That actually surprised me.
They were so angry and willing kill, yet as soon as someone said the person was innocent, he was left alone - even though he was black (and supposedly targeted for that reason alone).
To me this means the story is more about rape than about race. (At least this story.)
Obviously it's not for a mob to decide guilt - but still, it really surprised me that that was their motivation. I always assumed it was racism.
No, about 1/3 to 1/2.
I agree that racism was a huge part, I doubt they would have lynched a white person.
But despite that, them stopping after hearing a declaration that the black person was innocent just amazes me, it doesn't fit into my understanding of lynching which I always associated with just simple hate, i.e. "grab any handy black person and kill them".
The article also mentions how many black families had fled the town and how they were ready to get another teenager. That's how the "grab anyone" part works. And it's definetly racism.