Richard A. Serrano
Autor von Last of the Blue and Gray: Old Men, Stolen Glory, and the Mystery That Outlived the Civil War
Über den Autor
Richard A. Serrano is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former Washington correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. He spent forty-five years covering the Pentagon, the wars in Haiti and the Middle East, the Justice Department, the FBI, and the War on Terror. He is the author of four other books and lives in mehr anzeigen Fairfax, Virginia. weniger anzeigen
Werke von Richard A. Serrano
Last of the Blue and Gray: Old Men, Stolen Glory, and the Mystery That Outlived the Civil War (2013) 38 Exemplare
Summoned at Midnight: A Story of Race and the Last Military Executions at Fort Leavenworth (2019) 20 Exemplare
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This is not about whether these men were guilty or not guilty. It is not about whether any single one of them did or did not deserve the death penalty. These men were all convicted of rape and/or murder and sentenced to death. That is a starting point as far as the most blatant aspect of the "justice" system's racism. Indeed, the racism that ran all the way through to the White House administrations of both Eisenhower and Kennedy.
Serrano illustrates the systemic racism in the military in exploring Pfc Bennett's specific case. He was the last man executed and his execution was on the hands of both administrations. While there was clearly no real attempt for actual justice in Bennett's investigation (using the term loosely) and trial, any hope for a reasonable outcome rested in the hands of stateside lawyers, judges, and politicians.
So seventeen men, all convicted of what were, at the time, capital offenses. Each and every white man was given public support, legal help, and ultimately was spared execution. And freed to walk among us, as they say. Yet each and every black man was afforded little to no support for appeal and letters from family and friends fell on deaf ears. Eisenhower had absolutely no problem with commutation of every white soldier's sentence. But he felt he needed to send a message with the black soldiers. This was the beginning of the era of integration in the military and Eisenhower was nothing if he wasn't old school military. Thus a message to be sent in the form of human lives.
Hope was high, or as high as could be expected, when Kennedy was elected and Bennett was still alive. But ultimately, with the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the centennial of the Civil War, Kennedy opted for the politically expedient decision to not commute the sentence. Again, another message sent, this time to white Dixiecrat voters, in the form of a human life.
All of these messages being sent are all in the form of dead black men. Sadly, this is not just a chapter out of the history books. This is a direct reflection of our current so-called justice system, where laws are unevenly enforced and sentences are based as much on skin color as on the actual offense. The messages now are to those who are racist and support the current racist regime (as well as the ones before this one, just more in the open now) and those who profit both directly and indirectly off the mass incarceration of people of color. As a country we have progressed very little. And a good bit of the progress toward being a more ethical and moral nation was lost when the immoral cult of Evangelicalism put a moron in office, with the help of their ally, Russia.
Highly recommend this for readers who want to have some idea whether there really was and/or is a difference in how our justice system (doesn't) work. There isn't really anything here to refute as liberal propaganda as some brain dead people will want to do. 17 convicted men, all of the same or similar crimes, yet only the black men were executed. The explanation is not simple, but it is simple to see.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.… (mehr)