The Final Five

These were the last of the books that belonged to Watt Espy - of the ones I got from his home.   I was thinking the subject matter interested me and that I might read them before shipping them up to SUNY Albany, where his death penalty collection is.  I read three of them, and skimmed the other two.  And now they are up in New York.

Anatomy of a Lynching is one of the most horrifying books I have ever read.  The final moments of dying would have been a relief, honestly, if you were Claude Neal.  I guess some would read it and say, "He got what he deserved," but the sadistic, brutal, drawn-out manner in which this vigilante punishment was delivered, in the presence of a frenzied mob and curious onlookers in the middle of the night, is incredibly frightening and disturbing.  It reminds you that we are all capable of doing horrific things, individually, or as part of a group.  At a minimum, our own fears ("Maybe I will be next?") can cause us to be silent in the face of witnessing such horrors.  My questions:  What can we do to contain these forces?  How can we learn from all this?  Or is this all "pie in the sky" thinking?

Update 6/11/21  If you are ever in Montgomery, Alabama, check out The National Memorial for Peace and Justice.