Exonerated seventy YEARS too late- George Stinney, victim of legalized lynching

Did anybody read the story about 14 year old(and African American) George Stinney, executed by the State of South Carolina for the murder of two white girls in 1944, having his conviction posthumously quashed?

The judge was biting- "no physical evidence linked the accused to the murder", there was no motivation(more to the point Stinney was convicted and sentenced to death by an all white jury- at a time when segregation based on race was de rigeuer throughout not just the Deep South but America itself) and so she had little course but to reverse the conviction- unfortunately it was SEVENTY YEARS TOO LATE!.

George Stinney may not have been strung up by the KKK or a bunch of "good ole boys" but legally executed by the State of South Carolina in its electric chair but I daresay he was the victim of a lynching- it was just legalized rather than by a mob that's all.

I suppose it is a measure of thr racial progress America has made that amongst other things, it has now an African American President( wonder what not just FDR- who of course was President at the time- but Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Nixon Ford or Reagan- would have made of Barack Obama), but the recent murders of African American men shuch as Michael Brown, Eric"I can't breathe" Garner, Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin by either police or self appointed vigilantes indicate how far it STILL has to go!

Anybody think as I do?

Terry

It is indeed sad that Stinney had to lose his life due to biased and painfully prejudiced court system in a country that was supposed to be fair and offered equal treatment. His sacrifice is most definitely a piercing reminder of where the US has come from in regards to race relations, and the fact that we aren't completely done yet.

It's terrible it happened at all. It's never too late to right a wrong. Or try to.

@paracelsus:

That's a shame about Stinney. At least the truth has finay been told.

I've been looking into Presidents a lot this past year, but I don't understand why you would suggest that Eisenhouer or Ford would have a problem with a black President. I know of nothing in their records to suggest racial prejudice. I aslo don't think it's fair to cast aspersions on Reagan, but at least there, I understand the case for calling him a racist.

Regarding the "murders" you mentioned, I disagree with your classification of them as murder. Brown was rightfully killed. Though we can't know for sure how the conflict started between Zimmerman and Martin, we do know that Martin was beating Zimmerman into the ground, so the shooting appears justified. There certainly is no proof that Zimmerman started the physical altercation. Tamir Rice is tragic, but the cop had reason to fear for his life. The cop who killed Eric Garner should be indicted for manslaughter considering he needlessly assaulted Garner using a prohibited move that ended up killing the man, but murder implies an intention to kill which was not present in this case, so the term still doesn't apply.

I read about this yesterday, it's absolutely tragic. Apparently the kid was so little he had to be propped up on something in the electric chair. A two and a half hour trial, ten minutes deliberation, and that was it. They killed him, based on a confession from a small frightened child who I hear was promised ice cream or something along those lines. Makes me sick to hear about it. That poor little guy.

This is a very hateful world.

Yeah, Stinney was about 90 pounds or so, so the seating for an electric chair for adults most likely wouldn't have worked with him.

According to Wiki he used the Bible he carried with him to the execution chamber as a booster seat. Sometimes I hate the world we live in V_V

U.S. still have a long way to go in race relation. Police killings of black men is just the surface.

Wow. I know technically it's just as bad to kill an innocent person regardless of their size and age, but those little details about emphasizing his youth just bring it home emotionally.

Bump

@batwatch: White America was put in " " for a reason. Are you assuming I'm talking about every white person?

Secondly, when I said White America I was also talking about a period in time not an event. A "Black America" doesn't exist, never did, never will, and shouldn't exist.

Its not like he could have ever expected fair trial at that point in time.

So who killed the two women in the end?

@dbvse7:

I don't see the comment thread that lead to this comment, but if I'm recalling correctly, I bought you said "this is another reasons I hate white America," which sounds on the surface quite racist. You say you meant a time period, but that is not what that term means.