withoutsanctuary.org

[leawood]

This is a valuable collection of photographs depicting American history. They speak volumes when viewed alone, but it is illuminating when historical perspective is provided. That's why it angers me when I see the following quote:

"Researchers confirm the symbolic importance of lynching sites and the conscious selection of these sites by perpetrators of extra-legal violence. The dominance of Christian symbology is resurected in the lynchers' preference for bodies of water, bridges, and landmark trees. Bodies of water are the traditional locations for baptisms; bridges symbolize the most profound rite of passage, the great "crossing over" to death; and trees are the very symbol of life and of Christ's crucifixion. The lynchers sought, in the conscious selection of these sacrificial sites and in their participation in these ritualized murders, their own salvation and passage to a safer place without sin and evil - both of which, in their minds, were physically embodied in the "offending" victim."

I will not stand for academics belittling the events depicted here with the kind of BS quoted above. There is absolutely no reason that such an obviously rediculous statement should be anywhere near a photograph of the event it purports to describe.

[steeko7071]

I agree. I think the quote was too modest. It shows no emotion. No grievance, as if this was something that was supposed to happen...