AS WE REMEMBER GEORGE FLOYD
TODAY, THIS WEEK ALSO MARKS THE
100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF ANOTHER
TERRIBLE MOMENT IN MINNESOTA
HISTORY.
ON JUNE 15th, 1920, A WHITE
MOB LYNCHED THREE BLACK MEN WHO
HAD BEEN FALSELY ACCUSED OF A
CRIME IN DULUTH.
THE THREE AFRICAN-AMERICANS
WERE LYNCHED WITHOUT A TRIAL,
NO LEGAL PROCESS HERE.
MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
HOLDING A WEEK OF REMEMBRANCE.
IN AUGSBURG PROFESSOR OF
HISTORY, DR. WILLIAM GREEN
WROTE FORWARD TO A BOOK ON THE
SUBJECT:THINGS IN DULUTH.
HE'S ALSO WRITTEN SEVERAL
ARTICLES ON THIS AND PROFESSOR
GREENE JOINS US NOW VIA SKYPE.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR BEING WITH
US, PROFESSOR.
WE APPRECIATE IT.
THANK YOU FOR INVITING ME.
I JUST WANT TO MAKE ONE
CORRECTION.
IT WAS MICHAEL WHO WROTE THAT
IMPORTANT BOOK ON LYNCHINGS.
I WROTE THE ARTICLES TEXT BACK
VERY GOOD, THANK YOU FOR
CLARIFYING THAT FOR US.
TELL US ABOUT THIS HORRIFIC
EVENT.
I THINK IN MANY WAYS, THIS WAS
FORGOTTEN FOR A LONG TIME AND
PERHAPS BECAUSE MINNESOTANS
WANTED TO FORGET ABOUT IT.
I THINK YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT
THAT.
IT WAS AN UGLY CHAPTER.
IS SORT OF UNDERCUT OUR SENSE
OF OURSELVES AS AN EXCEPTIONAL
SOCIETY.
CAN YOU SHARE A LITTLE BIT
MORE ABOUT ELIAS CLAYTON, ELMER
JACKSON, AND ISAAC THE McGEE
AND WHAT HAPPENED THERE?
THEY CAME TO DULUTH THAT
SUMMER, AND IN CLEANING UP THE
GROUNDS WHERE THE CIRCUS HAD
BEEN, A YOUNG WOMAN AND HER
DATE WERE OUT WATCHING THE
CIRCUS. LATER IN THE EVENING,
THE YOUNG WOMAN WENT HOME AND
TALKED ABOUT HAVING BEEN
ATTACKED SEXUALLY.
AND THE ACCUSATIONS FOR THE
CIRCUS WORKERS WERE THAT THREE
OF THE CIRCUS WORKERS ATTACKED
HER.
IT BEGAN A WHOLE CHAIN OF
EVENTS THAT RESULTED IN THE
ARREST. THEY WERE HELD IN JAIL
AND MOBS FORMED, WHICH COLLATED
INTO LYNCHINGS OF THREE BLACK
MEN.
THESE WERE THE THREE.
YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU LOOK BACK
AT THIS EVENT IN HISTORY, IT IS
HARD NOT TO SEE THE PARALLELS
TO SOME OF THE ISSUES WE HAVE
HAD HERE IN MINNESOTA IN
PRESENT-DAY.
DRAW SOME OF THOSE CONNECTIONS
FOR US.
WELL, THERE'S THE OVERALL
SENSE THAT THE LIVES OF AFRICAN-
AMERICAN MEN ARE DISPOSABLE.
THAT THERE WASN'T DUE PROCESS
IN THE CASE OF THE THREE MEN IN
1820.
SINCE THE VALUE OF LIFE WAS
VERY LOW.
AND IT ALSO UNDERSCORES THE
SENSE THAT BLACK WAS, THE LIVES
OF WHITE PEOPLE, THE BLACK AND
WHITES LIVED TOGETHER.
AND THE PERCEPTIONS THAT THE
WHITE SOCIETY HAD OF BLACKS WAS
BASICALLY FOUNDED ON
STEREOTYPES.
AND CHARACTERIZED AFRICAN-
AMERICANS AS BEASTS OF PREY,
PREDATORY OBESE.
BEASTS.
WE SEE THAT CARRIED OVER OVER
THE YEARS.
BUT, UNLIKE THEN, THE SOLUTION
SEEMS TO BE UNFOLDING. PEOPLE
ARE PUTTING MORE, THEY ARE
FEELING MORE ENGAGED THAN EVER
BEFORE.
THERE IS A REAL SENSE THAT WHAT
HAPPENED WITH REGARD TO MR.
FLOYD, SOMETHING OF OURSELVES
AS A SOCIETY, THAT WAS A LESSON
THAT DID NOT NECESSARILY,
WASN'T NECESSARILY SHARED IN
1920 WITH LYNCHING OF THE THREE
BLACK MEN.
I MIGHT ALSO ADD, THE STATE
LEGISLATURE IN 1821 PASSED A LAW
MAKING LYNCHING A CRIME.
IT HAD NOT BEEN A CRIME.
SO THAT WAS ONE STEP FORWARD IN
THIS PRESENT STATE.
IN PASSING, IT REALLY DEALS
WITH HEAVY RACISM AND
OPPRESSION.
AFRICAN-AMERICANS COULD NOT
PURCHASE HOMES IN NEIGHBORHOODS
THAT WERE PREDOMINANTLY WHITE
WITHOUT SUFFERING HARASSMENT
AND PHYSICAL ABUSE.
SO RACISM CONTINUED.
WE LEARNED THE DEEP RACISM AND
IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN, FROM WHAT
THE LESSONS FROM THOSE INCIDENTS
.
RIGHT, PROFESSOR GREENE,
OBVIOUSLY AS A HISTORIAN, WE
LOOK TO HISTORY TO GET A DEEP
UNDERSTANDING OF WHERE WE ARE
TODAY.
GIVE US YOUR THOUGHTS ON GEORGE
FLOYD AND WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED
OVER THE PAST TWO WEEKS.
WELL, IT WAS A TRAGEDY.
AND IT STOPPED NOT JUST THE
SENSIBILITIES OF JUST THE, BUT
OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
AT NINE ITSELF THAT IN ITSELF
IS MANY CULTURES, MANY
COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD.
BUT THAT THERE STILL NEEDS TO
BE DONE A LOT TO RESPECT THE
DIGNITY AND HUMANITY OF AFRICAN-
AMERICAN MEN.
HOW WE MOVE FORWARD IS SOMETHING
, IT'S A WORK IN PROGRESS.
YOU WANT TO HEED WHAT YOU
LEARNED IN TERMS OF DEALING
WITH DEEP SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS IN
SOCIETY.
RIGHT, YEAH.
IN A CRISIS LIKE THIS, -- WE
LOOK AT THOSE --
DR. GREEN, YOU'RE BREAKING
UP A LITTLE BIT THERE.
BUT WE REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR
TIME.
WE KNOW YOU WILL BE SPEAKING TO
THE MINNESOTA HISTORY CENTER .
THANK YOU SO MUCH.
YOU CAN GO TO WCCO.COM/LINKS