Seeing the writing on the wall for the “legal institution” of Slavery well before the Civil War, Southern Elites were scrambling to reconfigure their business models in order to secure access to that precious commodity, their niggers. The mythical & infamous Willie Lynch was called in to help the Planter class plan for emancipation. How can they keep control over their slaves, even once gradualism was exhausted and the inevitable freedom at long last had come?

In the letter credited to him, Lynch actually frowns upon hangings as a “waste of valuable stock.” According to him:

I am not here to enumerate your problems, I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them. In my bag here, I have a fool proof method for controlling your slaves. I guarantee every one of you that, if installed correctly, it will control the slaves for at least three hundred years.

So what we know as “lynching” is really frowned upon by the Planter class. The true lynching was to sow disunity such that we would never be able to overcome the systemic and cultural obstacles placed in our – that our designed to negatively impact us on the basis of the group to which we belong.

And we are still swinging from that metaphorical tree. #StrangeFruit

We have nailed ourselves to that tree, so that we might find a way to survive in this white man’s world. But is that freedom? #WhatsFree

What is freedom? What is this freedom that was promised us? What is that freedom that will at long last bring us down from the lynching tree, so that we might rest and experience new life?

We discuss that in this episode of Blacks with Power, and I want to invite you to this consideration. Coming off the Juneteenth release of my new book, Becoming a People: Re-Membering Blackness in the imago Dei, there were a few things I wanted to connect with Pr. Jimmie on and share with you. I think you’ll really be edified by the convo. And I believe it should compel you to grab a copy of my book.

Notes:

The beautiful piece of art used in the cover image is by Nebiyu Assefa. See more of his art via the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIdF5jN-Y2o&sub_confirmation=1

Un-Lynching Black America to Establish a People