"The Bottoms Line"

What's up Fam...I hope everything has been well with you all this week.

Today I would like to discuss something that has been on my mind for 

quite

some time now. The Willie Lynch Letter of 1712 has been the subject of 

a lot

of one- sided debate and not to mention the lyrics to various rap songs 

and

poems. Through all this discussion about Wille Lynch one point has 

never

been made...and that is, Willie Lynch DID NOT exist. Now, I know this 

may

upset a lot of you reading this because the Willie Lynch letter has 

become

like the Bible for people who like to explain and debate the current

condition of Black people in America. For those of you who are not 

familiar

with the Willie Lynch Letter of 1712, I have included a copy of the 

letter

in this blog so that you can formulate your own opinion on its

authenticity. For those who are not familiar, here is a brief overview:

Willie Lynch is a slave owner from the Caribbean who was invited by 

American

slave masters to give a lecture/speech to teach their American brethren

methods to control their unruly slaves. Mr. Lynch proposed that the 

slaves

be pitted against each other according to size, sex, age, and 

color...and if

his plan were implemented then control of the slaves would last at 

least 300

years. 

Let's begin the examination of the letter from a somewhat of an

investigative point of view. First of all there are no records of 

Willie

Lynch's birth date or place of birth. Second, if we were to assume that

Willie Lynch was actually invited to America, we would need to assume 

that

he was a man that was well respected and well know among his peers. 

This

would mean that there should be some type of independent documentation 

of

this speech in the form of newspaper articles or editorials from his 

time.

There is no such documentation. And lastly, in 1712 a trip from the

Caribbean to America would have been an expensive and time-consuming 

trip.

It is very hard to believe that a man would make this difficult trip to 

give

an eight-paragraph speech. Since letter writing the common form of

communication in this era, Willie Lynch more than likely would have 

sent a

letter describing his "plan". 

The Willie Lynch letter is obviously written by some from the 1990's 

trying

to sound like someone speaking in the early 1700's. The author of the 

letter

uses language and historically references that did not come to pass for

decades and some cases centuries later. For example in the text of the

speech Lynch states: "Ancient Rome would envy us if my program is

implemented." The true "author" of speech failed to realized that the 

word

"program" did not enter the English language in this context until 

1837,

over 100 years after the speech was supposed to be given. In 1712, the 

word

was only used in reference to a written notice of theater events. The 

author

also uses the term "Black" with upper case letter "B" to describe the

slaves. First of all, in this particular era, person in bondage would 

more

than likely would been referred to as a Negro. The term "Black" 

referring to

someone's ethnicity, does not enter the English language for more than 

two

centuries later. 

A lot of people believe that the term "lynch" is derived from Willie 

Lynch's

namesake, which is very odd since the purpose of Willie's speech is to 

give

alternatives to the use of violence to control slaves. The author of 

the

letter states: "I caught a whiff of a dead slave hanging from a tree a 

few

miles back." Now although this is very possible, because slaves were 

treated

very inhumanely, but in early frontier American society "lynching" was 

a

common form of justice. In fact, in 1712, White people would more 

likely be

"lynched". It wasn't until the early 1880's, after Reconstruction, that

"lynching" was even associated with Black people. Over time though, the

number of "lynching" of Blacks gradually surpassed that of Whites until 

it

eventually became almost exclusively directed towards Blacks 

(1882-1944,

3,417 Blacks lynching and 1,291 white lynching: Tuskegee University). 

I'm pretty sure that there will be some people who disagree with me, 

which

is quite fine. I just hope that this email will encourage people to 

research

this topic themselves. Hopefully it will move through cyberspace as 

fast as

the Willie Lynch Letter itself or that other email that says Black 

people

are about to lose their right to vote. 

Holla atcha boy Tommy B when you me in the streets! 

"THE WILLY LYNCH LETTER" (2004 EDITION)

Gentlemen, I greet you here on the bank of the James River in the year 

of

our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twelve. First, I shall thank 

you,

the gentlemen of the Colony of Virginia, for bringing me here. I am 

here to

help you solve some of your problems with slaves. Your invitation 

reached me

on my modest plantation in the West Indies where I have experimented 

with

some of the newest and still the oldest methods of control of slaves.

 Ancient Rome would envy us if my program were implemented. As our boat

sailed south on the James River, named for our illustrious King, whose

version of the Bible we cherish. I saw enough to know that your problem 

is

not unique. While Rome used cords of woods as crosses for standing 

human

bodies along its highways in great numbers you are here using the tree 

and

the rope on occasion.

I caught the whiff of a dead slave hanging from a tree a couple of 

miles

back. You are not only losing a valuable stock by hangings, you are 

having

uprisings, slaves are running away, your crops are sometimes left in 

the

fields too long for maximum profit, you suffer occasional fires, your

animals are killed.

Gentlemen, you know what your problems are: I do not need to elaborate. 

I am

not here to enumerate your problems, I am here to introduce you to a 

method

of solving them. In my bag here, I have a fool proof method for 

controlling

your Black slaves. I guarantee everyone of you that if installed 

correctly

it will control the slaves for at least 300 hundred years. My method is

simple. Any member of your family or your oversee r can use it.

I have outlined a number of differences among the slaves: and I take 

these

differences and make them bigger. I use fear, distrust, and envy for 

control

purposes. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West

Indies and it will work throughout the South. Take this simple little 

list

of differences, and think about them. 

On top of my list is "Age", but it is there only because it starts with 

an

"A": the second is "Color" or shade, there is intelligence, size, sex, 

size

of plantations, status on plantation, attitude of owners, whether the 

slave

live in the valley, on hill, East, West, North, South, have fine hair,

coarse hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of 

differences. I

shall give you an outline of action-but before that I shall assure you 

that

distrust is stronger than trust and envy is stronger than adulation,

respect, or admiration.

The Black slave after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and 

will

become self re-fueling and self generating for hundreds of years, maybe

thousands. Don't forget you must pitch the old Black male vs. the young

Black male, and the young Black male against the old Black male. You 

must

use the dark skin slaves vs. the light skin slaves and the light skin 

slaves

vs. the dark skin slaves. You must use the female vs. the male, and the 

male

vs. the female. You must also have your white servants and overseers

distrust all Blacks, but it is necessary that your slaves trust and 

depend

on us. They must love, respect and trust only us. 

Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control. Use them. Have your 

wives

and children use them, never miss an opportunity. If used intensely for 

one

year, the slaves themselves will remain perpetually distrustful.  Thank 

you,

gentlemen."