When History Repeats Itself

He was of Middle Eastern descent, darker skinned and different. So, when people said he raped a 13-year-old Christian girl, no-one was surprised. At his trial, prosecutors said people from where he is from do this.

It seemed most people in Atlanta, Georgia cheered when he was sentenced to die, except a brave governor who looked at the overwhelming evidence that he was innocent and commuted his sentence to life imprisonment.

Mobs filled with hate are rarely satisfied, so they broke into the jail and lynched him themselves.

More reviews and more evidence after the lynching proved he was innocent. But the mob would never believe a Jew couldn’t or wouldn’t rape a Christian girl when they got a chance. The lynching of Leo Franks in 1913 was the fuel that was needed to revive the Ku Klux Klan. Damn the evidence the Klan believed, if he didn’t do it this time, he will in the future; he’s Jewish. By the late 1930s, a poll in the USA showed more than half of all Americans believed “Jews are different and should be restricted” and 10 percent believed that Jews should be deported.

We don’t see many lynch mobs now, but what we get is digital vigilantes exacting inexact justice on whim and prejudice. They number now in the millions and spread the word of hatred fueled by propaganda that is created through lies and manipulation. The main flavor of hate right now is not Jews but Muslims. As members of a dark-skinned different culture, those who want to can find numerous reasons to hate them, and it really doesn’t matter if it’s true. Because as they will tell you, it could be because these people do these things and that’s enough reason to keep them out.

The Ku Klux Klan is fading into history replaced by a modern wave of racism that is well organized and equipped with social media expertise that allows them to spread the word of hatred in a heartbeat. People are no longer converted over a generation, rather in an instant. Rallies need not take place in a single spot but in a single thought, a sort of agreement with the Devil that it’s okay to hate and to spread it.

So-called moderates can now sit in the comfort of their homes and help spread the hate with malicious innuendo; passing statements that are false, but believing them because they saw it somewhere. This is the wonderful thing about being racist. You don’t need facts when you have a whole gang agreeing with you.

Politicians once known for bravery now side with anger. They win votes by agreeing with the mob and promising security by keeping boats out and bombing those different. Prejudice is still a bankable commodity on the election trail.

Back in 1938 when 53% of Americans labeled Jews different, Hitler exterminated over six million of them, because they were Jewish. Many of them tried to be refugees but most were turned away because the mob knew they were up to no good.

And the story repeats itself again.
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Photo by Keith Zhu on Unsplash