Abstract
This essay examines questions of violence and self-defense in African American history. It does so by contrasting historical patterns of racist anti-Black violence prevalent in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, as exemplified by the destruction of the Greenwood community in Tulsa Oklahoma in 1921, with the current phenomenon of Black-on-Black violence in modern inner-city communities. Although circumstances have changed greatly in the century since the destruction of Greenwood, two phenomena persist: 1. the failure of authorities to protect Black communities and their residents, and 2. efforts by authorities to use the law or law enforcement to disarm members of Black communities leaving residents helpless by law.
Date of Authorship for this Version
5-2022
Volume Number
54
First Page
1
Last Page
36
Repository Citation
Diamond, Raymond T. and Cottrol, Robert J., "Helpless by Law: Enduring Lessons from a Century-Old Tragedy" (2022). Journal Articles. 462.
https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/faculty_scholarship/462
Comments
54 Conn. L. Rev. CONNtemplations 1 (2022)