“The history of racial injustice in the United States is marred by countless instances of lynching, where innocent individuals were brutally killed without any fair trial or legal procedure.”

“They say the lyncher knows that he is wrong and has been told so often enough.”

“And the white woman, like any lyncher, has preferred to believe in Southern chivalry even when faced with contrary evidence.”

“Scratch the surface of any enemy of the Left, they claimed, and you would find a fascist spy, a lyncher, a storm trooper.”

“But federal investigations into lynchings could only concentrate on trying to prove that the lynchers had violated their victims' civil rights.”

“This result, unforeseen and unanticipated, led to the day's stonings and near lynchings of Chinese laundrymen unconnected to the alleged crimes.”

“Corruption and mistreatment of prisoners are cited, as are reports of mob violence, lynchings and the killing of suspected witches.”

“However, if riots are indeed a language, to return to Brooks's metaphor of mirroring, then it is a language learned from white lynchers.”

“Likewise, the collective anonymity of the executioners ensured that few lynchers were ever prosecuted.”

“But federal investigations into lynchings could only concentrate on trying to prove that the lynchers had violated their victims' civil rights.”