1976-1980
Day 56
1976: Rosedale, Queens New York Uses Violence To Stop Blacks From Moving To New York
Normally, New York City is seen as a wonderfully diverse and accepting community. But, a documentary produced in 1976 by Bill Moyer shows just how inaccurate that assumption was/is.
Rosedale, in Queens, New York, was a working class, immigrant area with many Jews, Irish, Italians, Polish, etc. Everything was wonderful until blacks began moving to the area.
In 1971, a score of men and teenage boys using axes and picks nearly destroyed a house, reportedly bought by a black man married to a white woman. Two hundred residents stood by and watched. On New Year’s Eve 1974, a pipe bomb went off at the home of Tony and Glenda Spencer and their two sons while they slept. Intending to kill them all, a note was left that said, ““Nigger, be warned. We have time. We will get your firstborn first.” It was signed: Viva Boston. KKK.”
In 1975 a group of young, black girls were riding their bikes around the neighborhood. They saw American flags waving and what looked to be a parade. Being children, they excitedly rode their bikes to enjoy the parade- only to discover it was a white supremicist rally. Suddenly, they were surrounded by white children who yelled racial slurs and threw rocks at them, while the parents stood by and did nothing.
Here are some quotes from the documentary. Again, it was made in 1976 in New York- see if any of this sounds familiar:
“The rights of white people in America have been taken away from them. Politicians are taking the rights of the white people away and givin’ it to the minorities. By busing, by jobs, by everything, You name it and you see that the white people are gettin’ the short end of the stick.”
"Well, I can’t deny them their right to live here, but yet I don’ t have to associate or even look at them, and I’m not gonna. And I won’t let my children look at them. And I won’t let my children play with them. If they want to live in that atmosphere they can, as far as we’ve concerned. We just tell our people: ignore them. Don’t bother with them, don’t look at them. If a guy wants to come out every morning to get in his car and go to work and nobody on the street’ll even wave “good morning” to him, I tell ya, I wouldn’t wanta live like that.”
“If I move from here I’m gonna run into the same problem five years from now maybe. I mean, you know, there’s no place to go. We worked hard for what we got, nobody’ s ever given us anything and we’re not gonna just back down and lose it, we’re not gonna… you know… blacks are tryin’ to come in and we’re not movin’, we’re not gonna run like white people have been doin’ for years. we’re gonna stay and we’re gonna fight for our neighborhood.”
“ They’re black, that’s what’s wrong with them. And the way I feel, black and white don’t mix and it’s never gonna mix. They’ve been here in this country 200 years and it seems that any … you show me one neighborhood where integration worked. I don’t think there’s a neighborhood where integration ever worked, where it didn’t go totally black. And we don’t want that to happen here. And-we’re gonna do everything within our power, through-legal means, to make sure that this neighborhood stays white.”
“Because they’re gonna like we … well because they’ll come first and then maybe a couple a people’ll panic in the neighborhood. This is what happens- we’ll be truthful- a couple a whites’ll panic and they’ll sell,-and if they can’t sell right away, it’s in the real estate a year or so, maybe they’ll sell it to the real estate. Then the real estate will maybe start renting’ it to welfare. And then you start gettin’ a lower class in. And then the people next to these low-class people, these low-class blacks, maybe they’ll sell. So then you got three houses with blacks in it. And then the next two go, and then the next two go, and then the next two go, and before you know it you got all the low-class in here and here is your middle-class black runnin’ again. And he goes in and screws up another white neighborhood.”
Here’s an interview with a child:
CHILD: People know that white and black people are never gonna get along so they should just stay apart, you know. Common sense… you shouldn’t try and get together ’cause they just don’t like each other, and they never will. It’s the truth.
RICHARD KOTUK: What do you think of black people?
CHILD: I don’t like them.
RICHARD KOTUK: Why?
CHILD: I really don’t. ‘Cause I… I just think that they’re always lookin’ out to make trouble.
It goes on and on, but I hope you get the jest.
It makes me want to cry. Especially when I have heard these exact same arguments used today.
Sources/Comments:
Day 57
1977: Mentally Disabled 14-Year-Old Sentenced to Life In Prison (or, the most tragic life story you have ever heard)
This post comes from the incredible Equal Justice Initiative:
In 1977, Trina Garnett, a 14-year-old mentally disabled girl, was charged with second-degree murder after setting a fire that tragically killed two people in Chester, Pennsylvania. She was tried in adult court and sentenced to die in prison.
Trina was a homeless 14-year-old who had suffered severe abuse, trauma, and mental illness. As a young child she was disfigured and scarred after being severely burned. She had a low IQ, suffered from speech impediments and other learning disabilities, and lived a life marred by chaos, extreme abuse, and poverty.
Her mother died when Trina was just nine years old. She was left living on the streets, where she had to forage for food in garbage cans, was victimized by older teens and adults, and was denied medical attention for emotional and mental health problems in the period prior to her arrest.
Reviewing courts found Trina’s mental impairments meant she was incapable of forming an intent to kill. Despite these findings, she was tried in adult court and convicted of second-degree murder during the course of an arson and burglary.
Her trial judge had no choice but to impose a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole, although he remarked “[i]t is a deplorable situation that the state does not provide facilities where young people such as Ms. Garnett can receive help while learning in a secure environment.”
Trina was sent to an adult prison at age 15. Shortly after she arrived there, she was raped by a male prison guard and became pregnant. She gave birth to a son, who was immediately taken from her.
For more than 30 years, Trina has been denied treatment and care appropriate for someone with her disabilities because of her death-in-prison sentence. She is now physically disabled due to multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair.
Sources/Comments:
Click HERE
After all my researching, I have come to HATE mandatory sentences! This is one thing I will now start fighting to abolish. They don't work, they don't make sense, they hurt innocent people, and, well I hate them.
(Note and a little rant: THIS is what sex trafficking looks like in the real world. A homeless, forgotten teenager with nobody to look after her. This is why we must end child poverty, help LGBTQ youth to not be kicked out of their unaccepting homes, fix the foster care system, end homelessness for children, etc if we actually want to help stop sex trafficking)
(sex trafficking is NOT white kids being stolen at Target- I have NEVER EVER EVER heard of that being successful. But homeless kids being forced to sale sex for food? Happens all the time. Let's work on what actually happens and fight to end what is really happening!!!!)
Day 58
1978: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints FINALLY Ends Its Racist Policy That Didn’t Allow Blacks To Have The Priesthood, Make Covenants, and Attend the Temple (but continues to perpetuate racism)
OK, deep breath.
Being a member of my faith is the most important part of my life. I value my relationship with Christ and my membership in the LDS church above anything else.
But that doesn’t mean the people in my faith are perfect- including the leaders.
I said I was willing to grapple with tough questions, and today I am. My church has had racist policies in the past. They continue to quote racist ideas. Like every other white Christian church in this country, racism exists in our church and temple halls. That doesn’t shake my faith- but for me, it’s important to acknowledge, repent of, and move forward in a better way.
My point in today’s posting is NOT to criticize my faith- if you want to criticize my faith, take it somewhere else. My point is to show that racism exists everywhere- not just schools, police academies, and courts- but even in our churches. Remember the symbol the KKK carried as it went to lynch someone or burn down a house? Ignoring it doesn’t help anyone. Instead, we should learn from it, repent, apologize, and change.
Note: I have researched this and I hope I am getting all my facts right, but there are really, really smart people reading this who have extensively studied this for years- so please correct any errors in what I am saying!
And, here we go…
Up until 1978, blacks in our faith were not allowed to be full members of our faith. In a church produced essay, it says this stems from a speech given by Brigham Young in 1852, who decided that blacks should not be allowed to have the priesthood, even though under Joseph Smith they could. “The justifications for restrictions echoed the widespread ideas about racial inferiority that had been used to argue for the legalization of black ‘servitude,’” reads the essay. This policy also banned all blacks from attending the temple. We can come up with whatever excuse we want, but in the end this was a policy put into place based on the color of one’s skin, i.e., racism.
In 1978 this horrible ban was finally done away with. Sadly, however, this is not the only racism we need to grapple with as a faith. Here are some others:
-I grew up being taught that having dark skin was a “curse” and that we should all be “white and delightsome.” That if you had dark skin it was because you or your ancestors were sinners, and that if you became righteous enough, your skin would turn white. Oh my word I cringe writing that! This is SOOOOOOO FALSE! And yet, sadly, people still believe this in my faith, even though my faith leaders used the very stern word, “Disavow” to say this idea is false. See comments for an excellent video that will convince you that “the curse” and “white and delightsome” have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with skin color, but rather is our own racist interpretation of the scriptures, not at all what the writers intended.
-Despite such strong language as “Disavow,” on page 26 of the children’s Book of Mormon Reader that is still in print and you can go and buy today, it says, “Laman and Lemuel’s followers called themselves Lamanites. They became a dark-skinned people. God cursed them because of their wickedness.”
-In our Come, Follow Me printed manuals this year, it also talked about skin color being a curse. The Church knew about the error, and instead of printing off new manuals or giving us stickers to put over that page to correct the error, they only changed it on-line, not in printed form.
-The Indian Placement Program was a program where white members of our faith would “foster” Native American children during the school year- preaching the gospel to them and converting them to the faith in the guise of providing a better school experience to them. Many were baptized while living with these foster families, without their real families permission. There are so many things wrong with this program, but the worst in my opinion is a quote from Spencer W. Kimball in 1960 where he said, “I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today ... they are fast becoming a white and delightsome people.... For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised.... The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.”
He also said: “the children in the home-placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans [traditional Navajo dwellings] on the reservation. At one meeting a father and mother and their 16-year-old daughter were present, the little member girl—16—sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents—on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather. There was the doctor in a Utah city who for two years had an Indian boy in his home who stated that he was some shades lighter than the younger brother just coming into the program from the reservation. These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness.”
Of course, these quotes are absurd. Skin pigmentation has nothing to do with righteousness, and everything to do with how close to the sun your ancestors lived. This is flat out false, plain and simple, but these quotes can still be found on the Church website.
-Inter-racial marriage has been discouraged since the 1830s. In 1977, apostle Boyd K. Packer publicly stated that "[w]e've always counseled in the Church for our Mexican members to marry Mexicans, our Japanese members to marry Japanese, our Caucasians to marry Caucasians, our Polynesian members to marry Polynesians. ... The counsel has been wise." I wonder why he mostly refers to the country/culture you came from, except for whites- whites, make sure you marry whites! The Eternal Marriage Student Manual used in institute and BYU classes provided this quote up until 2013: "We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally" (Spencer W. Kimball, 1976)
Sadly, this plays out with parents being upset when their daughters date or hang out with men of a different race- leading to, you guessed it, racism in our church.
These are some of the more egregious errors my faith tradition has made.
I am pointing these things out because I believe the only way we can truly repent and heal the deep wounds we have made with those of our faith who are not white is to acknowledge this past. Then, we must work to change our false mindsets that have been made by these false traditions of man. I am grateful my faith is now partnering with the NAACP and trying to make amends. But, we have a long, long way to go. As a member of this church, I hope positive changes continue, apologies are given, and that wounds can be healed. It will take time, but I do believe it is possible- but not if we ignore our past and pretend it never happened.
Sources/Comments:
Racist ideas are sadly found all throughout Christianity- except when it comes to Jesus Christ himself. His teachings are pure, it’s us who screw it up. That’s why even though these are horrible things that happened, I know that doesn’t represent Christ. It simply means we, as humans, have a lot to learn.
THIS podcast episode is a great listen and presents a positive spin on how white members of our faith can learn from and bless people of color in our faith.
These ladies are far more eloquent than I am- THIS episode was spot on.
If you were taught, as I was, that race is a curse, PLEASE watch the video below. Marvin Perkins is a strong, active member of my faith who happens to be black. He speaks out constantly about race and scripture. He will change your life in the most positive way if you watch this video!!!
Day 59
1979: 33-Year-Old Former Marine and Father of Two Brutally Beaten To Death, While Handcuffed, By Cops
The brutal murder of 33-year-old insurance salesman Arthur McDuffie began when he borrowed his cousin’s motorcycle to go for a ride. He ran a red light, and a policeman said, “I’m going to get that guy!” A high speed chase ensued, with several more police joining the chase, and ending when McDuffie finally stopped, got off the bike, and said, “I give up!” Unarmed and no longer a threat, one would think the case is over and a simple arrest could be made.
But, no. A police officer comes over, rips off Arthur’s helmet, and starts beating the crap out of Arthur. About a dozen other officers join in- using their long, metal flashlights and nightsticks to take turns bashing his head in.
They put Arthur against a police car and one officer said, “If you want to break someone’s legs, this is how you do it,” and proceeded to use his nightstick to break Arthur’s knees.
The medical examiner said Arthur McDuffie's skull had been shattered like an egg. Some of the police officers at the scene were sickened.
"He looked like somebody painted his face with a can of red paint," former Miami policeman Richard Gotowala recalled in one deposition. "They hit him in vengeance. Everybody was beating this guy upside his head."
Oh, and Arthur was handcuffed the entire time that he was beaten. He was not a threat in any way, and the officers admitted Arthur never did any aggressive moves to warrant such a beating.
"Frenzied" was the term used by some officers who witnessed the beating. They said officers fought each other for a chance to beat McDuffie. One witness said, "It looked like a bunch of animals fighting for meat."
One officer told a morning newspaper: "What really happened out there (the morning of December 17) is that the cops just went crazy. There's no question that it never should have happened. The only way you could have stopped what was happening would have been to start killing cops. The feeling afterwards was that this guy was a nigger who was running from the police, and he deserved everything he got."
The evidence was overwhelming- the cops admitted to what they did. They were the witnesses, and they did, in fact, witness to what happened.
But, because this is America, the all-white, all-male jury acquitted the few officers who were charged. Many officers weren’t charged because of immunity, and the only officer who was given a second degree murder charge (the harshest charge of all the officers) was the one Cuban officer- the white officers all received far lesser charges or immunity. In this case of having too much proof of wrongdoing, all the officers got off.
Lest you think the justice system failed, remember this: It actually worked exactly as it was designed.
Sources/Comments:
Day 60
1980: Man Stuck In Prison For 35 Years AFTER His Conviction Overturned
Talk about getting lost in the system- this is horrifying! How many more are “lost” in the system?
From The Equal Justice Initiative:
Jerry Hartfield, an intellectually disabled man whose conviction and death sentence was overturned in 1980, was released from prison on June 12 after Texas kept him locked up for 35 years without a valid conviction.
Mr. Hartfield, a Black man from Kansas, was arrested in 1976 and charged with the murder and sexual assault of a white woman in Bay City, Texas, near Houston, because his fingerprints were on a soda bottle found in the bus station where the body was discovered. Police obtained a confession from Mr. Hartfield, whose IQ is in the 50s or 60s, which he says was coerced. He has always maintained his innocence. In 1977, Mr. Hartfield was convicted and sentenced to death.
In 1980, a Texas appeals court reversed his conviction and ordered a new trial because prosecutors had improperly dismissed a juror because she had reservations about the death penalty. Prosecutors sought to avoid a new trial by asking the governor to commute Mr. Hartfield’s death sentence to life imprisonment without parole, but in 1983, the court again ordered the State to retry Mr. Hartfield.
Soon after, the governor commuted Mr. Hartfield’s sentence to life without parole. The State decided this resolved the case, despite the appeals court’s ordering prosecutors to conduct a new trial. Mr. Hartfield’s trial lawyer believed the commutation was ineffective, but nonetheless failed to demand a new trial.
After waiting 23 years, Mr. Hartfield found another prisoner to help him write requests to state judges in 2006; they were all summarily rejected. A federal judge appointed him a lawyer and, in 2009, ruled that Mr. Hartfield had been illegally imprisoned since 1980 without any conviction. But the case was transferred to another federal judge who rejected Mr. Hartfield’s claims in 2011 because the judge said he had failed to exhaust state remedies.
Mr. Hartfield appealed, and in 2012, the federal appeals court agreed he was imprisoned without any conviction but rather than order his immediate release, it remanded the case to the state appeals court. In 2013, that court found he had been unlawfully imprisoned for 30 years, but still refused to release him. Instead, it remanded to the trial court, which concluded Mr. Hartfield had not suffered much by waiting all those years, and anyway, the delay was his fault. The judge found prosecutors were negligent but showed no bad faith in failing to retry Mr. Hartfield for three decades, so it gave them another chance to convict Mr. Hartfield.
Mr. Hartfield was retried in 2015. The State’s key witnesses had died, so their testimony was read into the record with no opportunity for defense questioning. All physical evidence had been lost so it could not be challenged by the defense. No mitigating evidence could be presented from Mr. Hartfield’s family, most of whom had also passed away. Mr. Hartfield was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
He appealed, arguing that his constitutional right to a speedy trial had been violated. In January, the Texas appeals court agreed and, finding the delay was extraordinary and the State’s conduct was not merely negligent, finally ordered Mr. Hartfield’s release.
Mr. Hartfield walked out of Hutchins State Jail in Dallas in 2017, reuniting with his nieces. Remarkably, he told The Marshall Project, “I am not bitter. I am not angry. [The prosecutors] were only doing their jobs, and I respect them for that.” He expressed gratitude for the attorneys and advocates who helped win his release. “It is a blessing that God placed them in my life,” he said. “I am just overwhelmed.”
This case demonstrates how racial bias, prosecutorial misconduct, and the failure to provide adequate counsel to poor defendants undermine the reliability of convictions in capital cases, and exemplifies a systemic indifference to wrongfully imprisoning an African American man for four decades that is a legacy of our nation’s history of racial injustice. EJI believes we must truthfully confront this history in order to effectively address the injustices of our mass incarceration system today.
His conviction was overturned in 1980, but he spent 35 more years in prison without a valid conviction.
Sources/Comments:
Click HERE
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