The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-02-25
ScOttsbOrO
DecisiOnSOOn
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sympathizers, making known their
demand for the lives and freedom
of nine innocent Negro boys-that
forced the court to hear the ap-
peals of Haywood Patterson and
Clarence Norris. All the maneuvers
of the courts, the state, and the
treacherous white and Negro re-
forrnists-the American Scottsboro
Committee" The Nation" the
Amsterdam News"-could not stop
nor drown that noise of protest.
Nobody knows precisely what is
going through the heads of the jus
tees of the United States Supreme
Court as they make up their minds
on the verdict in the Scottsboro
case. One thing is certain - the
volume and intensity of the mass
protest. the shout of demand, will
determine the decision of the court
The lynch-press knows when to
use silence against the lynched.
Three Grounds
Three grounds, proved to the hilt
why the court should, according to
its own laws, reverse the Scots
boro verdicts, were presented in the
briefs prepared by the LID. law
yers, and in the argument before
the nine black-robed servants OF
capitalism:
/. The systematic exclusion of
Negroes from the grand jury that
indicted the boys.
2. The systematic exclusion of
Negroes from the trial jury that
convicted them.
3. The forgery Of the names
of Negroes on the Jackson county
jury rolls, for the purpose Of de-
frauding the boys of the first
ground of appeal.
NO argument was advanced by tn
State Of Alabama, represented b,
its Lieutenant Governor. Thomas z
Knight, who has earned a Nero
fame as one Of the most determined
would-be murderers in history. anc
as an arch-lyncher, against thes,
grounds. They are unassailable un.
der bourgeois law.
So is the Constitution under which
they are raised-in theory-but TO,
reasons Of political expediency. t.
save the program Of the Roosevelt
administration, by bringing abou
an initiation that will still furthe
rob the toiling maSses-the sam,
United States Supreme Court Sc
aside all constitutional guarantee
to uphold the Gold Clause.
The according to the pres
sure brought upon it-can make on
Of many decisions:
How Court May Act
1t can uphold the convictions o
both boys. This is what it Tough
to lay the basis for at the hearing
1t can attempt to save it's face b,
reversing in one case and uphold
ing in the other.
1t can be forced to reverse on al
three counts - which would meal
that the indictments against al
nine boys are illegal, because thi
would be the meaning of a decision
on the first count.
1t can slide out a little from tn,
momentous implications of such
decision by picking ground No. 2.
1t can make another technica
decision, as 1t did in 1892. and re
verse on the third ground.
Judges Agitated
The court fought hard. firm,
question after question at the bows
attorneys, in an effort to breal
down the evidence and the argu
ment. The judges were visibl,
ag1tated by the overwhelming ar
gument in favor Of a reversal. an,
angered at the poor showing mad
by the representative Of the state
Their one concern was to flint
some excuse, some technicality
whereby they might again uphold
the Roosevelt regime, whereby the,
might uphold his Democratic Part,
stronghold in the South. help him
by endorsing the enslavement O
100000 Negroes, to hold the toll.
ing masses in subsection. A lynch.
ing of the Scottsboro boys is par
OF the Roosevelt A.A.A. program il
the South, just as the Gold CLAUSE
initiation is part of the New Dea
as a whole.
Ears to Ground
Now the ears Of the nine Justice!
are close to the ground-can they
afford to uphold the convictions?
They are weighing that question
When the capitalist press is silent
the working class must work witt
tenfold energy to raise the sounc
Of protest.
The Scottsboro- Herndon protes
cards, addressed to the U. S. Su.
preme Court, must be mailed by tht
tens Of thousands. Let the justice!
OF the court see a constant stream
OF postmen bringing in these post.
cards, with resolutions and protest.
from trade unions, organizations
Democratic local clubs, Epic clubs
churches, Utopian societies. Socialist
locals and from every individual
expressing the ''noise." thu pluto
cratic press" refuses to echo.
The mass campaign must be de-
veloped, the appeal to the same
court against the 1920 years of liv-
ing death imposed on Angelo Hern-