In the old days of America – not so long ago – the term “riot” was used to describe any lynching in which the victims fought back. So when a mob stormed the Florida village of Rosewood, and two were killed by a man with a shotgun defending his home, the Florida newspapers described it as “a riot.”
This reminds me of something the Car Talk guys said to a college kid who called them about having wrecked the power-steering pump by cutting donuts on the lawn of the campus because “Cutting donuts is cool!” Tommy Magliozi said “You know what’s wrong with you kids? THEY DON”T HAVE THE DRAFT ANYMORE!”
A very interesting contribution, Tom. Keep ’em coming! In my day, it was the draft that caused riots. Did you know that in Brooksville, Florida, they have a sign in front of an old oak tree telling people that this was the lynching tree? It’s signposted like it’s some sort of Heritage Site!
In the old days of America – not so long ago – the term “riot” was used to describe any lynching in which the victims fought back. So when a mob stormed the Florida village of Rosewood, and two were killed by a man with a shotgun defending his home, the Florida newspapers described it as “a riot.”
This reminds me of something the Car Talk guys said to a college kid who called them about having wrecked the power-steering pump by cutting donuts on the lawn of the campus because “Cutting donuts is cool!” Tommy Magliozi said “You know what’s wrong with you kids? THEY DON”T HAVE THE DRAFT ANYMORE!”
OK, I’ll try to stop being such a pedant now.
A very interesting contribution, Tom. Keep ’em coming! In my day, it was the draft that caused riots. Did you know that in Brooksville, Florida, they have a sign in front of an old oak tree telling people that this was the lynching tree? It’s signposted like it’s some sort of Heritage Site!
Brooksville… is that the place in Hernando County? With the Blueberry festival? SIGH!
They were lynching people long before they started celebrating blueberries.