Why do those in positions of authority blame disorder on outside
agitators? Consider a useful case study from 1741, in New York City, a
town of about ten thousand residents, at least two thousand of whom were
enslaved Africans. A greater number of fires than usual were breaking
out, including one that destroyed the governor’s mansion. A rumor spread
that a black man had been heard to cackle, “Fire, Fire, Scorch, Scorch,
A LITTLE, Damn it, BY-AND-BY,” beside some hot coals secreted beneath a
haystack. Three days later, the City Council announced the existence of
a “villainous Confederacy of latent Enemies amongst us,” enacting a
wicked plot “to burn the King’s House and this Town, and to kill and
destroy the Inhabitants.” A witch hunt ensued. Both the nature of the
alleged crime and the number of alleged conspirators waxed daily until
it became, according to the Crown’s indictment of the alleged
ringleader, a “Negro Plot to burn the City of New York.” This supposed
ringleader, however, was a white Englishman.
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/07/27/a-brief-history-of-dangerous-others/
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