Tolerating the Enemy Within: The Normalization of Mob Violence
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Session Details
February 23, 2022 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EST
Over the course of American history, different groups have been essentially abandoned in times of social and civil difficulty, as legislators, law enforcement, and others symbolizing the guardrails of democracy have either looked the other way or, worse, contributed to the problem. This keynote will consider examples of this throughout history, including the normalization of vigilante mob violence as seen in the lynchings that Congress failed to address in a meaningful way from the Civil War up to and through the 20th century. This abandonment of marginalized groups has occurred in context of a nation proudly proclaiming itself a democratic republic, which is true . . . just not always for everyone. Dr. Johnson is a professor of history and a former officer in the United States Marine Corps.
Location: James David Ross Family Recreation Center
Speaker
Fred L. Johnson III, Ph.D.
For native Virginian, Dr. Fred L. Johnson III, the May 25, 2020 murder of George Floyd; the January 6, 2021 Washington, D.C. insurrection; and the grossly latent revelations (for so many Americans) about the June 1921 Tulsa Race Riot exemplified trends within America’s republican -democracy which were simultaneously dangerous and disturbing but not surprising. Those trends were grim reminders of the hostile realities Fred confronted when, after spending half his childhood at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, his…