Is "lynching" actually a racist term?

Question

I've never heard of that, but Rev. Al Sharpton said it is.

Answer 1

Lynching in and of itself is not racist, but the entire context in which it was used.

If you talked about lynching Phil Mickleson, it has a different connotation that lynching Tiger, as many black men met their fate and the end of a rope, provided by a lynch mob.

There were far better ways to make the statement than she did.

"The only way you can beat Tiger is to send him to the wrong golf course. If he can't play you, he can't beat you."

Aside from the very funny mental picture of Tiger trying to figure out where everyone is, as he stands along on the first tee, you make a better joke and no one gets offended

Answer 2

I think the term lynching means to hang someone, not a specific race though.  However, slavery and lynching went hand-in-hand, so it often gets related to slavery.

Answer 3

Absolutely not.  And people like Sharpton should be challenged by the wimpy media.

Peoples from all over this world, including whites, have been lynched.  I, myself, have used the term to rib fellow white people.

Answer 4

WOW! Does he have it wrong. No. The Salem "witches" were also Lynched. It means they were executed with out following the proper procedures by law.

Answer 5

Allright to all the dummies out there in cyberspace:

Charles Lynch, a Virginia justice of the peace, ordered extralegal punishment for Tory acts.

This is how it came to be called LYNCHING.

Click on the link.  Dont know the context the particular woman used for the term, but some things need to be talked about even if they are not always appropriate, bringing them into the here and now can show how not only African Americans were treated this way but the method of punishment is still being used today, like Saddam Hussein??? Hellooo people.  Get real.-Rachel.

Answer 6

In the United States, lynching is  a hate crime.   Most lynchings were inspired by unsolved crime, racism, and innuendo.  You decide.  Me presonally, I don't think so but I understand if someone thinks  that it is.

Answer 7

i really dont care, sry

ok, i appologize in advance, but i'm on a roll of saying it to people so i'm gonna have to say it to you too

YOUR A SICK F*CK

Answer 8

people of all genders and races have been lyncjed thru out history so its not a racist term.the golf commentator was answering a question of how can other golfers hope to win as long as tiger is around.the male commentator said the others need to form a gang and she said oh lycnh him in an alley some where..HELLO!! nothing racial at all.the only way to win is to take out tiger.hahaha he got it and thought it was funny and said this is a non issue.sharpton just nneds to shut up.

Answer 9

put your racism stick away. that term was used a long time in the old west.  long before the time you're looking for.

Answer 10

No.  I don't know what the h**l he's talking about.  What was the context?

Answer 11

yes. lynching was a term coined by the KKK if she ment tying a rope around ones neck she should've said hang him!!!??? why would she use that word she went to college she is not stupid and she should've known the context just like Imus.

Answer 12

No. - Ugly as it is, Lynching is mob murder and

can be non-racially motivated.

They used to 'lynch` horse thieves and other unpopular

individuals.

Answer 13

Yeah it is, think back to the south. What did they do back in the day, to black slaves? That's the first thing white slave owners did, if a slave got out of hand. They pulled out the ropes, and hung them. I myself find it to be a racist team, others may not. It's not a word i throw around or use. Sure the word has been around for centuries, and has been used when talking about hanging someone. But a lot of people put the word lynching and people of color together.

Answer 14

From Etymology.com

lynch (v.)

1835, from earlier Lynch law (1811), likely named after William Lynch (1742-1820) of Pittsylvania, Va., who c.1780 led a vigilance committee to keep order there during the Revolution. Other sources trace the name to Charles Lynch (1736-96) a Virginia magistrate who fined and imprisoned Tories in his district c.1782, but the connection to him is less likely. Originally any sort of summary justice, especially by flogging; narrowing of focus to "extralegal execution by hanging" is 20c. Lynch mob is attested from 1838. The surname is either from O.E. hlinc "hill" or Ir. Loingseach "sailor."

So unless the British army was composed of a specific "Non-white" race...that would be a "No". Sharpton needs race issues to have a job, that's why he creates them.

Answer 15

I don't think its a racist term. "Lynching" is a verb and as with most racist terms it was probably not associated with racism until the last few centuries. Unfortunately in our lifetime in the US  you cant really think of anything else but brutal murders of African Americans when we hear the word so I believe now its just assumed now that lynching is a racist term.

Answer 16

No it is not.

Answer 17

Is "lynching" actually a golfing term?

Answer 18

Rev. Sharpton is an idiot. Lynching is something vigilantes did when they took the law into their own hands. It's basically capital punishment without the inconvience of holding a fair trial and getting a conviction first.

Answer 19

Look back into Black history and see how ugly, hateful, and revolting "lynching" is to that community.

For over 30 years 4-5 Black people in the USA was lynched every day.

The word isn't racist....what it stands for to them is.

Answer 20

Oh yeah, Sharpon knows everything. Not!

Answer 21

Check out the movie, "the Great Debaters", then make up your own mind.

Answer 22

lynch /lɪntʃ/ Pronunciation Key -

–verb (used with object) to put to death, esp. by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority.

Nothing about race that I see there. Sure there is the connotation of it associated with African Americans, but... ummm.. Tiger is NOT African American.

Enough already of blaming present generations for sins of the past. We are all responsible for ourselves, no more VICTIM mentality!

Answer 23

of course, EVERYTHING is racist in today's world.

Answer 24

Of course it's NOT a stupid "racist" term!

Haven't you ever watched any old cowboy movies?

When they caught cattle rustlers, murderers, train robbers or bank robbers, the towns people all got together and had a "lynching."

Another term for it was a "necktie party."

Frontier justice ruled, out here in the wild, wild, west!

Answer 25

no - it is what "rev" Sharpton needs done 2 himself ! HE is a racist who promotes racism !

Answer 26

never heard of any racial connotation to this word on its own, but often when hearing jokes about such scum as the KKK and the way they talk i hear the phrase "lets go lynch some (insert very offensive plural form of the 6 letter word starting with n)." outside of that context, i have heard "lynch" on multiple rap (and country, but in this case it usually is racist) tracks from various artists of different racial backgrounds. thus, it is safe to presume that the word itself holds no racial connotation and simply means to hang, yet the phrases the word seems to be often tied to are indeed racist. was the rev. wrong? yes, because unintentional implications of a slang word for hanging should not be mistaken for something else and the person who said this word should not be penalized unless there was some reference as to a specific raise being lynched.