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it's hard to ascertain but it appears that at least 1/3rd of lynchings were of whites

and that believe it or not on occasion guilty folks were lynched

it was not all Emmett Till scenarios

but I would venture that the accusation of rape of a white woman was one of the main components whether true or not at the time

out west there was also the matter that law was so far away at times which led to instant justice

no matter...lynchings were to send a message and instill fear...a deterrent...and it worked...it would have on me had I been alive...likely

lynchings are not new to our shores either...it's as old as law..or lack of

the white victims of black perps is to me more unsettling than lynchings just in numbers alone

and the fact it is ignored

we (I'm white) should not have to live with that fear

and when I was a kid...long before most here...we did not

I could go to black areas in my 45-50% black hometown with no fear and be met with warmth or maybe some teasing at best...and no it was not because they were terrified of me being white

first time I felt hostility from blacks for nothing was on Subway in Manhattan in 1980...I was taken aback and realized these weren't like my lovable black folks back home

I admit we were paternalistic towards them....but compared to today it feels benign

In the Wild West most lynchings were of whites since they greatly outnumbered the blacks and were the ones most likely to be accused of horse stealing, robbing stagecoaches, etc.

I saw a magazine in a bookstore several years ago which had an article by some liberal full of guilt because the employees of his grandfather's business had lynched a black man back in the early 20th century. The person who was killed had just committed a murder--there was no doubt about that. Of course he should have been arrested, put on trial, and then executed by the state instead of by a mob.