Racial Discrimination : The Black Community

The Scottsboro boys were nine African American teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women on a train in Alabama during the year 1931. No crime in American history that never occurred has produced as many trials, convictions, and retrials as the alleged gang rape of two white girls by nine black teenagers did. This tragedy marks a time in the United States where African Americans were not receiving the right to a fair trial and encountering racism because of their skin color. This court case is seen as one of the major examples that one innocent person or in this case many innocent people have been convicted and punished for a crime they did not commit.

In 1906, Ed Johnson was convicted after witnesses claimed he sexually assaulted white female by using a leather strap. Although Johnson provided numerous alibis about his part in the sexual assault, he was still convicted for the crime and sentenced to death by a jury of only white people. While in jail, Johnson was brutally murdered by a mob that broke in. Twenty-five years later, the Scottsboro Boys were convicted for gang rape of two white women while traveling on a train. Of the nine Scottsboro boys accused in this case, eight of them were sentenced to death. This conviction raised public awareness and was one factor that saw the birth of the Civil Rights Movement. Just a few years later, three African American men, Ed Brown, Arthur Ellington and Henry Shields were all beaten and tortured into confessing for the killing of a white farmer in Mississippi. This incident became the well known Supreme Court decision titled Brown v. Mississippi (Grimsley). These were just average African American men living average lives when suddenly they are accused of crimes they did not commit. Earl Smith and Angela J. Hattery says in their journal that “many of them were at least twenty six years old when incarcerated whereas, some were sent to prison while they were still in their late teens and early 20s.” Before they were incarcerated, many of them were still getting their education and building careers and relationships. While these men were accused of their crimes based on their race, there are other factors that play a role in a wrongful conviction.

During the early nineteen hundreds many people especially in the south were often convicted of crimes for no other reason than their skin color and contrary to many ideas about our court system, we have not always been the most honest and unbiased people. One prime example of this is the case of the Scottsboro Boys and how they were accused of rape and had to go to court numerous times, almost everytime ending in the death sentence. The evidence in the case clearly points towards the innocence of the Scottsboro boys, evidence such as unclear stories from the girls, lack of bruises and marks indicating assault as well as a previous history of prostitution from both of the girls. This evidence helps to prove that Charles Weems and the Scottsboro boys were innocent and wrongly accused and convicted.

We have issues: more specifically , the United States has issues, continuous and all-encompassing issues of racial inequality.The United States is experiencing a outburst of racism, as can be seen from the 2014 killings of two unarmed African-American men, to the brutality of white supremacy in Charleston and the string of arsons in black churches across the South. Of course, it’s nothing new for a nation with a long history of extreme racist violence—the most recent lynching-related death occurred in 1981, hardly a lifetime ago, when Michael Donald was hanged by two members of the Ku Klux Klan.The United States, however, continues to avoid its history on race, refusing to confront its past in a “post-racial,” “colorblind” society, and that policy of systemic ignorance is particularly strong when mention of racial equality is brought up. Although the concept of equality has never truly existed in this world, as can be traced back to the very beginnings of recorded history we see the nobles ruling the commoners, conquerors reigning over the conquered, the will of man dominating women; the United States needs to acknowledge the fact that racial inequality still exists within our country and has in no way progressed towards betterment.

the prisoners were lucky enough to escape the being lynched when they were moved into Scottsboro. In this trial, nine young, black boys were charged with the rape of two white girls while on a train. This case was a major source of controversy in the 1930’s. “Despite testimony by doctors who had examined the women that no rape had occurred, the all- white jury convicted the nine, and all but the youngest, who was 12 years old were sentenced to death” (“Scottsboro”). The boys’ lawyer, Samuel Leibowitz, did not even get assigned to the case until the first day of the trial. “If he could show a jury that these nine boys were innocent, as the record indicated, the jury would surely free them. To Leibowitz, that was simple!” (Chalmers 35). However, it was not that simple. Many white citizens would not change their minds about

In 1931, nine African American boys were accused of raping two white women. The boy’s ages ranged from 12-20 years old. The names of the black boys were Roy Wright 12, Eugene Williams 13, Charlie Weems 16, Ozie Powell 16, Willie Roberson 16, Olen Montgomery 17, Haywood Patterson 18, Andy Wright 19, and Clarence Norris 19. The trial is notoriously known as The Scottsboro Boys Trial. While the trial is considered a key trial in America’s criminal justice system, it showed the injustice in the Jim Crow south legal system.

“But race is the child of racism, not the father.” A quote by Ta-Nehisi Coates in his book Between the World and Me encompasses the culture of racial bias toward the black community. Freddie Gray, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Walter Scott are just a few names that represent the widespread, institutionalized racism embedded within our police and incarceration systems. From traffic stops to America’s prison population to mandatory minimums, racism is prevalent in every facet of America’s “domestic security” apparatus. Facing harsher punishment, 1 in 3 black men will go to prison and receive a 10% longer sentence than their white counterpart. Cocaine and Crack Cocaine are virtually the same substance but with vastly different mandatory minimum sentences. Cocaine is inhaled through the nasal cavity and Crack Cocaine is smoked with a pipe. Powder Cocaine is predominantly used by affluent white males while Crack Cocaine is predominately used by lower income black males. The mandatory minimum sentence for possession of 28 grams of Crack Cocaine is 5 years in prison while it takes 500 grams of Powder Cocaine to receive the same sentence. That comes out to nearly 18x harsher punishment for Crack Cocaine users, who are mostly black, than Powder Cocaine users. These are only few of the many injustices facing minority communities around the country that are brought fourth by an engrained stigma of racism within police forces and prison systems across the nation. Can these

Since the start of American history, immigrants came here and brought their traditions and cultures with them. The United States is a country of immigrants. It is a place where people from all over the world come to build a better life. Some immigrants bring their families. Others come alone with nothing but determination. Racial discrimination against minorities and immigrants is an underlying problem here in America today. Racism is seen in our daily lives when people are discriminated against because of their race and ethnicity. Racism attacks the right to a person’s well-being on the basis of something they have no control over. They cannot change nor should want to change who they are. Racial discrimination is not as bad as it was fifty years ago, but it still a problem here in our country today. Our country has advanced tremendously as far as modernization and technology, but has not improved on the way we treat minorities and immigrants. From African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Arabs there is a form of discrimination against these group of minorities.

For several years throughout U.S. history, there held a strong belief that African Americans were inferior to white Americans. After the Civil War (1861-1865), millions of former enslaved African Americans sought that they would now be able to be a part of the greater community as full and equal citizens. However, although some white Americans welcomed them, most white Americans did not. Instead, these white Americans targeted and discriminated against African Americans simply because of their race and cultural background. In particular, one way African Americans were discriminated against by white Americans included the segregation of public and private schools in the United States. Before the ruling of the legendary court case, Brown

The video created pain and confusion to see the way many people segregate or discriminate African Americans. It is hard to conceive in many people’s mind a mistreatment or deliberate actions that cause harm to a black person, simply because their skin color. There are many people who strongly oppose such behavior, and do not agree with the basis of discrimination. Also, immigrants can relate somehow to discrimination, and the many way this could affect them. It is terrible how a person can resent someone just for their color or their skin. This is a world with many different points of view, religious believes, political agendas or circumstances that can set people apart, but to take a physical aggression or retaliate because racial hate is

Businesses nationwide are constantly breaking the law. They 're not giving blacks equal consideration to other candidates that are other than black by discriminating against them. It is against the law to racially discriminate against your choice of employees as put in place by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And here we are fifty years later and it is still happening today. To be black and middle class is not the same as to being say white and middle class and not for obvious reasons. The white has a major advantage and doesn 't have to do anything to earn it. The unemployment rate of blacks with a college education is 5 percent higher than that of whites and one of the main issues creating that statistic is racial discrimination. Employers

Discrimination by race is undoubtedly a large problem plaguing our nation, affecting the country since its founding in 1776, and even further in the past. It has unjustly hurt or helped many people, such as when employers are selecting applicants to be employees. Many people would rather hire or more easily trust the white man rather than the black man, despite both being the same in every way except skin pigment. This racism isn’t limited to blacks and whites, either. People originating from Asia, the Middle East, South America and Europe are also discriminated against in the same way blacks are, though with different methods of attack and stereotypes. This overall makes our country a very unwelcome country to be in, because the majority dislikes, on a wide spectrum from a distaste to full-on loathing, anyone who has a different colour or is from a different region.

Racial Discrimination is a social injustice that people of color have been subject to for years. In the U.S., racial discrimination against people of color in the justice system generates a wide variety of public issues that influence the life possibilities of the Latino and Black communities.  Race, status, and class are some of the main reasons for legal inequality. Laws were created in an effort to ensure the safety and stability of everyone everywhere. With that being said, however, the laws did and do not always have the best interest of certain race or minorities in mind, therefore legal equality has never ceased to exist because it never existed in the first place. This paper will argue how the U.S., has overlooked legal inequality for decades by referring to sources that we have discussed in class by Alexander, Cheryl, Brown v. Board of Education, Plessy v. Ferguson and Parents Involved v. Seattle School District to make the case that legal inequality is an ongoing issue today. Legal Equality is defined as…

From the moment Africans were enslaved by Europeans, it began the history of terror, fear, disenfranchisement, and injustice. W.E.B DuBois made a prediction that the 20th century would be the “century of the color line”. Patterson (1998) notes that DuBois’ predication came true. “This has been a century torn by the often murderous imposition of ethnic, including so called racial, boundaries, and by the struggles to overturn them.” (Patterson 1998). Strides have been made which resulted in changes for the black community but there are still major problems that exist. Major problems such as poverty or educational attainment still burden the community. It is interesting to think about historically black neighborhoods. Most predominantly black

Al Sharpton an American civil rights activist talked about racial discrimination in America today and said “As I often say, we have come a long way from the days of slavery, but in 2014, discrimination and inequality still saturates our society in modern ways. Though racism may be less blatant now in many cases, its existence is undeniable.” ("Al Sharpton." BrainyQuote.com) Racial discrimination is a pessimistic reality that affects everyone in our society. Racism has destroyed and ended many lives but continues to happen due to this country being burdened by a racial blockade.. The legacy of discrimination continues to weigh on present-day. Current day discrimination persists through American life in various aspects like criminal justice,employment opportunities,educational services, mass media,wages,politics etc.