Deadly Amusements

While reading tomorrows assigned reading, I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into, and consequently, I was right...In the past I have read about lynchings, but not in this illustrative and detail driven context. Hale sequenced the accounts in a particular way to drive the meaning and degradation of lynching home. As a result, I found the last story most difficult to read because although it was not a public spectacle, it was more gruesome with more dehumanizing details. Too me, dehumanization has hit a breaking point when a the accused is forced to eat his own penis...Changing the subject, I also found it quite dehumanizing when a lynched man's skin was not only made into a souvenir, but a leather bag!

Another interesting point Hale acknowledges is the white women's role in lynching. I found it quite mortifying that for the most part, women were the instigators of lynching. Through accusing a black man of rape, lynching was habitual and there was no denying a white women's word. I am in no way condoning rape, but it's quite a paradox to say that is okay for white man to rape black woman, whereas a black man raping a white woman is more perverse.