The Lynching of Paul Boston
A Dream by Paul Boston
The fact that a letter like this has got to be written is a crime in itself. It is so amazing how the interest of the people is so easily put aside for the desire of a few to hold on and stay in power.
One of the reasons that I was running for office was because of the current administration has been using our tax money for its wants and needs and ignoring the needs of the poor and minorities of this community.
Threatening to tear down the housing project and moving the people outside of South Brooksville area and out of the city of Brooksville, so that the land can be used for future development.
The problem that I have with that is that all of the people who are in authority to insure that this kind of misjudgment will not occur are the same people in position to benefit from the removal and destruction of this community. Real estate agents, land owners and brokers, developers, CPAs and their friends and family members have no contact with the people of this community, except as master and servant. These are the people that are in authority over this community.
The fact that they could call up an investigation on anyone that they choose is one thing. It is not like they are using their own money and resources to do so. But to do so as if you know enough information on people that you have no contact with, at the taxpayer’s expense, and use all of your resources with the police department, the housing authority, the State Prosecutor, the Public Defender’s Office, and the judges who will hear this case.
So for me to think that I can get a fair trial out of this is out of the question. The only fair thing to do is to move this trial outside the domain of the people in power and their peers.
And that is where the notion of the dream came in. As I fall asleep with this case on my mind, I began to dream. I see a vision of my daughter being attacked and threatened by the people in the housing authority to talk, telling her that they are going to press charges against her and fine her for breaking her lease and throw her out her apartment where she lives. She is alone and can not answer them and all of their questions.
She goes on to deny everything. I don’t know anything, is all she can say. Now in my dream they say, “We have the proof that we need. Let’s go get Mr. Boston.”
They come to my home and in front of my neighbors and slap me around, then handcuff me and walk me pass my daughter who is stating that I did everything and she was a victim.
The dream brings me to a dark and ancient jail cell with the torches and chains on the wall.
As I sit in my jail cell, the reality of my position becomes clear. I am about to be lynched and there is nothing that I can do about it. As I sit on the bench the noise from the police keeps entering into my mind. They are there to spread fear. They are there to reinforce the fear of our situation. Is their goal to make us all afraid of them and their masters? I wonder. My dream takes me back to how this all began. It all began with fear. Fear of people who speak up for themselves and for their rights.
Fear has held back the poor for many centuries and the rich have gotten better at using fear to retain power. The first show of fear that I witnessed was the fear to speak up about the DPW Site by the people that live in that area.
As I became aware of the problem and the lack of effort to take care of it, I found a Board of County Commissioners that had denied that there was a problem for so long that they had to restart any form of an investigation. Which they, the local government, have done for the past 30 years; and are continuing to do this, in my dreams!
Always promising things to the community with one hand and trying to cover up the truth with the other hand, the County Commission was confronted by one native son (who later became a Dark Knight) who kept up the fight. He and others have been investigating the problems of this little sleepy town but never could pull it all together. But this little band was fighting against the stigma of darkness...
And as we all know, darkness is bad. And if you are poor and on the side of darkness then you are nothing! Some people say that Nothing People can be called Black (Void of light and any goodness) Negro (Which means Black)
The word “Negro” is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance. The word negro denotes 'black' in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking vocabulary, or from the ancient Latin, niger, 'black', probably from a Proto-Indo-European root *nekw-, 'to be dark', akin to *nokw- 'night.
Frightening, Scary, Creepy, Petrifying, Menacing, oh well!
But let’s get back to the story. So the Nothing Knights wanted to bring out in the open the story of the people of B’ville. They started going to meetings and bringing out the truth about the living conditions of the people of B’ville.
I even started a local news letter to show the other side of stories printed in the local press. In this dream the press was being run by the side of light. The good people of the town that were charged to keep the order and the peace as the people of light go about their business of returning the land back to the rightful people who were given it by GOD. No I am not talking about the Indians or the Spanish and no I am not talking about the Blacks (Dud). Just keep reading.
So you may ask, “Who are their people of the Light and am I one of them? As one of their many members would say, “If you were one of us, you would know it"! So stop asking.
So let’s call this leader “Boss Joe”. I could just picture him as the big man with the whip in his hand as the Nothing People run around doing his bidding. Now Boss Joe has been around for years. He is an attorney, land owner, politician, God-fearing lord of the south, just like his father. He has been in power for over forty years and he is just getting started.
Wow, this is an exciting dream. You can just make this stuff up. Wait, it is just a dream, maybe a nightmare. So in my dream I try to organize the people and to show them that they have power in numbers. In this sleepy town they had 65% of the vote, but the people of the light could keep them divided.
(see Lynch Law) Lynch Law By Ida B. Wells 1893
"Lynch Law," says the Virginia Lancet, "as known by that appellation, had its origin in 1780 in a combination of citizens of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, entered into for the purpose of suppressing a trained band of horse thieves and counterfeiters whose well concocted schemes had bidden defiance to the ordinary laws of the land, and whose success encouraged and emboldened them in their outrages upon the community. Col. Wm. Lynch drafted the constitution for this combination of citizens, and hence 'Lynch Law' has ever since been the name given to the summary infliction of punishment by private and unauthorized citizens."
NAACP Poster, circa 1926
This law continues in force to-day in some of the oldest states of the Union, where courts of justice have long been established, whose laws are executed by white Americans. It flourishes most largely in the states which foster the convict lease system, and is brought to bear mainly, against the Negro. The first fifteen years of his freedom he was murdered by masked mobs for trying to vote. Public opinion having made lynching for that cause unpopular, a new reason is given to justify the murders of the past 15 years. The Negro was first charged with attempting to rule white people, and hundreds were murdered on that pretended supposition. He is now charged with assaulting or attempting to assault white women. This charge, as false as it is foul, robs us of the sympathy of the world and is blasting the race's good name.
The men who make these charges encourage or lead the mobs which do the lynching. They belong to the race which holds Negro life cheap, which owns the telegraph wires, newspapers, and all other communication with the outside world. They write the reports which justify lynching by painting the Negro as black as possible, and those reports are accepted by the press associations and the world without question or investigation. The mob spirit had increased with alarming frequency and violence. Over a thousand black men, women and children have been thus sacrificed the past ten years. Masks have long since been thrown aside and the lynchings of the present day take place in broad daylight. The sheriffs, police, and state officials stand by and see the work done well. The coroner's jury is often formed among those who took part in the lynching and a verdict, "Death at the hands of parties unknown to the jury" is rendered. As the number of lynchings have increased, so has the cruelty and barbarism of these lynches. Three human beings were burned alive in civilized America during the first six months of this year (1893). Over one hundred have been lynched in this half year. They were hanged, then cut, shot and burned.
So with the people divided and afraid; the work of holding onto power was quite easy.
It is at this point that I came to B’ville. In my dreams I have come to a place where the citizens who lived in a part of the city that was run down and neglected were told to be People of the Dark. People full of life and culture. People just wanted to have fun and enjoy life. Go to church and raise a family was their biggest concerns. People who for one reason or another did not get involved with the policies of the community, they just left that business up to others who would protect them from caring about such matters.
And so to learn if this community could be safe in this kind of environment I started to go to more meetings and to take a deeper interest in my new community.
So it is at this point that I try to make a difference. I am just a writer and a lover of song and poetry. I am just an artist and not a good one at that. I remember that in my dream I started a newsletter, feeling that if I just tell them of the things that were going on in these meetings that some of them will get involved.
It is at this point in my dream that a strange voice from the past rose up and spoke to Boss Joe. “Just keep running, Joe. You will outlive those Nothing People.” This was what a great voice kept saying from the great beyond! The voice said, “All we have to do is to destroy this Mr. Boston. We the forces of Light have to bring someone into the fold to counteract Mr. Boston's behavior. We will call him Mr. Smoothness. Boss Joe, you are their rightful leader, and you will be proven right in the end. But this vision of our new life does not have room for the lovers, visionaries and dreamers who think that life is for them to enjoy. These animals are just here to serve us and to do our bidding.”
And so Mr. Smoothness came along and did a very funny thing. He doesn’t go into the community to meet the people like I did. He just went to all the right meetings and declares that he is the new community leader. And the People of the Light stand up and applaud him, and the People of Darkness were confused but said nothing. “Now we are going to put things right,” said Boss Joe and the People of the Light.
The People of light are the people that are void of soul and culture. They live in a culture of self preservation and lofting of others. They believe that pure things are the best things and so their missions in life to destroy everything that is not them.
They may have said something like this, “We will use Mr. Smoothness to infiltrate this community. We will give him funds and support and in return he will keep the community in check. We will use the press and all of our channels of communication to recognize him as the Rightful Leader of that community. He will join their Club N.A.P.P.Y. and their Demo-Rats Clubs and wow he can even join their Women of Today Club and they will all be on our side. But he will never be one of us.
“Yeah, we can use him to counter any letters and complaints that the Dark Knights may send. He can denounce their programs like the Mother-Loving-King Parade and the Justus Festival so that our fair women will not be affected by the darkness. And he doesn’t even have to infiltrate the churches because the Pastors know better than to get involved in our business.
“They will tell the people to stay away from Mr. Boston and the Dark Knights and to keep their eyes on God.”
And so as I try to bring the light to the darkness and truth to the light I am made the target of all of their fears. As a candidate for the City Council I became the biggest threat to their monarchy. If I am able to run I could expose all of their plans. The closing of the low income housing project will force the People of the Dark to pay us rent for all of the medium income housing that we have built. And those who can pay can move out or visit our rent-free jail cells at little to no cost. We can move the rest of the South B’ville community out (more money) and build our new state of the art Rail-Road hub, (more money) warehouse (more money) and shopping district (more money).
“With the people gone we won’t have to worry about the churches because there will be no people. And no people mean the end of the Elks and all other social welfare programs. The small amount of people who are left will work for whatever we tell them and there will be no unions to support the workers.
“Those other people from the North can just keep their mouths shut like they have been doing and let us go about the work of our community.
“All we have to do is put Mr. Boston in his place. Go after him. Use all of our agents to track him down. Use the courts and the police to make his life a hell. Get the governor and the state working. Get all of his support to start working for us. Denounce him in the newspapers, on T.V. and radio.
“This is the biggest battle that we have to fight. This man is a threat and we need to deal with him and anyone else who sticks his head up. People, we are so close to our goal. By stopping him now we can reach our goal. Let’s not let The Nothing People get in the way. We must kill him off now. For the Fatherland and the south will rise again. Z Hi Z Hi Z Hi.”
The mob comes and takes me away.
