Correcting one of the Wrongs of the Old South

[Red Harvest]

Reminder of what the "good old days" were really like...

Georgia Pardons Black Maid Executed in 1945 (http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/08/15/maid.pardon.ap/index.html)


From the CNN article:
"Baker was sentenced to die following a one-day trial before an all-white, all-male jury in Georgia."

I wonder if they were wearing their hoods during deliberation?

And


During her brief trial, Baker testified that E.B. Knight, a man she had been hired to care for, held her against her will in a grist mill and threatened to shoot her if she tried to leave. She said she grabbed Knight's gun and shot him when he raised a metal bar to strike her.

[Strike For The South]

Thank god but i honsetly doubt this will change any racicl tension we still have

[PanzerJaeger]

So she did in fact murder a man. Whats the pardon for.. because she was black and the jury was white?

The "old south" has no worse record on human rights as the "old north".. only the old north was an equal opporatunity enslaver.

[Roark]

So she did in fact murder a man. Whats the pardon for.. because she was black and the jury was white?


Maybe because they didn't consider the fact that she was held against her will and had her life threatened?... Self defence is justifiable under US law, isn't it?

Also, they weren't exactly a jury of her "peers"... It was obviously not a fair trial.



The "old south" has no worse record on human rights as the "old north".. only the old north was an equal opporatunity enslaver.

I wasn't aware of that. I guess one just assumes, based on the portrayal of each in popular media.

Certainly after 1868, lynchings were much more common in the South than the North.

[Roark]

So... what period is considered to be the "Old" South?

[AntiochusIII]

We can only pray for a common-sense movement. :book:What does that mean? Hmm...

[Red Harvest]

Lena Baker Trial Transcript (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/not_guilty/lena_baker/8.html?sect=14)

This classic comes from the transcript, the man's son describing what he himself had done to her,


A My father's leg was broke. This Negro, my brother hired her to wait on him. During that time he lived on Webater street. She was going in and out there and drinking and going on down there, and some of the neighbors complained about it. I went to Lena and said," Lena this has got to stop. The way things are going on at this time has got to stop, I don't want to hurt you, don't want to have any trouble with you and you stay away from my daddy. Don't come back to the house never no more, because I don't want to hurt or have trouble with you, and you listen to what I tell you." Two days later I drove by there and she was there. I took her and beat her until I just did leave life in her. I told her to stay away from my daddy and not go around him any more.

Q Did she go around your father after that time.

A I never saw her around him again, but I had been told that she was. If I had seen her with him or around him again I would have gotten hold of her again.


There are a lot of comments about the two living together and that being illegal.

She's a pathetic character and the man who was killed wasn't much different.

Gotta love them old days.

[Roark]

What are these "freebies" in the US?

Over here, Aboriginals get a higher pension than non-Aboriginals, but no one cares too much about it because our ancestors effectively robbed them of their land, raped & massacred them, and the majority of them are economically disadvantaged and ill-suited to the environment that our lot have created.

[Roark]

We had that back in the 80's (went down like a lead balloon), but now they simply have a set number of positions in the public service which are dedicated to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders.

[Roark]

Equal means equal in the simplest of terms, yes, but the history of the issue is not as simple.

People over here recognise how #%&@ed-up things are for the Aboriginal people, and most don't mind the compensatory aspects of Government policy.

Australians and Americans have different views on a lot of things, and our histories (and minority groups) are very different too.

[Productivity]

You see that's just as silly. Equal means equal.

Yes it does - but when people are coming off an unequal base then you have to make it equal - simply ignoring inequality and hoping it will go away will not work - maybe affirmative action isn't the best way, but at least it's an attempt.

[Red Harvest]

Over here we have a lovely evil called Affirmative Action. It means that minorities get a better chance at going to college or getting a job, even if a white competitor is more qualified. It's ludicrous.

I hate Affirmative Action. However, when I mentioned that little tidbit at work when I was much younger, I got a recruiting call from the Ku Klux Klan.

Seems some folks can't distinguish between level playing fields and racism.

[AntiochusIII]

I hate Affirmative Action. However, when I mentioned that little tidbit at work when I was much younger, I got a recruiting call from the Ku Klux Klan.

Seems some folks can't distinguish between level playing fields and racism.LOL, your former workplace got a KKK agent looking for recruits?

[Productivity]

I was reffering to the Australian experience - have a look at teh socioeconomic stats and you'll find that yes, the Australian Aboriginal is on a vastly unequal base.

Hell, it was only 1967 that we decided to accept that they were human - up until then they were classed as native fauna.

[Roark]

Sounds to me like it's not being implemented or administered very intelligently, Gel. That seems very unjust.

I would remind you guys that between our two countries we are talking about two very different situations. Over here, some of the minorities are generally wealthier than the Anglos. The Koori (Aboriginal) people, however, are certainly not.

[Productivity]

Once again, I don't know enough about Australia to form an opinion.

Yet you obviously know enough to form the following opinion


You see that's just as silly. Equal means equal.

Either you do have an opinion or you don't - you can't decide to not have an opinion when someone puts up information that contradicts your viewpoint.

So which is it?

Is it silly, in which case how do you respond to my comment about socio-economic disadvantage, or do you not know enough about Australia to say that, and therefore rescind what you said in post #15.

[Red Harvest]

LOL, your former workplace got a KKK agent looking for recruits?

They had a few from what I could tell, and not all of them were simpleton's. Not too much of a surprise, as a few miles away in Louisiana, an "ex" Klansman, David Duke, was running for governor a few years later (he lost in the run off election.)

[Papewaio]

Unequal base? Laughable. Last I checked, I'm way below the poverty level. Do I get benefits? Hell no. I work two jobs to pay my way through community college. And, I assure ye, I'm white. I lived in the ghettos of Oakland when I was little. Did I get any benfits? Hell no. I'm white.


If you lived in Australia you don't have to pay to go to college (it becomes an extra tax that you payoff if you earn enough). You can always pay HECS upfront and get a 15% discount.

Also if you are below a certain income... you get AusStudy to supplement your income so you can focus on studying not survival.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Over here, Aboriginals get a higher pension than non-Aboriginals, but no one cares too much about it because our ancestors effectively robbed them of their land, raped & massacred them, and the majority of them are economically disadvantaged and ill-suited to the environment that our lot have created.

We did more or less the same number on our indigenous folk here in the US. Now many tribes own & operate casinos and are quietly fleecing us -- with our drunken and cheerful assistance. As my somewhat "salty" father used to say, "it's a long dog that doesn't have an ass."

SF

[Duke Malcolm]

No I may be being slightly obtuse, but since the crime was murder, how is she being pardoned?