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Racial discrimination within the u.s. criminal justice system
Racial discrimination within the u.s. criminal justice system
Racial discrimination within the u.s. criminal justice system
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In the story To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, it displays how many racial issues occurred in the southern part of the country during the 1930’s. An example being when Tom Robinson who is a innocent black man who is being accused of assault against Mayella Ewell. At the courthouse, every witness stated that Tom Robinson raped Mayella Ewell on November 21st and punched her in her right eye. But, Tom Robinson can’t use his left arm so there was no possible way that Tom Robinson punched Mayella Ewell. Atticus Finch attempts to prove Tom Robinson’s innocence by using strong, emotional appeals to convince the jury.
In the south back in the 1930’s there were many Americans who did not know the meaning of equality for all. With this being the case, many black people faced discrimination daily and it followed through to the legal systems especially in the south where both being compared took place. The evidence provided in both trials proved to be weak. Despite this, both defendants had determined lawyers who believed in justice.
Scottsboro Trial Two young women is all it takes to create one of the most tragic epoch's of African-American history after the abolishment of slavery. When Victoria Price, and Ruby Bates decide to ride the rails to look for some incentive in their lives, they witness an opportunity to ruin nine young black boy's life. A fight broke out after a gang of white boys agitated, and tried to force a gang of black boys to jump off a train.
The article The Trials of “The Scottsboro Boys,” by Douglas O. Linder speaks about, “an alleged gang rape of two white girls by nine black teenagers on a Southern Railroad freight run on March 25, 1931.” The trial was closed when the boys were pronounced guilty in court. Some of the boys were sentenced to death and some were sentenced to life in prison. This conflict is similar to a quote from, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” that says,"My folks said your daddy was a disgrace an' that nigger oughta hang from the water-tank!” (chapter 9.
Between 1930 and 1936 the imprisonment of blacks rose about three times more than that of whites (Eval). Could this be because of the imprisonments that resulted from unfair treatment of blacks at this time? This was the case in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. This type of behavior was also exhibited in The Scottsboro Trials.
The Scottsboro Boys is the tale of nine innocent young black men accused of rape by two white women. Tome’s production of Scottsboro is amazing and heart-wrenching. Haywood Patterson, the only Scottsboro boy to die in jail, strives to always tell the truth because of past trauma, and Tru Verret-Fleming portrays Patterson perfectly, his acting leaves nothing to be desired. The choreography throughout the musical is unbelievably graceful and thoughtful. Britton Mauk’s set design has a simplistic but timely approach, which helps the audience pay attention to the show, rather than elaborate set pieces.
In 1857 the court case of Dread Scott v. Stanford and in 1896 the case Plessy v. Ferguson were introduced into the Supreme Court. They showed people of color were not considered to be anything other than property; the whole majority had no regard for the feelings of another person. The notion of slavery was just coming to light in the United States. As time grew on, the slaves and former slaves were rightly becoming increasingly outraged. Through evaluating language of exclusion throughout both Dread Scott v. Stanford and Plessy v. Ferguson concurrently, anyone can recognize the effects of dehumanization negatively impacting members of the black community.
Scottsboro Trials Racism played a part in the Scottsboro trial. According to Jack Schafer, racism is the intentional abuse of social custom and legislative power that prevents a race to make decision. Racism can happens for many reasons one is that people push other races down to gain higher status (Rutledge). Another reason people would discriminate against other races is to keep power over those people (Schafer). From the Scottsboro trails the reader can see both of these reasons.
In 1931, a group of African-American boys were tried and convicted of a crime that none of them had committed. The nine young, black males had been riding the rails looking for work when a fight broke out between them and a group of white boys. The youths were arrested for vagrancy then tried for the false accusation of rape. The case of the Scottsboro Boys showed the true minority injustice of the South do to the Jim Crow Laws.
Injustice The Scottsboro Case shed light on the racial practices expressed in law that made a great impact on the legal system today. The actual victims of the Case did not receive a fair trial due to the color of their skin. The ones who played the victims planned the crime, and their stories made no sense. But like many of the trials during the time it wasn’t based on the actual evidence that was found,or even the defendants ' stories.
In the Plessy v Ferguson case, it resulted in the agreement of ‘separate but equal’ which is the opposite of what was needed to bring the Civil Rights movement forward. This is opposition to African American’s because they ruled for segregation. The Strauder v West Virginia case is also an opposition to African American’s as it was ruled that only White American’s were to serve as judges in the Supreme Court. Finally, the Williams v Mississippi case was opposition to African American’s because it ruled that to be able to vote, you had to be able to pass a literacy test. This was opposition to African American’s as a lot of them would not be able to pass a literacy test as they would not have been educated well enough if at all to be able to pass a literacy test.
A wise arthur once wrote in her book “ I think there 's only one kind folks, folks.” Meaning that all men are the same but, that 's not how people thought during the time of the scottsboro trials and even to this day. In the time of 1931 there were many whites that had a problem “playing nice” with the black residents of the United State. This caused multiple incidents to occur where blacks were punished and they did absolutely nothing wrong. The blacks could have been punished by being put in jail anywhere to being lynched or beaten to death.
African-Americans have been treated unfairly throughout the years and it has still not ceased. In the articles "Blacker Than Thou," "White Rage," and "The Condition of Black Life Is One of Mourning," there are examples of this unjust treatment. For instance, in "The Condition of Black Life Is One of Mourning," the author demonstrates that black people are stereotyped to be lawbreakers, and some police have used lethal weapons against them unnecessarily, due to their race. Also, in "White Rage," the author describes occasions from the past, such as Brown v. Board of Education, a court case that ended racial isolation of schools, to demonstrate that there was extreme prejudice before these occasions. In "Blacker Than Thou," it indicates how some
Contrary to popular belief, racism is still well alive in the United States, even in the 21st century. Many attempts have been made to terminate the unwanted social injustice, but its presence is still plainly evident today. Still, there have been many citizens who have become blind to racism. Despite slavery being abolished, and segregation outlawed, racism still exists. A minority in the United States would easily be able to explain in detail the evident facts of racism today, while most white persons will tell you that the country has reached racial equality.
These supreme court cases continued to strengthen the Black Codes. African Americans not only suffered in injustice laws, but also the threat from white community
