Last week, President Donald Trump tweeted his frustration toward the ongoing impeachment inquiry by describing the entire ordeal as a “lynching.” He judged the impeachment process as such after claiming that he was not given “due process or fairness or any legal rights.” 

Lynching is the killing of an individual by a mob as a “form of vigilante retribution used to enforce popular justice,” according to the Equal Justice Initiative. An impeachment is a legislative process that “proceeds from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust,” as stated in Federalist No. 65. 

In the United States, any person who is charged of a crime is seen as innocent until proven guilty. This presumption of innocence is a principle that is currently keeping President Trump in office while the inquiry is ongoing. It is the job of the House to follow up on any criminal accusation and to find substantial evidence implicating President Trump. He had allegedly overstepped his role as executive when he attempted to manipulate the upcoming 2020 election by pressuring the Ukrainian government, according to CNN.

Impeachment is not a violent attack based on racist bias. It is democracy. 

To compare this inquisition to lynching is more than a misguided statement. It is disrespectful to American history. It disregards the somber time in the United States when African Americans were not given the chance to prove their innocence. They were not given the chance to be seen as innocent until proven guilty. Furthermore, those that were found guilty were not given the proper chance to face repercussions in a just system free of cruel and unusual punishment. 

They were not seen as equals who were allowed to have their execution stayed or their prison time reduced for good behavior, for their radical white peers took it upon themselves to enact their own justice. For example, in “Lynching in America,” a black woman named Laura Nelson and her son were kidnapped from a jail in Okemah, Oklahoma, in 1911. Nelson was raped and hanged while her son was thrown over a bridge into the North Canadian River.

Nelson and her son were waiting to stand trial when these events occurred. They were waiting to face the same judicial system that every other American who was not African American was able to, but they were not given a chance by their peers. 

Sometimes the mob came even when no crime was committed. An accusation of sexual assault against a black man from a white woman was enough to cause a mob and a lynching of an African American in the community.

For example, “Lynching in America” tells the story of a black man named George Smith who was dragged through the streets and hanged after being falsely accused of an assault. He had an alibi and most of the reports of the alleged crime were false, but the white people of the community did not care about his innocence. They only saw their version of justice. 

So, when President Trump compares his impeachment inquiry to a lynching, he is trivializing the pain and suffering of African Americans. As a white male who holds the highest-ranking office in this country, President Trump should have taken a step back and reexamined the historical and emotional context of the word, but since he didn’t, it is our responsibility to do so. 

We, as Americans, have to remember to always acknowledge our history. Although we may not all have the same skin color or ethnic history, we are all members of a country that has defiled the rights of African Americans and we must always carry those grievances with us in order to prevent such travesties from happening again.

Letisha Dass is a junior journalism major with a minor in philosophy and political science.