African American News

100th Anniversary of Lynching In Duluth, Minneapolis MN

June 15, 2020 | By Hopeton O’Connor-Dennie |

Blackman Pardoned for Fake Rape

Governor Walz last Friday pardoned a Max Mason a black man 100 years after he escaped lynching after a white woman falsely accused him of raping her. Three other black men were not so lucky to escape. They were dragged from a jail by a mob when police acted with complicity by turning them out of their jail cells over to a white mob estimated to be 10,000 who tortured them … lynched them on a huge tree in Duluth, a lakeshore town a few hours from Minneapolis on a fake rape charge.

The Three Victims

They are: Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson & Isaac McGhie. It was a lie. One Irene Tusken, a white woman falsely accused them of rape. Last Friday Max Mason was posthumously pardoned for the “fake rape charge”. by state Governor Walz of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Pregnant Woman

Reports are that one Mary Turner, was hanged and her unborn baby was cut from her uterus and white men stomped on fetus. These criminal acts are recorded in newspaper, photos etc. Murderers and co-conspirators stood proudly smiling with their hands in their pockets in 1882.

Wells-Barnett in her research discovered that it was not only for alleged rape that these atrocities occurred. “Southern Horrors: Lynch law in all its phases”. These killings were triggered by political, economic and social progress of people of colour. In other words to keep black people “subservient” rape was not the only crime that led to lynching.

Duluth’s Shadow

The town of Duluth lives under the shadow of lynching in 1920. Those were the last known lynchings until former police officer Derek Chauvin, with his hand in his pocket, now in jail charged for manslaughter and his three co-conspirators was recorded by video kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for 8 minutes and forty six seconds, which suffocated him. This act has been ruled to be a homicide. Floyd struggled to breathe before he died.

Senate

In the Senate one Paul Rand has held up an anti-lynching bill in that house. It was that time that a memorial service for George Floyd was being held in Minneapolis and a gospel song “Amazing Grace” was being sung.

Anniversary

As stated above the 15rh June 2020, today’s date, marks the 100th Anniversary of these racially motivated atrocities of lynchings in Duluth, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Commentary

History has repeated itself. Police is still complicit. Racism is still alive. Lynching is still legal in the USA. What has changed for the last 100 years?

Hopeton O’Connor-Dennie is Senior National & International Correspondent for Vision Newspaper

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