The formulation and agitation for civil rights and liberties is meant to enhance equality among all members of society. It is important to note that any society is made up of both the majority and the minority social forces. In many cases, the majority tend to formulate most of the laws that are regarded as being the norm in any society. This means that the minority in that particular society have little to no say in some of the norms and laws that they are subjected to in their own societies. The United States is one such society. Most of the civil rights and freedoms that were awarded to Americans through the constitution did not take into consideration the rights of slaves (Kalra 123). Despite the fact that slaves played an integral role in society, black slaves were not engaged in the formulation of the constitution and the civil rights provisions that were provided for in then constitution. Most of the framers of the constitution such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin possessed slaves. Despite the fact that these men drafted the constitution; there did regard their won slaves as human beings.
Slaves were not treated as being citizens of North America. Instead, slaves were classified as property for their white masters. Slaves were human beings that had the same capacity and potentials as their own masters. Their exclusion from the political process in the United States indicates that the civil rights and freedoms that were provided for in the constitution were selective and discriminatory. All human being should be treated in the same way despite their color, creed, race, or religious affiliation.
Money has played a key role in obstructing justice and the truth in the United States (Demersseman 57). Black populations in the United States for example have persevered through length period of discrimination and suffering. For this reason, many black families occupy the lower class and the middle class of the American society. These black families and other minorities do not have the economic strengths to be able to fight for justice using money. This means that they are not in a position to influence policymakers to pass laws that are favorable for the minorities. Conversely the rich white populations have the capacity to influence both justice and legislation using money. Money is used to lobby legislators to pass laws that are more favorable to white populations without taking into considerations the repercussion of their actions with regards to the minorities that do not have the economic strength to influence legislation. Money has in some cases been used by the corporate market to lobby legislators to pass laws that favor the corporations’ administrative structures without taking into consideration the injustice and the inconveniences that lobbying might cause to the poor populations of the United States. Due to the use of money to influence legislation and legal processes many people among them black populations have found themselves being victims of injustice in the American system.
For example, the case of Trayvon Martin that ended in 2013 saw George Zimmermann walk scot-free after shooting an innocent and harmless teenager. Clearly, Trayvon’s family did not have much money to influence the judges or the jury in the case. Race and stereotyping led to the lack of enough evidence that could meet the threshold of unreasonable doubt, which is required to convict an individual for criminal offences (Yancy 66). Despite the presence of the facts that were presented by the petitioners the jury decided not to incriminate George Zimmermann. Many critics of this outcome are of the view that the verdict of the case would have been different if Trayvon Martin would not have been black. To reinforce the idea that the American legal system is biased to the black race, the killers of Sean Bell in 2006 in the city of New York also walked scot-free. In spite of the fact that Sean Bell was drunk when the incident happened, the fact remains that such a heinous act should not have happened in the first place.
Another important case that highlights the bias of the American legal system with regards to the black population is the Aiyana Stanley-Jones case of 2010. In this case, police officers shot an innocent seven year old girl when they raided a house in Detroit, Michigan. The police officers were careless in the way that they handled their weapons during the raid. Aiyana was shot on her head and neck area and was pronounced dead minutes after being taken to hospital. (Sugrue 129). The irony of this case is that the culprit who was being sought by police, Chauncey Owens, did not have any trouble surrendering to the police. The perpetrators of the heinous killing of the seven year old girl, Aiyana, were also not brought to book for their actions.
The legal injustices committed against black victims dates back to the Emmett Till case. Emmett Till was fourteen years old when he died in the state of Mississippi. The young black boy was killed on the basis that he had talked to a white woman. His body was insensibly mutilated and his eyes removed (Weems 94). The young boy was then shot and his body dumped into a river. The perpetuators of this action were acquitted on the grounds of double jeopardy despite the fact that they publicly admitted of having killed the young boy. All these heinous acts committed against black individuals in the United States put to question the protection of minorities by the US constitution. The civil rights and freedoms that are spelled out in the US constitution, based on the outcomes of the above-mentioned cases, are seemingly not extended to black individuals that have been victims of injustice.
In conclusion, the Willie Lynch law was meant to create a philosophy that would create distrust and disunity among slaves so that they would be easily controlled by their white masters. Lynch was of the view that punishing slaves was not the ideal way of fostering cooperation and discipline among slaves. He was of the view that the hanging of slaves and the execution of other punitive expeditions created more unity among slaves as they worked towards their goals of freedom. It was for this reason that slaves rallied together to create demonstrations and to sometimes elope from the farms of their masters leading to large losses being incurred as a result of the lack of labor in the farms. The Willie Lynch Law introduced a mind philosophy that could be used to disunite slaves by identifying the differences between slaves (Rollins 7). Some of the criteria that were used to identify differences between slaves included age.
The Willie Lynch Law sought to create disharmony between older and younger slaves. In this way, there would be lesser cooperation between slaves based on the fact that the slaves would view their differences in age as being a disuniting factor rather than one that could unite them together. Another criterion that was used to create a disuniting mind philosophy was the use of color as a difference between slaves. Slaves with a lighter complexion were viewed as being more intelligent compared to their compatriots who has a darker skin color. White masters and their children were asked not treat their slaves as their equals in any way. This meant that white masters could not trust slaves to run the affairs of their farms. All slaves were to be treated as property and not as fellow human beings. Gender was also another element that was used to create a wedge among slaves. Men and women were viewed as having different capabilities and potentials. The creation of a wedge between male and female slaves was meant to weaken family ties and the ability of slaves to procreate and trust members of the opposite sex. Mind philosophy that was introduced by the Willie Lynch Law was much more effective in creating disunity among African slaves compared to the perpetual punishing of slaves with the hope that punishment would deter slaves from uniting and being disloyal to their masters.
In conclusion, the formulation of civil rights laws did not involve slaves. For this reason the civil rights and liberties did not reflect the needs of slaves and the minority in the United States. Various cases such as Emmett Till, Trayvon Martins, Aiyana Stanley-Jones case, and Sean Bell case illustrate some of the ways that civil rights and liberties among minority groups in the United States have been infringed upon in the United States. In all these cases, the perpetrators of the inhumane acts against the victims were not brought to book for their actions.
References
Demersseman, William. Dissed Trust: America's Crisis of Truth, Faith, and Freedom. Bloomington, Indiana: Westbow Press, 2010. Print.
Kalra, Paul. From slave to untouchable: Lincoln's solution. Pleasant Hill, California: Antenna Publishing Company, 2011. Print.
Rollins, James C. From the Curse of Willie Lynch to the New African American Generation. Bloomington, Indiana: Trafford Publishers, 2013. Print.
Sugrue, Thomas J. The origins of the urban crisis: race and inequality in postwar Detroit: with a new preface by the author. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010. Print.
Weems, Clenora. Emmett Till: the sacrificial lamb of the civil rights movement. 3rd rev. ed. Troy, Mich.: Bedford Publishers, 2000. Print.
Yancy, George. Pursuing Trayvon Martin: historical contexts and contemporary manifestations of racial dynamics. Lanham: Lexington Boos, 2013. Print.
