August 7, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 141 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E731]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              REMEMBERING THE LYNCHING OF BENJAMIN THOMAS

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                       HON. DONALD S. BEYER, JR.

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 7, 2020

  Mr. BEYER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in memory of Benjamin Thomas, 
a young African American man who was lynched by an angry white mob just 
down the road from this Capitol in Alexandria, Virginia one hundred and 
twenty-one years ago. He was accused of assaulting a young white girl 
but was never given the chance to defend himself. During the evening of 
August 8, 1899, Thomas was pulled out of a city jail by a large crowd. 
He was bound with a rope and dragged six blocks to a lamppost on the 
corner of King and Fairfax Street. He was then stripped of his clothes 
and hanged. Before dispersing, the mob proceeded to shoot his body 
several times. No one was ever charged for this heinous crime.
  The lynching of Benjamin Thomas is only one of 86 documented 
lynchings committed in Virginia between 1880 and 1930. These acts of 
premeditated violence were deliberate attempts by whites to terrorize 
and control black populations across the state. While the local black 
community of Alexandria was outraged in the wake of Thomas' death, fear 
of additional white violence prevented any further action. This was 
often the case, as members of these mobs rarely faced any consequences 
for their actions, or worse were implicitly or explicitly supported by 
members of law enforcement.
  It is incumbent on all of us, particularly those born into privilege, 
to remember this shameful episode of our history and others like it. In 
doing so, we are better able to see the continuous chain of racially 
motivated violence against black Americans that spans our nation's 
history. We can truly honor the memory of Benjamin Thomas along with 
the countless number of named and unnamed victims of racial violence by 
seeking justice for all Americans and working to build a more inclusive 
society.

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