Hope?

When I first looked at this picture of a black person hanging in a tree after being lynched with all these white people standing underneath I felt this overpowering sense of surreal ness. The most dominate question running through my mind is, “How could this be real?” Having little knowledge of the time when this sort of activity was popular I can’t grasp the concept that this is real. Given the fact that this was sent out as a postcard, much like postcards are today containing phrases like, “having a good time, wish you were here,” adds to my feeling of surreal ness. I can’t help but think that this is a result of going to a rural, mostly white high school. That often parallels a lack of history taught in class that doesn’t fall under “isn’t America great” persona. This results in me being completely appalled that this lynching happened on our soil, even though I knew these occurrences happened once upon a time. If I don’t see it, it didn’t happen, right?

This picture has successfully shaken my false beliefs to the ground, because the foundation of them has no strong truths to make my beliefs stand stubbornly against this quake. Another thing that makes this picture so hard to digest is how nice of a day it appears to be. The sun peaks through the branches of the tree shinning on the faces of those below. In my mind this seems to be so wrong. Shouldn’t it be raining or at least be a very dark and overcast day? The sun’s desperate attempt to break through the boughs of the tree reminds me of so many pictures depicting hope. At first glace this picture doesn’t depict hope, maybe in a ‘round about way. Possibly showing that maybe there is hope that this sort of activity can be a thing of the past, but at the time this picture was taken a bleak future loomed ahead of us. Why did the sun have to show its presence that day, didn’t it know it was just a day of suffering and full of crimes committed against human kind? The people in this picture could learn a lesson from the sun. No matter what color our skin is the sun shows no prejudice, it shins its light on everyone, and the longer we spend in the sun the darker we become. Getting closer to being the ideal person, a sun kissed child of Mother Earth.

Looking at all the white smiling faces gives me an eerie feeling and a bad taste in my mouth. This picture could almost be an advertisement of how fun it is to lynch people, showing how easy it is. “Look! I did it, so can you.” Even the blurry kid in the front appears to be enjoying himself with a big smile on his face. It probably doesn’t even cross any of the people’s minds that their holiday is at the expense of someone else; that their joy is a direct result in this man’s suffering. While they have a day filled with wholesome family activities this man’s family is suffering (adding to the collective suffering a whole race still carries with them); suffering the loss of their son, brother, or father. You can almost imagine their hatred for the white man. Every night they go to bed dreaming of the day they can seek revenge for all the wrong doing done to their race. Parents dream of a time when their children can experience innocence instead of having the privilege of seeing everything through a filter stolen from them. While restitution will probably never be obtained African-Americans can look forward to a future full of hope instead of the bleak one they have known for so long, even though it may not bloom to its full extent in their lifetime, but they can always hold out for what is due fully theirs.