"Make no mistake about it... This is a lynching..."

May 22, 2017 | David Zirin | The Nation

A Lynching on the University of Maryland Campus

Richard Collins III was about to graduate from Bowie State University on Tuesday. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the US Army. He was airborne certified. He was a son, a friend, and active in his church.

To Sean Urbanski, a University of Maryland student, he was black. At around 3 am on  Saturday, May 20, Collins waited for an Uber ride along with two friends who were students at UMD at an on-campus bus stop. Urbanski walked up to them, and, according to witnesses, said, “Step left, step left if you know what’s best for you.” Collins simply replied, “No.” He stood his ground. Urbanski then stabbed him in the chest and fled the scene. Collins died at the hospital.

Make no mistake about it—this was a lynching, a lynching committed by a UMD student. A lynching 10 minutes from my damn house. Urbanski, as has been widely reported, is a member of a racist Facebook group called “Alt-Reich: Nation.” But that’s also not all he is. He’s a college student who grew up in the leafy suburban environs of Severna Park, Maryland. He hung out at Adele H. Stamp Student Union, studied at McKeldin Library, and wore his Baltimore Ravens gear around campus. He was not an interloper or an outsider. He is a homegrown terrorist who grew out of the soil of this college campus.

The sooner that the administration and the student body reckon with that reality, the better. The UMD campus has seen racist chalkings, nooses, flyers, and threats since Donald Trump took office. And yes, one would have to be willingly obtuse to not see a direct line from having open white supremacists in the Oval Office to the emboldening of the perpetrators—not just at UMD but, according to NPR reporting, at campuses across the country.

Let’s see whether Trump, with his pro-military, pro-troop rhetoric, has anything to say about the lynching of a soldier in 2017.

And...

May 25, 2017 | David Zirin | The Nation

Why I Called the Murder of Richard Collins III a Lynching
How we define a “racist mob” in 2017 matters.

Earlier this week, I wrote a piece about the racist murder of Richard Collins III on the campus of the University of Maryland by UMD student and white supremacist Sean Urbanski. It was titled “A Lynching on the University of Maryland Campus.”

The feedback was overwhelming. People expressed anger, sadness, and a strong desire to fight the racist right. In addition, a small group of people took issue with my use the word “lynching.” This piece is an attempt to address those concerns, and argue that it is important both definitionally and politically that we call what happened to Richard Collins III what it is: a lynching.

First and foremost, it’s a misconception that lynching requires a rope. Lynching is defined as an extrajudicial murder with the intent of promoting terror.

--snip--

We associate lynchings with the violent groupthink created by a mob, but in 2017 physical mobs are not required to create that atmosphere. Sean Urbanski was part of a Facebook group called “Alt Reich: Nation,” which has since been taken down. Based on screengrabs still available online, this community performed the function of a mob: agitating its participants not only to racist bigotry but also to violence.

Note:  Dave Zirin Twitter

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~OGD~