Monroe & Florence Work Today - Extra Resources
Activity 3 » News article #1
Use this example to analyze how lynching violence is treated in contemporary political discourse. Read the following article to be able to answer these questions:
1. Who is invoking the idea of lynching? What is their job/position?
2. Who is the audience (or audiences) they knew would hear their comment?
3. Based on the circumstances, in your opinion: do you think this person knows about the history of lynching? (what clues do they leave?)
4. Does their comment reveal a belief that “some people” don’t deserve the same rights that they enjoy?
5. Does the article mention anyone who reacted to the comment? Based on your other answers, how do you assess those reactions?
Burnet County judge apologizes for comment ‘time for a tree and a rope’
23 Nov 2016. By Katie Hall, myStatesman.com.
Copyright © 2016 Austin American-Statesman.
Included here under the principle of fair use for an educational purpose.
If the article is no longer online, the following screenshot preserves the content for your classroom use:
Burnet County judge apologizes for ‘time for a tree and a rope’ comment
By Katie Hall - American-Statesman Staff
Posted: 4:36 p.m. Wednesday, November 23, 2016
The top elected official in Burnet County commented on Facebook that it is “time for a tree and a rope” in a post about the African-American man accused of killing San Antonio police Det. Benjamin Marconi this weekend. County Judge James Oakley apologized for the comment Wednesday.
Oakley appears to have posted the comment Monday, after Otis Tyrone McKane was arrested and charged with killing Marconi. James Walker, a former reporter for the Burnet Bulletin who now works for the Weatherford Democrat newspaper outside Fort Worth, said he saw Oakley’s comment, took a screenshot of it and shared it Tuesday morning. The post no longer appears on Facebook.
Oakley said his comment was “off the cuff” and “indeed curt and harsh.”
“It is for that reason that I deleted it soon after posting and apologize for not being more thoughtful and comprehensive in my expression,” Oakley told the American-Statesman in an email. “What I should have posted, if anything, is a comment that more clearly reflects my opinion on the cowardly crime of the senseless murder of a law enforcement officer.”
His view of McKane “is the same regardless of ethnicity,” Oakley said.
“To be clear, I advocate due process,” Oakley said. “I also support the death penalty in cases where the ultimate crime has been committed and there is clear and complete evidence and where all steps of the judicial process have been respected. I would also point out that I am an administrative judge and do not preside over criminal court.”
In addition to presiding over a five-member commissioner’s court in Burnet County, Oakley is also on the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s executive committee and on the boards of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement and the Pedernales Electric Cooperative.
The PEC issued a statement Wednesday about Oakley’s comment, saying that the utility “does not condone any type of offensive language. Comments such as these are not a reflection of our cooperative values. We proudly welcome and serve all members.”
The blog PEC Truthwatch, run by Larry Landaker, who previously served on the Pedernales Electric Cooperative’s board, blogged about Oakley’s “tree and a rope” comment.
“What Mr. Oakley suggested was racist,” the blog post read. “A sitting County Judge in Texas has suggested that a black man accused of a crime … should be lynched. … There is no place on the PEC board of directors for an open racist. This is not political correctness. It is racism in its rawest form.”
Landaker has been an opponent of Oakley’s. In June, he argued in his blog that Oakley should not be re-elected to the PEC board.
Copyright © 2016 Austin American-Statesman.
1. Person who invoked lynching, and their position:
2. Their intended audience or audiences:
3. (Your opinion): Do you think they knew the history of lynching they were invoking?
(what clues):
4. Does the comment reveal a personal belief that “some people” don’t deserve the same rights?
Is this white supremacy in disguise?
5. Who reacted to the lynching comment:
(Your opinion): Do you agree with the reactions, or have other thoughts?
