An orderly nonprofit lynching

Orderly Lynching in Globe, Arizona, originally uploaded by NiteTripper.

The other day I took a moment to read an absolutely stunning book-- Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America. Words fail. Usually a photo book is a much faster read than the equivalent pages in text, but not this time. Each page drew me into the abyss. Most compelling: reproductions of lynching postcards, the sale of which were eventually banned by certain states.

Pictured above: a commemorative marker for a lynching tree in Globe, Arizona, which includes an extensive narrative apparently designed to position the act within the bounds of civil society. The crime, the fair hearing, the saloons closed, the formal nonprofit business associations and the informal but equally nonprofit group of vigilantes are said to have conducted"an orderly lynching."