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Black Rage Confronts the Law
CRITICAL AMERICA General Editors: Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic
White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race IAN F. HANEY LÓPEZ
Cultivating Intelligence: Power, Law, and the Politics of Teaching LOUISE HARMON AND DEBORAH W. POST
Privilege Revealed: How Invisible Preference Undermines America STEPHANIE M. WILDMAN WITH MARGALYNNE ARMSTRONG, ADRIENNE D. DAVIS, AND TRINA GRILLO
Does the Law Morally Bind the Poor? or What Good’s the Constitution When You Cant Afford a Loaf of Bread R. GEORGE WRIGHT
Hybrid: Bisexuals, Multiracial and Other Misfits under American Law RUTH COLKER
Critical Race Feminism: A Reader EDITED BY ADRIEN KATHERINE WING
Immigrants Out! The New Nativism and the Anti-Immigrant Impulse in the United States EDITED BY JUAN F. PEREA
Taxing America EDITED BY KAREN B. BROWN AND MARY LOUISE FELLOWS
Notes of a Racial Caste Baby: Colorblindness and the End of Affirmative Action BRYAN K. FAIR
Please Don’t Wish Me a Merry Christmas: A Critical History of the Separation of Church and State STEPHEN M. FELDMAN
To Be an American: Cultural Pluralism and the Rhetoric of Assimilation BILL ONG HING
Negrophobia and Reasonable Racism: The Hidden Costs of Being Black in America JODY DAVID ARMOUR
Black and Brown in America: The Case for Cooperation BILL PIATT
Black Rage Confronts the Law PAUL HARRIS
BLACK RAGE CONFRONTS THE LAW
Paul Harris
New York University Press New York and London
Copyright © 1997 by New York University
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Harris, Paul, 1943 Feb. 17–
Black rage confronts the law / Paul Harris.
p. cm. — (Critical America)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8147-3527-4 (cl: acid-free paper)
1. Defense (Criminal procedure)—United States. 2. Afro-
Americans—Psychology. 3. Racism—United States. 4. United
States—Race relations. 5. Afro-Americans—Social conditions.
6. Extenuating circumstances—United States. I. Title.
II. Series.
KF9244.5.H37 1997
345.73′04—dc21 97-2379
CIP
New York University Press books are printed on
acid-free paper, and their binding materials are
chosen for strength and durability.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the members of the San Francisco Community Law Collective.
For sixteen years we built community power, demystified the law,
dignified our clients, and won more than our share of cases.
Contents
1 The Black Rage Defense, 1846: The Trial of William Freeman
2 The Black Rage Defense, 1971
3 The Law: Its Myths and Rituals
4 Black Rage 1971: The Case of James Johnson, Jr.
5 James Johnson’s Workers’ Compensation Case
6 Racism, Rage, and Criminal Defenses
7 To Use or Not to Use the Black Rage Defense
8 Race, Class, and the Trials of Clarence Darrow
9 A Survey of Black Rage Cases
12 White Rage—Do Prisons Cause Crime?
13 The Cultural Defense and the Trials of Patrick Hooty Croy
Acknowledgments
To my wife, Barbara Newman, for her love, encouragement, good humor, ideas, and editing.
To my children—Josh, Carmen, and Corey—for keeping me young and strong in spirit.
To Bernadette Aguilar for keeping her cool in the chaos of typing and retyping the manuscript.
To my parents, Sydney Harris and Rose Fine;