Rosewood Incident: Stamps Redeemed - Essay Example

?Rosewood Incident: Stamps Redeemed 140 Words) When we know that during the five decades between 1880 and 1930, about five thousand blacks were estimated to have been lynched in the United States of America1, it makes a statement in itself about the hegemonic social condition existing at the time. The pages of history tell us that the infamous Rosewood massacre was provoked by an incident of a black man raping a white woman. Needless to say, if the accused happened to be a white, the law would take its course, whence, it becomes evident that the offence, if any, lacked a rational basis. It just served as the immediate cause for the incident. To venture a little further, it was a pretext for the manifestation of malice and fury that were already in store. That the grand jury’s investigation ended up finding insufficient evidence to prosecute the persecutors adds insult to injury and establishes a clear case of racial chauvinism shamelessly creeping into the system of criminal justice. Had the crusade of people like Ida B Wells and Dyer for anti-lynching legislations been successful, probably the Rosewood tragedy could have been averted. It was less than a decade ago, in 2005, that the US Senate could approve a resolution of apology to lynching victims and survivors2 and, like a posthumous award, it poorly reflects on the commitment of previous federal governments towards the fundamental rights of its own citizens. It exposes the true historical legacy of a society and a nation that claim to have been conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. ____________ 1Ron Olson. US History (1865 – Present) From Reconstruction through the Dawn of the 21st Century (Franklin Lakes (NJ): The Career Press, 2007), 89. 2James D Unnever et al. A Theory of African American Offending Race, Racism and Crime (New York: Routledge, 2011), 43. With over 300 African Americans being brutally murdered, a whole community having become extinct and an entire town having been reduced to charred remains by appalling atrocities spread over a week’s time, the bone-chilling Rosewood pogrom continues to be an indelible stain on humanity. It had not been very long ago that the assistance of about a third of a million black men3 (who, however, were deemed unqualified for full citizenship) as soldiers was found acceptable in a so-called fight against the fascist powers, World War I. The alleged charge of the white woman’s rape was a dubious one because there was a version that attributed the root cause of the charge to an extra-marital affair. It goes on only to prove that the motive of the attacks had more to do with a xenophobic attitude and irrational animosity (towards blacks who were perceived as their tormentors) prevailing in the white community, which in turn were propagated by media propaganda and white supremacist doctrines. The incident deserves to be condemned in the strongest terms because it took for granted the truthfulness of a white woman’s statement by default, jut as it did in the case of Victoria Price and Ruby Bates versus nine black-youths4 in 1931. The people involved in the atrocities as well as the jury men were too quick to believe and too prejudiced to try to view facts objectively. It was a damage beyond compensation and reparation. Going by the dictum that justice delayed is justice denied, the $2.1 million compensation package5 announced by Florida state in 1994 to Rosewood survivors evokes no good feelings. Justice in the sense of bringing culprits to book alone can expiate a crime but not restitution. ____________ 3Walter C Rucker et al. Encyclopedia of American Race Riots (Westport: Greenwood Press, 2007), 1. 4Sr. William A James. The Skin Color Syndrome (Lincoln: iUniverse, 2003), 121. 5“Rosewood Tells Story”. Jet Magazine, 24 March 1997, 59. It must be viewed with concern that it took sixty years6 for the Rosewood horror to capture the nation’s attention fortuitously, thanks to Gary Moore’s initiative, and seventy years for a legislation to be made. Even then the number of killings was pegged at eight. It pointed to the then governor’s indifference which was comparable to emperor Nero playing violin while Rome was burning. However, the rhetoric of the legislation was clever enough to evade the issues of moral responsibility in letting the perpetrators of violence off scot-free and policy defects. All the public outcry notwithstanding, the legislation’s sanction was less than a third of what the bill originally sought; besides a Rosewood Family Scholarship Fund intended to help the descendants of victims and survivors in pursuing postsecondary education. About 172 survivors7 received various amounts as compensation for emotional trauma. The legislation also suggested that the incident of Rosewood be made a part of the state curriculum so as to enlighten the coming generations about the tragedy. All said and done, a very interesting feature of the legislation is that it allowed compensation and not reparation. Literally, though the words sound similar, there can be a lot of difference in the spirit they connote. Thus, by its open disapproval of the reparation concept, the government betrayed its reluctance8 to atone. Comparing the situation today to what it used to be like a century ago, there is no denying that there is a lot of improvement in terms of people’s attitude and state policy. But that is not just enough. We, as a whole, are yet to understand and appreciate the fact that peace, freedom and prosperity, as also disaster, are indivisible. As long as it does not dawn on us, history is prone to repeat itself. ____________ 6E Barkan. The Guilt of Nations (Maryland: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000), 298. 7Walter C Rucker et al. Encyclopedia of American Race Riots (Greenwood Press), 575. 8Roy L Brooks. When Sorry Isn’t Enough (New York University Press, 1999), 436. Undoubtedly, the Rosewood melee must be too embarrassing for the whites and too painful for the blacks to recall. The poor commercial success of John Singleton’s 1996 motion picture ‘Rosewood’ at the box office may be taken as a testimony to the fact it was not very well received by either section. The box office earnings apart, the film must be assessed on the basis of the reactions it could produce in those who viewed the film. Obviously, a film on an incident of history must be able to develop empathy between rival segments and offer a solution in the direction of living together in harmony. It is debatable whether the film accomplished this end. The viewer is likely to get the impression that the film seeks to glorify blacks, in which case, the film appeals only if it is watched from the black-perspective9. It may not be reasonable to expect the film completely true to history and present details with great accuracy since some dramatization is inevitable in the process of narration. So it needs the fictional character of Mr. Mann in order to introduce an element of heroism. Through the character of the white boy, Emmett, the director gives us the message that it is possible to see things differently. But that is easier said than done, because it calls for a lot of unlearning – almost to the extent of disowning one’s heritage. In the end, we would do well not to confuse film makers10 with professional historians. They are two different worlds and their objectives and skills are just as different. Film makers are primarily entertainers. A little distortion does not do any harm as long as it serves the larger interest of promoting the value of peaceful coexistence in the mankind. ____________ 9Alison Landsberg. Prosthetic Memory (NY: Columbia University Press, 2004), 106. 10Leen Engelen et al. Perspectives on European Film and History (Gent – Belgium: Academia Press, 2007), 14. Bibliography Barkan, Elazar. The Guilt of Nations: Restitution and Negotiating Historical Injustices (Maryland: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000), 298. Brooks, Roy L. When Sorry Isn’t Enough: The Controversy Over Apologies and Reparations for Human Injustice. New York: New York University Press, 1999. Engelen, Leen & Roel Vande Winkel. Perspectives on European Film and History Gent – Belgium: Academia Press, 2007. James, William A, Sr. The Skin Color Syndrome among African Americans (Lincoln: iUniverse Inc., 2003), 121. Landsberg, Alison. Prosthetic Memory: The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture (New York / Chichester / West Sussex: Columbia University Press, 2004), 106. Olson, Ron. US History (1865 – Present) From Reconstruction through the Dawn of the 21st Century. Franklin Lakes (NJ): The Career Press, 2007. Rucker, Walter C & James N Upton. Encyclopedia of American Race Riots. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2007. Unnever, James D & Shaun L Gabbidon. A Theory of African American Offending Race, Racism and Crime. New York: Routledge, 2011. “Rosewood Tells Story of How White Mob Destroyed a Black Town in 1923”. Jet Magazine, 24 March 1997. Read More