The Scottsboro Boys, ages 13-20, were on a train and like any group of boys, they found another group of boys who wanted to fight them. Had the train gone another 300 meters, they would have been known as the Huntsville Boys.
They were getting thrown off the train because one group was white and the other was Black. This would have resulted in nothing more than vagrancy charges. Except there were two women on the train that were also a group facing vagrancy charges.
To avoid arrest and vagrancy charges, the two women lied, exposing the boys to the death sentence. No one knows just how many times this has happened to men and boys throughout history.
Many modern gender theorists say, “it doesn’t matter,” “it’s not very often,” “it hardly ever happens,” “rape is important,” “most victims never even come forward,” “women need to be encouraged to come forward,” and “the penalties for sexual assault need to be harsher.”
Given the number of men and boys who were executed, proclaiming their innocence while women’s “lived experience” condemned them to the electric chair, I’d guess the number was non-zero.
This would have been just another anonymous false accusation, mass-execution, swept under the rug by modern gender theorists, had it not been useful to the American Communist Party and the N.A.A.C.P. Both of whom had been looking for a case just like this.
The Communists and the N.A.A.C.P.
Just as trained Communists and the N.A.A.C.P. work with the media today, putting their brand on Black pain, all three saw these boys as a means of furthering their Class struggle and these groups all descended on Scottsboro.
They widely reported on the lynch mob, that brought the boys to the jail. Then, they reported on the mostly peaceful protests where Communist women were arrested for throwing rocks and bottles at police.
The first of several trials, countless protests, and millions of newspaper sales began in Scottsboro in 1931. Injustice and inequality against Black men and all white juries were the major themes.
False allegations by women were taboo back then, unlike now, when people don’t talk about them.
Many Modern Marxists are trained by Minnesota Marxist Feminist Kate Millett, to understand that there are no false allegations of rape – except those, in the past, in the American South, made by racists.
The First Trial – Norris Weams
Both women stuck to their story and Southern lawyers knew better than to humiliate Southern women by daring to suggest that humans lie. Like today, this custom is widely frowned upon in the American South, unless the women are accusing a Democratic politician.
The Defense put the medical examiner on the stand who said he saw no sign of injury or vaginal tearing. Defense then called defendant Clarence Norris to the stand, who said he saw the alleged rapes by the other blacks from his spot atop the next boxcar.
“I saw that negro just on the stand, Weems, rape one of those girls. I saw that myself. When the officers searched me they did not find anything on me. They did not find a pearl handled knife. They did not find a pearl handled knife on me. I did not have a knife or pistol. I did not go down in the car and I did not have my hands on the girls at all, but I saw that one rape her.
They all raped her, every one of them.
There wasn’t any one holding the girls legs when Weems raped her, as far as I saw.
The other boy sitting yonder had a knife around her throat, that one sitting on the end behind the little boy. I don’t know what his name is, but he is the one that had the knife. I did not see the little one hold of her legs while this one was raping her.
I did not see anybody holding her legs. I don’t know who pulled off her overalls. The girls were lying down when I got up in the box car.
This big one did not have a knife on her throat. That little boy sitting behind yonder I don’t know his name is the one that had a knife around her neck, making her lie down while the others raped her.
I didn’t see any of the negroes take her overalls off. The girls were lying down when I got up on the box car. I saw the overalls lying in the car. I did not see any step ins.
I did not get down in the gondola, never did get down in there.”
Defendant Clarence Norris
The defense put forth no further witnesses. They didn’t offer a closing argument, nor comment on the Death Penalty.
Appeals
This trial was overturned for lack of effective counsel. Apparently, the defense lawyer had not told Norris that anything said by him in a court of law would be used against him in a court of law.
This piece of testimony was used at every other trial. In the end, Norris was the only defendant sentenced to death. Despite being in the publicly available court transcript, it has not appeared in any documentary film I’ve seen.
Given the significance placed on the Scottsboro Case by Black Historians, and the omission of this quote, I believe this article is now also an important piece of Black History.
“Were You Lying Then or Are You Lying Now?”
In a later trial, Ruby Bates was called by the defense by famed attorney Samuel Leibowitz.
She returned from New York City wearing new clothes and carrying a new handbag purchased for her by the Communists who tracked her down and transported her back to testify as a surprise .
“Were you lying then or are you lying now?” asked Prosecutor Wade Wright.
This article, like many of my articles, is concerned with the erosion of due process and Women and BIPOC being treated as differently than humans. Also like many of my articles, its purpose is to get people to ask uncomfortable questions that are usually unasked.
A Logical Test
Statement: All Humans Lie
- Do women lie?
- Do Black men lie?
- Do documentary filmmakers lie?
The most important question for me, is why do some of these questions make us more uncomfortable than others?
For what happened to the rest of the Scottsboro Boys, see here.
