By: Roy Douglas Malonson
For many years, the justice system has failed Blacks. It was a system that was intentionally designed to keep Black people down, locked up, and forgotten about. Blacks have always been looked at as less than, and even in 2022, we are still working twice as hard to prove our value and worth.
In today’s society, we have seen numerous “trends” when it comes to racism, discrimination, and injustice. However, it appears that some elements have taken a shift when it comes to our justice system. Enough is enough, and we are slowly starting to see this in some individuals who are tired of the injustices that many people have gotten away with for far too long.
One example of this is the recent warrant that was found for Carolyn Bryant Donham (also known Mrs. Roy Bryant), who was involved with the case of Emett Louis Till, a young, 14-year-old Black boy, who was accused of whistling at Donham, which was against “racism rules” during that time. Till was kidnapped, tortured, and killed in 1955 by Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, both White men, and one of the men was Donham’s husband. Till’s mother held an open casket funeral so the world could see what they did to her son. This act added more fuel to the Civil Rights Movement.
A team in Mississippi began searching a courthouse basement for evidence about the case of Emmett Till. They found an unserved warrant that was issued on August 29, 1955, that had been placed in a file folder that was placed in a box, according to Elmus Stockstill, a Leflore County Circuit Clerk. It was noted that the warrant wasn’t served because they didn’t want to “bother” Donham. This search for the warrant was started by the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation by his cousin Deborah Watts and her daughter Teri Watts.
Although the grandy jury in Mississippi decided not to indict Donham, who is in her 80s, due to there not being enough evidence, there have been some positive things that have come out of this. For one, the fight for Emmett Till is still going on, and even after all these years, this case and the events that occurred in this case are still relevant to what is going on today. In addition, President Biden signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act earlier this year, which has made lynching a federal crime.
Another case is Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old emergency medical technician who was sleep with her boyfriend on March 13, 2020, when police conducted a no-knock raid. Taylor’s boyfriend thought police were intruders in their home and begin firing shots, which prompted the police to return fire. They fired 32 shots, six of which hit and killed Taylor. The former Louisville detective, Kelly Hanna Goodlett recently plead guilty to falsifying a search warrant that led to Taylor’s death. She is the first officer to be held accountable for the raid. It has been said that the justice department is now trying to come down on racial disparities and injustices against Black people. It’s about time.
We cannot forget the case of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot and killed by the hands of White men while he was jogging through a neighborhood in South Georgia. It wasn’t until a video surfaced of the encounter that gave this case national attention. The men involved, Greg McMichael, Travis McMichael, and William Roderick Bryan, were found guilty of hate federal crimes back in February. This is another case where justice has been served.
The nation will also never forget George Floyd, who died by former police officer Derek Chauvin who had his knee pressed against his neck for several minutes. Floyd told the officer several times that he couldn’t breathe, but Chauvin never moved his knee. Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter. There were three other cops who were charged two counts each of aiding and abetting in the death. The world was shaken by this and watched Floyd take his last breath by the hands of another White man.
If you think about everything that is happening now, not much has changed from back then. What helps in our time is technology. Without it, some of these cases wouldn’t stand a day in court due to whatever lack of evidence they may rule against it. However, technology doesn’t lie. Videos don’t lie, and it has helped put people away who deserve it and hopefully will help deter individuals from committing hate crimes and other crimes in general.
We can’t forget that the justice system was designed to work against us. Therefore, we must advocate for ourselves, stick together as a culture, and protect and preserve the greatness that lies within us. If not us, then who? All the cases that have been mentioned were unfortunate and could have been prevented. It is up to us that we hold “We the People” accountable for their actions. We can’t keep letting history repeat itself and let “We the People” off the hook for the injustice they have created. That time is over, and the time is now to make sure these events won’t happen again, and in the event, they do, we must make sure that justice is served.
