A lot of great history and ideas, especially about our continued ability to share these stories. Black history is really American history. But one fo the main problems is whites are pushed to the background in black history. What? I hear you say. Well, let me explain that: the violence of whites and the punishment they received for acting out against black Americans is often in the background. The “massacres” didn’t just happen by themselves. It’s not like black Americans were standing around organizing to vote, and said among themselves, Would it be great if a group of organized white men came in and shot us up to stop our contribution to democracy and voting? Of course not. That is not how it happened. Those white organized and rode in and shot up and start all these massacres. Then after the mentioned Opelousas massacre they burned down the black newspaper in that parish, leaving the white one standing. How many arrests were made? Did the white president intervene to make arrests? Did the white governor or president make a statement against this despicable white rampage? Instead, we get a rather bland history where it looks like “a massacre just happened.”
In all of these extrajudicial massacres and lynching, many followed by driving 100, 1200 or 2000 black Americans off their land and their property overnight, I have not found one case of the opposite. I know of one case when whites were standing around and organized black men with weapons rode into start the massacre, nor one case when a horde of angry black men rose in with weapons and drove dozens or hundreds of white Americans off their land and out of their homes. Not one. If you know of any, please advise. But in some places, like Harrison, Missouri if I recall, twice white men organized to drive black families out of town, in 1905 and 1908 or so, apparently because they missed some.
So that is what is lacking. Whites who write these histories, like state controlled textbooks, have understandably eliminate their culpability, or push it vaguely into the background into instinct phrases like “a mob”. But to the black men and women seeing the white men drive them off their land or ride in with weapons to massacre or kill, they stared these whites right in the faces, specific faces, that made a long continuous history of extrajudicial unconstitutional violence never formally repudiated that these black Americans suffering those attacks felt land on their bodies in blows and bullets by those specific faces.
Thanks so much again for inspiring talk, conversations and encouraging us to keep on going until a real history is written.