Had It Been Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson Would Have Gone Ape-Shit
June 8, 2016
Had It Been Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson Would Have Gone Ape-Shit
by David Macaray
It seems close to impossible to get a policeman, any policemen, convicted of unlawfully shooting an African-American. For that matter, it’s pretty damn hard to get an overzealous, gun-toting private citizen convicted of the same crime. We need only consider George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the death of 17-year old Trayvon Martin.
So in those relatively rare instances where the legal system plods along as intended, and justice finally does seem to “prevail,” and a violent person is convicted by a jury of unlawfully taking the life of a young African-American, it hurts all the more when the perpetrator—the person found guilty by a jury of his or her peers—walks away without being punished.
It hurts all the more. In March of 1991, a black teenage girl, 15-year old Latasha Harlins, was shot and killed by the owner of a convenience store in Los Angeles. The owner of the store, a 51-year old Korean woman named Soon Ja Du, claimed that Latasha had placed a bottle of orange juice in her backpack and was going to leave the store without paying.
But eyewitnesses, along with physical evidence obtained at the scene, indicated otherwise. While the girl had, in fact, placed the orange juice bottle in her bag, she had money clutched in her hand, ready to pay, when she was accosted by the store owner, who had aggressively grabbed the girl’s backpack.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/06/08/had-it-been-sally-hemings-thomas-jefferson-would-have-gone-ape-shit/
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Family, Community Commemorate 25th Anniversary of Latasha Harlins' Death
Harlins' death at the hands of Korean shop owner Soon Ja Du, who served no jail time, inflamed community tensions in South Central Los Angeles that later manifest in the 1992 riots.
Sameer Rao Mar 17, 2016 1:01PM EDT
Simmering tension between Los Angeles' African- and Korean-American communities reached a fever pitch on March 16, 1991, when Korean shop owner Soon Ja Du shot 15-year-old Latasha Harlins in the back of the head after an escalating physical confrontation over suspected robbery. Yesterday (March 16), 25 years after Harlins' death, her family and community members honored her with a candlelight vigil in South Central Los Angeles.
"She represents so many that are not here that would have been something to somebody," Latasha's aunt Denise Harlins said at the vigil, according to the Los Angeles Times. Denise co-founded the Latasha Harlins Justice Committee, which sought justice for her niece in the aftermath of her death.
The Times reports that Latasha put a bottle of orange juice in her knapsack before going to Du's store counter. Du accused her of trying to shoplift, which was countered by witnesses who said Harlins showed two dollar bills with the intent of paying. The Los Angeles Police department eventually ruled that Harlins wasn't trying to steal. Du then grabbed Harlins' shirt, prompting a struggle during which Harlins knocked Du to the ground. After Harlins left the orange juice behind and walked to the door, Du shot her at close range. The shooting, caught on grainy store surveillance video, happened a mere two weeks after footage of LAPD officers beating Rodney King surfaced.
A jury found Du guilty of manslaughter, with a maximum sentence of 16 years. But Judge Joyce Karlin sentenced her to five years probation, community service and a fine. The inflamed tensions reemerged a year later during the 1992 riots, when many people targeted Korean-owned shops and members of the local Korean-American community took up arms to defend their properties.
More:
https://www.colorlines.com/articles/family-community-commemorate-25th-anniversary-latasha-harlins-death
[center]
Judge Joyce Karlin
Soon Ja Du
Latasha Harlins
Rest in Peace. [/center]
