Lynching?

Donald Trump is behaving like a cornered rat as our U.S. Congress investigates possible crimes that he committed that could require his impeachment.

As he flails about in his selfish rage, he accused Congress of being a Lynch mob because they are evaluating accusations that have been made against him, doing so in accordance with our U.S. Constitution, which he hates (except for his favorite 2nd Amendment that can be used to incite violence in support of him--today alone at least two prominent people have declared CIVIL WAR II to protect him from justice).

What is he saying when he accuses our Congress of being a Lynch mob? Well, that is a very important topic running through NATE and KELLY a novel by Michael R. Barnard.

The story is set in 1915 and examines racial attitudes in America in that most fascinating year of our history. NATE AND KELLY tells the story of a businessman and a prostitute who find love and hate, and tells it with the voice of historical accuracy for 1915.

The excerpt from NATE AND KELLY describes Lynching:

‘Simmons’?” Margaret asks, “Who’s that?”

“William J. Simmons. He’s the perverted preacher from Georgia who took Griffith’s damn movie and used it to start up the Ku Klux Klan again. Again! Just what this country needs. A new KKK. God help us. God help us.”

“What is it about this Birth of a Nation? How could it do that?”

Nate thinks. He also empties a second bottle of wine into their glasses, so clarity is becoming a little more challenging.

“Well ... it made a lot of people think about the South and think that it had been mistreated for embracing slavery and starting the Civil War. And they blamed the Negroes for all of their problems. And then, that crazy motion picture director actually shows the KKK as if they were riding to the rescue of the South, and then shows the hateful bigots Lynching Negroes as if that were a good thing. Very, very perverted.”

“‘Lynched’?”

“Yes.”

“What is ‘Lynched’?”

“Oh. It’s vigilante hanging. Like just happened to the Jew, Leo Frank. Well, it evolved. See, during the Revolution, Judge Lynch would go for vigilante justice against Tories who didn’t want the American Revolution. He thought they were always getting set free by other judges who were themselves Tories. Lynch would get his buddies together and they’d go out and hang the Tories, do it themselves as some sort of ‘justice.’ Because there were so many citizens and they’d do it at night, they’d get away with murder. Vigilantes.”

Margaret asks, “What has that got to do with the movie?”

“Bigots took hold of the idea and figured it’d be good for their Jim Crow laws and etiquette, figure Lynching is a good way to terrorize the colored, keep the colored in their place. They’d take their mobs and go hanging and shooting, burning at the stake, castrating, beating with clubs, dismembering, dragging...”

Nate notices Margaret is getting very disturbed by these facts, and he himself is getting nauseated recounting them.

“I’m sorry. Got carried away,” says Nate.

Margaret regains her composure.

“And that is in this movie?”

“Yes. And now that disgusting Simmons is starting up the evil KKK empire again because of it. And because of Watson.”

They both sigh in disgust.

“You seem like a good person, Mr. Paré.”

Nate is a bit surprised by the comment.

“Oh, my, thank you, Miss Enos. You, too.”

They smile at each other, leaning in with goofy smiles brought about by Port wine.

“You know,” Nate says, “I used to study at our new Patterson Park library, it was four miles down Baltimore Street from where we lived. Near the penitentiary. I thought of stopping there, but never did. Very nice library. I was always impressed by the founder, Enoch Pratt. When I’d think everybody was hateful and racist, I’d look up on the wall and read his statement, ‘My library shall be for all, rich and poor without distinction of race or color.’ It’s good to remember that most people are not hateful and cynical. It’s just that the hateful and cynical are so noisy and nasty and compelled to make all of us worse, much more compelled than we are to make them better.”

--

It’s Sunday morning, and he contemplates finding a church and attending worship service, but instead chooses to spend the day traveling.

“If God is ever going to forgive me at all,” he thinks, “He will certainly forgive me now.”

He finds within the bed-stand of his hotel room a Bible from the Gideon Organization’s Bible Project, and opens it to their suggested passages, finding the second chapter of Luke, the story of Christ’s birth. It pleases him and comforts him to read a few passages from scripture. The passage inspires some hope in him, but not much.

He packs his belongings, returns the room to the same condition it was in when he arrived, and checks out.

He drives a couple blocks west on K Street to 12th Street, turns right and heads out past A Street, where 12th turns into Auburn Boulevard which, in turn, becomes the Lincoln Highway again, the north route to Reno.

The Ford continues to serve him well as he cruises along, passing through Roseville, Rocklin, Loomis and New Castle. He approaches Auburn, which is announced by a large billboard that reads, “Auburn: Home of the Big Baked Potato” and “County Seat, Placerville County, Population 2,276.”

Indeed, as he approaches the area, he sees several potato farms, all with Japanese immigrant field hands harvesting potatoes.

Bigotry toward the Japanese is something that amazes Nate. The percentage of illiteracy among Japanese is exceedingly small. They are eager and make a strenuous effort to learn of American institutions, and to speak, read and write English, and in fact, make unusually good progress in this regard. They are practically free from criminal acts and pauperism and impose no burden upon the community. They seem unique in our history of anti-immigrant bigotry because the only objection raised against the Japanese is the fact that he does no belong to any branch of the white races; they are “different.”