pro-problematic:

imminent-death-syndrome:

”A series of comments were made attesting to Brown’s physical limitations. A physical examination showed Brown was ‘too twisted by rheumatism to assault anyone.’ An unidentified Omaha World-Herald reporter allegedly interviewed Brown in jail and ‘confirmed by his observation the man’s crippled condition.’ His chronic rheumatism meant Brown would be unable to overpower Loeback and Hoffman, concluded Jim McKee, a Lincoln Journal writer.” [source]

These photos of brutal torture and lynching should be forever memorized in the minds of the public to show the importance of the basic human right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. While lynchings do not happen anymore, the lynch mobs are still very much alive in the form of social media and judgement before the court of public opinion. In today’s world, when a man is accused of sexual assault, it is a lifetime sentence of being forever linked to an accusation even if proven false because many people will assume the victim retracted her accusation out of fear or because of some other reason besides that she was lying. Believing without proof is a knee-jerk reaction for the simple minded who are not interested in actual justice but rather parroting an agenda and/or channeling vicarious retribution. 

We have laws in this country which are bound by what can be proven. That is the basis of the civilized world. To reject the requirement of proof when a crime is committed is to reject the integrity of justice altogether. It is to announce to the world that you lack a moral compass and dismiss the justice system that took thousands of years to create.

I will say it again as I have in the past that you can believe an alleged victim while not perpetuating the lynch mob mentality. It is possible to believe an alleged victim while also defending the rights of the accused. Defending the rights of the accused is not the same as defending what they are being accused of. It is in defense of true justice and that is only something a critical thinking and morally straight individual can understand.

Please don’t let “innocent before proven guilty” die