Gregory Butler

I made this post a few day’s ago and someone responded with the question, ‘So what is your point?’

Here was my response:

“So what is your point?”

Since you asked, I’ll make the point explicit.

For Black Americans, the image of a Black person hanging from a tree does not exist in a historical vacuum. Trees were used as sites of lynching—public acts of racial terror meant not only to murder Black people, but to send a message to entire Black communities.

So when I say, “Black people do not hang themselves from trees,” I am speaking to the historical and cultural weight of that image. I am speaking to why seeing a Black body hanging from a tree immediately evokes something very specific for many of us.

You don’t have to share that history personally to understand that it exists.

And sometimes, instead of asking, “So what is your point?” the better question might be, “What am I missing?”

That question leaves room to learn.

🙏🏾🤎

#blackhistory #lynching #historicalcontext #blacklivesmatter