At UVA Law School I'm taking a seminar class called "Trials of the Century" with Professor Anne Coughlin. It's probably my favourite paper out of the four that I'm taking here. We read and watch law journal articles, novels, films and documentaries about or based on great criminal trials of the past. And we meet once a week to talk about these trials: about the prevailing narratives of each trial; the larger historical, socio-political and anthropological issues involved in each trial; and the various purposes that criminal trials serve. The connecting thread of our discussions is the question, "What makes a trial a trial of the century?" The conversations are intellectually stimulating, engaging and often humorous. The two hours of class fly by very quickly each week.
The trials have all been very different from each other. The most interesting trials in my recollection were the Lizzie Borden trial (where a seemingly benign New England spinster killed her father and stepmother by beating them viciously with an axe), the John Scopes trial (where a high school science teacher was prosecuted in Tennessee for teaching the theory of evolution to his students in violation of a state statute prohibiting it), the Leopold and Loeb trial (where two intelligent and wealthy young Chicago college students killed a 14-year-old boy for no real reason other than sport and experimentation) and the Scottsboro Boys trial (where a group of nine African-American men were wrongly accused of and incarcerated for raping two white women on a freight train in Alabama). Each of these trials received huge media attention at the time, and are indelibly etched into America's legal memory.
Yesterday I watched a Spike Lee documentary called "4 Little Girls" for next week's class. It's a film about the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that was carried out by Ku Klux Klan members in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. The church had been a rallying point for Civil Rights Movement activities, and the bigots of Alabama wanted to punish the African-Americans for their political activism, as well as to intimidate them into giving up in the fight for their rights. Four little girls - Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley - were killed in the bombing. The documentary interviewed family members of the girls who talked about each child and her short life, gave an overview of segregated life in 1960s Alabama (for instance, separate white and coloured public facilities), traced the development of the Civil Rights movement in Alabama in 1963 and the backlash it received (the firehosing of peaceful protesters in the streets and imprisonment of children were particularly despicable), looked at the bombing itself, and briefly covered the trial of one of the Klansmen (Robert Chambliss) responsible for it. He was gross man, he was all proud of himself for being a part of the bombing, sneering like a devil. Sick.
It was a heart-wrenching film. The interviews with the mothers of the girls were the most gripping part. I could see the lingering grief in their shining eyes, 30 years on from the tragic event. And the girls' siblings and childhood friends testified to how kind, caring and lovable they had all been. Each of the girls had been so precious, and if they were alive today they would no doubt be valuable members of their community. The documentary showed pictures of each girl, smiling, eyes twinkling, innocent and harmless. And to think that such beautiful children were maliciously and arbitrarily murdered, all because of a completely twisted view of racial equality, because of an absolutely senseless hatred based on skin colour. I couldn't stop crying as I watched it.
Racism is an undeniable and significant part of this country's history. How could one group of people persecute another group of people in such terrible ways, just because they're of a different race? In the documentary, Denise McNair's father told a story of a family outing during Christmas, where he couldn't buy Denise a sandwich from a store because it was for white people only. She was confused, and later that night when he explained to her the concept of segregation, she remained baffled. She just couldn't understand why people were treated badly simply because of the colour of their skin. It really is absurd. Sadly, I've realised that race remains a key divisive factor in America today, despite the huge progress it has made over the last century. Racial disparities are evident in schools, in the workplace and in the legal system.
And we try to solve many of society's problems, like racism, through the law. Another Klansman (Bobby Frank Cherry) responsible for the bombing was prosecuted more than 30 years after the bombing. While the law gives a significant degree of vindication to the victims of such crimes, I don't know whether the law is necessarily the right forum to tackle issues that are far larger than the courtroom. Does the conviction of a murderer provide real closure to the victim's loved ones? Can legal rules that prohibit discrimination stop people from distrusting and hating each other? No, I don't think so. If not trials, then what can society do? It has to do something in response to happenings like the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. I don't know. Maybe a trial is a necessary but insufficient part of the resolution process. But I still don't know what society could do to fill the gaps.
I've learnt a lot about history, American culture and the nature of a trial from this course. But most of all, I've had the opportunity to think a lot about humanity. People can be such strange and inexplicable creatures. We can become caught up in incredible ideas that cause us to act destructively, inhumanely, nonsensically. Completely weird notions that cause us to hate and hurt one another in ways that future generations won't be able to comprehend. Entire societies can become engulfed in beliefs and captured by ridiculous fears and consequently make life hellish for its minority members. We can be so evil sometimes. It makes my heart feel so bad. We're so in need of God that it's not even funny.
While there's much to be said about our past and the traditions we hold dear to our hearts, there are some parts of our history that have to be buried deep into the ground and never unearthed. The only thing we should do with the blemishes of the past is to keep them in our collective conscience so that we don't repeat them, ever. Hopefully we as people will continue onwards and upwards in terms of social progress, learning from what has been and piloting prudently towards where we're headed.
Watch "4 Little Girls" if you get the chance. It's engaging, educational and moving.
G.
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