Ode to the Trees...For Ida
On a recent trip, driving down south on I-95, I couldn't help but be entranced by the beauty of the natural landscape that surrounded me. The magnificent magnolia, oak, willow, pine, dogwood, fir, aspen and maple trees that line up and down the interstate were a true sight to behold.
While being astounded by God's great works, I pondered how many of these trees had bared witness and been made accomplice to the thousands of lynchings that have occurred in this country.
Lynching is the torture and killing of someone (usually Black) by hanging, committed by a mob. The most common way to lynch someone is with the use of a tree's strongest branch.
I wonder from the trees' perspective what it must've been like. The atrocities they must've witnessed, even if they weren't used as the tool to commit such acts, having stood near the tree that held the body must've been an experience. To provide shade for the church-goer who paid the ticket admission to watch a human being suffer and die. To even provide back support for the family choosing to have lunch during the occasion, they watch someone's family member killed. Thousands of lynchings documented in the U.S, means thousands of trees, thousands of lives taken and yet still no justice.
After the Reconstruction period, during the Jim Crow era in this country, Ida B. Wells became famous for her impassioned writings on anti-lynching advocacy. She was born a slave that went on to own a newspaper, co-found the NAACP and through her writings was able to expose the United States' ambivalence on the lynching of Blacks in this nation.
More than 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress from 1882-1986.
None were approved.
The Senate issued an apology in 2005 for the country's long history of lynchings and for never enacting legislation.
It still has failed to push through a bill targeting the brutal practice. Recently, three senators have introduced one to make lynching a federal hate crime, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Tim Scott. Since 45 has taken office there's been an increase in hate crimes including lynchings.
In April 2018, two young Black men Alize Smith and Jerron Mooreland were lynched in Moore, Oklahoma. In Atlanta, Georgia two Black bodies were found hanged around the same time, both were ruled suicides.
In Montgomery, Alabama, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice that commemorates the victims of lynchings across the U.S opened this April.
The use of these natural wonders in such egregious and deplorable an act as lynching could really taint one's admiration for trees. Though they do so many life-giving things worth admiring. From oxygen to paper, to wood for homes and fires, trees also continue to be aesthetically beautiful and important to us all.
James Baldwin claimed to be a 'witness' to the atrocities inflicted on his people. I believe Ida B.Wells was a witness for us too. I consider myself one as well, witnessing the atrocities inflicted on my people and writing as my tool of protest.
Check out Ida B. Wells' writing here: http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/wellslynchlaw.html
While being astounded by God's great works, I pondered how many of these trees had bared witness and been made accomplice to the thousands of lynchings that have occurred in this country.
Lynching is the torture and killing of someone (usually Black) by hanging, committed by a mob. The most common way to lynch someone is with the use of a tree's strongest branch.
I wonder from the trees' perspective what it must've been like. The atrocities they must've witnessed, even if they weren't used as the tool to commit such acts, having stood near the tree that held the body must've been an experience. To provide shade for the church-goer who paid the ticket admission to watch a human being suffer and die. To even provide back support for the family choosing to have lunch during the occasion, they watch someone's family member killed. Thousands of lynchings documented in the U.S, means thousands of trees, thousands of lives taken and yet still no justice.
After the Reconstruction period, during the Jim Crow era in this country, Ida B. Wells became famous for her impassioned writings on anti-lynching advocacy. She was born a slave that went on to own a newspaper, co-found the NAACP and through her writings was able to expose the United States' ambivalence on the lynching of Blacks in this nation.
More than 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress from 1882-1986.
None were approved.
The Senate issued an apology in 2005 for the country's long history of lynchings and for never enacting legislation.
It still has failed to push through a bill targeting the brutal practice. Recently, three senators have introduced one to make lynching a federal hate crime, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Tim Scott. Since 45 has taken office there's been an increase in hate crimes including lynchings.
In April 2018, two young Black men Alize Smith and Jerron Mooreland were lynched in Moore, Oklahoma. In Atlanta, Georgia two Black bodies were found hanged around the same time, both were ruled suicides.
In Montgomery, Alabama, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice that commemorates the victims of lynchings across the U.S opened this April.
The use of these natural wonders in such egregious and deplorable an act as lynching could really taint one's admiration for trees. Though they do so many life-giving things worth admiring. From oxygen to paper, to wood for homes and fires, trees also continue to be aesthetically beautiful and important to us all.
James Baldwin claimed to be a 'witness' to the atrocities inflicted on his people. I believe Ida B.Wells was a witness for us too. I consider myself one as well, witnessing the atrocities inflicted on my people and writing as my tool of protest.
Check out Ida B. Wells' writing here: http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/wellslynchlaw.html
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