Jeff Atnip painting of the Courthouse in Lynchburg, TN, note the Beech tree out front. This lynching tree is what the town's been named after.
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/moore-county-courthouse-lynchburg-tn-jeff-atnip.html
This petition is about respecting sensitivity. It seems that these names demonstrate latent rascism. Although the term "Lynch" was initially born of a former quaker justice of the peace's "Lynch's Law" which prescribed extra-legal punishment of loyalists during the revolutionary war, the word as we know it is particularly involved with rascism. It is irrelevant if the towns are named after a quaker individual who had a ferry here- there are no municipalities named Lynchburg in the "North" (except Lynch, Nebraska- presumption: lacking diversity there?) The word lynch has changed meanings since it's first inception- conscription of loyalists and seizure of their property. Nowadays the term has intimidation associated with it: this is how whites kept control while denying people basic human rights. It represents hundreds if not thousands of individuals who were unfairly and BRUTALLY killed, some did nothing wrong, none had a trial or an impartial jury of their peers. Keeping this as the name of your municipality implies turning a blind-eye towards the past and the atrocities committed under this banner and also continued support of inequality and intimidation: we may not break out the lynch-mobs anymore but statistics in prisons tell a similar story where being white may help you not get locked up.
Lynchburg is an insensitive name. It doesn't matter if the person is a saint who the town is named after: if the saint's name was "Rape and Pillage" is that what you would name your town? There are many more appropriate names: almost anything would be better than reminding the inhabitants of these places how some of their ancestors met their cruel end every day. This issue is inhibiting creating a society where we can come together and form stronger bonds of trust with one another. It is hard for me to trust people who want to include the word "Lynch" in naming anything, especially a place where people of various descents live and work together.
