Bird’s death was given a one-sentence mention in the August 23 issue of
Time magazine: “At Wytheville, Va., last week gentry stormed the county jail; shot Raymond Bird, 31, Negro; hanged his black body to a tree.” The reporting glossed over the grisly specifics of the case, however. Bird was being held in jail accused of assaulting the two white daughters of his employer, and while local officials knew a mob had formed, they did little to protect the prisoner. According to an Associated Press report, the mob shot Bird and beat his head “into a pulp.” They then tied a rope around his neck, attached his corpse to a waiting automobile, and dragged his body nine miles to the scene of his alleged assaults. There, they strung his body to a tree and filled it with more bullets.
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From Black Wall Street To Bristol: The Past, Present and Future of Black Communities Around The World Refinery29 2/22/2021 Jessica Morgan
Black folk have really gone through it this past year. Not only have we witnessed people who look like us being gunned down in their sleep, on the street or on their daily jog, but we’re also disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, the deadly virus that has swept the globe. Being Black in America, and the rest of the world, is pretty lit but it is also overwhelming. For over 400 years, we’ve witnessed abuse, trauma, racial inequality and injustice inflicted upon Black communities all over the world.