Introduction
The case of Thad Christian plays a valuable role in the movement for civil rights, and understanding its implications is crucial to the current discussion of equality. The case is concerned with the murder of a 54-year-old African American man in 1965, which is why discussing its context is especially relevant. This paper will focus on exploring what happened with Thad Christian on August 30, 1965, with the purpose of providing an overview of its outcomes and the wider impact on society overall.
The Case
On a Saturday in August, Thad Christian, a father of seven children, went out to catch some fish for dinner along with his friend Shelley Kirby (“The United States Department of Justice,” 2011). Unfortunately, the father never returned, as he was murdered by a shot to his stomach by Robert Haynes. According to the Federal investigation, Christian was shot because he and his friend were fishing in the rural community of Central City and the subject came and told them to leave. The two friends did not leave, as they did not know whether that man was the owner of the property or some ‘random’ passer-by. Later, while the men were already fishing and were putting their gear in the car, Haynes returned with a sixteen-gauge shotgun and fired a round, subsequently catching Christian in his abdomen.
When retelling the story to the law enforcement, Kirby mentioned that Haynes was driving around in his car shouting for them to get away from the creek. Allegedly Haynes said, “you niggers get out from down here” (Newton, 2011, p. 78). After the altercation had already occurred, two other witnesses, Lucile Edmondson White with her husband, were passing by and saw Haynes leaning on the bumper of his car that was parked in the middle of the road while Kirby tried to help Christian and shouted for help. The witnesses were also intimidated by the shooter because as they came closer, they saw that he had a gun and was looking at them directly. Because of this, the two decided to back up and leave the scene in fear of being injured or even murdered.
The family of the offender told a different story to investigators, saying that Christian had a gun and was threatening Haynes, although none of them were present at the scene. As mentioned by Newton (2016), “Aubrey Haynes stood by his brother’s unsupported claim that Christian carried a rifle and was accompanied by “many men” rather than Kirby alone” (p. 78). Therefore, Haynes’s family tried to clear his name and suggest that he was acting in self-defense against a large group of armed African American men. They knowingly perpetuated the stereotype that non-white men were threatening and were always armed despite the situation being the opposite.
Despite the opposing reports of the case, Robert Hayes pled guilty for the offense of manslaughter and served time in the prison. He died in 1968 in a car accident, which means that there had been only three years between the incident and him leaving prison. The relatively short time that Hayes served points to the existence of severe inequality since it is highly likely that if an African American man shot a white man, he would be sentenced to life in prison.
The Civil Rights Movement
The movement for civil rights in the United States is described as a decade-long struggle against the injustice and oppression that Black communities faced. While the Civil War put an official end to slavery, it had little to no impact on persistent discrimination, which led African Americans to endure the adverse influence of racism, in the South particularly. In the middle of the twentieth century, the oppressed communities came together against discrimination. The primary landmark of the movement’s beginning was attributed to the events on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her blacks-designated seat on a bus to a white man (Tougas, 2011). Parks became “the mother of the modern-day civil rights movement,” and her courage inspired Martin Luther King Jr, to lead people toward equality (Tougas, 2011, p. 14). Another important event in the history of the civil rights movement is concerned with the Civil Rights Act of 1957 when federal prosecution was established in the case if someone was trying to prevent anyone from voting.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, guaranteeing equal employment for all Americans, limited use of tests on voter literacy, and ensured the integration of public facilities. In 1965, the Civil Rights Act was taken several steps further with the signing of the Voting Rights Act that banned the use of all voter literacy tests and promoted the ability of the attorney general to contest both local and state poll taxes. As a result of the Act, poll taxes were declared unconstitutional according to the ruling in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections in 1966.
Case Significance
The mentioned chain of events associated with the Civil Rights Movement all preceded the case of Thad Christian. Therefore, it could have been expected that discrimination against African Americans would decrease and such cases would occur less frequently. However, the murder of Thad Christian suggests that despite the Movement and regardless of the established legislation, the people of America could not make an instant switch from discrimination to acceptance. Importantly, discrimination has always existed in one form or another, and the passing of laws by the President does not mean that everyone would abide by them and avoid being discriminatory against African Americans.
A range of examples that illustrate this case was illustrated in The New York Times (2016) article by The Editorial Board that compared the prevalence of sentencing biases even in the twenty-first century. In Florida, African American offenders were charged with much longer sentences compared to whites. For instance, in Okeechobee, Black offenders serve 179% longer sentences compared to whites for the same crime (The Editorial Board, 2016). Such a level of inequality in the system of criminal justice that exists in 2016 is supported by the events surrounding the case of Thad Christian, which illustrated that the lives of African American citizens were valued less in the 1960s, with the situation not showing any significant improvement in further decades. Overall, there was a negative outcome of Thad Christian’s case as the white man who shot an African American was not punished fairly due to his higher social status in the hierarchy.
The case of Thad Christian is not unique, which makes it important in a paradoxical way. The more cases like it, the lower the awareness of the public about the injustice. In researching the events associated with the murder of Thad Christian, not much information could be found, which points to the fact that there are many other cases like it. The social and political context within which the murder had taken place was expected to contribute to the elevation of discriminatory opinions and views among the public; however, it had little to no impact on how many white Americans perceived African American citizens. This shows that since the case, the society had to undergo a series of additional changes to truly liberate communities and ensure equality for all. If to compare with the modern-day cases, injustice in the process of sentencing African American and white offenders exists, which means that the struggle is not over.
Conclusion
When summarizing the research on the case of Thad Christian, it can be concluded that the aggressive murders of African Americans were common in the 1960s. The case is significant for the exploration of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States as it shows the level of injustice that existed in the 1960s. Furthermore, regardless of the laws and regulations established by the government, it was impossible for the society to make a switch from the unfair treatment of African Americans to ensuring equality for all. Overall, the Civil Rights Movement was not only a matter of political and social transformation of the United States but also required the support of regular people. As Thad Christian was murdered in Alabama, which is one of the Southern states that struggled with discrimination, it is not surprising that the sentence that the offender was given for the crime was very low.
References
The Editorial Board. (2016). Unequal sentences for blacks and whites. The New York Times. Web.
Newton, M. (2016). Unsolved civil rights murder cases, 1934-1970. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.
Tougas, S. (2011). Birmingham 1963: How a photograph rallied civil rights support. Mankato, MN: Compass Point Books.
The United States Department of Justice. (2011). Web.