"There is very little truth in the old refrain that one cannot legislate equality. Laws not only provide concrete benefits, they can even change the hearts of men -- some men, anyhow -- for good or evil."
Marshall is a believer in legislation. He advocates for fair legal practice as a means of changing public opinion. His cause in the 1950s is civil rights. Despite the enormous odds against him in Florida, he uses the Groveland Boys' case to illustrate the way bias has corrupted the legal system of the south.
“Franklin Delano Roosevelt, for his part, was less than enthralled with his wife’s alliance with the NAACP, and the White House attempted to maintain a distance between the president and Eleanor’s activism on behalf of blacks. Marshall himself had felt the president’s chill when Attorney General Francis Biddle phoned FDR to discuss the NAACP’s involvement in a race case in Virginia. At Biddle’s instruction, Marshall picked up an extension phone to listen in, only to hear FDR exclaim, 'I warned you not to call me again about any of Eleanor’s niggers. Call me one more time and you are fired.' Marshall later recalled, 'The President only said ‘nigger’ once, but once was enough for me.'”
King, quoting Thurgood Marshall, illustrates the general atmosphere of racism tolerated during the 1950s. Attempting to appeal to the highest authority, Marshall is silenced by FDR, who appears to take no interest in civil rights, unlike his activist wife. Consequently Marshall finds himself really alone in his fight for justice for the Groveland Boys.
“'They tried to make me say that I had been with the group of fellows that raped a white woman,' Shepherd said. 'It was terrible the way I was whipped, there was just knots all over me. They said they were not going to stop whipping me until I said that I was the one. I kept telling them I was in Orlando where I was. Finally, when I couldn’t take it anymore, I said yes.' Shepherd said yes, he raped Norma Padgett, and the men dropped their hoses. Yates told Shepherd he could have 'saved all the beating” if he had just said yes the first time they asked.'”
King includes many direct quotations from the historical persons involved in the trial. This quote from Shepherd, one of the four accused, describes the brutality and injustice he endured by the hand of the Florida authorities. His account clearly explains how the law was not looking for justice but instead conviction. Racism had corrupted the justice system and turned it into a mockery of a trial.
"Marshall would later say, 'In recognizing the humanity of our fellows beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.'"
Marshall was a man of conviction and integrity. He chose to hold himself to the highest standard possible, which is to treat every human as if they were of the utmost value. Rather than succumb to racial prejudice, he chose to really honor his fellow man. This is what made him such a profound leader in the civil rights movement and probably the attitude which preserved his life through the hazardous days of the trial.
