A Book and a Thought
The book is TRIAL by James Patterson. some of you , I’m sure have read his books or seen movies made from his books. Many of his books feature Alex Cross, a detective who happens to be black .This story features one of his ancestors who lived during the times of all the lynchings in Mississippi.
I know the clan had a resurgence during this time and we had lynchings right here in Oklahoma. You can look it up on the net if you want to do so. One site I was on showed a black woman hanging with onlookers, dressed in their Sunday best . watching and doing nothing.
This book tells the story of a young lawyer from Washington summoned to the office of Theodore Roosevelt.The president charged him with the duty of finding out about this and reporting back. Teddy was taking this step because of the pressure he was getting from prominent blacks such as W.E.B. Du Bois, the great writer and crusader.
I won’t tell the horror stories but the book has plenty of them. Children and women were hung. Fingers were cut off and kept for souvenirs Homes were burned with the family inside.
This is a thriller and a look back at a horrible time in our history. This young lawyer sought out and reported the hangings, the Klan and reported back to Teddy. He heard nothing from him in return. Finally this lawyer more or less forced local law enforcement to make some arrests. Then came the sorry excuse for a trial.I’m not going to tell the end . This book is in our Pioneer library. It is a very, very good read.
Thoughtful for a few days after reading this , it occurred to me many of the older black Americans have heard their own parents tell of these things.Think of the strength it took to bear such atrocities with only your faith and your hymns and hope for a brighter day to keep you going.
Another thought I had: I’m so glad Obama’s people were not brought here as slaves or came here as immigrants. I feel no personal guilt for any of this but I do feel a sense of shame that any American could have stood by and watched the persecution. I feel so happy to see someone like Condelessa Rice or Oprah or Colen Powell rise above all this bad history. I am so happy our nation is rising above its infantile prejudice.
This is Black History Month and my reading this book at this time was just coincidence but I’m glad to have read it. Give it a go, you’ll like it.