James Allen has traveled all around the country. He’s a collector. But what he collects might be considered unusual: photographs and postcards taken as souvenirs during a particularly violent form of hate crime—lynchings. Allen has published his photograph collection in a book, but the images are also available on his site : WithoutSanctuary.org.
In America's Dark Past, Nooses and Lynchings Epitomized Racial Hatred and Symbolized a Dysfunctional Society.
As visitors navigate James Allen's collection of photographs—some of which were kept in personal photo albums and feature scrawled notes written nearly a century ago or longer—the feeling is that of peering into another world. It is a world in which violence, murder and vigilante justice were to be participated in and cheered by everyone, children being no exception.
Both black and white Americans are counted among the victims, but most are black. And while some victims were thought to have broken the law, others were guilty only of an unpopular departure from social norms. Such departures might have consisted of a white man standing up for a black person, or a black man flirting with a white woman. In the past, actions like these were enough to incite murder.
James Allen's images depict extreme violence and racial hatred. It is hard not to recoil at images of charred remains, heads hung at impossible angles, vacant eyes and bodies—sometimes tortured even after death. But the images of children smiling, women laughing, and men standing proudly—all positioned beneath one or more hanging bodies or burnt dead corpses—also reveal a deeply troubled American society.
Jena 6 and Other Copycat Noose Incidents are No Joking Matter.
Leaders of Diversity Inc. were so alarmed by the Jena 6 case and the growing number of copycat incidents occurring all around the country, in schools and in workplaces, that they initiated an online noosewatch. To date, the site reports 62 noose incidents across the country, with a vast majority occurring on the east coast—both in northern and southern states.
Online forums and blogs, on the other hand, highlight a confused nation. Americans are unsure what to make of the Jena 6 case or the rash of hate crimes that ensued. While some are deeply repulsed, others insist it's all a practical joke.
But the resurgence of hate in the U.S. and the accompanying 40% increase in the number of U.S. hate groups tell us otherwise; they tell us that noose incidents are no joking matter.
All Americans Should Be Concerned About the Rise in Noose Incidents.
Aside from fueling anger, noose incidents such as the one in the Jena 6 case incite fear. They are terrorist acts—initiated to create fear and paranoia, to chip away at the confidence people have in the society to which they belong. And like disease, these terrorist acts spread—influencing a generation long removed and emotionally detached from the untold horrors of its history.
But racial hatred ultimately gives rise to violence. And as James Allen's collection of images has shown, the costs of such extreme violence—dysfunction and immorality—do not make for a healthy society. Americans must remember the past, painful as it may be, just as the international community remembers tragedies like the holocaust. For only in remembering, can Americans remain informed, vigilant, and equipped to respond to new threats to their collective future.
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