It is much easier to confront the racism of the 1960s than the racial and economic injustices of today.
While I'm happy that racist vigilantes such as Edgar Ray Killen have finally been called upon to pay for their crimes, we have work to do in the here and now.
Killen's conviction is one of several historical reckonings.
In 1994, Byron de la Beckwith was convicted of murdering civil-rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963. Then, just last year, the FBI reopened the 1955 Emmett Till case after finding that as many as 10 more people may have been involved in his abduction and murder. And now Killen will likely go to prison for the rest of his life for his part in the brutal 1964 murders of civil-rights activists Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney.
These murder cases stayed unsolved for decades, and their resolution may give some sense of closure to the long-suffering families of the victims. But these triumphs are largely symbolic. By congratulating ourselves too much for them, we risk neglecting the challenges of the present.
''There's justice for all in Mississippi,'' state Attorney General James Hood said after the Killen conviction.
But the reality on the ground belies Hood's rosy scenario. The lives of black Mississippians, 41 years after the civil-rights murders of 1964, are still mired in poverty and inequality.
Yes, there are black elected officials now, but the economic prospects for black people -- and many whites -- is grim. The state suffers one of the nation's highest illiteracy rates. More than 38 percent of the state's black families live in poverty, in contrast to 14 percent of whites, according to the Kaiser Foundation. This doesn't sound like justice to me.
Killen and his ilk carried out their crimes under white hoods and the darkness of night.
“[Emmett Till's murder was] one of the most brutal and inhuman crimes of the 20th century,” according to Martin Luther King Jr. On August 28, 1955 in Money, Mississippi, a 14 year old boy named Emmett Till from Chicago was beaten and mercilessly murdered by two white men for flirting with a white woman. The death of this unknowing child shocked the nation and was undeniably an important catalyst for the civil rights movement.
In July of 2008, one of the biggest crime cases devastated the United States nation-wide. The death of Caylee Anthony, a two year old baby, became the most popular topic in a brief amount of time. Caylee’s mother, Casey Anthony, became the main suspect after the child supposedly was kidnapped and went missing. To this day, the Casey Anthony case shocks me because justice, in my opinion, wasn’t served. I feel as if the criminal conviction system became somewhat corrupted in this case. The entire nation, including the court system, knew that Casey Anthony was behind this criminal act, but yet she escaped all charges. I chose this case not only because it’s debatable, but also to help state the obvious, this case was handled the wrong way. Clearly the legal system was biased, which worked in Casey Anthony’s favor, freeing a murderer.
Curtis McGhee is 17-year-old Black male who lived in Iowa. In 1977, he was charged for the murder of John Schweer who worked as a security guard at a car dealership. Later on in 1978, he was sentenced to life in prison for a murder that he never committed. Later on in 2011, McGhee was exonerated based on the police file and court’s transcript that was found, and which indicated that McGhee was a innocent man behind bars, and he was serving time for a crime that he never took in part of committing. This case of Curtis McGhee raises a question on our criminal justice system and it leads us to confirm that miscarriages of justice do occur, and there should be various reforms that should be made so these miscarriages can be prevented from occurring in the future.
More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City (Issues of Our Time)
In the end, justice was served where it was due, but not without the intense prejudice and discrimination that rocked a nation. Works Cited Dufresne, Marcel (October 1991). "Exposing the Secrets of Mississippi Racism". American Journalism Review. The.. Evers-Williams, Myrlie; Marable, Manning (2005).
Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction and Beyond in Black America, 1945-2006. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007.
This historic broadcast, in which Mississippians for the first time were presented a black perspective on segregation and civil rights, has never been located. Nonetheless, recordings of irate reactions by Mississippians slurred with racist epithets, “What are you people of Mississippi going to do? Just stand by a let the nigger take over. They better get his black ass off or I am gonna come up there and take it off” (Pinkston, 2013), have been found preserved at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Some say, history is the process by which people recall, lay claim to and strive to understand. On that day in May 1963, Mississippi’s lay to claim: Racism.
Racism (n): the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other race (Wordnet search, 1), a controversial topic in today’s society, a subject that many people try to sweep under the rug, but yet a detrimental problem that has been present in America since the colonial era. Will this dilemma come to a halt? Can all Americans see each other as equals despite their skin color and nationality; and what role has it played in past generations versus today’s generations and how will it affect our future? Has this on going way of thinking gotten better or worse? These are questions raised when many think about the subject; especially members of American ethnic groups and backgrounds, because most have dealt with racial discrimination in their life time.
In One Friday Morning Nancy Lee, a beautiful, proud African American student, is given the Artist Club Scholarship but unfortunately it is taken away from her “when the committee learned that [she was] colored.” It is not right nor fair what Nancy Lee faces, but it is and has been an ongoing issue here in the world today. America has struggled with racism for over centuries now. What is racism exactly? Racism is hatred or intolerance of another race or races. We as a country tend to brush off racism and act as though the problem has diminished over the years but it is still very much an issue here in America. Our government and our people can pass as many laws as they want, but no laws will change us, the people. We the people as a nation need to be willing to change to better the world Americans live in. One needs to learn to be accepting of the others in this nation. It does not matter that on the outside one may look or appear different because on the inside everyone looks the same. Everybody wants the same things in life. One just wants to have a happy life full of love. One should never deny that to anyone because of the color of their skin pigment. No one should ever be judged or discriminated against.
It is unknown how long North America has been occupied. There were certainly people on the land far before Christopher Columbus alighted in 1492. However, the United States’ history shows a lucid feeling of dominance emanating from Europeans as they moved in to the New World. As time passed and the people who resided in North America change, it becomes evident that white Americans were exceedingly racist and not very accepting towards those who were not like them. Three groups in particular, Native Americans, African Americans, and the Chinese, faced hardships as the United States issued policies against these groups and changed their lives.
Racism has been around for a long time. Sense the beginning, humans has radicalized people to feel superior to any others. Some might say that we have gotten away from radicalizing people after World War 2, but this is wrong. Radicalizing people can be seen in many ways, including the government, the Human Genome Project and education.
The Web. 28 Feb 2014 Christopher, Liam. “Mother ‘vindicated’ after girl’s murder suspect held.” Daily Post. 18 Aug. 2006: 19:. Proquest Newsstand.
Racism is the mistreatment of a group of people on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, place of origin, or ancestry. The term racism may also denote a blind and unreasoning hatred, envy, or prejudice (Dimensions of Racism). Racism has had a strong effect on society. Despite the many efforts made to alleviate racism, what is the future of African Americans' Racism's long history, important leaders, current status, and future outlook will be the main factors in determining how to combat racism. Racism is still present in many societies, although many people are doing their best to put an end to racism and its somewhat tragic ordeals.
Eaton, Judy, Tony Christensen. “Closure and its myths: Victims’ families, the death penalty, and the closure argument.” International Review of Victimology, Vol 20(3).Sep, 2014. : pp. 327-343.
It was midnight when it all happened. Tom Peterson was sleeping in bed next to his wife after a tiring day at work, while his two little daughters slept in the next room. Suddenly he was violently awakened by the terrified screams of his wife only to get a glance of a huge man standing over him with a butcher's knife. Tom was stabbed thirteen times, one of his daughters was killed and his wife was severely injured. Now, the Peterson family has just exited the supreme court of justice in which the judge has condemned the murderer of their little girl to the death penalty, for as it turns out the Peterson family had not been the first victim of this murderer.