Treyvon Martin was a teenager who was unarmed, shot, and killed in Sanford, Florida. The incident happened on February 26, 2012. The officer who shot Martin followed Martin around outside when he then confronted Martin. They seemed to have some kind of argument, and then officer Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest. Zimmerman was questioned about his confrontation, where he pleaded self-defense.
Born in Maryland, Thurgood Marshall was another activist for civil rights. He went to an all-black law school, after being denied entry into the University of Maryland Law School. He would later take the school to court, and win, for violating the 14th Amendment. He went on to handle many landmark cases, as the primary attorney for the NAACP. One of the history making cases was the previous decision on the Plessy v. Ferguson case, convincing the Supreme Court to overturn the original ruling.
Steven Avery fights to prove his claimed innocence. Steven claims that "they set him up," when he was investigated and was told that he was not a suspect. The investigation of Teresa's death resulted in finding an essential in Steven's residence, EDTA test being done, and log documentation of officers. When searching Steven's home, a key that linked to Teresa's Rav 4 was found.
State of Georgia V. Marcus Dwayne Dixon (2003) Marcus Dixon was a highly recruited high school football player. His life suddenly took a tragic turn when he was falsely convicted of raping a 15 year old girl. The elements around his false conviction could have been avoided with some reform to the criminal justice courts system. Dixon initially had many charges against him but were narrowed down to statutory rape and aggravated child molestation. There was much racial disparity surrounding the jury on Dixon’s case, in that the county that Dixon committed his “crime” was a predominantly white population.
The case of Cyntoia Brown is about an innocent victim, who had been punished for finding the courage to fight against the ones who had hurt her. Ultimately, this case is the greatest injustice act against a person ever yet. Her whole life, she had been facing abuse and inequity. She was only 16 when she has murdered Johnny Allen in 2004, and is now serving a life sentence, with an eligible parole on her 69th birthday. What the jury hasn’t been told about is that Cyntoia has been repeatedly drugged and physically and sexually
On June 20, 2001, A woman named Andrea Yates drowned and killed her own five kids in her bathtub. Andrea Yates was married to Russel Yates, and together they had five kids between the ages of six months to seven years old. When the news came out about what happened, the population was horrified and outraged. The Andrea Yates case can be explained but not justified, by looking at what happened, the things that led up to the crime and the convictions.
Dred Scott vs. Sanford case was the biggest mistake in U.S history, hands down. It is listed as the first case of the top ten worst Supreme Court decisions. Dred scotts case was the most significant because after his, no other case had ruined the reputation of the court quite as bad. This case was a huge deal, and is still an important subject to teach to students today. This case was said to be the case that started the civil war, although that may be an exaggeration.
The article Bloody Terrain: Freedwomen, Sexuality and Violence during Reconstruction was written by Catherine Clinton, who is a teacher in the Afro-American Studies Department at Harvard University. In her article, she addresses the mistreatment of freedwomen during the period of Reconstruction as well the legal injustice inflicted upon them. This article was to inform the reader of these transgressions and represent the full history of the Reconstruction period. Within this article are some of the few memoirs of freedwomen and their mistreatments, revealing the true injustice of this period.
The year was 1955 when fourteen year old Emmett Till was murdered in cold blood by Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. Emmett was born on July 25, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois to Mamie and Louis Till. He was spending the summer in Money, Mississippi with his extended family after relentlessly begging his mother for hours on end, until she finally agreed to the proposition. Mamie warned Emmett to be careful of the way he acted in Mississippi, because she knew how racially segregated it was due to the Jim Crow laws that were passed in the south at the time. It all started three days after arriving in Money with his uncle Moses Wright and multiple cousins.
Just like Kalief, 97% of the African Americans who are currently sitting in prison never saw a trial (Averick, 2016). The criminal justice system stopped being about who guilty or innocent, but rather on the amount of money greedy white-privileged men can earn based on the number of people in a prison. Kalief Browder endured physical and emotional pain, for a crime later shown he didn’t commit. Browder was released after the charges were dropped, but two years after, he died by suicide (Averick, 2016). The life of Kalief Browder and his family will forever be scarred because of a system who sees people as dollar signs.
“’Can You Be BLACK and Look at This’: Reading the Rodney King Video(s)” by Elizabeth Alexander is a powerful analysis into the deep rooted sense of community felt by people who identify as Black, with specific regards to the videotaped police beating of Rodney King; and also examines the deep rooted White stereotypes surrounding people of color in America, more notably in the judicial system. This essay details the unity and solidarity seen in the times, not only surrounding the Rodney King videos, but also surrounding other notable stories about Black violence, such as the murder of Emmett Till, and the stories of Fredrick Douglass, to name a few. It describes in detail the horrible acts committed on Black bodies, and references numerous movements
In 1970-1981 the black liberation army was in full force. Assata Shakur mother of three, activist, and leader was convicted of first degree murder in 1977. Assata Shakur expresses her concerns about how her fellow people have been treated in America. Being an active member in the black libertarian army allowed Assata Shakur to have a powerful voice that moved people. After being convicted of murder in 1977 she wrote her speech “To My People”.
After I watched the documentary of The Central Park Five who tells the story of the five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly accused of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park in 1989 I was left devastated and what I was watching was unbelievable, it shows me young Black and Hispanic boys were always in danger and were negatively seeing by the police. Racial injustice doesn’t just started, police brutality against blacks always existed. It was drastic to see how they were pressing these young boys that were only 14 and 16 years old. The way they were forcing them to lie about something they didn't do was terrified. Being only 14 and 16 years old their brains was weak, they were frustrated and scared and had
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.
This will show how police brutality has affected black communities and how African American communities’ have responded to it with movements and protest, and how they try to overcome
