Black Sisters get Life Sentence for Armed Robbery
By Kyra O. Davenport
Jan 17, 2011 marked the Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., and on this noble day comes the question that begs to be answered as we celebrate this prophet, Does racism still exists? Most of us would answer this with a loud and thunderous heck yeah!!! Furthermore we have blatant examples of racism to support our sentiments like the recent injustice in Mississippi.
Evelyn Rasco is the mother of Jamie and Gladys Scott has been attempting to emancipate her daughters from a life sentence due to an armed robbery they committed in which they stole 11 dollars in 1993.(As covered by USA Today). Naturally there is the inclination that most juries will/would feel that “if you did the crime you do the time”, but in this case it is evident, as it has been in many cases that we have all witnessed publicly, that your race determines how extreme your punishment will be. Now when we analyze this story let us not overanalyze the amount they stole, they did in fact commit an act of armed robbery, and no matter what race you are that is purely shameful and punishable.
Moreover, It is rather odd that two African American Women who committed armed robbery are given life sentences as if they are animals that need to be caged forever, when there are (for example) registered sex offenders of all races who all free to roam the earth, with the unpredictability of if they will assault or rape a woman, man, or child again. The color of their Scott sisters black skin apparently made them more tainted and subhuman coupled with them committing an appalling crime. Did they even stand a chance in a state known for racism and hanging black bodies as Billie Holiday thought provokingly called the “strange fruits”? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. instilled in us as African Americans to hope for change be empowered by the dream, in this world today, we most certainly have to walk by faith and not by the sight of constant injustices. The Scott Sisters have been granted an early release if Gladys Scott donates a kidney to her sister Jamie Scott in need of a transplant. (As covered by Aolnews.com/Mara Gray).
To learn the latest on this story please read: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/30/AR2010123002930.html
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