Political Quotes

“James Baldwin once said: Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced. That is why we are here again today, to face the history of lynching in this country. From 1882 to 1986, the U.S. Congress failed to pass anti-lynching legislation when it had the opportunity more than 200 times. We have an opportunity, once again, to right this wrong and face the ugly history of lynching in America. Let's recall this stain on America's history. Lynching is an act of terror. It is murder. These were summary executions. Victims of lynching were dragged out of their homes. They had ropes wrapped around their necks. They were hanged on trees. In many cases, they were castrated and burned as crowds of people watched and applauded. The premise underlying all of these acts was that Black people were not full human beings. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, lynching was used as an instrument of terror and intimidation 4,084 times during the late 19th and 20th centuries. In 1955, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African-American boy, was lynched in Mississippi after being accused of offending a woman in her family's grocery store. When Emmett Till's mother held open her son's casket at his funeral, the image of his body became one of the starkest examples of racial violence in America. These lynchings, I think no one can deny, were acts of violence. They were needless, horrendous acts of violence, and they were motivated by racism.…”