Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived; but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”-Maya Angelou
There was a book that I purchased few years back, a compilation of newspaper articles in an obscure out-of-print publication. I quickly scanned the book and stopped midway, for no particular reason, and started reading. One chapter was dedicated to a story published in a foreign newspaper. It described a murder committed on an American stage. I honestly can’t remember whether it was a Parisian publication or an English one. As I read the article, I became physically ill. The same thing happened this week as I watched video of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis.
The 1911 newspaper story had to do with a young black man randomly selected for a public execution. Tickets were sold to take a shot as he was tied to a post and positioned center stage.
I could not unimagine the historic stage scene and had nightmares for weeks. Every once in a while, it still pops up, a dark shadow in the recess of my mind. For the past few days, I have tried to locate the book without success. I began looking on the internet last night while watching footage of the Minneapolis protests. Looking for this single incident in a legacy of a white entitlement that allows the public murder of unarmed black men seemed almost impossible. How do you narrow down one killing when hundreds of thousands have occurred over the years?
I eventually found it; here is one article published in a Canadian newspaper, as it is the most informative:
“Livermore, Ky., April 21. – Will Potter, a negro, last night was dragged to the opera house stage, tied to a post, and riddled with bullets by fifty men. He had shot and killed Frank Mitchell, 22 years of age in a quarrel. The mob gathered in the orchestra pit of the theatre and took seats. A signal was given and the body was riddled with bullets by men in the auditorium” (“Ottawa Journal” on April 21, 1911, page 1). Kentucky newspapers referred to this incident as a “lynching” and justified the event in various recounts. Some articles noted that Mitchell was injured, and others noted that he was killed; it was whatever white people reported to the newspaper in that particular town.
Not a single day goes by that I do not encounter a description in some historic newspaper about the murder of black man. The number and consistency are staggering. A description of the event is often placed in a section next to entertainment, seldom on the first page. These men were charged with attempted theft, assault, vandalism, rape, or some other crime, often not committed, or the crime substantiated. The articles always justify the reason for torture, hanging, shooting, strangling or other means of execution at the hands of local white citizens. Frequently these victims were dragged from their homes, dragged from jail cells, or randomly rounded up on the street. For further reading, here is an article on lynching in America – https://lynchinginamerica.eji.org/report/ and the “Jim Crow Era: A Solemn Roll Call of Those Brutally Murdered” – https://www.kingscountypolitics.com/the-jim-crow-era-a-solemn-roll-call-of-those-brutally-murdered/
To not admit that these past actions have not informed the current atrocities is sheer ignorance; it is a carefully constructed system of oppression for people of color that is alive and well.
In regard to the 1911 murder, the NAACP condemned the murder and sent letters to President Taft, the Congress, and Gov. Wilson of Kentucky. Warrants were issued for eighteen of the “lynchers.” Three leaders were separately indicted and tried for murder, but soon acquitted. The same thing has continued to occur over the decades, all over the country.
It is hard not to recall every incident of racism that I have encountered over the years, read about in the newspapers, or watched on television. I encounter racists all the time and feel helpless. When we elected President Obama, I thought that America may have finally turned the corner; I was wrong, and it was a call to action for racists.
I primarily work with, and for, middle-aged to elderly white men throughout the country. Although the terminology slightly varies from region to region, I have heard a plethora of derogatory terms for people of different races and religions. Simultaneously, the older white men also complain about being the new “minority” and a “victim,” they described nationwide persecution and oppression of white men. They have no concept of systematic racism in America nor the shameful legacy of slavery that did not end with the Civil War. I will not even begin to get into the gender debate with these same men. Whether I spoke up or not, I have listened to friends and family go on ad nauseum, making their judgements about those who are different. Racism runs deeply in American and has no intention of leaving soon. Children have been carefully taught to fear and hate people who are different, especially in Minnesota.
When those in power, such as an American president, give racists a voice, they enable the behavior of white supremacists in any profession. I am angry, and you should be too. This has to stop.
To be continued…
