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Illuminati Race Relations

Decent Essays

Race relations is an issue that has littered American history with examples of discrimination, alienation, and unjust treatment of minorities. Before World War II, there was arguably more discrimination and racial tension in the U.S. than today but that is not to say that the issues have vanished. Even in post-WWII America, racial distrust ran amuck with the installation of internment camps and growing racial discrimination against blacks in the South during the mid-20th century. Mistreatment of minority groups sparking racial distrust in society are evident in BARTOLOMEO VANZETTI, Last Statement to the Court of Massachusetts (1927) and GORDON HIRABAYASHI, Why I Refused to Register for Evacuation (1942). These documents entail statements from …show more content…

Mr. Vanzetti being an Italian immigrant in the early 20th century, was unable to receive an entirely fair trial due to the biases of his jurors. Vanzetti explained to Frederick Katzmann, the district attorney prosecuting him, that he purposely used the jury’s bias against Vanzetti to succeed with the indictment. Bartolomeo accused Katzmann when he said “both you and Mr. Katzmann has done all what it were in your power in order to work out, in order to agitate still more the passion of the juror, the prejudice of the juror, against us.” On the other hand, the rights of several thousand Asian-Americans were violated when the United States imposed the evacuation of all Japanese descendants into internment camps. In his letter, Hirabayashi declared that “fundamental moral rights and civil liberties are included in the Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution and other legal records. They guarantee that these fundamental rights shall not be denied without due process of law.” Without a doubt, throughout American history the constitutional rights of minority groups have been unjustly violated time and time …show more content…

During his last statement, Vanzetti stressed that “I am not only innocent of these two crimes, but in all my life I have never stole and I have never killed and I have never spilled blood”, further pleading his innocence of the crimes he was accused of. Similarly, Hirabayashi expressed that “The very qualities which are essential to a peaceful, creative community are being thrown out and abused. Over 60 percent are American citizens, yet they are denied on a wholesale scale without due process of law the civil liberties which are theirs.” Through their written expressions, Vanzetti and Hirabayashi effectively reached out to the public and got society to see past their status as minorities and the stereotypes that were attributed to them. As a result, the header in Vanzetti’s statement explains that “Vanzetti’s defiant final statement failed to move the court, but it did provoke a public outcry as well as national and worldwide demonstrations condemning the verdict.” The reaction of the public in response to Vanzetti’s statement shows that even though individuals may have prejudices against certain groups, when they begin to think about how misconceptions of those groups severely affect their treatment, there is an overwhelming sense of guilt throughout

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