My question for the discussion on The Ox-Bow Incident is:

If the suspected men are indeed guilty of the crime, will justice be served? Is lynching a fair equivalent to robbery or shooting a man? (It might be better to dicuss what justice is and what it means, and then discuss the ideas of the posse.)

Without Sanctuary Reaction

Studying these photographs has engendered in me great disturbance, disgust, and embarrassment to be part of a country capable of such horrid ways. Not only do the bruised and wounded bodies of the black men dangling helplessly from trees disturb me, but so do the proud, white faces of the onlookers as they rally around these lynched men in what seems to be a celebration. The sad reality that instances of lynching occurred very frequently is disturbing. There were over 70 photographs on this website alone – I don’t even want to know exactly how many men were lynched, and quite frankly, I would prefer never to see a picture of it again.
There is a distinct difference between viewing images of lynching and reading literary representations of lynching. Novels supply readers with information surrounding the incidents, while also allowing a look into the characters emotional psyche. Poems sometime give information, but always have a set mood and tone that establishes the emotional traumas associated with it. While novels and poems can really hit hard at realities and horrific circumstances of lynchings, pictures speak much louder. They offer us a real visual. These photographs are proof of our country’s horrendous ways. They are not fictional. Even with little or no background on the lynched individual, there is still a sense of sympathy and sadness. For me, it doesn’t matter what his name is or what he did – it is the fact that he was so brutally killed, most likely without a fair trial, and looked at in accomplishment by the onlookers. Those photographs speak more than 1,000 words.
In Beloved, acts of violence are portrayed. When reading about the scene when Sethe murders her child, I was very interested in why she acted out so violently. I had a desire to understand her and I wanted to learn more about her progression. In the photographs, such as the photograph of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, I had no desire to know any information, but I instead had a desire to do something. I wanted to go into the photograph and curse the onlookers and grab the poor, helpless men hanging from the trees. I did not care to know why the white men did what they did, nor did I care to know what Thomas and Abram were accused of. All I know is that when I saw this picture, and all the rest, I realized the reality of our country’s horrific past. These pictures brought out the ugly details of lynching without any need for any sort of explanation. The dangling dead bodies of bruised and wounded men and the proud onlookers, some young boys and girls, spoke more words than a novel or poem could ever write.

This is a test.