Reviews for White power and the liberal conscience

The average rating for White power and the liberal conscience based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-01-08 00:00:00 Fahim Ansari This is the story of Cleo Wright, his victim Grace Sturgeon and their respective communities in the city of Silkeston, Missouri in 1942. Grace Sturgeon was the wife of a soldier who was in California getting ready to defend our country. Cleo Wright broke into their house and assaulted Grace Sturgeon cutting her stomach open and she held him off while holding her own intestines in her hand. Nothing riled the white community like an assault of a black man on a white woman especially one whose husband was off defending the country. After he was arrested, he then stuck a knife through the jaw of the police officer taking him into custody. Even though it was almost certain that the judicial system would have found Cleo Wright guilty and sentenced him to death, a mob formed and fairly easily got Cleo Wright from jail, drug him down the steps feet first so that his head bounced on every step, tied him to the back of a car and dragged him through the black section of the community and then set him on fire while he was still alive. Afterwards, people came for souvenirs: teeth, bones, charred fingers. The authorities were derelict in their duty to protect the prisoner. The fact that this happened as the United States was entering World War II, was a great embarrassment to Missouri and the rest of the country condemned this brutal action while (as is often typical), the townspeople mostly supported the mob action. As is the case for most lynchings, no one was prosecuted for this murder. Dominic Capeci compares this lynching with others in Missouri and in the south. He claims, but it is not well supported, that this lynching is more significant than others because of actions taken after it happened.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-01-04 00:00:00 Linda Masheter The author really did his research and was very thorough. The story is so full of facts that you can get bogged down in so much detail. Nonetheless, it is tragic that something this heinous could happen in Missouri, U.S.A. as recently as the 40's! I am glad the story is told so that we might learn from the past.