I also found the podcasts I listened to very interesting, mainly because this was my first time listening to one fully. In addition to “The Job” that Elyse listened to, I found “Photo, Hair, Fingerprint” to be very intriguing. “Photo, Hair, Fingerprint” was about a 69 year old woman named Carol Elliot who was raped in her home. Although she could not identify the man, she knew that he was African American and around 6 feet tall. Ultimately, a woman came forward and named the man “responsible” for the crime. She was offered a reward of $1,000 for naming the man, Willie Grimes. Willie Grimes was charged with 2 counts of rape and kidnapping, even though he was not responsible for the crime. Willie Grimes went on to serve 24 years in prison. Willie begged and begged for a lawyer, but no one would look into his case. Finally when the North Carolina Inquiry Committee agreed to look into the case, they found that Albert Turner was the one who raped Carol Elliot. His fingerprints were on pieces of fruit that were overlooked for 24 years. Ultimately, Willie served 24 years in prison for a deed he did not even commit.
Another point in the podcast that I found very strange was that 11/12 jurors that listened to Willie’s case were white. This taps into the idea of white supremacy and how those of African American decent were suppressed. While listening to this podcast, I began to see parallels between “Photo, Hair, Fingerprint” and the documentary “13th.” The 13th Amendment states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” This loophole in the 13th Amendment, that criminals can be held as “slaves”, allowed for many African Americans to be treated as such. They would be picked up off the street and taken to prison just for the sake of increasing the imprisonment rate. Sadly, African Americans were the prime candidates. Overall, these two examples serve as ways to see how African Americans experienced, and still experience this injustice today.
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The point you are trying to make concerning jury make up is far more nuanced than just white supremacy.During voir dire, each consul gets to strike a limited number of jurors for no reason which is called a peremptory challenge. The only rule is that these challenges can not be used for racists reasons. If the opposing counsel thinks this rule is being violated, then they can issue a Batson challenge.
The point is that actions can be racists, but that doesn't mean that jury selection is a product of white supremacy. Just this year the Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 decision in the case of Flower v. Mississippi in an opinion written by Justice Kavanaugh that a defendant can use a prosecutor's history of racial discriminating to asses their credibility. The system may have racists elements or racists individuals within it, but that does not make the system white supremacists.
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