Taking A Look At Emmett Till's Trial

How would you feel if you testify in court to defend yourself but no one believes or cares what you have to say and you get convicted? If you felt angry, then is it fair for black men to experience this oppression in court or even everyday life. It was more common before the civil rights movement, but still relevant to today that black men are often oppressed. Tom Robinson, a black man, in To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, was oppressed by being falsely convicted for rape. Emmett Till is a black boy who is also falsely accused of rape because he whistled at a white woman. He would even be killed by white men for whistling at the white woman. Emmett Till Revisited is an article that talks about Emmett Till and his murder trial. Another black

For example, in TKAM, after Tom Robinson, a black man, was convicted, Jem told Atticus “‘It ain’t right. He didn’t kill anybody even if he was guilty. He didn’t take anybody’s life’”(Lee 219). Jem is telling Atticus that it wasn’t right for Tom to be convicted because he didn’t kill anyone and if he actually did the crime, he still wouldn’t have killed anyone. Another example, in the Emmett Till Article, Emmett Till is a black boy that was brutally murdered by two white men. At the trial for who killed Emmett Till, “The witnesses identified the perpetrators, but the jury acquitted the white men”(Majerol 1). The quotes say that witnesses identified that the white men killed Emmett Till but they were acquitted. These two quotes prove that black people have a worse trial than white people. Tom Robinson, a black man, was guilty but he didn’t do any crime. Meanwhile, two white men who clearly killed Emmett Till were set free. The murder of Emmett Till,a black boy, went unpunished. The juries are oppressing black men. The jury shouldn’t oppress black men because it doesn’t give black defendants the due process of law. In both cases, the black people are oppressed because they are given a worse trial than the

For instance, in TKAM, Reverend Sykes told Jem “I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man”(Lee 208). The quotes said that Reverend Sykes has never seen the jury in favor of a colored man over a white man. In Black Men and Public Space, after Brent Staples, a colored man, scared a white woman by walking behind her, he realized “I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto”(Staples 1). Staples looked like a mugger to the white woman because of his race and the area they were in was dangerous which scared her. Both quotes have someone believing in stereotypes. In TKAM, the jury are always in favor of a white man over a colored man because they believe all colored men are dangerous. Similarly, the white woman in Black Men and Public Space assumes that black men are muggers, leading her to avoid Staples because he is black. This shows that black men are oppressed in court and on the streets. In both situations, black men are oppressed because of their