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Latest comment: 3 days ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Although the video seems to be an actual recording of the crime (I could not bear to watch it in full), I find the display of such brutal violence resulting in the death of a person on a wiki page to be highly problematic. I am not calling for censorship, but would recommend to replace this horrible footage with a link to an official page complete with appropriate warnings. --Lyndis Parlour (talk) 23:42, 31 December 2024 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 hours ago2 comments2 people in discussion
I question the inclusion of Screws v. United States in "See also"—but perhaps I'm not understanding the reason it's there? Screws was a fairly important case: it was designed by the DOJ's new Civil Rights Section to test the constitutionality of using §242 of Title 18 ("under color of law") in Federal prosecutions of state police brutality. There seems to be a Federal investigation into Brooks's death, but there's no prosecution or court decision, let alone under §242. I get that both Brooks (allegedly) and Hall were beaten to death by law-enforcement officers, but any similarity ends there. It's also a situation of apples and oranges—if there were an article on Robert Hall, or if there was a trial and court decision resulting from the death of Brooks, the linkage might be worthy of inclusion, but our Screws article is about the Federal prosecution of a Georgia sheriff for failing to bring a suspect to trial. Screws was ultimately acquitted, and as far as I can see, nothing about that case applies—at least not yet—to the death of Hall, who was duly prosecuted, convicted, and in state prison. Thanks! Ekpyros (talk) 16:51, 1 January 2025 (UTC)Reply
I included Screws v. United States as a "See also" link because it happens to be the only other wiki article involving the police killing of a handcuffed Black man. Contrary to your opinion, the lynching of Robert Hall is notable outside of the Supreme Court case. I've considered making it a standalone article, as two internal links point to the Lynching of Robert Hall page that currently redirects to Screws. It's not noted anywhere I have seen in Wikipedia, but Robert Hall was also a relative of Shirley Sherrod and he is referenced in her famous NAACP speech. A general absence of content in Wikipedia does not mean a topic is irrelevant. Wikipedia is also generally bad at platforming Black history, no citation needed.
I have to call out "Federal prosecution of a Georgia sheriff for failing to bring a suspect to trial" characterization. That's an alarming description of an event in lynching history if I've ever seen one. Hall was a returning veteran targeted by spurious police harassment, as noted in the Supreme Court case you are allegedly familiar with. Adopting the perspective that Hall was a "suspect" is telling. Mewnst (talk) 01:51, 4 January 2025 (UTC)Reply
