Chew's Views with Richard ChewRichard Chew is joined by Stacey Patton, professor and author of the USA Today bestseller "Strung Up: How White America Learned to Lynch Black Children" (2026).
The interview examined how historical practices of violence were learned, normalized, and passed across generations. Here are a few highlights from the conversation:
- Patton said genealogy can recover parts of Black family histories fractured by slavery, while emphasizing that DNA cannot tell the whole story.
- She described historical research as a way to understand the forces and contradictions that shape people and communities.
- Patton argued that lynching was a learned cultural practice, shaped by traditions of public torture and execution, slavery, and racial domination.
- She connected the logic of corporal punishment and enslavement to lynching, noting that the underlying belief system of violence can persist after specific practices are abolished.
- The discussion connected historical public executions to contemporary calls by Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth for public punishment and spectacle.
Catch "Chew's Views with Richard Chew” weekdays from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/chews-views).
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