Selections from the Equal Justice Initiative History of Racial Injustice calendar. I’ve chosen historical items from after 1900, with one exception this month.
Oct 6, 2009
White Louisiana official denies marriage license for interracial couple.
(A few weeks later, that official resigned under pressure.)
Oct 12, 1995
Police kill unarmed Black man in Brentwood, Pennsylvania, during traffic stop.
His name is Jonny Gammage. He was suffocated by the police officers’ use of force. Charges against the police officers were reduced or dismissed. One officer was acquitted by an all-white jury and later promoted. The US Dept of Justice stated in 1999 that there was not enough evidence that unreasonable force had been used.
Oct 15, 1883 - This is not 20th Century but I am including it to remind myself of where we have been before in this country.
Supreme Court strikes down 1875 Civil Rights Act; legitimating segregation and violent assaults against Black people.
The SCOTUS said that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 did not apply to private entities, only to governments.
“The Supreme Court’s decision in the Civil Rights Cases eliminated the only federal law that prohibited racial discrimination by individuals or private businesses, and left African Americans who were victims of private discrimination to seek legal recourse in unsympathetic state courts. Racial discrimination in housing, restaurants, hotels, theaters, and employment, became increasingly entrenched and persisted for generations. It would take more than eighty years for the federal government to again attempt to outlaw discrimination with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
Oct 18, 1933
White mob of 2,000 people lynch George Armwood in Maryland
Oct 25, 1989
Boston police harass Black neighborhoods after false shooting charge.
Oct 27, 1986
Federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act signed, creating racially biased 100 to 1 crack/powder cocaine disparity.
A recent attempt at a partial remedy.
Oct 28, 1958
Two Black boys, seven and nine years old, arrested and jailed for over three months after White girl kissed them on their cheeks.
[A mob of White men threatened to lynch the boys and their mothers.]
1 comment:
When I read these dates it's just startling sometimes. I imagine you have the same experience. And when I start to feel discouraged, I realize I glide through all the time without any reminder of how racist our country is, so I have no business quitting the fight.
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