Remembering the Scottsboro Case (was Re: Breaking Butterflies& Poisoning Wells)

Jordan Hayes jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com
Thu Feb 10 13:29:55 PST 2000


From sokol at jhu.edu Thu Feb 10 13:03:11 2000

I once tried to explain the Mumia case to my black neighbors

who have never heard of it, they just shrugged and commented

"well, if he killed a cop, he deserves it."

Let's hear it for 15-second-man-on-the-street analysis! Of course, the question is not "Should he be punished if he killed a cop?" (which seems to be the question they must have thought you asked) but rather "Does a person accused of a crime where there are no living witnesses deserve a fair trial even if the only evidence is circumstantial?" ... and what does it have to do with your neighbors being black? I bet if you asked my French neighbors, they'd say the same thing. So?

I absolutely understand them.

Doug is right: you *are* scary.

/jordan



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