Common ways of thinking in Wells Barnett's "Lynch Law"

The common ways of thinking also known as topoi in Lynch Law in America written by Wells Barnett is very different than how we think of african americans now. She refers to the late 1800's where lynching was very consistent in a number of states such as Tennessee and Alabama. The white men of these states actually thought it was acceptable to lynch someone of color for an abundance of reasons. Certain reasons included rape, and burglary but others were as simple as insulting women and some reasons were not even explained. They would lynch numerous people at their own will and would not even justify it most of the time. 


As Wells Barnett states in her composition, "under this reign of the "unwritten law," no colored man, no matter what his reputation, is safe from lynching if a white woman, no matter what her standing or motive, cares to charge him with insult or assault." Therefore it is evident that there was an inequality between men of color and white women, which illustrates that the lynchers common ways of thinking were to just eliminate as many african american men and women as possible. They did not have to have a reason and most of the time without a trial or the ability to defend themselves, the african american population were lynched continuously and there were an high increase in killings in these states. The real issue at hand is that these people from Louisiana and Alabama for example thought this was acceptable and continued to do it without seeing any wrongdoing in their actions.