Participants:
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW019214S
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00:01 in the following program may not be suitable for children.
00:04 Viewer discretion is advised. 00:07 ♪[theme music]♪ 00:26 >>John Bradshaw: This is It Is Written. 00:28 I'm John Bradshaw. 00:29 Thanks for joining me. 00:31 Justice. 00:33 When I say that word, "justice," what do you think of? 00:38 If I asked you for another word for justice, 00:40 what would that word be? 00:42 Fairness? 00:43 That's what I think of. 00:44 Honesty? Integrity? 00:48 What would justice look like in a courtroom setting? 00:51 The fair shake, an even playing field, equity. 00:55 Surely it would mean to be heard, represented, 00:57 for the facts to be made known. 00:59 Justice and truth-- 01:01 now, they're closely related, aren't they? 01:03 They're like twins. Surely they are. 01:06 Human beings have always had their challenges 01:08 when it comes to administering justice. 01:11 Any time you have people involved, 01:13 justice is going to be unevenly applied. 01:17 But you'd like to think society will do its best 01:19 to get it right. 01:22 Extreme cases are easy to find. 01:24 A man who'd been convicted for burgling two empty homes 01:28 was arrested on possession of $10 worth of illegal drugs 01:31 and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. 01:36 Hard to call that justice, isn't it? 01:38 Even the judge said it was wrong. 01:40 A man stole a $2.50 pair of socks, 01:43 but it was his third strike, so he, too, was sentenced 01:46 to 25 years to life under California's three-strikes law. 01:50 Justice can be complex, 01:52 and it's often true that the one who can afford 01:55 the best lawyer ends up getting the best justice. 01:59 ♪[soft sad music]♪ 02:05 The entire Bible centers around justice, 02:08 or you could say, injustice. 02:11 The central point of the Bible is the cross. 02:14 It's because of the cross that people can be saved. 02:18 That's where Jesus bore the sins of the world: the cross. 02:23 But the death of Jesus on the cross 02:26 was an act of gross injustice. 02:29 Jesus didn't deserve to die on the cross, 02:32 but He died there anyway, 02:34 the victim of the greatest miscarriage of justice 02:38 in the history of the world. 02:41 The pledge of allegiance of the United States of America, 02:44 written in the 1890s and adopted by Congress in 1942, 02:48 goes like this: 02:50 "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America 02:54 and to the Republic for which it stands, 02:56 one Nation under God, indivisible, 03:00 with liberty and justice for all." 03:03 Now, what did that say? 03:04 "With liberty and justice for all." 03:09 Which is good, in theory. 03:11 Just over a decade before the pledge was adopted by Congress, 03:16 a long journey to justice began for a group of young men. 03:20 It was 1931. 03:22 They boarded a train here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. 03:27 That long journey to justice 03:29 took a detour through some very serious injustice. 03:35 ["Chattanooga Choo Choo" song begins and fades] 03:39 In 1931 the main Chattanooga railroad station was right here. 03:45 Today there's a hotel 03:47 and a little train they call the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, 03:51 named after the song recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, 03:55 the first song to receive a gold record. 03:57 ["Chattanooga Choo Choo" continues and ends] 04:00 Back in the day, trains routinely left the station 04:03 heading west, and nine young men, or boys actually, 04:07 clambered aboard a train a little way down the tracks, 04:11 a train that was heading to Memphis, 04:13 where they hoped to find work. 04:15 It was 1931, right in the middle of the Great Depression. 04:19 There were plenty of hobos riding the rails that day, 04:23 March the 25th. 04:25 The nine boys were looking to make a new start in life. 04:30 They were aged between 12 and 19. 04:33 Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, 04:36 Willie Roberson, and Charlie Weems were Georgians. 04:40 Haywood Patterson, Eugene Williams, 04:42 and Andrew and Leroy Wright were from Chattanooga. 04:46 Apparently, a fight broke out on the train 04:49 between the black youth and a group of white boys 04:53 after one of the white boys stepped on the hand 04:56 of one of the black boys. 04:58 The white boys were then forced off the train. 05:02 Then they lodged a complaint at the station in Stevenson, 05:06 Alabama. 05:12 When the train stopped in Paint Rock, Alabama, 05:15 about 80 miles from Chattanooga, 05:17 the nine boys were apprehended, and things got rapidly worse. 05:23 About 20 minutes after the youth had been detained, 05:27 one of two white women who had been on the train claimed 05:30 that she and her friend had been raped by the nine black boys. 05:36 They were detained in the jail in Scottsboro, Alabama, 05:39 nine accused rapists-- one just 12 years old, 05:44 and one who had a disease that made it impossible 05:47 for him to have participated in the alleged attack. 05:52 The whole thing was absurd, 05:54 but by evening, several hundred men had gathered 05:57 in front of the jail. 05:58 The mayor of Scottsboro appealed to the crowd to disperse. 06:01 Armed lawmen guarded the jail 06:04 in an attempt to hold off the crowd. 06:06 But that crowd wasn't going anywhere. 06:08 They wanted the nine boys. They intended to lynch them. 06:13 ♪[ominous music]♪ 06:15 >>Sheila Washington: It was the Jim Crow era where whites ruled. 06:19 If somebody said a black did it, a black didn't have a chance 06:23 of even making it inside of a courtroom 06:26 before he was hung on a tree. 06:29 And they lived to make it to the courthouse, 06:32 and that night a mob came with a telephone pole, 06:37 ready to knock the door in and go in and get those boys 06:40 and bring them out and hang them, 06:42 and the sheriff steps out in the middle of the crowd and said, 06:45 "Before you get to them, you have to go through me." 06:48 >>John Bradshaw: The governor of the state authorized 06:50 25 armed men to be sent to Scottsboro, 06:53 but by the time they arrived, the crowd had mostly dispersed. 06:57 But if the Scottsboro Nine had survived one night, 07:00 it seemed they wouldn't survive much longer. 07:04 The universe rests upon justice. 07:07 If God were not just, if there were no justice in heaven, 07:11 where would we be? 07:12 First John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, 07:17 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 07:20 and to cleanse us [of] all unrighteousness." 07:23 The Bible says that justice and judgment 07:26 are the foundation of God's throne. 07:28 Therefore, people who claim to be followers of God 07:32 must care about justice. 07:34 But for these nine boys, justice would take a backseat 07:38 to injustice as their lives played out. 07:42 I'll be back in a moment. 07:44 ♪[music]♪ 07:52 >>John: I want to encourage you to get today's free offer, 07:55 "Evil: The Challenge of the Sinful Heart." 07:58 What do you do about the sin problem? 08:01 How can you be successful in the face of temptation? 08:04 What about the evil that comes against us 08:06 and threatens your life? 08:07 How can you turn that back? 08:10 Call us right now on 800-253-3000, 08:13 800-253-3000, 08:16 or visit us online at iiwoffer.com. 08:19 We'll get it to you right away, 08:21 absolutely free. 08:23 >>John Bradshaw: Thanks for joining me on It Is Written. 08:26 In 1931, three-and-a-half thousand people lived 08:30 in Scottsboro, Alabama. 08:31 It was a farming town, 08:33 suddenly thrust into the national spotlight 08:35 when nine black boys, or young men, aged between 12 and 20, 08:40 were accused of rape by two white girls. 08:43 According to one newspaper, the two girls were treated 08:46 by local physicians for terrible injuries they sustained 08:50 in a crime "too revolting to be printed." 08:53 Except...none of it was true. 08:57 One of the girls said that the boys came after them 09:00 shooting pistols and brandishing knives. 09:03 She claimed that she'd been punched in the face 09:06 and had a knife held to her throat. 09:10 Scottsboro was agitated. 09:12 National guardsmen were brought in to keep large crowds away 09:15 from the jail so that the boys wouldn't be lynched. 09:20 ♪[ominous music]♪ 09:21 Instead, they would stand trial. 09:23 You would hope that that would be justice, 09:26 except that a fair trial was impossible. 09:30 The Scottsboro Nine were represented initially 09:33 by a lawyer from Chattanooga, an alcoholic, 09:37 who met with the boys for less than half an hour 09:40 before they went on trial, 09:42 a trial in which their lives were at stake. 09:46 If they were found guilty, 09:47 and society had already declared their guilt, 09:51 they'd be executed. 09:53 Two of the boys were tried first, 09:55 but the trial was a farce. 09:57 There was contradictory testimony. 09:59 One of the women, Victoria Price, 10:01 spoke in great detail about the crimes perpetrated against her, 10:05 but her friend, Ruby Bates, couldn't corroborate much 10:09 of what Miss Price said. 10:11 But what truly shocked the courtroom 10:13 was that one of the nine defendants testified that, yes, 10:17 he had witnessed the attack; yes, the girls had been raped; 10:22 yes, the other eight boys were guilty. 10:26 He said later that the night before the trial 10:29 he was taken from his cell and beaten 10:32 and told that if he wanted to save his life, 10:35 he should testify against the others. 10:38 The two who were tried first were found guilty 10:41 and sentenced to death. 10:43 The crowd in the courtroom celebrated wildly. 10:46 The first trial took a day and a half, 10:48 while the other three trials took less than a day, combined. 10:53 Eight of the Scottsboro Nine were found guilty 10:55 and sentenced to die in the electric chair. 11:00 The Alabama Supreme Court upheld all but one 11:03 of the death sentences. 11:04 They said a 13-year-old defendant shouldn't have been 11:07 tried as an adult. 11:09 But the United States Supreme Court overturned the verdicts, 11:13 saying that the boys had been denied competent legal counsel. 11:17 There are tons of details we could go into. 11:21 Some of the rhetoric was... 11:23 well, not the sort of thing I'd want to repeat here. 11:26 Justice? 11:27 There was no justice afforded these boys. 11:29 It was patently obvious they hadn't raped anyone at all, 11:33 that there hadn't even been a rape. 11:35 But this kind of thing happened all the time. 11:37 A black defendant, an accusation, 11:40 an execution, if not a lynching, and life went right on. 11:44 It was the 1930s. 11:46 Slavery had ended 70 years or so earlier, 11:49 but racism had not. 11:51 And in the South, 11:52 African-Americans were routinely discriminated against. 11:56 The system guaranteed it. 11:59 Now, this is the sort of story that people in a free country 12:02 would listen to and say, "That had to have happened 12:05 somewhere else, in some banana republic." 12:08 But it didn't. 12:09 It happened in "the land of the free and the home of the brave." 12:13 Nine young men, nine boys, accused of having committed 12:17 a ghastly crime, that brought with it the ultimate penalty, 12:21 levied against them by a society that was determined to keep 12:25 African-Americans in their place. 12:28 Now, of course, not all white people agreed 12:31 with this behavior, 12:32 not even all whites in the South. 12:34 But this is the way the system worked. 12:36 The belief was that no white woman 12:38 who accused a black man of rape could possibly be lying. 12:43 So an accused Negro was a guilty Negro. 12:46 And even if he wasn't, penalties like these would reinforce 12:50 the power structure that existed. 12:53 During a constitutional convention 30 years earlier, 12:56 Alabama's political leaders stated that their goal 12:59 was to secure permanent white supremacy in Alabama. 13:05 Justice? 13:07 The retrial was held in Decatur, Alabama, 13:10 about 80 miles from Scottsboro, southwest of Huntsville. 13:14 The thought was this would give the boys 13:16 a shot at a fairer trial. 13:18 But the overwhelming view in Decatur 13:20 was that the boys were as guilty as sin. 13:24 During the trial in Decatur, 13:27 one of the physicians who had examined the two young women 13:30 told the judge that the women were lying. 13:34 The judge urged the physician to testify to that end in court. 13:38 The doctor explained to the judge 13:41 that there's no way he could do that. 13:43 If he testified against the two women, 13:46 if he testified in favor of the nine black boys, 13:50 there was no way he'd be able to go home to Scottsboro. 13:54 He said to the judge, "God knows I want to"-- 13:56 that's testify and tell the truth--"but I can't." 14:02 >>Sheila: The timeframe, people were scared. 14:04 When you had no law, 14:06 and you will have the Klan to come after you, 14:09 and you see a mob outside of your house with white robes on, 14:13 that was fearful not only to blacks, 14:15 but more fearful to whites, because they know, 14:19 "This is going to happen to me 14:20 just like it's happened to the blacks." 14:23 But he had a conscience. 14:25 Although it was six years later, he told the truth. 14:30 >>John Bradshaw: The Scottsboro boys were now being represented 14:33 by a brilliant New York City attorney named Samuel Leibowitz, 14:38 who exposed the prosecution's case for exactly what it was. 14:42 By now the NAACP were involved in supporting the boys, 14:46 as was the Communist Party, who saw the trial as an opportunity 14:50 to try to grow their influence. 14:53 One of the women actually recanted and said 14:55 that there was no attack, 14:57 no rape, that the story was all made up. 15:00 But the jury found the boys guilty again. 15:04 Again they faced the death penalty. 15:06 But again the convictions were overturned 15:08 because of Alabama's practice of excluding blacks from juries. 15:13 So they were tried again. 15:16 One of the boys was found guilty and sentenced 15:18 to 75 years in prison. 15:21 It was the only time a black man had ever been found guilty 15:24 of the rape of a white woman in Alabama 15:27 and not been sentenced to death. 15:30 Another was sentenced to 105 years, 15:32 another to 99 years. 15:35 Charges were dropped against four of the boys, 15:38 but by then they'd spent six years in prison 15:41 for a crime that had not been committed. 15:45 Ultimately, all of the boys were freed. 15:48 One served 12 years, another a total of 19, 15:53 one was paroled 15 years after the boys were apprehended, 15:57 and there was no fairytale ending. 15:59 None of the boys went on to be a businessman or a politician. 16:03 Not one graduated from college or even high school. 16:07 None of them became a minister. 16:09 This was simply a tragedy. 16:12 Nine poor, poorly educated boys, 16:15 the most vulnerable members of society, were falsely accused, 16:20 deprived of a fair trial. 16:22 The intent at first was to lynch them, then execute them, 16:26 then put them away for as long as possible. 16:29 Their lives were ruined. 16:32 >>Sheila: I realize the state of Alabama had dug a hole so deep 16:36 that they was too embarrassed to say, 16:38 "We made a mistake," and come out and admit they're wrong. 16:44 Instead, they held on to these boys' lives 16:46 until they almost just killed them. 16:49 They squished the life out of them in prison. 16:53 >>John: This whole sorry thing shows us how hatred 16:56 and ignorance and distrust and vilification can destroy lives. 17:01 And not only the lives of the hated, 17:05 but also the lives of the haters. 17:08 People had to live with what they'd done 17:09 for the rest of their lives. 17:12 And of course, they did. 17:15 So how do you get this out of society? 17:17 There is a way. 17:19 We'll look at that in just a moment. 17:21 ♪[music]♪ 17:30 >>John: I want to encourage you to get today's free offer, 17:33 "Evil: The Challenge of the Sinful Heart." 17:36 What do you do about the sin problem? 17:39 How can you be successful in the face of temptation? 17:42 What about the evil that comes against us 17:44 and threatens your life? 17:45 How can you turn that back? 17:47 Call us right now on 800-253-3000, 17:51 800-253-3000, 17:54 or visit us online at iiwoffer.com. 17:57 We'll get it to you right away, 17:59 absolutely free. 18:01 >>John: Five loaves. 18:03 Two fish. 18:04 One little boy. 18:06 A great Savior. 18:08 And more than 5,000 people fed, with food left over. 18:14 Join me for "Great Chapters of the Bible: John [Chapter] 6," 18:18 the remarkable story of a little boy who shared his lunch 18:22 with Jesus, for Jesus to then share it with thousands 18:26 and thousands of people. 18:28 It's also the chapter where Jesus speaks words of truth 18:32 and life, and then watches as almost everybody in the crowd 18:37 turns their back on Jesus and walks away from Him 18:41 and the blessing He offers. 18:43 John chapter 6, where Jesus said, 18:45 "I am the bread of life." 18:48 Don't miss this great chapter of the Bible. 18:51 Join me for John chapter 6. 18:54 Brought to you by It Is Written TV. 19:01 >>John Bradshaw: It was a colossal miscarriage of justice, 19:04 carried out on American soil-- and not back in the Dark Ages-- 19:09 in the 1930s. 19:11 And in the 1940s, while Americans were fighting 19:13 for freedom in Europe and the Pacific, 19:16 they were withholding justice from one of their own, 19:19 simply due to the color of a person's skin. 19:23 So how does a society get past this sort of thing? 19:27 You can change laws, 19:28 but you can't legislate a change of heart. 19:31 Education helps. 19:33 Time. 19:34 You'd hope that as one generation dies off, 19:36 it's replaced with a more enlightened generation. 19:39 And no doubt that's happened to a great extent. 19:42 Alabama isn't the same state it was in the 1930s. 19:46 America isn't the same country. 19:48 But it would be foolish to think that there's no racism 19:51 or racists or hate. 19:54 Of course there are. 19:56 So how do you get rid of that? 19:58 Only the gospel of Jesus can change a sinful human heart. 20:04 Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said, 20:06 "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: 20:10 old things are passed away; 20:13 behold, all things are become new." 20:15 That's 2 Corinthians 5:17. 20:17 Speaking of heaven, the Bible says, 20:19 "But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles." 20:25 God told Moses that some people would have their names 20:28 blotted out of His book. 20:31 Heaven isn't a place for hate-- or hateful people. 20:37 If there's someone who sympathizes with the plight 20:39 of the Scottsboro boys, it's Jesus. 20:43 He came to the world, according to the Bible, 20:45 "to seek and save that which was lost." 20:48 He came to the world to make known to the world 20:51 what the Father was truly like. 20:53 He came to demonstrate love. 20:55 He came to the world to, to lift people up. 20:58 He gave hope to tax collectors and to harlots and fishermen 21:02 and farmers. 21:03 And He refused to condemn even those who nailed Him 21:07 to the cross. 21:08 The Scottsboro boys, uneducated, naïve, 21:13 couldn't have saved themselves 21:14 if they'd lived a hundred lifetimes. 21:17 Even a lawyer as sharp as Samuel Leibowitz 21:19 could only win acquittals for four of the boys. 21:23 Four were prosecuted and given lengthy sentences. 21:26 Two of them escaped, and two were paroled. 21:30 In a similar way, Isaiah said Messiah would be oppressed, 21:34 afflicted, and taken "as a lamb to the slaughter." 21:38 But why? 21:39 Why would He allow Himself to go through that? 21:42 Hebrews 2:18 says, "For in that He Himself has suffered, 21:46 being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted." 21:51 The passage states that because Jesus as a human being 21:55 has gone through what we've gone through in facing temptation, 21:59 He is able to aid; He's able to help us in what we go through. 22:04 Jesus knows what it's like to be tempted. 22:07 So when you're tempted, you can go to One who knows 22:10 from experience what you're going through. 22:13 Jesus knows what it's like to be rejected. 22:16 Even His own family members turned against Him. 22:19 His closest followers fled from Him. 22:22 His own church gave Him up to die on a cross. 22:29 And Jesus knows what it's like to be falsely accused. 22:33 He knows injustice from experience. 22:36 This is Matthew 26, starting in verse 59: 22:39 "Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council 22:43 sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, 22:47 but found none. 22:48 Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. 22:52 But at last two false witnesses came forward and said, 22:56 'This fellow said, "I am able to destroy the temple of God 23:00 and to build it in three days."'" 23:02 False accusations. Truth wasn't being pursued here. 23:06 When Jesus said that they would see the Son of Man 23:09 coming on the clouds of heaven, that was it. 23:13 The high priest cried, "Blasphemy!" 23:15 And the crowd said, "He is deserving of death!" 23:19 And then began a stream of indignities that didn't stop 23:23 until Jesus was dead on a cross. 23:27 So now, this Jesus, who was so poorly treated, 23:31 the victim of the greatest miscarriage of justice 23:34 in the history of the universe, how did He treat people 23:38 who are actually deserving of the full penalty of the law? 23:42 Remember, "The wages of sin is death," 23:44 according to Romans 6:23. 23:46 So how did Jesus treat people? 23:48 To the thief on the cross He said, 23:51 "You will be with me in paradise." 23:54 A woman taken in adultery, a victim herself, 23:58 is brought into the presence of Jesus by a group of men. 24:01 Jesus ignored the men at first, 24:04 simply writing on the ground with His finger. 24:07 John 8:7 says, "So when they continued asking Him, 24:11 He lifted up Himself and said unto them, 24:14 'He that is without sin among you, 24:17 let him first cast a stone at her.'" 24:20 Justice could easily have said, "She deserves to die." 24:24 But in this case, justice said, "You're a bunch of hypocrites, 24:28 and there's a better way to deal with this woman's situation." 24:31 Verse 9 says, "And they which heard it, 24:34 being convicted by their own conscience, 24:37 went out one by one, 24:38 beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: 24:42 and Jesus was left alone, 24:44 and the woman standing in the midst." 24:47 Jesus then asked the woman where her accusers had gone. 24:50 "Has no one condemned you?" Jesus asked. 24:53 She answered and said, No, no one has accused me. 24:57 And then Jesus said some of the most wonderful, 24:59 hopeful words in the entire Bible: 25:02 "Neither do I condemn you." 25:05 And he urged her to go on her way "and sin no more." 25:09 [train horn blaring, wheels clacking] 25:11 God is a God of justice and forgiveness. 25:14 He forgave David and Solomon and Manasseh and others 25:17 for their, for their terrible sins. 25:20 In Psalm 136, the Bible says 26 times in 26 verses 25:25 that God's mercy endures forever. 25:28 It often takes real time for justice to finally be served. 25:33 According to the book of Revelation, 25:35 the Christ of heaven will one day declare, 25:37 "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: 25:41 and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: 25:44 and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: 25:47 and he that is holy, let him be holy still." 25:50 And then He says, "And, behold, I come quickly; 25:54 and my reward is with me, 25:55 to give every man according as his work shall be." 25:59 Justice will be done. 26:03 It isn't too much to desire justice in this world. 26:06 It isn't too much to expect justice. 26:08 Justice is the right of everyone. 26:11 But justice in the hands of flawed human beings 26:14 will never be perfect or perfectly administered. 26:17 But one day, one day when there's no more sin, 26:20 one day when there's no more death, 26:22 one day when there's no more hate, 26:24 one day when there's no more bitterness, 26:26 one day when sin has run its course, 26:29 one day, one soon day, there'll be no more injustice. 26:33 One day Jesus will return, and when He does, 26:36 everything will happen at heaven's behest. 26:39 We look forward to that day, 26:41 and we say with John who wrote Revelation, 26:44 "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" 26:48 >>John: Thank you for remembering that It Is Written 26:50 exists because of the kindness of people just like you. 26:54 To support this international life-changing ministry, 26:57 please call us now at 800-253-3000. 27:01 You can send your tax-deductible gift 27:03 to the address on your screen, 27:04 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com. 27:08 Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support. 27:11 Our number again is 800-253-3000, 27:15 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com. 27:19 >>John Bradshaw: Let's pray together now. 27:21 Our Father in heaven, 27:22 we thank You that Your plan for our future and for our eternity 27:26 is perfect. 27:27 Keep us until then. 27:29 And as we live in a world that is so often marked by injustice, 27:32 give us hearts that are one with Yours. 27:34 We pray for justice in the world, 27:37 but we pray for the heart that will remain constant 27:39 no matter what we face. 27:42 We thank You for the hope that we have in the return of Jesus. 27:45 Take our hearts now; make them Yours, 27:47 not just now but forever. 27:49 We pray and we thank You in Jesus' name. 27:53 Amen. 27:54 Thanks so much for joining me today. 27:56 I look forward to seeing you again next time. 27:58 Until then, remember: 28:00 "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, 28:04 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 28:08 ♪[theme music]♪ |
Revised 2020-02-18