One can’t help but wonder if the much-decried history of lynching in the United States might have a little less to do with racism and a little more to do with the criminal behavior of those being put to death by vigilantes given recent events in Haiti and South Africa:
This is the horrifying moment suspected Haitian gang members beg for mercy before a vigilante lynch mob stones and burns them alive. The mob beat and burned 13 men to death with gasoline-soaked tyres on Monday after pulling them from police custody at a traffic stop, police and witnesses in the capital Port-au-Prince said. Six more burned bodies were seen in a nearby neighbourhood later on in the day, and witnesses claimed to have seen police kill them before residents set them on fire.
Now, I have no doubt that there is some theory of racism that would explain why black vigilantes killing black criminals is not racist, but white vigilantes killing black criminals is. But the undeniable fact of the matter is that people of any race will only tolerate so much crime before they take matters into their own hands.
UPDATE: The residents are about as unapologetic about their vigilantism as they could possibly be.
‘It is out of the question that armed bandits come to settle in Canapé Vert, if others return, they will meet the same fate,’ an unnamed resident said, as quotes by local newspaper Le National. ‘We will not accept that these thugs transform our neighborhood like Canaan, Laboule, and Pernier.’