Ronda Morrison’s murder takes place in Monrcoeville, Alabama, where Harper Lee grew up and wrote To Kill A Mockingbird. People there are crazy about that story. But when Bryan Stevenson tries to get the community to help Walter McMillian, an innocent African-American man, there is only indifference and hostility (Stevenson). Li 2 Li 2 As defendants, Tom Robinson and Walter McMillian are both black and innocent. Tom Robinson is accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell who in fact
Martin Luther King Jr. was an African American man who protested for the rights of freedom and equality for all the African American's present in the United States of America. He lead the Civil Rights Movement for all the black American's who were being treated unfairly during the period of 1950 to 1970. Formerly named Michael King, his father changed his name to MKL in honor of the German reformer Martin Luther. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his fight against racial in-equality using non-violence. He gave the speech "I Have a Dream" in 1963 on the "March to Washington" after which he established himself as one of the greatest orators in the history of America.
So many people were willing to fight against segregation. Ibrahima, Cinque, Nat Turner, and George Latimer were slaves who chose to stand up against segregation by fighting against their owners and/or escaping from them. The 54’th fought against segregation in the Civil War for African freedom. Ida, Lewis, and Meta stood up against segregation through their jobs. Thurgood, Kenneth, and other lawyers and social scientists made history for the United States by fighting for the rights of African Americans.
Shortly after grieving for the loss of his daughter’s innocence, Carl Lee seeks counsel with the lawyer Jake Brigance. They discuss a similar case where four white men raped a black girl and were set free. Knowing that that these two men could more than likely walk free, Carl Lee takes justice into his own hands and shoots both men down including his childhood friend deputy Dwayne Looney. Carl Lee is immediately arrested and put on trial for the murder of the two white men. As the story continues, Carl Lee hires on Jake Brigance who valiantly accepts the case knowing the dangers and challenges involved in obtaining it.
Here are the statics: “Since 1989 when the first DNA exoneration occurred, 328 defendants have been exonerated in the United States after being convicted of serious crimes such as rape and murder. The exonerated were 316 men and 12 women; 145 of them were cleared by DNA identification and 183 by other kinds of evidence” (http://www.ur.umich.edu/0304/May10_04/25.shtml). What went wrong? * Eyewitness Misidentification * Improper Forensic Science * False Confessions * Overzealousness/Public Pressure Eyewitness Misidentification Imagine being a victim so frighten and traumatized after such a hideous unimaginable experience. It can be hard, almost impossible to accurately describe the assailant.
In the book The Condemnation of Little B, Brown's central theses is the criminal justice system. Throughout the book the one argument she is constantly supporting is the idea that young black boys, in their early teens, are arrested and put through the criminal justice system in a new age version of lynch-mob justice. The alleged crimes of these young black boys recieve much media fanfare, but when they are cleared of any wrong-doing nothing is said about it in the media. She makes her arguments by using the story of Little B as a frame
In New York City, an average of seven Latin Americans were killed a year between 1986 to 1989 but, in 1990, that number increased greatly. In that year, twenty three Latin Americans were killed by police gunfire. When asked how he felt about racism being involved in police brutality, Yussuf Naimkly of the University of Regina Commented: “Excessive police force against blacks has always been tolerated, because as a formally enslaved minority African Americans are trapped in a cultural context specifically designed to inhibit their development and thus minimize their threat to white hegemony”. Another shocking incident of police brutality occurred in Reynoldsberg Ohio. A group of offices named themselves “S.N.A.T” squad.
Racism and prejudice inside and outside, same races, and schools still happen today. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird there was a lot of racism in and out of the schools. As we both know Tom Robinson was accused of rape from Mayella Ewell. But in the court room when the judge is speaking to Tom, we as an audience realize that he did not rape her. From her story to the scar nothing matches up to what she is saying, but because he had an all white jury, they found him guilty.
In the book Monster written by Walter Dean Myers, it focuses on the important issues of basic stereotypes pertaining to young black males. Steve’s battle to prove his innocence within the novel is the statement being addressed against the prejudice justice system. The statement being addressed is the fact that a teen is being accused of murder while trying to clear his name in both the legal and social setting in life. Steve is a 16 year old male who claims to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and in fact is a victim to an inaccurate eyewitness account. He has to deal with the most frightening nature of the justice system facing the death penalty.
Her father, Atticus, is a lawyer for Maycomb County, Alabama. He is appointed as the attorney for Tom Robinson, a colored man from their town. He is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. When people started to find out that Atticus was defending a Negro man, they started treating his family differently. Despite the cruel treatment from the people of Maycomb County, Atticus stood strong in his belief that every man is created equal, and therefore deserves a fair trial.