Archive for February, 2012
Social Structure
February is black history month and obviously this isn’t the first time that you have heard it. This is the month where important black Americans are remembered and recognized for their important contributions to society. It wasn’t until the Civil Right Movement that people started to try to give them the same treatment and opportunities as everyone else.
The Civil Right Movement did not end the mistreatment of blacks, however it made major headway in ending segregation. Also it planted the idea that all people are equal no matter their race and color. Today in society we still facing many discrimination issues because of the color of our skin. A black person gets punished and criticized for any little thing done but a white person can do the same or sometimes even more and nothing happens. A perfect example of this issue is the execution of Troy Davis back in September 2011.
Troy Davis was born in October 1968, a black American man convicted of an executed for the August 19th 1989 murder of white police officer. He was convicted in 1991. In my opinion I do believe that Mr. Davis was innocent. It is sad that the government in Georgia would do this when it was not a clear case. It is obvious that their desire for justice for a white man has override the desire for the truth. Human mind can be really dangerous. American racism is still alive and the system does not work for African Americans up to the point of wrongfully executed a person. I believe that the U.S. Justice system is racially discriminatory. Another case that I followed was the Caylee Antony case and by comparing this case to the Davi’s case I come to the same conclusion that the U.S Justice is just discriminatory.
Davis was a prisoner that spend twenty years on death row and his request for clemency was denied. Davis was always presented by his supporters as a victim of capital punishment, black, poor, and wrongly convicted. On the other hand we have the mother of Caylee which is a white woman and the court has a lot of evidence that she is guilty of her daughter death but she is given a no-guilty verdict. In the Davi’s case several witness said they had been pressured by the police to identify Davis as the wrongdoer. The weapon with which the crime was allegedly committed was never been found, no fingerprints or DNA sample taken but yes this African American is put to death for probably a crime he never committed.
Another case that helps me support my argument of racial discrimination against Davis is the case of Samuel David Crowe who was schedule for execution by lethal injection after being convicted by a jury for murdering a manager at a local lumber company, apparently over a loan that the victim agreed to but later change his mind, the victim was dragged and beaten until his face was mutilated and was shot in the back of the head. Samuel admitted he committed the crime but hours before his schedule execution he gets a call that the board of pardons and parole has commuted his sentence to life in prison. Now my question is Why didn’t Troy Davis get the same as this white man? Davis always maintained his innocence and was convicted because of suspect. There are various differences between the two cases and one of them is that Crowe is a white man and Davis was a black. In my opinion race due matter when it comes to the death penalty. Racism still exist and it will continue to exist, racism is a problem in this country.
Usually a black person is more likely to be sentenced to death for killing a white person than for killing a black person. Another question that I ask myself is Davis would of been executed if he was white? or would he been executed if the officer that was murder had been black? Since he was a poor black young man he was not treader the correct way, had he been a member of a middle class he likely would had been treated with a bit more deference by the criminal justice system, but unfortunately he was none of those things. This is not just a simple story of racism, is more than that, this is more complicated and unfortunately we the people of color are never going to be heard or take seriously. The justice works disproportionately against the poor, black and brown people. Davis was not only a victim of racism but of class discrimination as well. We live in a racism, ignorant word that apparently it can not be change and instead of getting better it just gets worst. We just must continue praying and doing our best to stay out of trouble to avoid falling into situations like this.
Resources:
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/21
Metro New paper(Boston, Ma) September 22 2011
www.racismreview.com/blog/2011/09/14/troy-davis/
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