Georgetown College’s Student–Run Newspaper
February 15, 2017
Volume CXXXVII Issue 4
Modern interpretations of race–relations gloss over important historical facts Part Three in a four–part series on Black History in its modern–day context By RALEIGH DIXON Editor-in-Chief
Racism is the United States’ original sin. It is engrained in our history, entrenched in our public policy, smeared across our popular culture and inseparable from our national identity. It is no secret that the United States was literally built on the the backs of African–American slaves. Many of the Founding Fathers were slave owners, including Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and James Madison. Elijah Craig, the founder of the institution that would become Georgetown College, also used slave labor to help him build his fortune and engage in his various entrepeneurial pursuits. The horrors of slavery should never be glossed over or forgotten. Yet there are segments of America that wish to do so. In July of 2016, Bill O’Reilly made sure that his Fox News viewers knew that the slaves who worked on the White
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House were “well–fed” and had “adequate lodgings.” Attempts to minimalize the reality of slavery in America are beyond low. They are dismissive, disrespectful and outright false. These arguments often come from the same people who complain about how unfair Reconstruction was for the Antebellum South; the same people who argue that everybody got along during the Jim Crow era that followed. The lynching of Frank Dudley is just one of many harrowing examples contrary to the beliefs of those who would sweep the embarrassing truths of America’s past under the rug, and it happened a stone’s throw from this very campus The 1993 “History of Scott County” by the Scott Country Historical Society depicts this blood stain on Georgetown’s history. In late August of 1891, Frank Dudley confronted his landlord, Frank Hughes, over an alleged affair between Hughes and Dudley’s wife. In the altercation, Dudley ended up killing Hughes, though he claimed he had done so in
self–defense. Following the incident, Dudley turned himself into the police and awaited his trial. But Dudley was a black man, and Hughes belonged to a prominent white family with ties in Louisville and Frankfort. On the night of Aug. 28, 1891, a mob of 125 masked men dragged Dudley from his cell as he “begged piteously” for his life. Despite his desperate protests, the mob took him to a tree overhanging West Main Street and lynched him (“A History of Scott County”). The next few days saw Georgetown deteriorate very rapidly: several buildings in town were set on fire, including Georgetown College’s Pawling Hall. One hundred rifles were brought in from Frankfort. Snipers were stationed on rooftops and the entries into town. Black residents were placed under a curfew and unable to leave their homes after dark. The fact that there are those who are audacious enough to ignore incidents such as these when discussing race relations in America is troubling to say
the least, and to discuss it genuinely belongs on the BackPage rather than the front. But the whitewashing of history, particularly history regarding the mistreatment of minorities and marginalized groups by white people in America, is a problem that must be addressed before our country can hope to heal and move forward. History books are quick to paint Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a beloved Civil Rights figure who worked with prominent politicians who shared his vision for a more equitable America. But that is not the whole truth. Dr. King was labeled a race–baiter, agitator and other names that are far less civil. It is not common knowledge that Dr. King had his phones tapped by the FBI in order to to spy on him and look into allegations of Dr. King being tied to Communism. There is a reason that the Black Panthers were and are often referred to in the public sphere as a terrorist organization, when in reality they asserted their Second Amend-
ment rights and sought to provide education, security and independence to the black community. These distortions of history are what lead to distortions of the truth in the present. They feed into the stereotypical narrative of the absent black father without acknowledging the War on Drugs that disproportionately target young men of color. They feed into the stereotype of black people being lazy without taking into account that white people have a 400– year head start on opportunities for housing, education and jobs. They feed into white outrage over the methods of Black Lives Matter protesters, as opposed to outrage over the injustices being protested against. They lead to Black History being delegated to a single month, as opposed to being taught year–long with the rest of American history as it shoud be.
SGA updates Constitution page 3
Women’s Lacrosse Season Preview page 5
Senior Spotlight: Jacqui Johns page 7
Grammy Highlights page 8