While it is certainly true that public extrajudicial murders (lynchings)
primarily targeted people of color, there were political lynchings as well that
targeted primarily left-wing organizers.  There were several lynchings of
Wobblies (IWW organizers) in the first quarter of the century, in the Pacific
Northwest, I believe.  

Lynchings of black Americans were carried out with the implicit consent of a
majority of the white community.  Certainly there were those who just went
along out of curiosity or fear, but the fact remains that a significant number
of the white majority participated.  To say everybody was complicit is
overstatement, but it should be noted that politicians and law-enforcement
officers who participated openly in lynchings continued to get reelected.

Perhaps it would be useful to temper our rejection of the lynching mentality
with an attempt to understand the cultural context of the time.  As cruel as it
often was, and as fear-ridden, it may seem obvious to us that people should
have risen above it.  One of the problems with studying a culture based on
principles we reject is that we tend to assume that our standards today are
universal, and that the people of the past could have been as wise as we are
today if they really tried. 

Or not.  As Burke once said, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for
good men to do nothing."

Hmm.


Cheers -- Kevin