Lynch mob

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A lynch mob is a group of people intent on an extrajudicial execution. Their victim is a specific individual, but the mob may direct their collective rage at persons who resemble their intended victim. Historically, the term referred to groups who went to capture and then hang someone, but nowadays it refers to any group that gets angry at an individual.

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[edit] Historical use

Historically, a lynch mob is any mob of people whipped up to kill someone, usually by hanging. In the Southern United States, from the Reconstruction era until the 1960s (possibly the 1930s depending on what one considers to be a mob), it was a common occurrence for groups of whites to catch black men who were accused of some offense, including rape or other sexual misconduct, and lynch them. Rarely were these accusations ever fairly adjudicated. (Condemning lynchings should not be confused with rape apology, which is used to falsely defend people of all colors accused of rape or sexual misconduct today.)

Recently found and restored photographs have documented the often festive air of these lynchings, where whole communities would get together and have picnics in the shadow of a dead black man.[1] Overlapping that phenomenon is the use of mob violence to repress organized labor in the South and the American West.[2] One of the first major civil rights fights of the 20th century was the fight to make lynching a federal crime. This struggle led to the emergence of the NAACP as a major civil rights organization.

[edit] Modern use

In modern usage, lynch mob usually refers to any attempt by a large group to unfairly destroy someone's life based on belonging to some group or holding some belief. This usage can be controversial, since it is often said to mask the true horror of the literal and historical lynch mob. The single most controversial usage of this was probably Clarence Thomas saying that he was being subjected to a "high-tech lynching."[3]

Those thinking about taking part in lynch mobs should first ask themselves if they may be guilty of groupthink.

[edit] See also


[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. American Lynchings WARNING: Graphic content
  2. Rebecca N. Hill. 2009. Men, Mobs, and Law: Anti-lynching and Labor Defense in U.S. Radical History. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0822342809
  3. An Outline of the Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas Controversy, Center for History and New Media
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