Berkeley effigies of lynching victims spur anger, confusion

Anti-police-violence protestors in Berkeley, Calif., found it hard to guess the intentions behind photographic lynching images hanged near a protest site.

Effigies of black lynching victims found hanging at the University of California, Berkeley have sparked debate over whether the images are powerful protest art or just plain tasteless and racist.

The photographic images were found Saturday morning hanging at two prominent spots on campus. They were discovered a few hours before a demonstration against police brutality organized by a black student union was to start. Police are investigating, but officials say they still don't know who hanged the images or the motivation.

"It's unclear if this is racially motivated effort or an effort at something else," campus spokeswoman Claire Holmes said.

Social media sites hosted debates between those who viewed the effigies as art and those offended by the images.

Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, a UC Berkeley professor of social psychology who studies prejudice and stereotyping, said he sees no redeeming quality in the images hanged Saturday.

"Given the volatility of the protests, I think it's misguided regardless of the protest," Mendoza-Denton said. "It's inflammatory and is triggering upset and anger."

Others, however, said the effigies may have been a form of "guerrilla art" and that images of lynching victims have been used by artists in the past. The rap group Public Enemy used a photograph of two lynching victims on the cover the single "Hazy Shade of Criminal" released in 1992.

Leigh Raiford, an associate professor of African American studies at UC Berkeley who has written about lynching photography, said the images may have been hanged as an artistic expression.

Raiford said there is a long history of artists and groups like the NAACP using lynching images as part of a campaign to highlight a history of violent racism in the country.

"Somebody really did their homework," Raiford said of the images, each of which had a name of a lynching victim and the year of their death.

"I don't dismiss the power and fear that these images provoke," said Raiford, who discusses lynching photography in a book she wrote. "But I see this as guerrilla protest."

A black student union representative said the group is also mystified about who hanged the effigies and why.

"We hope that it's someone who wanted to bring attention to the issue," said Spencer Pritchard, 21, a Berkeley student who helped organize the Berkeley demonstration.

About 300 people participated in the peaceful Berkeley protest Saturday afternoon. Many of them later joined a larger demonstration in Oakland that was mostly peaceful, though police arrested 45 people.