On Feb. 23, 2024, Marjorie Taylor Greene had an angry tweet to share. Anyone who follows her never-ending social media antics or has had the displeasure of hearing her name come up (again) on the news knows that Greene’s yammering has become as consistent as melting ice caps and bombing Sony films. But this tweet, on that day, gave me pause.
Responding to the death of 22-year-old former UGA student Laken Riley at the hands of Jose Antonio Ibarra, Greene said, “You want to break in our country, ILLEGALLY, and murder one of our girls. DEATH PENALTY!!!” Two words. Three exclamation points. One dangerous problem.
Before I go any further, let me be clear: Riley’s death was an absolute tragedy, and I can surmise from Greene’s passionate tweet that she agrees. Neither of us would argue that Ibarra should not face serious consequences for his actions, including but not limited to the death penalty (which would be up to a jury to unanimously decide at his trial). What does bother me, however, is that Greene felt the need to publicly link the consequence she feels this man deserves to his immigration status, a social and political tactic she employs on a near-daily basis to the disgust of an exhausted public.
It immediately made me think of Leo Frank, a Jewish man who was convicted in the 1913 murder of Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old girl who worked in the pencil factory Frank managed in Atlanta, Georgia. Despite there being evidence to suggest that Frank was innocent, he ultimately bore the brunt of Georgia’s wrath when the news of Phagan’s death broke. After a wildly sensationalized trial that became national news, Frank received a unanimous guilty verdict and was sentenced to death by hanging; however, after new evidence came to light suggesting his innocence, then-Governor John Slaton converted Frank’s sentence to imprisonment for life. Less than two months later, an angry mob broke Leo out of prison, drove him to Phagan’s hometown of Marietta, and lynched him.
Although Frank was posthumously pardoned in 1986, the damage done to the Southern Jewish community after his lynching was devastating. Half of the Jews living in Georgia at the time fled the state, and despite Frank’s conviction inspiring the creation of the Anti-Defamation League, his death led the Ku Klux Klan to reform after a 45-year dormancy. The effects of his tragic story are still being felt today, with many contemporary Georgians insisting that Frank killed Phagan while researchers and historians concur that his case was a devastating example of antisemitic persecution and an overall miscarriage of justice. If any of this sounds familiar to you, it may be because Frank’s story was turned into the Broadway musical Parade in 1998, which was revived in 2023 and took home two Tony Awards including one for Best Revival of a Musical.
Why did Greene’s tweet remind me of Frank’s case? Because I’ve played Leo Frank on stage and know how difficult it is, even in the context of make-believe, to feel the hatred of a group of people yelling “HANG HIM!” in your face in rehearsal and performance. Though it pales in comparison to the actual hatred Jewish people felt in 1913 and still feel today, my experience climbing into Frank’s skin gave me a heartbreaking sense of what he went through as an entire community advocated for his demise. Greene’s tweet gave me whiplash because, while the circumstances between Frank’s and Ibarra’s cases are different ⏤ Frank was a scapegoat while Ibarra was identified as Riley’s killer via eyewitnesses and campus security cameras ⏤ the sentiment is the same, as evidenced by Greene’s mention of Ibarra’s alleged U.S. illegality.
“You want to break in our country, ILLEGALLY,” Greene said, though I’m assuming she meant “break into” (we’re aware at this point that she’s not very bright). These are the words that precede her desire to see Ibarra get the death penalty. Notice that it’s not just Ibarra’s crime that she’s highlighting in her assessment ⏤ it’s his origins. In her view, he’s “illegal.” Non-American. Other, and therefore he should suffer. This is the same kind of messaging Frank, who moved to Atlanta from Brooklyn, received from native Georgians when he became a suspect in Mary Phagan’s death; the same hateful sentiment that led to his lynching, the resurrection of the KKK, and the rise in Southern antisemitism.
Again, don’t get me wrong ⏤ Ibarra deserves everything he has coming to him, whatever that turns out to be. But in this day and age, when countries are at war and a severe lack of U.S. bipartisanship pushes Americans further apart every day, does Greene really need to be equating all seemingly undocumented immigrants with criminal behavior? Ibarra committed an unspeakable act of felony murder that he will be judged for in a court of law. Greene’s need to flag his citizenship (or lack thereof) before skipping over the concept of due process and going straight for a death penalty proposal begs a devastating question: we haven’t come very far since 1913, have we?
If you don’t believe me, check out some of the responses to Greene’s tweet. “Biden is an accomplice,” one reaction reads. “THE BLOOD IS ON BIDEN!” says another. This same finger-pointing happened in Frank’s day, too ⏤ not on social media, but in warring newspapers trying to circulate the splashiest headline. “We need to flood the news with all of the crimes these illegals are doing,” reads another response to Greene’s tweet. “They need to pay the price!”
You know who paid the price? Leo Frank, and the five people who died on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol after the 2020 election didn’t go their way. Remember the mob that lynched Frank? Let’s not forget that a faction of Trump supporters wanted to hang Mike Pence and hurt numerous other members of public office that day. Over 174 police officers were injured during the insurrection, and four of them went on to take their lives before the year was up. This is what can happen when people in positions of power manipulate others into doing unspeakable things.
Greene inciting that same kind of mob mentality in yet another xenophobic tweet isn’t going to help the nation move forward; it’s only going to push the U.S. deeper into dark and dangerous territory. Ibarra is not a monster because of where he comes from ⏤ he’s a monster for what he did to Riley. That’s the part Greene doesn’t seem to understand, and her inability to accept the notion of racial equality after nearly 50 years of life does not inspire confidence in her growth potential. What’s even more chilling is the fact that Greene represents Georgia’s 14th congressional district, the edge of which is mere miles away from where Frank was lynched 108 years ago. I wonder how she’d react if his trial took place today.
If we’re not going to learn from our past, then we might as well kiss life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness goodbye. It really is as simple as that. And as long as heartless and impressively dim conspiracy theorists like Greene remain in positions of power, we can continue to expect racism and hatred to guide all kinds of government decisions. But to those with the common sense and intelligence to know the difference between right and wrong, I say this: There might be a seemingly never-ending parade of imbeciles trying to drive our country into the ground, but that doesn’t mean we have to let them. As Leo Frank learns in Act Two of the musical his story inspired, this is not over yet ⏤ though Greene’s tenure as someone with influence and a microphone clearly should be.
