Marrow Case

Reasoning from Principle

The United States experienced a dramatic shift in the avenue of racial discrimination with the end of the African-American Civil rights movement in the 1960's and 1970's. The purposes of these social movements were to arouse national awareness towards racial equality and successfully led to the official and legal recognition of abolishing racial discrimination. Yet like many areas throughout the country, my small rural hometown of Oxford, North Carolina was not quite ready to accept this integration. In May of 1970, Oxford was the stage of the tragic racially inclined murder of Henry 'Dickie' Marrow by several white oppressors known as the Teel brothers. This act of violence eventually went on to lead to several continuous retaliatory instances which severely tested the community of Oxford. In examining the moral causes of the start of Oxford's civil unrest, it becomes clear that this particular situation escalated quickly in multiple stages due to the violence of the initial hate crime, the subsequent misguided retaliation and attempted cover-up, and the overall indifference of witnesses and authorities.

Marrow was severely beaten and eventually shot several times for a reason that is known only by the men who killed Marrow. It is clear, however, that the excessive violence displayed in the killing was induced by hatred of the color of Marrow's skin. Additionally, the Teel brothers were known to have ties to the local Ku Klux Klan (KKK) chapter in Oxford. Later, this Klan group succeeded in intimidating townspeople and hindering investigations. Due to the brother's connection with the KKK, none of the witnesses would dare come forward and incriminate the Teel brothers. Yet, the eye witnesses were never questioned by authorities until 48 hours after the incident occurred. This is a perfect example of how the Oxford police were indifferent to the crime and had no interest in pursuing justice.

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