From the end of the Civil War through World War 2, poor white Southerners suffered almost as badly as black Southerners. Most suffered silently, but some became violent, and blacks were convenient and vulnerable targets.

Because blacks were not allowed to vote, and juries were selected from registered voters, all jurors were white. And no white jury would convict a white man of violent crimes against blacks.

So if you wanted to commit violence, you could do so against blacks without consequences. Maybe violent poor whites were really mad — or just as mad — at rich whites. But rich whites were protected by the law.

This violence served the rich whites, because it gave the anger of poor whites a different target while terrorizing poor blacks. So they did little to discourage it, and often encouraged it.