Talk:Lynching in the United States

Excessive graphic photographs

I'm concerned by the gratuitous number of photos of lynchings interspersed throughout this article. Compare with Cambodian genocide, Atrocities in the Congo Free State and The Holocaust, which include comparable images, but:

1. each adds new information and/or documents a significant event—clearly captioned and in context

2. images of dead bodies & other highly graphic content is kept below the fold

4. max 4-5 such images, at most ~40% of total images in the article

This article has no fewer than 18 startling photographs of lynchings/lynching victims, with two above the fold. Little or no new info is added by each photo and most are captioned with (at most) the victim's name. Of the ~15 so other images in the article, 10 are photos of other violence or illustrations of lynchings.

This is a trauma porn gallery. For relevant issues, see:

https://zora.medium.com/the-problems-with-black-suffering-on-screen-7ff6e68e1c97

https://developments.myacpa.org/re-traumatization-of-black-students-the-over-utilization-of-racial-trauma-as-an-educational-tool-deshayla-m-mitchem/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1070289X.2021.1920775

I'd like to remove most of the lynching photos and provide better context around the ones that remain, and use a different picture above the fold, aligning the article with wikipedia norms standards. Wanted to raise it here first given the significance of the change & sensitivity. Dpj aok (talk) 12:57, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

There was a discussion about this at Talk:Lynching_in_the_United_States/Archive_2. As a whole, WP is not censored, see WP:NOTCENSORED. Rsk6400 (talk) 20:10, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

And another one at Talk:Lynching/Archive_1, Should we take the photos down? Rsk6400 (talk) 20:15, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

The subject is horrifying - but I don't think we should hide what happened. Wikipedia is not censored. Denying the holocaust is wrong, and this article bears a lot of similarities, atrocities to man by other men over differences of race and ethnicity. — Jacona (talk) 17:11, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

This picture depicts a white mob hanging a black but it also shows the presence of an Asian man in the background partaking in the lynching as well. 98.166.9.22 (talk) 21:33, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

I do believe that any attempt to determine the ethnicity of people from their appearance in the photos is original research, and not fruitful. Donald Albury 00:39, 14 July 2023 (UTC)

It is fruitful when history is truthful and I believe ethnicity is important. The picture have identified a black man being hanged. It doesn’t make sense not to identify the men in the picture who are during the hanging. 98.166.9.22 (talk) 23:28, 14 July 2023 (UTC)

We have reliable sources identifying the ethnicity of the victims of the lynchings. We almost never have reliable sources identifying the ethnicity of individual perpetrators. Assigning an ethnicity to an otherwise unidentified person in a photo on the basis what you think they appear to be is original research, which we do not allow in Wikipedia. Donald Albury 00:52, 15 July 2023 (UTC)

Of course researchers have always identified the victims and no one has ever wanted to identify the perpetrators but rest assured after showing this photo to several people the Asian man has clearly been identified. Ethnicity matters and these people see what I see. Horrific things that were done to blacks came from all sorts of people.I will continue to inform my colleagues with this information. Please research your history regarding Asians living in the south and the roles they played during this time period. 98.166.9.22 (talk) 16:55, 15 July 2023 (UTC)

98.166.9.22, please, by all means, provide reliable sources. Until you do, all we know is some anonymous person said something vague on the internet. — Jacona (talk) 22:04, 15 July 2023 (UTC)

I think the article and photos should stay. It is history. But look closely at the photos because it also depicts who is during the lynching. 98.166.9.22 (talk) 22:17, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Please provide me with reliable sources that what I am saying is not true. I am very familiar with the history of Georgia and what was done to blacks during this period. 98.166.9.22 (talk) 22:24, 15 July 2023 (UTC)

98.166.9.22, it is not at all clear what you’re saying. I think you’re saying “one of the perpetrators looks Asian to me” (an anonymous poster on the Internet). Cool, glad to know that someone has an opinion about some, even though they won’t even directly say what they mean. — Jacona (talk) 22:31, 15 July 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Protest and Police in US History

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 16 January 2024 and 30 April 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Asudman (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Asudman (talk) 00:42, 7 February 2024 (UTC)