The Cross and the Lynching Tree

by James H. Cone

Whites become exceedingly angry when they hear Joshua preach: “Blessed are the poor; blessed are they that mourn; blessed are the meek; blessed are the merciful; blessed are they which are persecuted. All men are brothers and God is the Father of all.” Whites complain bitterly: “He’s putting ideas into niggers’ heads.” “Behold, he stirreth up the people.” Then “they seized him and questioned him,” saying, “What do you mean by this talk about being brothers—do you mean social equality?” “What do you mean by ‘the meek shall inherit the earth’—do you mean the niggers will own our cotton land?” “What do you mean by saying God is you-all’s father—is God a nigger?” “Joshua flamed in mighty anger,” appropriating the words of Jesus and John the Baptist in the Gospels, calling the whites “hypocrites,” “serpents,” “generation of vipers” who will not “escape the damnation of hell!” Just as Jesus was taken before Pilate, so too Joshua is taken before a northern Judge, who finds no fault in him, nothing that would warrant a lynching. “Kill the nigger,” the mob shouts. “Why,” the Judge replies, “what hath he done?” “Let him be crucified,” the crowd insists. Like Pilate, “the Judge washed his hands of the whole matter, saying: ‘I am innocent of his blood.’ ” Like Jesus, Joshua “was sentenced for treason and inciting murder and insurrection . . . they stripped him, and spit upon him, and smote him on the head, and mocked, and lynched him.” Like Jesus in Luke’s Gospel, Joshua says, “Father...