The story many of them grew up hearing was that the 1953 tornado was divine punishment for what Waco did. After all, it devastated downtown where the lynching occurred and then apparently jumped the river and spared East Waco. I'd have to check, but I think all of the 114 victims were white.

It kind of brings it all home when you realize that there were two totally different histories of this period in Waco. The story was transmitted in the black community and completely buried in the white community.

Osodecentx said:

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Stain on McLennan County. No excuses

Not sure what else I am supposed to do

---

Here's what you can do. As noted above by Jack, Equal Justice Initiative is offering community memorials to counties where lynchings occurred. They are duplicates of the hanging pillars at the memorial in Montgomery, and they have the names of all the documented lynching victims from that county. On EJI's website you can access an interactive map that shows where documented lynchings occurred. I was surprised (but maybe not surprised) to learn that only one other county in Texas (I believe it's Anderson County, where Palestine is) had more lynchings than McLennan County. EJI counts 15 in all.

If you contact EJI, they can help you organize a community effort in Waco, or put you in touch with others who have already taken the first steps in such an effort. EJI is looking for local coalitions to help raise awareness and build support. Some of the people mentioned in the article in the OP might be good places to start. So would church groups and so would Baylor. EJI is interested in getting soil samples from locations where these lynchings occurred; they are displaying them at their museum, and that's something the local coalitions can do.

Truth and reconciliation go hand in hand, but the truth has been publicly ignored for decades. Projects like this help get the truth out there so the community can face up to it.

Florda_mike said:

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Jack and DP said:

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That's most every southern county most likely as there were 2843 recorded in article I just read written about time of the above one

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Here's an interactive map where you can see the breakdown. Click on an individual state and you can see a breakdown by county. For all of the Deep South and the part of Texas east of I-35, you're right; almost every county was involved. But some places like Waco were much worse than others.


https://lynchinginamerica.eji.org/explore

I grew up in Woodway, probably the whitest of all parts of Waco, and heard about the story from friends (I ran a wide circle). The tornado path makes a great story and some old (even compared to me) still believe it. Times were different back then.

The McLennan county court house used to have a lynching tree on the murals. I dont know if its still there,

Quote:

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Racial terrorism in this area didn't end with Jesse Washington. Six more black people in Central Texas died from white mob violence between 1916 and 1922, when Jesse Thomas, a Waco man mistakenly accused of rape, was killed and then dragged around Waco's square. Meanwhile, Waco in the early 1920s became a haven for the Ku Klux Klan, which publicly disavowed mobs but was known for extralegal violence.

But the extreme nature of the Jesse Washington lynching, and the resulting negative publicity for Waco, caused local officials to take stronger measures against mobs, Carrigan argues, pointing to the arrest and trial of Riesel men accused of beating a black man to death in 1917.


Gang or group think is a terrible thing when hate is involved.

That this makes Florida Mike sick to his stomach is exactly what it should do. There should be no place in America where this can happen today. A stark reminder of what people are capable of when fueled by hate is not a bad thing.

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Forest Bueller said:

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Quote:

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Racial terrorism in this area didn't end with Jesse Washington. Six more black people in Central Texas died from white mob violence between 1916 and 1922, when Jesse Thomas, a Waco man mistakenly accused of rape, was killed and then dragged around Waco's square. Meanwhile, Waco in the early 1920s became a haven for the Ku Klux Klan, which publicly disavowed mobs but was known for extralegal violence.

But the extreme nature of the Jesse Washington lynching, and the resulting negative publicity for Waco, caused local officials to take stronger measures against mobs, Carrigan argues, pointing to the arrest and trial of Riesel men accused of beating a black man to death in 1917.


Gang or group think is a terrible thing when hate is involved.

That this makes Florida Mike sick to his stomach is exactly what it should do. There should be no place in America where this can happen today. A stark reminder of what people are capable of when fueled by hate is not a bad thing.

---

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Yeah, the KKK had nearly died out until the release of the film "Birth of a Nation" in 1915, which celebrated the actions of the original Klan after the Civil War. Woodrow Wilson even arranged a showing in the White House. Klan membership spiked in the decade that followed, and during that time there was actually higher Klan membership in the northern states than in the Old South.

bubbadog said:

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Florda_mike said:

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Probably guilty as jury found that and sentenced death

Robinson gang, democrats probably as they don't value life and their descendants were slave owners, drug him from courtroom to dismay of jury foreman. I went to school with his granddaughter apparently

Terrible scene from there on, I just researched

I've been Wacoan since '55 and never heard of it til now

Turns my tummy I never was told this

---

It's possible he was guilty but also that a death sentence would have been ruled out today because there is a lot of evidence that this guy was mentally impaired -- not even understanding what was going on.

What makes this case especially heinous wasn't just the unusual savagery of the killing but that 15,000 Wacoans turned out to watch this man be burned. And then they cut off pieces of his body for souvenirs.

I was born in Waco, my father grew up there, and I never heard this story either until after I got out of Baylor.

But I found out that black people in Waco knew about it. The story many of them grew up hearing was that the 1953 tornado was divine punishment for what Waco did. After all, it devastated downtown where the lynching occurred and then apparently jumped the river and spared East Waco. I'd have to check, but I think all of the 114 victims were white.

It kind of brings it all home when you realize that there were two totally different histories of this period in Waco. The story was transmitted in the black community and completely buried in the white community.

---

On much of this we can finally agree Bubba, as one

I promise I never heard of this til now and that's shameful and I'm leaking over this indeed

But I missed the reading of 15,000 wacoans viewing it though in article I read. Waco's white population was about 15,000 plus a little at time I'm pretty sure plus 6-7,000 blacks

Picture of the scene I saw was much less than that and article I read estimated 1000+ from Robinson, where murder happened were responsible for dragging him out of courtroom and others didn't speak up to stop it for fear of own lives. Seems it's been buried because of fear for one's own life too!?

Florda_mike said:

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bubbadog said:

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Florda_mike said:

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Probably guilty as jury found that and sentenced death

Robinson gang, democrats probably as they don't value life and their descendants were slave owners, drug him from courtroom to dismay of jury foreman. I went to school with his granddaughter apparently

Terrible scene from there on, I just researched

I've been Wacoan since '55 and never heard of it til now

Turns my tummy I never was told this

---

It's possible he was guilty but also that a death sentence would have been ruled out today because there is a lot of evidence that this guy was mentally impaired -- not even understanding what was going on.

What makes this case especially heinous wasn't just the unusual savagery of the killing but that 15,000 Wacoans turned out to watch this man be burned. And then they cut off pieces of his body for souvenirs.

I was born in Waco, my father grew up there, and I never heard this story either until after I got out of Baylor.

But I found out that black people in Waco knew about it. The story many of them grew up hearing was that the 1953 tornado was divine punishment for what Waco did. After all, it devastated downtown where the lynching occurred and then apparently jumped the river and spared East Waco. I'd have to check, but I think all of the 114 victims were white.

It kind of brings it all home when you realize that there were two totally different histories of this period in Waco. The story was transmitted in the black community and completely buried in the white community.

---

On much of this we can finally agree Bubba, as one

I promise I never heard of this til now and that's shameful and I'm leaking over this indeed

But I missed the reading of 15,000 wacoans viewing it though in article I read. Waco's white population was about 15,000 plus a little at time I'm pretty sure plus 6-7,000 blacks

Picture of the scene I saw was much less than that and article I read estimated 1000+ from Robinson, where murder happened were responsible for dragging him out of courtroom and others didn't speak up to stop it for fear of own lives. Seems it's been buried because of fear for one's own life too!?

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I am glad we have common ground on this. The 15,000 figure comes from the Tribune-Herald article linked in the OP.

Figures I found just now list Waco's 1910 population at 26,000 and the 1920 population at 38,000. So you can guess it's somewhere in between those when this event occurred. Since there had been knowledge of the trial, it is very possible that people from outside Waco came into town on the Katy train in anticipation of the violence against this man; apparently, there had been an unsuccessful attempt to lynch him the day before.

It is also possible that people on the scene over-estimated the size of the crowd.

Either way, it is clear from the photos that the lynching attracted an unusually big crowd of white people..

bubbadog said:

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Osodecentx said:

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Stain on McLennan County. No excuses

Not sure what else I am supposed to do

---

Here's what you can do. As noted above by Jack, Equal Justice Initiative is offering community memorials to counties where lynchings occurred. They are duplicates of the hanging pillars at the memorial in Montgomery, and they have the names of all the documented lynching victims from that county. On EJI's website you can access an interactive map that shows where documented lynchings occurred. I was surprised (but maybe not surprised) to learn that only one other county in Texas (I believe it's Anderson County, where Palestine is) had more lynchings than McLennan County. EJI counts 15 in all.

If you contact EJI, they can help you organize a community effort in Waco, or put you in touch with others who have already taken the first steps in such an effort. EJI is looking for local coalitions to help raise awareness and build support. Some of the people mentioned in the article in the OP might be good places to start. So would church groups and so would Baylor. EJI is interested in getting soil samples from locations where these lynchings occurred; they are displaying them at their museum, and that's something the local coalitions can do.

Truth and reconciliation go hand in hand, but the truth has been publicly ignored for decades. Projects like this help get the truth out there so the community can face up to it.

---

Still thinking.

Regarding reconciliation, I admire what S. Africa did, but they did it once and then everybody is supposed to move on. What happened in McLennan County is shameful.

However, I didn't do this, none of my family lived there during these times, none of my family owned slaves, none participated in lynchings. It feels like you are preaching blood libel, i.e. I'm guilty because some white people committed atrocities and I must share the guilt because I am white. This principle could be pernicious if identity politics controls, e.g. many groups have legitimate complaints concerning the treatment of their ancestors.

I don't see how memorializing lynchings reconciles the races. I'll listen to the argument & I want to be fair.

Doc Holliday said:

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He should have been properly executed, not lynched.

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You're assuming s black man got a fair trial with an all white jury.

Oso said "I don't see how memorializing lynchings reconciles the races. I'll listen to the argument & I want to be fair"
The same reason we memorialize the Holocaust. So we don't forget. Lynching is our Anerican Holocaust. A Nazi delegation of lawyers and political leaders came to USA see our model for racial exclusion on the early 30s
Go to the Holocaust Memorial in D. C. Seeing the shoes piled up will move you to tears.
I will be going to Lynching Memorial for 4 reasons
1) To learn
2). To remember
3). To repent
4). To empathize with my black brothers and sisters

Waco1947 said:

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Oso said "I don't see how memorializing lynchings reconciles the races. I'll listen to the argument & I want to be fair"
The same reason we memorialize the Holocaust. So we don't forget. Lynching is our Anerican Holocaust. A Nazi delegation of lawyers and political leaders came to USA see our model for racial exclusion.
Go to the Holocaust Memorial in D. C. Seeing the shoes piled up will move you to tears.
I will be going to Lynching Memorial for 4 reasons
1) To learn
2). To remember
3). To repent
4). To empathize with my black brothers and sisters

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Fair answer

Osodecentx said:

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bubbadog said:

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Osodecentx said:

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Stain on McLennan County. No excuses

Not sure what else I am supposed to do

---

Here's what you can do. As noted above by Jack, Equal Justice Initiative is offering community memorials to counties where lynchings occurred. They are duplicates of the hanging pillars at the memorial in Montgomery, and they have the names of all the documented lynching victims from that county. On EJI's website you can access an interactive map that shows where documented lynchings occurred. I was surprised (but maybe not surprised) to learn that only one other county in Texas (I believe it's Anderson County, where Palestine is) had more lynchings than McLennan County. EJI counts 15 in all.

If you contact EJI, they can help you organize a community effort in Waco, or put you in touch with others who have already taken the first steps in such an effort. EJI is looking for local coalitions to help raise awareness and build support. Some of the people mentioned in the article in the OP might be good places to start. So would church groups and so would Baylor. EJI is interested in getting soil samples from locations where these lynchings occurred; they are displaying them at their museum, and that's something the local coalitions can do.

Truth and reconciliation go hand in hand, but the truth has been publicly ignored for decades. Projects like this help get the truth out there so the community can face up to it.

---

Still thinking.

Regarding reconciliation, I admire what S. Africa did, but they did it once and then everybody is supposed to move on. What happened in McLennan County is shameful.

However, I didn't do this, none of my family lived there during these times, none of my family owned slaves, none participated in lynchings. It feels like you are preaching blood libel, i.e. I'm guilty because some white people committed atrocities and I must share the guilt because I am white. This principle could be pernicious if identity politics controls, e.g. many groups have legitimate complaints concerning the treatment of their ancestors.

I don't see how memorializing lynchings reconciles the races. I'll listen to the argument & I want to be fair.

---

Blood libel? That's what you thought? Wow, that's ****ed up.

Some of my ancestors owned slaves. I feel no guilt or shame about that. It happened, and I had nothing to do with it. I feel no personal guilt about the lynchings in Waco.

There's nothing I can do today to undo what happened in 1915.

But the one obligation we have is to be honest about what happened and tell the history. In some parts of the South, we see legislatures passing laws prohibiting the removal of Confederate monuments, and their rationale is that such actions "erase history." But of course they don't acknowledge all of the actual history that has been erased by the community's failure to acknowledge it. Lynchings are the premier example. The corrupt and fraudulent convict labor system is another example. The history of the slave trade in southern cities is another. White communities don't want to talk about any of this. That's not just a disservice to those who endured these things (and make no mistake about lynchings; they were designed to send a message to the entire black community and to instill a sense of fear and terror). It's also a disservice to white people like me and Florida Mike who were ignorant of the history of our hometowns, through no fault of our own, and thus ignorant of the effect of this history on our black fellow Wacoans. We grew up as white people learning one story, and it turned out to be false and incomplete. And so we respond to the attitudes of our black neighbors, who learned a truer but unofficial history, based on this ignorance. And that ignorance has a negative effect on race relations even 100 years after the original event. Should I be mad at black people for wanting the true history to be acknowledged? Or should I be mad at the white city fathers who taught us all a dishonest and whitewashed history?

You asked what you could do, and I replied. If you want to dismiss that as identity politics, have at it. You're going to do whatever you want to do. Making the case for why this matters is not an attempt to persuade you personally.

100 years ago......

There are plenty of more recent outrages if one cares to take notice.

Rodney Earl Sanders plead guilty this past June to the rape and murder of Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill in Durant in August of 2016.

Many people came to the podium to tell the judge about the good works the Sisters had done for the hungry and needy, and for the medical community in Holmes County, which is the 7th poorest area in the nation.

The speakers emphasized how the loss of these two women affects not only their family, but the hundreds of people they served.

Sanders plead guilty to breaking into the women's home, stabbing and sexually assaulting the nuns, and stealing their car.

He will be serving 2 consecutive life sentences for capital murder plus 25 years for burglary, and 5 for larceny without the possibility of parole.

The two Sisters religious orders have opposed the death penalty for Saunders because it contradicts Catholic teaching .

Osodecentx said:

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Stain on McLennan County. No excuses

Not sure what else I am supposed to do

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Ask 47. He will tell you what else you're supposed to do with your "white privilege"

All the focus on the lynching (which was horrible) and no focus on the lady killed by a blow from a hammer....personally, I don't care if anyone is ******ed or not, murder is murder. Justice should be served.

Mob violence is almost never a good thing. Well, maybe never...

Waco1947 said:

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Oso said "I don't see how memorializing lynchings reconciles the races. I'll listen to the argument & I want to be fair"
The same reason we memorialize the Holocaust. So we don't forget. Lynching is our Anerican Holocaust. A Nazi delegation of lawyers and political leaders came to USA see our model for racial exclusion on the early 30s
Go to the Holocaust Memorial in D. C. Seeing the shoes piled up will move you to tears.
I will be going to Lynching Memorial for 4 reasons
1) To learn
2). To remember
3). To repent
4). To empathize with my black brothers and sisters

---

3- what did you do that you need to repent for? were you at the lynching 100 years ago? perhaps in your previous life?
4- empathize with them on a lynching that happened 100 years ago? Again were any of them there?

bubbadog said:

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Osodecentx said:

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bubbadog said:

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Osodecentx said:

---

Stain on McLennan County. No excuses

Not sure what else I am supposed to do

---

Here's what you can do. As noted above by Jack, Equal Justice Initiative is offering community memorials to counties where lynchings occurred. They are duplicates of the hanging pillars at the memorial in Montgomery, and they have the names of all the documented lynching victims from that county. On EJI's website you can access an interactive map that shows where documented lynchings occurred. I was surprised (but maybe not surprised) to learn that only one other county in Texas (I believe it's Anderson County, where Palestine is) had more lynchings than McLennan County. EJI counts 15 in all.

If you contact EJI, they can help you organize a community effort in Waco, or put you in touch with others who have already taken the first steps in such an effort. EJI is looking for local coalitions to help raise awareness and build support. Some of the people mentioned in the article in the OP might be good places to start. So would church groups and so would Baylor. EJI is interested in getting soil samples from locations where these lynchings occurred; they are displaying them at their museum, and that's something the local coalitions can do.

Truth and reconciliation go hand in hand, but the truth has been publicly ignored for decades. Projects like this help get the truth out there so the community can face up to it.

---

Still thinking.

Regarding reconciliation, I admire what S. Africa did, but they did it once and then everybody is supposed to move on. What happened in McLennan County is shameful.

However, I didn't do this, none of my family lived there during these times, none of my family owned slaves, none participated in lynchings. It feels like you are preaching blood libel, i.e. I'm guilty because some white people committed atrocities and I must share the guilt because I am white. This principle could be pernicious if identity politics controls, e.g. many groups have legitimate complaints concerning the treatment of their ancestors.

I don't see how memorializing lynchings reconciles the races. I'll listen to the argument & I want to be fair.

---

You asked what you could do, and I replied. If you want to dismiss that as identity politics, have at it. You're going to do whatever you want to do. Making the case for why this matters is not an attempt to persuade you personally.

---

You replied and I considered your recommendation. There are many good causes with which I do not get involved. Your cause isn't one of them for me.

Osodecentx said:

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bubbadog said:

---

Osodecentx said:

---

bubbadog said:

---

Osodecentx said:

---

Stain on McLennan County. No excuses

Not sure what else I am supposed to do

---

Here's what you can do. As noted above by Jack, Equal Justice Initiative is offering community memorials to counties where lynchings occurred. They are duplicates of the hanging pillars at the memorial in Montgomery, and they have the names of all the documented lynching victims from that county. On EJI's website you can access an interactive map that shows where documented lynchings occurred. I was surprised (but maybe not surprised) to learn that only one other county in Texas (I believe it's Anderson County, where Palestine is) had more lynchings than McLennan County. EJI counts 15 in all.

If you contact EJI, they can help you organize a community effort in Waco, or put you in touch with others who have already taken the first steps in such an effort. EJI is looking for local coalitions to help raise awareness and build support. Some of the people mentioned in the article in the OP might be good places to start. So would church groups and so would Baylor. EJI is interested in getting soil samples from locations where these lynchings occurred; they are displaying them at their museum, and that's something the local coalitions can do.

Truth and reconciliation go hand in hand, but the truth has been publicly ignored for decades. Projects like this help get the truth out there so the community can face up to it.

---

Still thinking.

Regarding reconciliation, I admire what S. Africa did, but they did it once and then everybody is supposed to move on. What happened in McLennan County is shameful.

However, I didn't do this, none of my family lived there during these times, none of my family owned slaves, none participated in lynchings. It feels like you are preaching blood libel, i.e. I'm guilty because some white people committed atrocities and I must share the guilt because I am white. This principle could be pernicious if identity politics controls, e.g. many groups have legitimate complaints concerning the treatment of their ancestors.

I don't see how memorializing lynchings reconciles the races. I'll listen to the argument & I want to be fair.

---

You asked what you could do, and I replied. If you want to dismiss that as identity politics, have at it. You're going to do whatever you want to do. Making the case for why this matters is not an attempt to persuade you personally.

---

You replied and I considered your recommendation. There are many good causes with which I do not get involved. Your cause isn't one of them for me.

---

I wasn't asking you to join any cause, Prosecutor. You asked what you could do. I happened to know of something that is being done that doesn't involve reparations or accusations or white guilt, just a tangible and visible acknowledgement of what happened.

It will be interesting to see how many of these community memorials the folks in Montgomery will succeed in giving away. As your blood libel response (good Lord) suggests, Waco may be a very tough sell, and a lot of other Texas counties will be similar. They'll get takers in Dallas, Tarrant, Travis and Harris Counties, and maybe no more than that.

fadskier said:

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All the focus on the lynching (which was horrible) and no focus on the lady killed by a blow from a hammer....personally, I don't care if anyone is ******ed or not, murder is murder. Justice should be served.

Mob violence is almost never a good thing. Well, maybe never...

---

Let's preserve this one in amber.

bubbadog said:

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fadskier said:

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All the focus on the lynching (which was horrible) and no focus on the lady killed by a blow from a hammer....personally, I don't care if anyone is ******ed or not, murder is murder. Justice should be served.

Mob violence is almost never a good thing. Well, maybe never...

---

Let's preserve this one in amber.

---

You have a problem with my comment?

bubbadog said:

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Osodecentx said:

---

bubbadog said:

---

Osodecentx said:

---

bubbadog said:

---

Osodecentx said:

---

Stain on McLennan County. No excuses

Not sure what else I am supposed to do

---

Here's what you can do. As noted above by Jack, Equal Justice Initiative is offering community memorials to counties where lynchings occurred. They are duplicates of the hanging pillars at the memorial in Montgomery, and they have the names of all the documented lynching victims from that county. On EJI's website you can access an interactive map that shows where documented lynchings occurred. I was surprised (but maybe not surprised) to learn that only one other county in Texas (I believe it's Anderson County, where Palestine is) had more lynchings than McLennan County. EJI counts 15 in all.

If you contact EJI, they can help you organize a community effort in Waco, or put you in touch with others who have already taken the first steps in such an effort. EJI is looking for local coalitions to help raise awareness and build support. Some of the people mentioned in the article in the OP might be good places to start. So would church groups and so would Baylor. EJI is interested in getting soil samples from locations where these lynchings occurred; they are displaying them at their museum, and that's something the local coalitions can do.

Truth and reconciliation go hand in hand, but the truth has been publicly ignored for decades. Projects like this help get the truth out there so the community can face up to it.

---

Still thinking.

Regarding reconciliation, I admire what S. Africa did, but they did it once and then everybody is supposed to move on. What happened in McLennan County is shameful.

However, I didn't do this, none of my family lived there during these times, none of my family owned slaves, none participated in lynchings. It feels like you are preaching blood libel, i.e. I'm guilty because some white people committed atrocities and I must share the guilt because I am white. This principle could be pernicious if identity politics controls, e.g. many groups have legitimate complaints concerning the treatment of their ancestors.

I don't see how memorializing lynchings reconciles the races. I'll listen to the argument & I want to be fair.

---

You asked what you could do, and I replied. If you want to dismiss that as identity politics, have at it. You're going to do whatever you want to do. Making the case for why this matters is not an attempt to persuade you personally.

---

You replied and I considered your recommendation. There are many good causes with which I do not get involved. Your cause isn't one of them for me.

---

I wasn't asking you to join any cause, Prosecutor. You asked what you could do. I happened to know of something that is being done that doesn't involve reparations or accusations or white guilt, just a tangible and visible acknowledgement of what happened.

It will be interesting to see how many of these community memorials the folks in Montgomery will succeed in giving away. As your blood libel response (good Lord) suggests, Waco may be a very tough sell, and a lot of other Texas counties will be similar. They'll get takers in Dallas, Tarrant, Travis and Harris Counties, and maybe no more than that.

---

It does sound like blood libel when guilt is decided based on race. Many lynched African Americans would testify to that.

I can understand your feelings of guilt given your family's history. Work out your salvation.

Osodecentx said:

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bubbadog said:

---

Osodecentx said:

---

bubbadog said:

---

Osodecentx said:

---

bubbadog said:

---

Osodecentx said:

---

Stain on McLennan County. No excuses

Not sure what else I am supposed to do

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Here's what you can do. As noted above by Jack, Equal Justice Initiative is offering community memorials to counties where lynchings occurred. They are duplicates of the hanging pillars at the memorial in Montgomery, and they have the names of all the documented lynching victims from that county. On EJI's website you can access an interactive map that shows where documented lynchings occurred. I was surprised (but maybe not surprised) to learn that only one other county in Texas (I believe it's Anderson County, where Palestine is) had more lynchings than McLennan County. EJI counts 15 in all.

If you contact EJI, they can help you organize a community effort in Waco, or put you in touch with others who have already taken the first steps in such an effort. EJI is looking for local coalitions to help raise awareness and build support. Some of the people mentioned in the article in the OP might be good places to start. So would church groups and so would Baylor. EJI is interested in getting soil samples from locations where these lynchings occurred; they are displaying them at their museum, and that's something the local coalitions can do.

Truth and reconciliation go hand in hand, but the truth has been publicly ignored for decades. Projects like this help get the truth out there so the community can face up to it.

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Still thinking.

Regarding reconciliation, I admire what S. Africa did, but they did it once and then everybody is supposed to move on. What happened in McLennan County is shameful.

However, I didn't do this, none of my family lived there during these times, none of my family owned slaves, none participated in lynchings. It feels like you are preaching blood libel, i.e. I'm guilty because some white people committed atrocities and I must share the guilt because I am white. This principle could be pernicious if identity politics controls, e.g. many groups have legitimate complaints concerning the treatment of their ancestors.

I don't see how memorializing lynchings reconciles the races. I'll listen to the argument & I want to be fair.

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You asked what you could do, and I replied. If you want to dismiss that as identity politics, have at it. You're going to do whatever you want to do. Making the case for why this matters is not an attempt to persuade you personally.

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You replied and I considered your recommendation. There are many good causes with which I do not get involved. Your cause isn't one of them for me.

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I wasn't asking you to join any cause, Prosecutor. You asked what you could do. I happened to know of something that is being done that doesn't involve reparations or accusations or white guilt, just a tangible and visible acknowledgement of what happened.

It will be interesting to see how many of these community memorials the folks in Montgomery will succeed in giving away. As your blood libel response (good Lord) suggests, Waco may be a very tough sell, and a lot of other Texas counties will be similar. They'll get takers in Dallas, Tarrant, Travis and Harris Counties, and maybe no more than that.

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It does sound like blood libel when guilt is decided based on race. Many lynched African Americans would testify to that.

I can understand your feelings of guilt given your family's history. Work out your salvation.

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Way to try to flip the script. Nobody's trying to perpetrate a blood libel on white people in Waco, which is what you suggested earlier. And I said explicitly that I have no feelings of guilt. There's no need to lie here. It's not as if you're in front of a jury.

It is history. It should be told.

Illinois Bear2 said:

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It is history. It should be told.

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I agree...all of it should be told. Everytime.