Even by the Latest PC Rules, Italian-Americans Can Use  the “L” Word

Lynching-Why, Even by the Latest PC Rules, Italian-Americans Can Use  the “L” Word

A President Trump tweet has apparently led to a lightning-fast rule change in what is now considered “acceptable speech”. Democrat pols, along with their buds in the media, have apparently declared it’s off-limits for white folks to use the term “lynching”.    

But there’s one group, descended from Europeans, that should get a  pass from that ban.  Those would be Italian-Americans, whose brethren suffered from what has been reported as  America’s largest lynching.  

It was 1891, and the slaughter took place in New Orleans.  It all began with the murder of David Hennessy. A popular police chief, Hennessy was shot down by gunmen while walking home from work. As he lay dying, a witness asked him who did it. “Dagoes,” he reportedly whispered, using a slur for Italians.

It was common to hear that degrading taunt used in that city around that time, even though Italians had been living there since before the Louisiana Purchase.  Beginning in 1884, matters worsened as many thousands of Sicilians began making their new homes in New Orleans.  The newcomers’ language and customs were considered foreign and even dangerous in some circles. They were also suspected of Mafia connections, and their family networks were closely watched by the New Orleans police.

The lid violently blew off anti-Italian bias following Hennessy’s assassination and accusation. “Police rounded up hundreds of Italians, even those who didn’t seem to be associated with the attack. Local papers fueled the fire, demanding justice and declaring nine men who were arrested on suspicion of a connection to the murder guilty before they were even tried.” 

After a trial resulted in six defendants found not guilty, and three mistrials, New Orleans erupted.  The Daily States newspaper blared, “Rise people of New Orleans!  Alien hands of oath-bound assassins have set a blot of a martyr’s blood upon your vaunted civilization.”

Soon after, hate-spewing speakers drove a frenzied mob to break into the city’s arsenal, where they armed themselves with guns and ammo.  Running towards the prison they screamed, “We want the Dagoes!”.  

And they got not only the original nine but two more who’d not been tried or not even accused of the crime.  “Outside the jail, the larger mob cheered as the mutilated bodies were displayed. Some corpses were hung; what remained of others were torn apart and plundered for souvenirs.”

“The lynch mob—composed of some of New Orleans’ most prominent residents, including future mayors and governors—went unpunished.”

The New York Times put their own special stamp on this horrific event by calling the victims, “desperate ruffians and murderers.  These sneaking and cowardly Sicilians, descendants of bandits and assassins…are to us a pest without mitigations.”  

So I guess we can safely say “the paper of record” needs to be put into the same PC dog house as Democrat, white, non-Italians Joe Biden and Jerold Nadler.  No using the “L” word for any of you!

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