Tri-Faith Meeting Protests San Jose Lynching
A tri-faith rally, co-sponsored by Protestant, Jewish and Catholic leaders in San Jose, California on this day protested lynchings that had recently occurred in the San Jose area.
The rally also protested California Governor James Rolph who publicly approved of the lynchings.
Rally organizer Charles Tuttle, a former U. S. Attorney, declared that there is “no greater menace an no more sinister demagogy that official condonation or encouragement of mob violence.” Bishop Francis McConnell of the Methodist Episcopal Church called for a federal anti-lynching law. The ACLU supported his talk, which was broadcast over the NBC radio network. The ACLU has also offered $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any member of the lynch mob.
The first national conference on lynching in America was held in New York City on May 5, 1919.
Learn more about the NAACP anti-lynching campaign: http://www.naacp.org/pages/naacp-history-anti-lynching-bill
Read the 2015 report on the number of lynchings: Equal Justice Initiative, Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror (2015)
View a timeline on racial injustice in America.