Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. Even though there are many more which I can't include. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."
I've spent the last two weeks discussing the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, hoping to put its name into every article and every sentence which contains the words "Koch Brothers," and I'm not going to spend today's whole article on it. But I did want to share that, in addition to everything else, Bradley also has an enemies' list. And guess who is on it. that's right, the Center for Media and Democracy, whose hard work built the expose summarized here. (Others on the list include Alliance for Justice, Color of Change, and Common Cause. Good groups. I'm not on that list, not being an organization, nor is Politics Plus – yet. But I'd be proud to be on it.)
But I have found two recent deaths to be so moving I need to say something about them. You have probably heard about the murder of Richard Collins III, a student of Bowie State Uiversity (in just three days he would have been an alumnus). He had been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army's intelligence division just two days prior. Or maybe you didn't. There is a strong tendency, when a person of color is killed, for media to present information to make it look like the victim was at fault, or at least "no angel." That couldn't be done here. Gordon Johnson, the special agent in charge of the Baltimore office of the FBI, said he should be remembered as a national treasure. No one seems to have been found who had anything less than glowingly positive to say about him.
The murder is being investigated as a hate crime. It has been called an act of terrorism. Dave Zirin at The Nation Magazine has taken some flak for calling it a lynching. Zirin belives that his categorization is important enough to defend it, and he makes an excellent case.
First he points out that, although we tend to think of a lynching as being a hanging, or, in other words, done with a rope, there have been many deaths totally accepted as lynchings in which no rope was involved. He cites the case of Emmett Till, who was beaten to death and shot, not hanged, but definitely lynched.
To clarify the difinition of lynching, Dave spoke with Dr. Rasul Mowatt, a professor of American Studies at Indiana University. Dr. Mowatt has written extensively about lynchings, and would appear to be the go-to guy on the subject. He said:
The Tuskegee Institute in 1959 provided us with the clearest definition of a lynching: 1) Met death illegally; 2) Three or more persons participated in the killing; and, 3) the group was acting on the pretext of justice, race or tradition (vigilantism).… To me, the second criteria from Tuskegee is no longer a requirement for a lynching. (emphasis mine)
Why is it no longer necessary to have the hands-on participation of a mob for a murder to qualify as a lynching? Because mobs in the 21st century no longer need to be hands-on or physically present in order to incite murderous behavior. They can be on line instead.
Sean Urbanski was part of a Facebook group called “Alt Reich: Nation,” which has since been taken down. Based on screengrabs still available online, this community performed the function of a mob: agitating its participants not only to racist bigotry but also to violence.
This stabbing needs to be understood as part of a tradition of homegrown violence aimed at black and brown people as an instrument of terror. If we don’t see Richard Collins III in the centuries-old continuum of lynchings, we are helping whitewash what took place. We are categorizing what happened as an aberration in the “post-racial” 21st-century United States.
Megaera and Tisiphone, while it's appropriate for you to go after the murderer, I think it must be Alecto who tackles the issue of the use of language. Good luck.
The other death, Jayson Negron, was a shooting by police, hardly a novelty of course, but this was another victim who was found to be impossible to denigrate (what a word!), and this young man was only fifteen. Here's why this stood out for Daily Kos user JoanMar:
(I have been forcing myself to watch the videos of some pretty horrific acts of brutality for some time now. It has not been easy, but I have determinedly stuck at it…until this one. I started watching the video of the defenseless, powerless, innocent young boy forced to lie prostrate on the ground and at the point where it became obvious that he’d moved his head, I lost it. I couldn’t continue.)
7. And this…this is almost unbearable: They watched him die and then left his body uncovered and exposed for 6 hours! Why???!!!
In addition, the bald-faced lying by law enforcement stood out, even in a world where police lies are routine: "After his death, representatives of the police department went to break the news to his loved ones: 'Jayson was shot in the head and died instantaneously,' they told his mother." In fact, he was shot several times in the chest and bled to death. How could they think this lie would not be found out? And that is just one lie among multiple lies.
Megaera and Tisiphone, the group Support the Dream Defenders, while mourning Jayson desparately, realize you cannot bring him back. They would be best pleased if you see what you can do to help get legislation passed to require law enforcement to render first aid to anyone injured in a stop or an arrest. Clearly no such legislation is going to be passed by a Republican Congress. But at least some state legislatures would consider it. Thank you.
The Furies and I will be back.
Cross posted to Care2 at http://www.care2.com/news/member/101612212/4054791
7 Responses to “Everyday Erinyes #76”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Two young lives lost to brutality, and hatred. When they should have been rising up, to live their dreams, they are murdered. My god, this is downright horrific and sad.
I despair at these stories, they should have never happened. I too, echo what Gene wrote, in saying we're just better than this. I pray.
Thanks, Joanne.
The next paragraph after the two I quoted from Zirin was:
Of course many of us ARE better than this. But, sadly, we are not the main stream. And we are certainly not represented by the main stream media – nor in Congress – nor in our state legislatures – at least not to the degree we should be. Painful as it is, we need to be aware of it, for everyone's sake.
How many years (decades?) will it take to undo the harmful mindset that the hate-mongering right-wing Rethuglican Party in general – and Twitler in particular – have unleashed on our country.
It took eight years for Pres. Obama to right the ship of state sent foundering by Dubya.
And of course, this assumes that the harm CAN be undone.
Sadly, it will probably be easier and faster to undo the economic harms being perpetrated by this administration. But that alone will take a lot of work, and it must be done. I pray we do not forget about the deeper harm of attitudes, so much harder to fight, but it must be fought too.
Thanks JD. Need to post and lie down.
I'm sure you'd be proud if Politics Plus would be mentioned on the enemies' list of the Bradley foundation; I think we'd all be proud if it had that much impact, but in this day and age, I think TomCat could do without the hassle and 'fan mail' that would come with this type of 'recognition'. 😀
Lynchen has been part of the Dutch language for quite some time and your discussion made me look it up in my Etymological Dictionary – yes, in moments like these I still reach for a favorite book – and found that in its meaning of 'to kill without trial' it has been in use since 1863, stems from the English 'to lynch' and is derived from the name William Lynch (1742-180) who is said to have made lynching 'popular'. While it doesn't say so in this etymologically focused dictionary, I've never heard or read the word being used for the killing by a single vigilante, always by a 'mob', and never in connection with a 'one-on-one' racist murder, so to speak. But what semantics are used to describe the dreadful murder of Richard Collins just because he was black won't matter that much to the Erinyes, or to Collins and his family, as long as they can make sure that Alt-Reich inspire Urbanski gets all that he deserves, thrown in jail for the rest of his life and never let out again, especially not after congregating with the White Supremacists he meets there.
The same should hold for the murderer(s) of 15-year-old Jayson Negron, the men who by dressing themselves up in a police uniforms think they are judge, jury and executioner in one and themselves above the law. If anything I would call this a lynching. And I think the Furies need to do something more drastic than trying to get a law passed that makes cops render first aid to those injured during an arrest. Neither the "cop" that shot Jayson six times in the chest, then turned the dying boy on his stomach to handcuff him, nor those colleagues that then watched him bleed to death, and then all lied their a$$es off to cover this crime up, would have given Jayson first aid even when required by law. Nor would they have had any qualms to lie about that too. Not that it would have mattered much after six shots to the chest, they wanted him dead and that's exactly what they got.
You are quite right that the definition of "lynch" has always included a group. And Dave Zirin is not trying to change that, just to broaden the definition of a group to include invisible supporters. It would only matter in vicinities that have extra penalties for a crime when it can be defined as a "hate crime" or as a "lynching." And such do exist.