Utah activist explains complexities of modern-day lynching
(KUTV) — There’s a number of little known history stories being discovered from the grounds of Utah’s Capitol Hill including one about lynching. The trauma from this racially violent act from the past can be see through what some researchers call modern-day lynching of the Black community.
Roughly 150 years ago, before Utah’s Capitol Hill became what it is today, it was known as Arsenal Hill.
During that time, records indicate that on on Dec. 11, 1866, several boys playing on the grounds discovered the dumped body of a Black man named Thomas Coleman next to the arsenal building.
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Maps from that time show their discovery was to the north and east of what is known today as 300 North and Main Street.
Coleman was believed to be in his mid-30s.
Solid evidence as to the reason behind Coleman’s lynching is limited.
The place where Coleman’s body was found is one of two known lynching sites in Salt Lake City. The other location was near the corner of State Street and 100 South, what is now the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building.
Utah activist Betty Sawyer, co-founder of Project Success Coalition, is working with a research group under the Sema Hadithi Foundation that’s focusing on the racial injustices against African Americans.
“I think the whole process, understanding the history of lynching and why it took place around power, privilege, white supremacy, and all of that tied back into preserving one’s status,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer said lynching has taken on a different form in today’s world.
“People even look at modern-day lynching as not the physical act, but other systems in our government and in our country that keep people at a disadvantage that promotes that same fear,” Sawyer said.
That fear is felt heavily among African Americans when discussing the criminal justice system because many are tied into that system, Sawyer said, which means they’ve been removed from their homes and that’s negatively impacting the economy of the Black community.
For years on end, African Americans, particularly Black men, have held the highest incarceration rate out of any racial group.
According to a study by the NAACP, African Americans are being incarcerated at a rate that’s five times that of white people.
“When folks aren’t in their home, in their community, then there’s a deficit, there’s a hole left in that family, in that community,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer explained that modern-day lynching can be seen in the economic gaps of the African Americans experience.
Here’s one prime example: a large corporation such as Wells Fargo gets slapped with a lawsuit over unfair lending claims.
According to the lawsuit, African Americans and Hispanic borrowers were charged higher fees or rates for loans.
The Justice Department reached a settlement with Wells Fargo for $175-million dollars.
This is just one hurdle African Americans face.
“We see that in so many different ways," Sawyer said. "In wage gaps, in homeownership. Why don’t we own homes? Why aren’t we in certain places in government?”
