withoutsanctuary.org

[afarrar]

Looking at the photographs in the short video makes me very sad. I'm sad because of the way white ancestors treated African Americans, and I'm sad seeing how African Americans, although they were technically "free", really had no means of reciprocation against their white supressors. It is so frustrating to hear people today speak of this subject and say, "Well, you know they really could've done something. Why didn't they just leave the area and come North?" Don't they know that even in the North their lives were not easy. Granted, they didn't have as much fear of being lynched as those that lived in the South, but the North still didn't offer they great job offers. Their skills were not accustomed to jobs available up in the North, and that's not a good thing when one has a family to support.

The photographs shown are great examples of white supremacy at its finest. White supremacy at its peak. Could you imagine today walking outside a shop in downtown mainstreet and seeing a hung, burned, dead body hanging from the tree in front of town hall? A charred carcus tied up with some old fraying rope, a hundred people surrounding the body cheering chants and jeers of excitment and satisfaction at their latest trophy. These bodies were trophies to those who gathered to watch them die. Trophies of supremacy and patriotism. Trophies of power.

Abbie Farrar