Oct 14, 2009
Lynch Laws Resisting Progress
"Lynch Laws", by Ida B. Wells, is enhanced when applied to description of one of Jimmie Killingsworth's "Appeals to Time", the theory of resisting progress. When discussing the injustice of racial prejudice, Wells states "Our country should be speedily above the plane of confessing herself a failure at self-government" (16). Because the United States took part in such biased and prejudiced actions, a "reactive rhetoric has evolved in competition with the progressive trend of democratic politics and culture' (Killingsworth 48). However, the American society can never truly move forward with their political standing if they do not develop and grant equal rights to all of its' citizens. In essence, the American "self government" fails because it neglects equality to the people, and can therefore never truly get ahead in the progress of the world.
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Melissa brings up an interesting point. Upon reading "Lynch Laws" by Ida B. Wells-Barnett, I was shocked by the horror of what she reported and i thought of the people who did such things, not the government that allowed it. However, upon another reading, Melissa's ideas are quite intriguing.
ReplyDeleteWells writes that "not one-third of... victims of lynchings are even charged with... crimes" (Wells-Barnett 2). Such a statement brings home the failure of the governmental system in charge of a place that allows such things to happen. However, this failure does not seem to be new, nor does it appear to have started with the lynchings of African Americans. Wells-Barnett plays historian to the practice of lynching in America. She traces lynching into the roots of the United States -- stemming from the desire to quickly deal with threat. However, it seems that the idea of threat has become perverted, especially in the eyes of those best placed to execute punishments, thus the "red-shirt" bands and the Ku Klux Klan began.
Wells-Barnett ends her essay, hopefully, hoping that the United States will realize its own hypocrisy in its denouncement of the French, as they learn of an event that seemingly happens often in their own homeland. Sadly, Wells-Barnett had to wait, and the government of the United States still is unable to deal with what the notion of equality calls for.