Chatham County Stands Up Against Racial Violence
Chairwoman Karen Howard accepts the landmark on behalf of the county. Source for picture: Chatham County Community Website
Most recently, in Chatham County, a landmarker has been accepted by Karen Howard, the Board of Commissioners Chair for the county. The marker includes information about the lynching of at least six Black community members, specifically Jerry and Harriet Finch, John Pattishall, Lee Tyson, Henry Jones, and Eugene Daniel. These victims were lynched between 1885 and 1921. The Finch family, Pattishall, and Tyson were targeted after the unsolved murder of a white family, while Jones and Daniel were lynched for concocted charges of violence against white women. Furthermore, the marker states that not only residents but the legislators and law enforcement of Chatham County were culpable for these acts. After the unveiling of the marker, Ms. Howard and local community leaders helped to lead a prayer, bringing the community together for healing against racial violence.
The Equal Justice Initiative has led the way in remembrance efforts of lynching victims in the South. The initiative’s “Community Historical Marker Project” is active in Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Virginia. The initiative partners with local governments to install markers which give names to the victims of lynching as well as provide historical background for the community.
Historically, lynching was a form of capital punishment, commonly by means of hanging, for an alleged offense without a criminal trial. However, lynchings can entail other vicious means of terror before the actual killing of someone, such as mutilation, torture, and desecration. Black people were the primary victims, representing 72% of 3,446 recorded lynchings, which occurred most frequently in the South post-Civil War through 1950. This is because radical white mobs used the act to terrorize and maintain supremacy over Black communities. They did this by materializing false allegations against Black men including the rape of white women, murder, or robbery. Therefore, lynchings helped to advance the narrative that Black men are exceptionally violent and hypersexual, keeping white men in power.
One of the most shocking parts about lynchings was the failure of law enforcement and judicial bodies in maintaining a due process for all. In the case of Chatham County, the mobs were actually able to take people from jails to be lynched and publicly lynched victims with no consequences, promoting a culture of impunity. This allowed for fear to be deeply instilled into not only victims’ families, but all Black people who could not trust law enforcement to perform their duties and protect them. Additionally, Black Americans gained a fabricated reputation for being overly violent and less human than others.
These psychosocial effects did not end with the lynching of Black people, but are alive and well today. According to the U.S. National Violent Death Reporting System, findings have shown that a Black U.S. citizen is 2.8 times more likely to be killed by lethal force from law enforcement than a white citizen. There is clearly a disproportionate use of force against Black persons today, and reform is necessary. The recognition of victims in Chatham County has become a part of this process as it works against the dehumanization of Black Americans by sharing their names and stories. Society should continue to push for efforts to remember racial violence so that individuals might embrace a future where one can hold the community and our law enforcement officers accountable for ensuring equal protection under the law for everyone.