Five ugly and uncanny parallels between lynchings and police killings in America

10.9.15

Five ugly and uncanny parallels between lynchings and police killings in America: [m.dailykos.com] Sensational journalism, then the standard of American news reporting, spared the public no detail no matter how horrible. "The Negro was deprived of his ears, fingers and genital parts of his body. He pleaded pitifully for his life while the mutilation was going on...before the body was cool, it was cut to pieces, the bones crushed into small bits...the Negro's heart was cut into several pieces, as was also his liver...small pieces of bones went for 25 cents..." (The Springfield Weekly Republican, April 28, 1899). This was an actual description of the lynching of one Sam Holt, accused murderer, who was burned at the stake in Newman, Georgia in April, 1899. Graphic accounts like this were in abundance throughout the South. They served both white and black purposes by adding to the psychological suffering of the African American and empowered the white man to do more.