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Message-ID: <19990511220214.25251.00001260@ng-ch1.aol.com>
>Bernie:
>Was CAN bunked under a law designed to combat the Klan? More
info please.
IANAL but I do know how to read legal material. Based on that
here's a short answer that points to the proper authorities on
the question.
CAN and Rick Ross were successfully sued by Jason Scott under
Title 42 Section 1985(3) of the United States Code. Section 1985
is based on, or updates, the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. The Ku
Klux Klan Act of 1871 was the basic law passed by the US
Congress to uphold and enforce the Civil War Amendments that
extended equal rights to all US citizens, to put force behind
civil war amendments by providing avenue for redress of injuries
suffered by class of newly emancipated slaves. McLellan v.
Mississippi Power & Light Co., C.A.5 (Miss.) 1977, 545 F.2d
919. In the 1960's these were all updated in response to
violence in the southern US that was aimed at suppressing the
political participation of Negros.
The court of appeals in Scott said "A plaintiff alleging a
conspiracy under section 1985(3) must establish: the existence
of a conspiracy to deprive the plaintiff of the equal protection
of the laws; an act in furtherance of the conspiracy; and a
resulting injury." It drew this test from United Broth. of
Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local 610, AFL-CIO v. Scott,
U.S.Tex.1983, 103 S.Ct. 3352. That court explained that the
predominate purpose of this section is to combat the prevalent
animus against Negroes and their supporters, including
Republicans, generally, as well as others, such as northerners
who came south with sympathetic views towards the Negro, and to
combat efforts of Ku Klux Klan and its allies to frustrate
intended effects of U.S.C.A. Const.Amends. 13, 14, and 15.
United Broth. of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local 610,
AFL-CIO v. Scott, U.S.Tex.1983, 103 S.Ct. 3352.
In short, yes. CAN was killed off by the same law originally
intended to combat the Klan, as updated in the 1960's to further
combat the Klan. It outlaws conspiracies by private parties that
use certain proscribed means to interfere with the basic civil
rights of others.
On a purely personal level, take away the rope for the lynching
and the deaths and I have a hard time distinguishing CAN type
thugs from KLAN type thugs. They promoted hatred and
enabled violence for different reasons and to different extents,
but in both cases the aim was to combat ideas and relationships
with force and coercion.
Yeti
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