Re: [ARSCLIST] Recordings of lynchings?

[phillip holmes <insuranceman@xxxxxxxxxx>]

So, who is supposed to be the final arbiter of taste and morality on 
this?  A librarian?  Congress (yeah, sure, they're always right, aren't 
they!)?  I don't think there's anything wrong with lowly ordinary people 
having this kind of thing.  If they destroy it, then it is lost 
forever.  If they keep it, (whether they are a bunch of rednecks, or a 
museum, or a civil rights organization) the evidence of brutality and 
crime is preserved.  Let's suppose some racist has it and he commits a 
hate crime.  Did he do the crime because he had the postcard?  No, he 
did the crime because he was a racist and the postcard is entered into 
evidence (just like child pornography is used as a smoking gun against a 
child molester).  I have, in my rather large collection of records, 
things like Hitler speeches, Roosevelt chats, WWII audio, etc...  That 
doesn't make me a NAZI, a "New Dealer" or a WWII historian.  If I 
decided to sell them, it's nobody's business if I make a profit.  If 
this postcard is one of a kind (or is suspected to be one of a kind), 
then the collector/dealer _should_ make a copy available to the 
authorities.  But they should be able to do what they wish with the 
original.  As an aside, I doubt that ONE postcard was printed.  They 
were printed by the hundreds and passed around by racists.

We should look at how this played out in Germany.  Any kind of NAZI 
paraphernalia was made illegal. Every last trace of it was removed from 
public view except for a few exceptions.  I don't think it's at all 
surprising that Germany has a group of holocaust deniers and neo-NAZIs.  
I know this is comparing apples and oranges, but common people should 
see what happens when hate goes unchecked:  wars, genocide, lynching, 
etc...  Taking this ugly side of our history in America, and locking it 
up, makes repeat offenses more likely. 

Phillip

David Lennick wrote:
> Pardon me, Marie, but it seems to me that this is like telling Kurt 
> Nauck he shouldn't list KKK records.
>
> dl
>
> Marie OConnell wrote:
> > Dear Roger,
> >
> > I meant to reply earlier and was a little surprised that no one else
> > seemed to notice your comment. I'm not one to jump to conclusions, but
> > are you saying you sold a postcard depicting a lynching to a unknown
> > person for profit?
> >
> > The  postcard may be evidence of a serious crime. The victim's family
> > could be deeply hurt by the circulation of this image. Surely it would
> > be better kept in a reputable institution than circulating with unknown
> > "collectors"?
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> >
> > I actually sold a couple of these a few years back on eBay...
> >
> > Roger and Allison Kulp <thorenstd124@xxxxxxxxx>
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
> >
> >
> >                                        Roger
> >
> > Alex Hartov <alexander.hartov@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Nonsense!
> >
> > They made post cards of it with prominent citizens in front.  The  
> > postal service at one time had to make rules that no such cards would
> > be delivered...
> >
> > Alex
> >
> > On Oct 16, 2007, at 10:41 PM, Steven C. Barr(x) wrote:
> >
> > > Keep in mind that lynching...REGARDLESS of the race of the "lynchee 
> > > (s)"...
> > > was totally against the law, and thus hardly an event that would  
> > > have been
> > > recorded for posterity...!
> >
> >
> >  __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
> > http://mail.yahoo.com
> > Marie O'Connell
> > Analogue Tape Preservation Archivist
> > Sound Archives/Nga Taonga Korero
> > PO Box 1531
> > Radio New Zealand House
> > Level 1, 51 Chester Street West
> > Christchurch
> > Phone  +64 3 374 8443
> > Fax  + 64 3 374 8448
> > www.soundarchives.co.nz
> > > > > LISTSERV@xxxxxxx 18/10/2007 5:00 p.m. >>>