The context is also important here. While some might be tempted to argue blackface wasn’t so taboo back in the early 1980s, this was an era in which Klan was still active and still violent near where Northam grew up in southern Virginia, as Jerald Lentini noted.
In 1979, Klansmen and members of the American Nazi Party killed five members of the Communist Workers Party in Greensboro, N.C. In 1980 in Chattanooga, Tenn., Klansmen wounded four black women with shotgun pellets and another with broken glass after shooting up a predominantly black neighborhood. The so-called “last lynching in America” was perpetrated by the Klan in 1981 in Mobile, Ala.
Concord police and the county coroner declared Lee a suicide who had somehow hung himself. Some neighbors reported hearing screams.
The NAACP called for an FBI investigation; the civil rights organization never received a satisfactory answer about how the young man came to be hanging from a tree.Ms. Hannum said she thought it was some sort of hazing. ″If I would have realized as terrible a thing was going on, I would have rushed out there, or called police,″ said Ms. Hannum. ″It didn’t leap to my mind that someone’s actually being murdered - and now I’m living with that.″
Thank you for keeping this on our collective radar screen. As today is the 35th anniversary of Timothy Charles Lee's lynching and as we are on the brink of an election where the ongoing murder of black people continues to frame our national dialogue, I thought it right to let you know I am doing what I can to bring his name and his lynching back out into the public eye. I just joined the staff of Rainbow Community Center of Contra Costa County located in Concord and as one of the Senior Managers there, I would like to try and find some ways to both honor Timothy Lee's memory and continue to bring education and awareness to his killing at the hands of vigilantes.
ReplyDeleteMost respectfully,
Ali Michael Cannon
I was student activist at the time and was involved in the push to get the naacp and fbi to look into this. I honestly believe yes he was lynched, but I also know that person Bill Callison who was the "witness" who heard the screams personally. I dont believe for a second that he heard that. I worked with the guy many times on political actions that we both supported, but he was the type with a loose grip on reality and more than willing to say whatever it took to support a cause he was into. And he was involved in the Tim Lee case for a while before he ever mentioned hearing these screams.
ReplyDeleteHe did live not too far from Concord BART. But on the opposite side of the station to where Lee was found. Hard to believe its been all these years but I remember the exact tree he was hung from by his backpack. He had cig burns all over his body but the concord police claimed they were bug bites. He had just gotten a fashion scholarship in milan, and was in good spirits. Also that very same night some people in klan robes started a fight at a nearby bar Hobbies I think. There was a "suicide" letter but it misspelled his own sisters name, and AFTER he died someone tried to cash his last paycheck
Despite all this the concord PD labelled it a suicide and destroyed all evidence, so when the FBI did look into it later, all that evidence was gone.
This year November 2nd 2022 we will be walking to honor Timmy's life. We will be meeting at the Rainbow Community Center in Concord CA at 4pm and we will walk to the spot Timmy was Killed at the BART station..
ReplyDeleteI wish that I knew about this. I would have walked.no way did he hang himself
ReplyDelete