Lynchings in America were long understood to be a form of racial punishment for alledged and almost always false crimes of rape by Black men against white women. Ida B. Wells, the purveyor of truth on lynchings, found a much deeper purpose to the horror.
On March 9th, 1892, a mob of 75 white men lynched three of Well’s friends who owned a successful grocery company in Memphis called the People’s Grocery. The experience shifted Well’s viewpoint about this act of white terrorism.
Wells came to understand that lynching was a means of halting Black economic advancements in the most violent way possible. Black people growing financially was seen as a threat to white economic power.
Wells encouraged Black residents to take their labor and money out of Memphis. The city felt the effect of this for over six weeks and even resorted to asking for Wells’ support to get Black people to return to riding streetcars.
It’s only natural that a country founded on violence uses it as its tool of economic suppression. The system will pay whatever price it must to keep us economically distraught in this country. But no matter the forces against us, we must always push forward and strive toward liberation.