MovieChat Forums > BlacKkKlansman (2018) Discussion > The gruesome lynching of that black boy ...

The gruesome lynching of that black boy in 1916 told by Harry Belafonte...

posted 5 years ago by Alessandro (96)
12 replies | jump to latest

actually left out most of the unimaginable torture details. (Which was, wait... the point of that scene in the movie...?)

If you want to read the full story and the details of the truly indescribable and abysmal events that went down in rural Texas in 1916, go to Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_of_Jesse_Washington

But beware: You WILL NOT FORGET what you are about to read.

And remember: All this happened not in some ancient times, not in Ancient Rome or Sumer or at some bloodsoaked Maya site a thousand years ago in a different, merciless culture, but in the proud and beautiful state of Texas, USA, just 100 years ago.

And hundreds of people (incl. their KIDS!) were watching LIVE the horrific mutilating, torturing and burning alive of a human being right before their eyes - the screams, THE SCREAMS, THE PAIN, THE AGONY - can you imagine that? Can you really imagine that? And the next day they probably went to church again.

Read it. You owe that to Jesse.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

And he beat a white woman to death with a hammer and confessed to it over an argument regarding mules. I suppose you wanted him to have three hots and a cot?

[–] Alessandro (96) 5 years ago

Really? I didn't know that, honestly. Maybe you know the whole story better than me, but this can't seriously be your justification to kill him the way they did??!

If he had been white he wouldn't have had to die like this, I guess you'll agree with me...

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I don't care if he was white or black he deserved to die for what he did.

[–] Palanador21 (217) 5 years ago

Are you kidding.. The police likely beat a confession out of that mentally challenged kid.. He didn't even have a lawyer present during questioning..

[–] Threadkiller (2952) 5 years ago

Logic and white supremacist reasoning rarely match. Only a full blown white supremacist degenerate would try to find a way to downplay/justify that horrific act of white supremacist terrorism & muder that was sadly all too commonplace. I wouldn't worry about the butthurt white supremacists trolling this board.

[–] [email protected] (139) 5 years ago

A trial without a lawyer... ain't that illegal? So there.

[–] HarlemEagle42 (16140) 5 years ago

Well duh, it's 1916 Texas, what do you expect? Hell, they still kill black people for sport in Texas. Let's not forgot the racism is so entrenched their last governor had a vacation spot called N*****head. And didn't see the harm.

[–] Bolchevik (369) 5 years ago

Apart the fact it wasn't clear if Washington was dead when being burned, I think the movie pretty much covered how barbaric was his death. I know he killed that woman but definitely didn't deserve such an horrific death. The crowd was probably pissed that they could not hang him before the trial so they tortured him to show they still had "control".

It's beyond me how normal people can assist and enjoy such things. But in medieval times, torture was very common and people were enjoying it like a show. In fact, only 100 years or so before Washington, they were still officially doing even more gruesome sentences. Lookout the guy who tried to kill the French king Louis XV. I won't repeat the details here but be ready to make nightmares after reading it. I remember Casanova relating in his novel that some people had intercourses while watching the horrific death and the crowd applauded after the untenable ordeal...

[–] Palanador21 (217) 5 years ago

How do you know he killed that woman? Knowing the racial climate of that time how could anyone take what the police said about that case as being truth? I think that they simply executed another innocent Black man because they knew that they could get away with it.

[–] Bolchevik (369) 5 years ago

Alessandro's article said Washington confessed in Court.

[–] noveltylibrary65 (200) 4 years ago

Confessing and doing are hardly the same thing.

[–] Bolchevik (369) 4 years ago

For the justice system its pretty much the same thing. And for me, well I have to rely on Something.