Is Lynching Back? A Personal Reflection
Written By Mr Ish.
The Goal of This Article
The goal of this article is to highlight a few incidents of Black individuals who lost their lives due to hanging. All these cases have happened within the span of 5 years, between 2020 and 2025. I will try to both tally the incidents and briefly look at reports of these individuals' deaths. Also, I will try to reflect on why such violent incidents seem to be on the rise, and why we are going back as a country to accept such racial rhetoric and views. This is not a comprehensive study, and perhaps this personal reflection will motivate someone to learn about this subject and spread awareness.
Note: This is a difficult subject for me to write about. Over the last few years, I kept hearing about different incidents involving the deaths of Black persons in this horrific way—found hanging. Lynching was a terrible method to intimidate and punish people of color in what I hoped was a dark period of our history that we should have moved on from. I believe most Americans, no matter their race, color, or creed, are not racist. But I also believe that the rights that were granted are rights that need the protection of all of us. For an inclusionary country is a great country.
The Rise of Fascist Tendencies
As our country descends into fascistic tendencies—with the rise of the far right, the Trump phenomenon, the war on Islam, and later the siding with the Zionist state in its genocide by the so-called moderate left and moderate right—we have seen the emboldening of extremely racist beliefs among the ruling class. These racist views, which already have a long history in North America, are now in revival.
The Economic Decay
As our economy shifted to a financialized and consumer economy, and as many people were plunged into poverty, it has become all too convenient to blame and "other" those who are different. And believe you me, no one is as "othered" as a person of color in the US.
This, in a way, resurrects the attitudes of that dark past. People with racist views and even fascistic tendencies are emboldened to speak and act with impunity, especially against Muslims and dark-complected individuals. Furthermore, Americans who believe in human rights and equality are called fanatics and communists and are being purged from their jobs and schools due to their opposition to the Gaza genocide, which our government took as a threat to its own interests because of Zionist influence.
Racist Unity (Global Elites in Power Will Drop the Mask)
Around the globe, people in power have used every intellectual trick to subjugate and invade countries and control populations—in the name of democracy, "which we will bring with our tanks," and in the name of the free market, which we can use to destroy small to medium-sized businesses and break worker organizations. But when all that fails and the mask is off, those people in power will go back to the 17th-century European view of the superiority of the races. This is a global phenomenon.
- From the Israeli designation of Palestinians as "human animals."
- To pseudo-intellectuals claiming that Africans have below-human intelligence.
- To the dangerous view of Hispanics as all being rapists.
- And let us not forget the call of Mr. Trump for the expulsion of Somali Americans.
Highlighting Some of the Lynching Cases
Now, I am not a young person, and I know that these issues have plagued our culture. But I believe that we are living in what may become a dangerous time for those who are scapegoated, for these reasons:
- The economic pain and hardship, which will create anger that can be easily channeled.
- The political incentive for such actions. Demonizing a group like Muslims, for example, is rewarded by powerful lobbies like AIPAC and J Street. Racial or anti-colored policies are often used to blame poverty on one group of people—a strategy often used by the Republican Party.
- Deep racial views that are sadly still baked into and ingrained in many people—a belief in racial superiority and inferiority fed among different groups.