[HerRealName]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

It's not always about actually shooting people. It's the intimidation. I've been reading a lot of Black authors this month, and a common thread is the fear that white people might do anything they want to you at any moment. Because they can. It can be whipping, raping, or mutilating you during slavery. (It could be stealing you back into slavery.) It could be jailing you (or basically putting you into forced servitude) because you don't have $5 to pay a fee for some phantom offense. It could be being beaten up or hanged because you bumped into someone; walked on the wrong side of the street; looked at a white woman the wrong way; addressed a white man incorrectly.

I believe, based on knowledge of "the talk," that there is some fear still there. But it may not be quite as bad now, thank goodness. White people don't have the same ability to terrorize that they used to.

That doesn't sit well with a certain set of white people.

But if they are armed, and backed with laws that deem them "law enforcement," backed with laws justifying "self defense" or "stand your ground"...well, now we're talking. That terror is back.

It's not that they WILL shoot people. It's that they can if they want to, without the worry of repercussion (which has begun to erode). You only need that threat to keep people "in their place."

Did you read Slavery by Another Name by Douglas Blackmon? Your description sounds familiar. I've been reading a lot of books on Reconstruction lately. It was such a missed opportunity for the US.