Bill Moyers Journal: 11/23/07: Reconciling History

With the noose and the lynching tree entering the national discussion in the wake of recent news events, Bill Moyers interviews theologian James Cone about how these powerful images relate to the symbol of the cross and how they signify both tragedy and triumph. "It was the poor, black victims being lynched. In Rome time, it was poor Jews being lynched. The analogy is almost perfect there," he says. "So, how are we today going to understand what was happening to Jesus unless we see what was happening to black people in those trees?"

Dr. Cone is the Charles A. Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He is best known for his groundbreaking works: Black Theology & Black Power (1969) and A Black Theology of Liberation (1970); and he is also the author of the highly acclaimed God of the Oppressed (1975); and of Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare? (1991).