NIGHTLINE ON LYNCH LAW

On February 23rd (2005), Ted Koppel's Nightline program highlighted lynching. Pridger didn't take any notes, but we are reminded that some 5,000 lynchings are a matter of record between about 1880 and 1968. Of course, there were probably many more that were not recorded. But this figure provides an average yearly figure of about 56 lynchings over an 88 year period. It would be interesting to compare that average with the average number of blacks who have suffered a violent death each year at the hands of other blacks since 1968.

While such a despicable practice as lynching cannot be morally justified (at least in our supposedly enlightened age), we can be fairly certain that a high percentage of those lynched were guilty of the kind of crimes that still either call for the death penalty or life imprisonment. If we're generous, and consider that only about half of those illegally hung were guilty of such crimes as rape and murder, the yearly average of innocent blacks illegally executed would be about 28.

The purpose of the program, of course, was to remind us whites of our racism and reinforce our guilt complex for past crimes and injustices, while also reinforcing black resentment and rekindle their anger. This, of course, is not all that much of a good thing to do in Pridger's opinion. We shouldn't forget our human failings, of course, or the crimes that have been committed — but nor should guilt and anger be nurtured and perpetuated. In this sense, the Nightline program, while very informative, was far out of balance.

However, it must be pointed out (to the program's credit), that the lynching primarily showcased was a case in which the victims were quite guilty of the crimes for which they were made to answer, however prematurely and illegally. It took place in Indiana in the 1930's and involved three blacks, two of whom killed a white couple. The woman was raped, of course, before being murdered. The third party, a young man who had admittedly been involved initially (gun actually in hand), had refused to participate in the actual crime. It seems he knew the couple and the man had been kind to him. (The implication being that, had this not been the case, he probably would have participated in the crime.)

What was truly remarkable is that he was spared by the rabid white mob bent on vengeance, and lived to appear on the Nightline program circa 2005. The rope had already been placed around the young man's neck beneath the tree from which his two friends were already hanging. But a single white voice, declaring his innocence in the crime, was sufficient to spare his life.

How is it that such a mob (and it was huge), could be capable of reason and mercy at such a heated moment? That question, of course, was not addressed in the program. Pridger found it rather strange that the program had not managed to find an instance where the victims were innocent to showcase, and thereby considerably reinforce the despicable nature of the crime being condemned.

Much was made of the fact that many lynchings were not only extraordinarily cruel and gruesome, but that they drew great crowds of white spectators — ordinary, everyday, white Americans — men, women, and children. Many lynchings, even in the relatively modern era of the early twentieth century, were publicized in advance, and the event itself took on a carnival atmosphere.

The reasons for this are fairly obvious, and well understood by any student of human nature. The spectacle of human death in every form holds a great fascination for the majority of every race. Most people don't have a chance to witness death very often, and have a natural desire to see it when the opportunity presents itself — as long as there's no personal risk involved. Public executions have always drawn large crowds of enthusiastic onlookers. Even many people who do not particularly condone the death sentence would come to the spectacle out of a morbid curiosity. It's a sad fact that if legal executions were performed in huge sports stadiums today, all seats would be sold out and the crowd would overflow into the parking areas to watch on closed circuit video screens.

There's even a dedicated group that turns up for executions that aren't public today. They stand around outside in order to be near the event, even though they can't see it. They are "ordinary people." Some come in gleeful support of the event, and others come in protest.

Literature and entertainment reflect this public fascination with crime and death. A high percentage of our movies help celebrate and satiate that fascination.

As for racism, it is as ingrained in the human condition as race itself is incorporated in human genes. It cannot be completely expunged from the specie, only rendered relatively harmless through the realization that under the skin, and in spite of differences is of culture or religion, we are all brothers in humanity after all — and that we should be our brother's keeper.

John Q. Pridger