Judge Vacates Conviction in 1944 Execution of 14 Year Old Black Youth

If one wonders why blacks in America do not trust the American criminal justice system - and why police induced "confessions" should always be suspect - look no farther than the case of 14-year-old George J. Stinney Jr., who was executed in South Carolina.  Stinney is the youngest American ever executed and when one looks at the "trial" he received, it quickly takes on the appearance of a legalized lynching.  No doubt, "godly" white folks pushed for his conviction and applauded his execution.  After all, since he was black, in their minds, it's not as if he were human, right?  Sadly, that mindset is alive and well in the South and seemingly many police departments in America.  The New York Times looks at the vacating of Stinney's kangaroo court conviction.  Here are excerpts:

Calling it a “great and fundamental injustice,” a South Carolina judge on Wednesday vacated the 1944 murder conviction of 14-year-old George J. Stinney Jr., the youngest person executed in the United States in the last century.

Judge Carmen T. Mullen of Circuit Court did not rule that the conviction of Mr. Stinney for the murder of two white girls in the town of Alcolu was wrong on the merits. She did find, however, that the prosecution had failed in numerous ways to safeguard the constitutional rights of Mr. Stinney, who was black, from the time he was taken into custody until his death by electrocution.

The all-white jury could not be considered a jury of the teenager’s peers, Judge Mullen ruled, and his court-appointed attorney did “little to nothing” to defend him. His confession was most likely coerced and unreliable, she added, “due to the power differential between his position as a 14-year-old black male apprehended and questioned by white, uniformed law enforcement in a small, segregated mill town in South Carolina.”

The order was a rare application of coram nobis, a legal remedy that can be used only when a conviction was based on an error of fact or unfairly obtained in a fundamental way and when all other remedies have been exhausted.

Two white men who had helped search for the girls also testified, and a cellmate of Mr. Stinney’s recounted conversations in which Mr. Stinney said he was innocent and had been made to confess. Less than three months passed between the murder and the execution; the trial and sentencing took less than a day.

Some of the problems of due process highlighted in the ruling were not rare in the Jim Crow South.

Yet another less than proud legacy of the South.

Ending Education inequality - Where is the White "Family Values" Crowd?

Last night, the husband and I attended the 22nd annual "Tennis Ball" fundraiser for the Achievable Dream which was founded by our late friend Walter Segaloff.   For 22 years the program has operated in conjunction with the Newport News City Public Schools and this year moved into Virginia Beach at that city's most historically disadvantaged elementary school.  The Achievable Dream Academy in Newport News is located in the city's worse neighborhood and its students come from extremely disadvantaged families, most black.  Yet it has a 100% graduation rate and 95% of its graduates go on to college or other higher education.  The other 5% go into the U.S. military.  How does this "miracle" happen?  Through the financial support of the business community and social progressives.  Here's the organizations mission statement:

Our mission to motivate all students to excel in academic achievement, to instill respect for themselves and adult leaders, and to teach core human values by providing a social, academic, and moral education. Through a challenging, disciplined environment, we enable each child to develop an achievable dream that will light their way to success and life as a productive citizen.

Last night's event was amazing and raised large amounts of money.  And at times it left one extremely moved.  One thing struck me however in looking at the sponsors and those who donated goods and services for auction prizes.   One segment of Virginia society was totally absent.  The white Christian base of the Virginia GOP, in particular The Family Foundation ("TFF").  TFF raises and spends large amounts of money each year denigrating gays and claiming to support "family values."  But families matter to TFF only when they are white far right Christian families. Last night saw amazing support from the area's relatively small Jewish community, liberal Democrats, local corporations - even Chinese owned Smithfield Foods which stepped up to sponsor the 2015 graduating class.   But no a single white mega church or anyone from TFF.

Some think me severe when I say that TFF (and by extension its affiliates, Focus on the Family and Family Research Council) is racist.  But when looks where such groups put their money and the legislative agendas they support such as voter disenfranchisement efforts targeting blacks and minorities, the truth is easily seen.  The ONLY time TFF gives a damn about blacks, much less black families, is when it is seeking to dupe black pastors into doing TFF's political bidding.  

Last night was amazing.  Equally amazing was the total absence of the "family values" crowd.  It spoke volumes.

 

America's Institutionalized Racism

The news reports continue to swarm with articles about the shooting of Michael Brown, and unarmed 18-year-old black man who was shot to death Saturday by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri.   Although it has a high black population, Ferguson's police force by some reports is almost all white.  The shooting has lead to stories of the worries of black mothers and what many of them try to instill in their sons in the face of a world that for them will be far more dangerous than for most of us. Sadly, young black men face a form of automatic discrimination all too often and encounters with the police are all too often deadly.  As a white male, I cannot imagine what such a world does to one's soul.  It is bad enough in our society to be gay in many parts of the country, but at least as a white gay male, I don't face the level of automatic discrimination and danger that these young men face.  A column in the New York Times looks at the world these young men - and racial minority members in general - face.  Here are excerpts:

There is an eerie echo in it all — a sense of tragedy too often repeated. And yet the sheer morbid, wrenching rhythm of it belies a larger phenomenon, one obscured by its vastness, one that can be seen only when one steps back and looks from a distance and with data: The criminalization of black and brown bodies — particularly male ones — from the moment they are first introduced to the institutions and power structures with which they must interact.

Earlier this year, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released “the first comprehensive look at civil rights from every public school in the country in nearly 15 years.” As the report put it: “The 2011-2012 release shows that access to preschool programs is not a reality for much of the country. In addition, students of color are suspended more often than white students, and black and Latino students are significantly more likely to have teachers with less experience who aren’t paid as much as their colleagues in other schools.”

Attorney General Eric Holder, remarking on the data, said: “This critical report shows that racial disparities in school discipline policies are not only well-documented among older students, but actually begin during preschool."

But, of course, this criminalization stalks these children throughout their school careers.

A 2010 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center found that while the average suspension rate for middle school students in 18 of the nation’s largest school districts was 11.2 percent in 2006, the rate for black male students was 28.3 percent, by far the highest of any subgroup by race, ethnicity or gender. And, according to the report, previous research “has consistently found that racial/ethnic disproportionality in discipline persists even when poverty and other demographic factors are controlled.”

The bias of the educational system bleeds easily into the bias of the criminal justice system — from cops to courts to correctional facilities. The school-to-prison pipeline is complete.

A May report by the Brookings Institution found: “There is nearly a 70 percent chance that an African American man without a high school diploma will be imprisoned by his mid-thirties.”

This is in part because trending policing disparities are particularly troubling in places like Missouri. As the editorial board of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch pointed out this week: “Last year, for the 11th time in the 14 years that data has been collected, the disparity index that measures potential racial profiling by law enforcement in the state got worse. Black Missourians were 66 percent more likely in 2013 to be stopped by police, and blacks and Hispanics were both more likely to be searched, even though the likelihood of finding contraband was higher among whites.”

Parents can teach children how to interact with authority and how to mitigate the threat response their very being elicits. They can wrap them in love to safeguard them against the bitterness of racial suspicion.

It can be done. It is often done. But it is heartbreaking nonetheless. What psychic damage does it do to the black mind when one must come to own and manage the fear of the black body?

[H]opelessness takes hold when one realizes that there is no amount of acting right or doing right, no amount of parental wisdom or personal resilience that can completely guarantee survival, let alone success. 

Brown had just finished high school and was to start college this week. The investigation will hopefully clarify what led to his killing. But it is clear even now that his killing occurred in a context, one that we would do well to recognize. 

This reality is a national disgrace!  Where are the professional Christians and "godly folk" demanding institutional change?  Oh, I forgot something: if they are like Virginia's foul "Christian" group The Family Foundation, they are thinly veiled white supremacists.  They simply don't care about blacks and non-whites.  Or worse yet, they actively hate them.  All they see is skin color.