We must not succumb to historical narcissism, the belief that your limited version of history, is universally known, and correct. That which is considered to be shameful will be hidden from general use, often in plain sight. Terms like Scot Free, (To murder a Scot’s person thus freeing them), Dutch Courage (To be drunk), Indian Giving (To grant and take away something of value from one of the Original People,) Highland Clearances (Ethnic Cleansing of the Irish and Scots people by the English)
The context that the children were using the word as “politically incorrect” was an uglier usage than you are willing to admit, to be sure in the tradition of Scot free, and the Highland Clearances.
The word picnic like many words borrowed from other languages and brought into English, may have different meanings to different people. The children in the original story were probably told the same cautionary tale, many African-American children were told. Particularly if they were raised by people who were subject to what can only be called Christian terrorism, also known as the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan often hid in plain sight, was composed of prominent wealthy well educated citizens and law enforcement, thus enjoyed immunity from prosecution for their crimes, which continue into the present day. Picnic in this context is a code word for lynching. as in Pick a Nig, to lynch.
Generally this cautionary tale is not told outside of African-American contexts like all the things I refer to as Black Urban legends.
An urban legend is a story that pops up and is told as if it is true. An elderly woman washes her poodle and places it in the microwave to dry. The poodle explodes, She dies from the shock.
There are often many variations of this and other urban legends. They sound like they could happen, but there are usually several elements in them that require suspension of disbelief.
The difference and the distinction I wish to make with black urban legends is that unlike generic urban legends many black urban legends did in fact take place as historical facts.
So like their generic urban legend cousins they are cautionary tales which mix real events with the fear that they actually could occur.
The real problem with black urban legends, is not that they are not true, but white people refuse to believe them.
Picnic food in the generic sense consists of barbecue, and foods consisting of wild game which could include all kinds of things not necessarily found in your supermarket.
Lynching was not simply hanging. It was mutilation, and torture while the victim was alive.
While some victims had allegedly committed crimes, most had not.
This is a website of lynching photography, where the photo’s had been made into postcards and sent through the mail.
http://www.withoutsanctuary.org
This site shows white on white lynching as well, for example European immigrants who were lynched by “Red Blooded Americans”, Red Blooded being a Ku Klux Klan term for a “pure-bred” White Anglo Saxon Protestant, the type of membership they particularly prized.
As the withoutsanctuary site attests frequent references to picnic fare are used. In the lynching depicted in the opening graphics, that of Jesse Washington, Mr. Washington’s lynching in 1916 Texas. So its easy to see why among black people Picnic is a code word for lynching, whereas the dictionary would not note that usage.
Black Urban Legend word…Picnic: Pick a nig, Pick a nigger (to lynch) a play on the word pickaninny, from pequeno nino’s: little children…slaver name for Africans.
picnic n.
1. A meal eaten outdoors, as on an excursion. Slang. An easy task or pleasant experience. (Fr. piquenique, prob. redup. of piquer to pick)
pickaninny n., pl. pickaninnies. Offensive. Used as a disparaging term for a young Black child. [Possibly from Spanish pequeno, small + nino, child or Portuguese pequenino, diminutive of pequeno, small.]
– American Heritage Dictionary
Jesse Washington was a mentally retarded seventeen-year-old boy. On May 8, 1916, Lucy Fryer, a white woman, was murdered in Robinson, seven miles from Waco. Washington, a laborer on her farm, confessed to the murder. in a brief trial on May15, the prosecution had only to present a murder weapon and Washington’s confession.
A reasonable person with a reasonable doubt might ask as to motive: why would a mentally retarded teenager kill his employer? A reasonable person might ask how was the confession obtained? As in legally? Did Washington actually do the murder? In any case the jury deliberated for four minutes, and the guilty verdict was read to shouts of, “Get that Nigger!” The boy was beaten and dragged to the suspension bridge spanning the Brazos River. Thousands roared, “Burn him!” Bonfire preparations were already under way in the public square, where Washington was beaten with shovels and bricks. Fifteen thousand men, women, and children packed the square. They climbed up poles and onto the tops of cars, hung from windows, and sat on each other’s shoulders. Children were lifted by their parents into the air.
Washington was castrated, and his ears were cut off. A tree supported the iron chain that lifted him above the fire of boxes and sticks. Wailing, the boy attempted to climb the skillet-hot chain. For this the men cut off his fingers. The executioners repeatedly lowered the boy into the flames and hoisted him out again. With each repetition, a mighty shout was raised.
Lynchers often paraded their victim down the main street, through black neighborhoods, and in front of “colored schools” that were in session.
The sender of this card, Joe Meyers, an oiler at the Bellmead car department and a Waco resident, marked his photo with a cross (now an ink smudge to left of victim).
This card bears the advertising stamp, “katy electric studio temple texas. h. lippe prop.” inscribed in brown ink: “This is the Barbecue we had last night my picture is to the left with a cross over it your son Joe.”
Repeated references to eating are found in lynching-related correspondence, such as “coon cooking,” “barbecue,” and “main fare.”
“This is the Barbecue we had last night my picture is to the left with a cross over it your son Joe.”
Joe would still be considered a normal, well adjusted, sane human being by today’s standards.
If Washington had been found innocent, and still treated in this manner, no jury would have convicted Joe.
This is the African American Experience, to be aware that you have to carry the burden and responsibility of terrible and wonderful secret knowledge.
And like Cassandra, to not be believed in either case.
Picnic is one code word for lynching, generic enough to pass for an innocuous word if lynching is not part of your heritage.
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