Carl Lee Haley did vigilante justice by killing the two men who brutally raped his daughter and left her for dead. I think it is a form of justice, but I don't think it was legal. My father always told me that time for me was time he was willing to do, meaning he intended to kill anyone that assaulted me.
Why does CLH commit this crime?
In the movie, they try to argue that CLH did this because he was insane, but I think everyone knew that he was really just heartbroken and angry. It was more than just his daughter being raped, beaten, and stripped of her ability to have children. CLH was fighting for black people everywhere who have to deal with abuse at the hands of white folk who assume there will be no retaliation.
What should CLH’s punishment be?
In my opinion, CLH did society good by removing pedophilic racists from his community. I've never had an opinion this simple, but I believe that had I been in his position, I would have done the exact same thing. CLH deserves to walk free.
Are the scales of “justice” balanced where this story takes place?
The scales of justice are absolutely not balanced in this story. A black man is on trial for killing two white men in a place where the jury is all white and the KKK is running rampant in the town. Had this not been a movie, that man would have been sentenced to death in a matter of minutes (if nobody killed him first).
Does it/should it matter whether Tanya Haley is black or white?
Although it shouldn't matter, it does matter that Tanya Haley is a black girl. Black bodies, black struggle, and black pain are looked at much differently than that of a white girl. This is why intersectionality is so important when we look at things like this, because when you are a person of color your gender is inherently tied to your racial identity. She was not only a target for pedophiles, she was a "nigger". Her personhood was completely invalidated.
Does due process work for CLH the same as it would any other defendant?
In the movie, it does work out the way it would for any other defendant, but that's not the way it is in real life. White boys who film themselves raping an infant can walk free, but black men who were wrongfully accused of raping an adult woman will get years in prison. The justice system is extremely broken, and this movie was simply a movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment